7. Beginning to think about it

Thinking is actually hard work.

Now it doesn't look like it is, because you do a lot of it sitting down, and you don't sweat much doing it. You don't get callouses anywhere, and you don't put your back out for the most part.

But it is hard. Done properly, thinking is exhausting. That's why we watch TV - because it is like we are having someone else do out thinking for us.

Why am I telling you this? Because you need to treat your brain well if you are going to get the most out if it for your essay. It is like any other part of your body, and needs to be rested and exercised for it to operate at its best. And sometimes, in order to get our brain going, we use that extra kick of stress that an approaching deadline brings. It focuses our attention on a task and we switch into action mode.

There's a whole theology essay to be written about the way in which we have thought of our 'minds' as somehow separate from our bodies and expected them to work as something machine like, and how we forget that our minds are affected by tiredness, depression, age, lack of sleep, caffeine and boredom just as our bodies are. But I won't give you that here. Suffice it to say: your mind is a part of your body and you need to cultivate it as you cultivate your body to get the most out of it.

Let me plead with you here. If you are addicted to using adrenaline to get your tasks done and your deadlines met, could you consider weaning yourself off it? Trouble is, you may have done perfectly well throughout your academic career till now by getting that buzz and watching your fingers burn up the keyboard. You stoke up the espresso machine, sit down at your desk and go from zero to three thousand in a few hours.

But the results won't be what they could be. And you won't teach yourself to think at depth. You won't allow your thinking to reach a maturity that this subject - the knowledge of God deserves. And - let me be even more guilt-inducing - it isn't what the people of God deserve from you either. You might be good at winging it, but (speaking as a winger of it from way back) it won't be nearly as good as you could produce otherwise.

So the point is this: get your brain whirring on this topic as soon as you possibly can. An hour spent on the essay eight weeks out from the deadline will be worth three hours the week before. My experience is that the subconscious part of your brain will work in the background for you. And you will be alerted to pick up references, thoughts and ideas as you go around doing other things, too. (Which is why I find quantifying time spent on an assignment almost completely meaningless - do I count the ten minutes I spent thinking about it while I was having a shower, or on hold to the help desk in Bangalore?)

In the process of thinking about a project, time off not thinking about it can be as productive as time on. So (and this should be true for you in your whole programme of education) do not neglect holidays or weekends or talking to your spouse. Don't give up exercise, or, talk it up if you haven't already. The best thing for your essay maybe consistent exercise, because it will clear your mind and reduce that flustered feeling stress brings.

So that's why I advise choosing your question as early as possible and then spending an hour brainstorming almost immediately.

And how should you begin to that? Once you have analysed the question and decided what it is that you are being asked to do, there are two vital next steps. The first of these is to ask 'what kind of response to the question might I give here?' The second is 'do I need to clarify or define any part of the question so I don't go wrong?'

The first thing to do is to imagine what possible ways of responding there might be. This is hypothetical exercise because as yet you won't be sure of the answer to the question, naturally. You may have some inklings - fine. Note them down. But the vital thing is to turn the question into a potential thesis statement, or line of argument.

You should do this by doing what our English teachers used to tell us when we were doing 'comprehension' exercises. Now I hated these, but teachers always wanted us to use 'full sentence answers' - by which they meant, turn the question into a statement with an answer in it. Here's an example:

How is it that all human beings may be said to share in the sin of Adam?

You should write something like: 'All human beings may be said to share in the sin of Adam because ... ' and then try to complete the sentence. Does anything come to mind? Can you think of some possibilities? 'All human beings share in the sin of Adam because'... hmm...what about.. 'they are all share his genetic inheritance'? It doesn't matter at this stage if you haven't got much to say, but the exercise forces you to recognise what kind of thing you are looking for.

And your suggested, sketched out answer will perhaps suggest the need for some further thought and clarification of the ideas. How do we know about this? What alternative proposals immediately spring to mind?

And this leads to the second step. And this is where you need to do some preliminary quick reading and compile some possible avenues of inquiry, just to orient yourself. At this stage, theology dictionary articles, wikipedia and even plain old Google are your friend. Remember, this is just getting your head in the right place for now, not detailed research.

Wikipedia, did I hear you say? But we've been told not to use wikipedia! Quite right, too. Don't use wikipedia in your actual reading on a topic. But wikipedia is a remarkable and quick source for the basic facts you will need to orient yourself to a topic and clear up any misunderstandings or bewilderments. I have spoken with professional journalists who use wikipedia to orient themselves in this way without ever making it their definitive source. Who is Jurgen Moltmann? What is 'providence'? What was Arianism?

