2. What is theology in any case?

I remember my Chemistry teacher in my second year of high school very well. I remember him because he used to say things in a thick Egyptian accent like 'you late, I chop your head'.

He also said, with the all intensity of a prophet, 'chemistry - is - life'.

I was no scientist. But it was one of those exciting moments when the teacher of a certain discipline makes an impossibly grand claim for his subject to the extent that actually all the other piffling subjects on your timetable seem like excuses to fill in the days until the real business comes around. History, English, Music, Art - these were all reducible in the end to Chemistry.

Teachers of theology can often seem guilty of making this kind of exorbitant claim for their discipline over and against the other things that clutter up the timetables of the typical seminary course. But they have a great deal of difficulty explaining to students what theology actually is.

To be fair, almost any subject you can name labours under the difficulty of defining itself. If you ever want to see a nerd fight, ask a bunch of historians or physicists what 'history' or 'physics' is. You'll have a room full of torn corduroy in no time.

But this definitional problem doesn't help you much if you are supposed to be attempting to write a piece called a 'theology essay'. And it might be matched by your own scepticism about the value of theology as a subject. Many evangelical undergraduates seem unconvinced about even the need for a thing called 'theology' in the first place. If you have a high view of the Scriptures as the Word of God, then isn't the study of the Bible the last station on the line?

We are rightly suspicious of grand theological systems that force the square pegs of Scripture into the round holes of reason. We are rightly appalled by the way in which theology can be a device for avoiding the plain meaning of the text. But these are abuses of theology – and do not describe its proper practice.

So what is it? Here’s my working definition:

‘Theology’ is the name we give to that activity of the mind which seeks to give a coherent and intelligible articulation of the truth about God and his relation to the world, drawn from the scriptures and addressed to our contemporaries.

Notice, first, that it is a species of reason, subject to the Word of God (‘coherent and intelligible…drawn from the scriptures’). That is, theology attempts to be coherent and intelligible - to make sense. It is a work of the mind, understanding that the mind is God-given and that every thought ought to be taken captive. But it is a special form of reason, which acknowledges the moral limitations of the human mind corrupted as it is by sin. As such, it follows the peculiar, distinctive and sometimes surprising shape of the Word of God; and so it is properly understood as “exegetical reason”, as Professor John Webster of Aberdeen puts it.

Secondly, Christian theology is a form of speech (‘…articulation of the truth’). It is a verbal form, reliant on words, the stuff of communication. Its instruments are words. While theology itself teaches us to be wary of the slipperiness of words, it also gives us heart: words are indeed capable of becoming the vehicle of God’s self-communication, and the means by which we can communicate about God.

Thirdly, Christian theology has a particular subject matter: it is about God and his deeds (‘the truth about God and his relation to the world’). That is, it is evangelical. The content of theology is ‘merely’ a reiteration - an expanded reiteration - of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Theological thinking may provide us with a point of view on any number of subjects, but it will not be true to itself if it does not relate it to the promises of God declared to mankind and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

If it is evangelical, then, fourthly, it is also evangelistic (‘about God and his relation to the world… addressed to our contemporaries’). That is to say, the purpose of Christian theology is to speak these words in the hearing of the world, inviting people near and far to submit to the Lordship of Christ Jesus. Christian theology that is true to its task does not fold in on itself and relate itself endlessly to irresolvable speculations. Neither is it merely antiquarian: theology relates itself to today, to here and to now. Truly Christian theology serves as a call to repent and believe to which a contemporary person may respond. This has to be the case, because as Christian theology – words about the God of Christian scripture – it must share his concern for the lost and have in view his eternal purposes.

Theology – is – life.