Is That Andy?

The Key Elements in Doing Theology - Dr. Plaster

Here’s about ten thousand awful jokes about Dr. Plaster leaving Grace. I found these on the internet. They are hilarious.
-Dr. Sandy

Oh yeah, I have 100 more degrees.
Dr. Plaster

• The Theologian
• The impact of his cultural and sociological setting
• What impacts your world?
• Changing paradigm on what is truth
• Anti-intellectualism
• Radical individualism
• Rapid social change
• Impact of Traditions
• Tradition - what you believe because others whom you trust have told you it is true.
  • each person has an immediate tradition received from the person who “discipled” them after coming to faith
  • each person has a historical tradition which is received from the Church over time
• Conviction - what you believe because you have searched it out for yourself and you can articulate from the scriptures and theology your reasons for affirming it s truth
• The Primary Source for Doing Theology
• The inspired, inerrant Scriptures are the primary source the evangelical theologian All other sources must be evaluated on the basis of the Scriptures and Gods…
• The Secondary Sources
• All other sources consulted be the theologian in the formulation of theological statements.
• Traditions of the Theologian
• Immediate Tradition - what has he learned from those who discipled and taught him
• Historical Tradition - what has he learned from historical theology
• Christian Experience
• Individual personal experiences
• Experience: Divorce?
• Corporate experiences of the body of christ
• Experience: Church
• Philosophy
1. Philosophy has nothing to do with Christianity
2. Philosophy can be used to sharpen our thinking to work out our theology
3. Philosophy can be used as the basis for some of our theological decisions
4. Philosophy can judge or evaluate theology
5. Philosophy can provide the basic content of our theology
• Natural and Social Sciences
• Because of what we believe about General Revelations (Romans 1:18-20)
• Underlines the value of a liberal arts education in understanding God’s total revelation
• Theological Construct
• The statement or conclusion that is the result of our process of doing theology
• Theological Systems
• The interrelated set of theological constructs that together form a comprehensive and integrated approach to systematic theology.