Right. What you need to do now is find a blank piece of paper or a whiteboard and simply brainstorm.

About which more next time.

6b. Analysing the question

Another way of analyzing the question is to find the ‘question’ word – is it a ‘why’, a ‘how’, ‘what’, ‘when’ or even ‘who’? The first three deserve some reflection. Why questions are asking you to locate a cause or purpose. Thus the classic essay question -

Why did God become man?

asks you to trace both the causes and the purpose of the incarnation of the Son of God (and you need to talk to Athanasias and Anselm by the way!).

What questions appear to be asking you to describe something:

What is the impact of Arianism for Christian teaching about salvation?

The danger here is that you will just tell me something and not show it to me. Remember, you are being asked to display the higher level skills on Dr Bloom’s chart. Summary and description aren’t enough.

How questions are asking you to talk about the way in which something is done – to examine the inner workings of an event or an argument. The event or argument is often a ‘given’ of the question. Take this for example:

How is it that all human beings may be said to share in the sin of Adam?

You are encouraged to assume that all humans do share in Adam’s sin, and to explain how this is. You could challenge the presupposition of the question of course, but that’s a high-risk strategy.

The next thing you need to figure out is the reference point or context against which you are supposed to make your evaluation. Once again, this can be quite explicitly stated, or it may be that you have to infer it from the question yourself. Either way, you need a yardstick against which you are going to judge the issue. What are your criteria, in other words?

Take our first sample question:

Evaluate the arguments for and against universalism, with special reference to the work of Jurgen Moltmann.

Forget Jurgen Moltmann for a moment. You have been asked to evaluate two opposing sides to a question – that of universalism. But according to… what criteria? The question doesn’t say, so you are going to have to supply the criteria. But you can assume that, in theology, the usual criteria is faithfulness to Scripture and to the norms of good theological thinking that your institution or college have set forward. Is it Biblical? Is it orthodox? Is it coherent? These would be important reference points to keep in mind. But also, it is a comparative question, asking for you to lay two alternatives side by side.

Here’s another question:

Is ‘conscious eternal torment’ the only sound Biblical and theological description of the nature of hell?

In this instance there are given reference points against which you are to evaluate the particular position – the Bible, and ‘theology’. Note that in this instance, you aren’t being asked to come with a new argument as much as to evaluate a pre-existing one.

Now what about this one:

To what extent did the Eternal Son ‘empty himself’ of his divine nature when he came to earth?

‘To what extent’ gives you a evaluative action to do: how far does this proposal run, as you see it? But what’s the reference point here? By what standard are you going to measure the ‘extent’? It may be that you are going to have to articulate the reference point in your answer.

One thing’s worth adding here. It’s a theology essay in the context of a course called ‘Doctrine’ or ‘Theology’. The questions make sense when seen in the history and practice of this discipline. For example the scare quotes in the ‘conscious eternal torment’ question are there because this is language that has been used in a debate going back some centuries. You are being invited to join this debate. Likewise, when mention is made of ‘the doctrine of justification’, the assumption is that there is such a thing available to analyse and debate. And there is – in the history of Christian thought. Or, a specific thinker might be named – such as ‘Jurgen Moltmann’. That’s a pretty obvious way of reminding you that you are engaging in a conversation that has been going on a long while already. So what you need to do is to locate your question in the context of the theological conversation that is already there. (I’ll talk a bit more about joining the conversation later on.)

Having asked yourself what you are being asked to do, it is now time to look at the specific content of the question. You’ll quickly observe that essay questions take all kinds of forms:

a) Evaluate Calvin’s claim that “Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists.”

b) Is there any sense in which can say that ‘the world is charg’d with the grandeur of God?’ (G.M. Hopkins). Answer with regard to the doctrine of revelation.

c) With regard to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, and in the light of the effect of sin on human understanding, in what sense (if any) can it be said that Scripture is clear?

The questions are padded out in a variety of ways. Often a quotation is added to the question. You have to decide whether the quotation is an integral part of the question or whether it is just there for aesthetic purposes. In question a) above, the quote from Calvin is the very thing you are supposed to be evaluating. Note, too, that it is specifically labeled as Calvin’s claim: that is, you are being invited not only to engage with the proposition on its own terms but as a claim made by the theologian John Calvin, as part of his thought. You’d be right to try and locate the quotation in context and to engage with Calvin’s thought more broadly (though the question is not asking for a history lesson, but an analysis don’t forget).

