Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem - This post is part of my year-long journey through Dr. Wayne Grudem's world-renowned Systematic Theology. I welcome and hope for your interaction.
If you followed my year-long journey through the ESV Study Bible last year, you witnessed a considerable amount of whinning from me as we whisked past very important revelations worthy of our attention.
As I considered my year-long project for this year, I decided to go back and do some deep-sea diving in some of the most critical of the Bible's revelations.
Dr. Grudem defines systematic theology:
"Systematic theology is any study that answers the question, "What does the whole Bible teach us today?" about any given topic"
The folks over at the Pew Forum tell us that a large majority of Americans profess a belief in God, yet, it would seem, most can not intelligently put forth any reason beyond a simple belief in some eternal being or universal spirit.
A study of systematic theology will help us put meat into our beliefs, will help to shape our worldview, and in the end will likely have significant effect on our choices and behaviors in the world.
Here are the broad topics the we will cover in this study over the course of the year:
- The Bible - is it really God's word? Are there errors in it? Why these 66 books and not others? Are the stories in the Bible literally true?
- God - how do we know that God really exists? Can we know him? How is God different from us? What is all this "God in Three Persons" about? Does God really hear our prayers? What about miracles? Creation, really? Is there a devil? Are there angels?
- Man - were we really created by God? Do I have a soul, a spirit? Why did God make two sexes? What is this sin thing all about?
- Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit - who are these guys? Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah? Was Jesus really God in flesh? I've heard that Jesus died for my sins, what is that all about? Jesus died and rose from the dead? Really? Who is the Holy Spirit and does he exist?
- Redemption - I've heard that I must be born again, what is that all about? How can I be born twice? Isn't my belief in God and my good behavior enough to get me into heaven?
- The Church - why do we even have this thing called church? What is it? Why are there so many different churches? Don't these people just want to control my life? Can't I just believe in God and forget the whole church thing?
- Heaven - really? Is there such a place? How do I get into heaven? Hell? Come on, really? Eternal damnation? Burning in hell forever? Really? Come on! Earth will someday be destroyed and we'll live with God forever? Really? Come on!
Let's ask a few questions of ourselves:
- Do we have cogent beliefs in all of these areas that we can intelligently profess?
- Are these not some of the most important questions of life?
- Are these not things that you would like to know more about?
Bingo! This is why we should all be students of systematic theology.
I'm looking forward to this year-long journey, want to come along?
