God bless:
Hello Dr. Sanders. I was most impressed with your mobile ed introducing Bible doctrine I.
I wonder if you could develop another mobile ed course that shows how to do a topical study in a systematic theology way.
I have been looking for resources that show how systematic theologians go about doing the study of a particular theme, and I have not found one that shows some good guidelines and useful methodologies.
The closest that has an outline is:
Sawyer, M. J. (2006). The Survivor’s Guide to Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
But it does not go in detail on certain key aspects of the methodology. It does not show easy examples for the beginner.
Some topics that I would like to be touched upon:
Christian stewardship, christian development, worship, faith, love (g:agape), Angel of the LORD, Son of Man, etc.
It would be nice to know how does one know what verses / passages are related to the topic, how does one find the key thrusts of those passages, and how once the thrusts are found, how to develop a theological construct taking into consideration the historical ones.
Then to be able to evaluate historical models proposed in the particular topic, and / or develop new ones if the ones studied are seen as incomplete, and lastly some good ways to communicate the findings.
I am not an expert, I am a regular sheep, but I am fascinated by a systematic approach to study important topics and thrusts, taking into consideration Scriptures, tradition, reason, experience, and Holy Spirit illuminated reflection.
I believe in using the rationality, relationality (sources from the past included), and creativity to approach the study in a systematic way.
Hoping you have a great day, I thank you ahead of time for any guidance you can offer.
Blessings.
- For those interested in this topic, I repost from another thread (hoping you catch my drift): Based on the above assumption, I encourage participants to take a look at some interesting clarifying information: http://www.sats.edu.za/userfiles/Smith,Howtodoatheologicalstudy.pdf http://our-hope.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Method2.pdf The above articles to me provide with a good framework to see that we have a complete theological model, ready for cross study. Look especially at the table in the second article: This is one of the reasons why I have so much trouble with those going by the "historical-critical" alone approach. Blessings.