But in question b) uses a quote from the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins. And very nice it is too. But the question itself gives you enough indications that you are not supposed to give an analysis of Hopkins’ thought, fascinating though that would be. In fact, you can answer the question without ever having heard of Hopkins.

Question c) offers you a specific frame of reference for your analysis of the proposition ‘Scripture is clear’. The markers want to help you by pointing you to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the effects of sin on human knowing. The question could have stood alone in the form -

In what sense (if any) can it be said that Scripture is clear?

But you have been given specific directives as to the shape of your answer here. You can’t avoid them.

What about this monster:

'The church will stay on mission as it reflects deeply on the sacraments as gospel dramas where the Word is spoken and made visible, and where the blessings of life with the triune God brought to us through the Word made flesh, who died for our sin and rose for our new life, are lived out faithfully in the sacramental community of the Spirit to the glory of God the Father.'

How may we adequately conceive of the nature and role of sacraments in ecclesiology?

These questions, in my experience, drive students absolutely batty. You have a long and complicated – and unnamed – quotation which is placed above a question with no given connection to it. What are you to do with the quotation?

Students will overcomplicate things at this stage and try and locate the quotation and interact specifically with it. But there is no directive in the question that asks you to do anything. The best thing to do is to see the quotation as a piece of stimulus material. The question itself is what should absorb your attention. The quotation (I would make reference to it, or incorporate some mention of it just to be sure) is not the main business.

So to summarise:

Ask yourself:

1. What higher level task am I being asked to do, explicitly or implicitly?

2. Am I being asked to find a cause or a purpose, or trace a connection, or describe something?

3. What is the measure I am being asked to use, explicitly or implicitly?

4. Where is my question located in the context of the ongoing theological conversation?

5. Are there any extra features of the question that I have to take into account?

6a. Analysing the Question

Right. Prayers said, question chosen. What now?

Your mind has already started ticking about the question and perhaps some ideas have started running around in your head in no particular organised fashion. This is not bad, this chaos. One of the things you have to realise with this thinking work your are doing is that your brain is an organism and is organised like an organism not like something designed by Steve Jobs, made in China and sold for an incredible mark-up. You have to coax it into working for you. But it will work for you in unexpected ways and at times that you won't be ready for it and necessarily conscious of what is happening (or even, actually, conscious at all. That's why we say 'sleep on it'.)

But you do need to look more closely at the actual question and ask what it is really about. We all know what a crime it is to not answer the question. So it is good to figure out what the question is actually asking you to do, so that you do that and not some other thing.

Here's the first thing to look for: the verb. What is it asking you to do. And here I'll let you into a little secret. A while ago - 1956 it was a man named Benjamin Bloom thought far too hard about this sort of thing and came up with 'Bloom's taxonomy' of educational goals. That is: he listed a whole bunch of skills that educators like to get students to show they have: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. All of these are important, but the scale increases in complexity from knowledge through to evaluation. And it is the last three of these that educators in the tertiary education are especially interested in assessing.

So, your research essay will most often couched in terms of (if not in the words of) analysis, synthesis and evaluation. These are the skills that you are supposed to be showing. Sure, you will need to know stuff, and understand it. But you need to pay attention to where the question is asking you to attend to one of these higher order skills.

But there's a trap. Sometimes a question doesn't explicitly ask you to do one of these things. Never mind: do them anyway. Shape the question to fit these goals. Be sure that you will be assessed according to how will you did them, whether the question directly asks you to or not. Believe me here.

Take this question for example:

Evaluate the arguments for and against universalism, with special reference to the work of Jurgen Moltmann.

This is pretty straightforward: the verb is evaluate. What does that mean? It means weigh up; give a value to. Make a judgement. How good are the arguments on both sides?

But what about this question:

What is the nature and extent of progress in the Christian life?

Now you can immediately see that there is no verb asking you to do anything at all here. But you still need to ask: what is the question asking me to evaluate/synthesise/analyse? Where is my judgement being called for? In this instance, the question is asking you to analyse the concept of progress in the Christian life and then make an informed judgement as to extent. That's going to take some synthesising and evaluating, isn't it?

(to be continued)

5. Choosing the Question

The common practice of colleges is to provide a list of questions – perhaps six or so – from which the students may choose. Doubtless they do this to stop the markers dying of boredom and to make sure that library resources are evenly spread amongst students. Good reasons, perhaps: but it adds a layer of decision-making to the whole process which may cause you some stress – especially if you are one of those people who can never decide what colour socks to wear in the morning.

And the truth of the matter is that this is one of those decisions you are going to make that you have to make without fully knowing what it will look like at the end of the process. It’s a bit like getting married: you have to sort of guess on the basis of the piecemeal information you have what is going to work out best. And there’s years to regret the decision if it is made poorly. (Of course, the analogy breaks down in several obvious ways. There’s no party when you choose your essay topic. Your friends won’t give you presents. And… OK, maybe it was a rubbish analogy to begin with.)

But still: you are going to spend (well I hope!) a lot of hours wedded to this question – and not to some other possibly very interesting and worthwhile questions - so the decision is worth taking carefully.

Cast your eye over the list of essay questions. What immediately interests you? Usually, you will get a quick sense of what topic area a question is addressing, and you may have a sense already of a topic area that interests you. Perhaps a particular topic has been smoldering away in your mind for a while. Or perhaps you can immediately see how an issue will have benefits for your ministry. It might be that several of the questions have this effect. Asterisk them.

But it is worth looking a little more closely. It could be that the topic is of interest to you, but that the question is angled in a particular way so as to take it out of your frame of interest. I often speak with students who say, a couple of weeks in to the assignment, ‘I thought the essay was a question that was going to help me resolve x, but actually it has drawn me to y.’ Or, worse: I have marked essays that have been addressed to a vague topic area, say ‘the doctrine of election’, but not to the specific question about the doctrine of election, say ‘in what sense is Christ ‘the mirror of our election’ (John Calvin). We’ll talk about analyzing the question later; but it is worth noting that a topic and a question are somewhat different beasts and need to be held in separate cages in the zoo of your mind. Or they’ll fight, honest.

Now, a couple of more things are worth taking into account here. Many students will ask themselves quite straightforwardly ‘which essay is the easiest’? This is entirely understandable, especially if you have a low opinion of yourself as a student, or if you are not used to essay writing. But beware: the question that seems easiest may not be at all. Most students are attracted to a more general question – the kind of question that is asked in familiar terms and which appears to allow you scope to repeat information you already know or at least have a hunch you might know where to find. Here’s an example of such a question:
Discuss the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

This seems like a real gimme putt, to use a golfing term; or an open goal in football terms. Once when I was in primary school, in my only game as a striker for the senior soccer team, the ball popped over the defenders’ heads, leaving me in the clear bearing down on an open goal with the keeper out of his area. I vividly remember stabbing at the ball with my toe and watching it veer off wildly in the direction of the corner flag.

This could happen with this apparently easy essay. Why? Because it is vague. It looks like all you have to do is really simple. But it is actually asking you to do all the work in framing a response. ‘Discuss’ is a word that should alarm you – because it could mean almost anything. There is no frame of reference given in the question. It is actually a badly asked question in educational terms – but your teachers are fallible and you see this sort often enough, alas. The vagueness of the question will lead to the vagueness of your answer unless you are very careful.

So: don’t just try to choose the easiest. Usually that is impossible to tell, and the easiest-looking one usually isn’t. And it is a wasted opportunity to stretch yourself, too.

My advice would also be not to choose a topic because it is an opportunity to address a current church controversy – women’s ministry, or charismatic gifts, for example. It is good to think about these questions, of course! But inevitably, as a marker I find that these essays are skewed by feelings and polemics and tend to fall short of the mark as pieces of academic theological thinking. What’s more, controversies tend to pass in time. Will it still be an issue of such fundamental importance in ten years time? In the end, giving your time and your mind to an issue more at the heart of the theological enterprise is likely to equip you better to respond to controversy in any case.

It is worth getting a sense for what your class mates might doing. I am tempted to feed your cynicism here and say this is because it is easier to stand out in a smaller crowd – so choose the question that no-one else appears to be doing because you’ll get a better mark. But there two good reasons to consider what others are doing. First, it may be that library resources are limited and that you’ll do everyone a favour by attempting the question that is standing by looking desperate and dateless. Second, it’s because there could be a good chance for some collaborative learning and there are people who are doing this question who’d you like to work with. I’ll say some more about working with other students a bit later – it’s a practice which has obvious advantages but some hidden disadvantages.

But above all: go with something that interests you. It could be that you are intrigued and can’t imagine yet what an answer might be. It could be that you are going have an opportunity to read the work of a great theologian whose work you haven’t read before. It could be that you already have a sense of what the answer might be and you’re itching to put it down on paper. If none of the questions interests you, I don’t know what to suggest – but why are studying theology?!

POSTSCRIPT
In some circumstances you may be invited to make up your own question. It might be a final year project, or a later-year course in which a general topic area is given. For some students this is the worst thing in the world – it brings out all their vices of indecision. They can never settle on a topic or on a question within that topic. If this is you: I don’t know quite what to suggest except for make a decision and stick with it!!! I can’t help you more than that really!

But the trick here is to narrow it down. You aren’t writing a PhD. Most students are far too ambitious in what they propose. If you have a big question you are intent on answering, see yourself as just taking a slice off the top of it rather than doing the whole thing. Focus is what you want – you need to make space for yourself to mount a plausible argument and to marshal the necessary evidence. So for example: Evaluate the traditional doctrine of original sin would make a great book. It is possible to write something pretty good in a few thousand words on this. But why not make it: Evaluate Augustine’s doctrine of original sin? This gets you to focus on a particular set of texts rather than a potentially enormous array of materials.

4. The Responsibility of Theology

You may be impatient to get on with it now. After all, there's a deadline looming, and lots to do.

But I want to slow it down a little and ask you to consider something vital about the whole nature of this piece of attempted thinking in which you are about to engage. Theology is a unique science because it has as its object the holy God himself. That means that, even though the theology essay is an academic exercise, it is not by any means a merely academic exercise.

It's God we are dealing with here. Take off your shoes, we might say. You are walking on holy ground.

The object of this study dwells in unapproachable light. 'Our God is a consuming fire', and not a creature whose biorhythms and mating habits we might study. And our God has spoken, in the past by the prophets, and finally and decisively in the person of his Son, who is the exact imprint of his being.

How could we hope to say anything that isn't a blasphemy? How could we hope to say anything that isn't, at least potentially, the making of an idol?

And yet, the guts of the matter is that a word has been spoken; and that God has invited human beings to repeat and explain and explore this word, to 'take every thought captive' in his service.

What this means for theology - and for your theology essay - is that it must be humble before its object and responsible to it. If any verse is to be the theologian's motto it is 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom'. If you do not fear the Lord, that what, may I ask, are you doing studying theology? There are theology students who have embarked on the study of theology as a matter of mere interest, perhaps because they are struck by the breadth of the intellectual challenge before them. They may be fascinated by theology, even devoted to it. But if they are not devoted to God, then theology has itself become a false god. An interest in theology for its own sake is a perversion of the true end of theology - which is not just to know about God, but to know him and make him known.

And that means being responsible - in the sense of answerable - to it. The Lord whom we are called to fear is the judge of all. There is no trifling with this God! And he has spoken. Whatever thoughts we may have are after the fact of this speech. The criteria for successful theology is quite simply 'is it faithful to God's own revelation of himself?' For you that means that you ought to have no truck with playing intellectual games in your essay. You have no business simply showing off your intellectual brilliance. One of the worst temptations of the theological student is the temptation innovate for its own sake - to revel in the high of sublime ideas for their own sake. I confess that this is sometimes my own temptation: ideas are delightful, the life of the mind scintillating and the consequences truly dreadful.

Can a bad person do good theology? I was once in a master's seminar with Professor Oliver O'Donovan where he posed this question. Of course, the answer is "I really hope so" because there are no other kinds of human person. But O'Donovan had in mind as 'bad' the person who really had no fear of God at all, and who showed in his or her life only disregard and even contempt for God. He confessed that he had encountered such people - and, I regret to say, so have I. They may do brilliant intellectual work. But it is not good theology.

Those who write theology are not only limited creatures, but are sinful, and they stand before a holy God. And that is why they must start their work with prayer. They really have no other option. They must ask for God's help - they must start with this humble act, and submit their intellects to his service.

Here's what they might pray:

Father of all wisdom, I praise you that in your Son Jesus Christ you have made yourself known to men and women: enlighten and guide me by your Holy Spirit as I begin this work; help me in my weakness to think truly about you and in my pride to be humble before you; keep me from falsehood, and make me your servant in the building of your church; in the name of your Son by whose death and resurrection we have new life to the praise of your glorious grace: Amen.

And that prayer includes a final thought: that theology that begins with prayer will be done in the service of God and his people. There ought to be nothing self-indulgent about theological study. I trust you have begun your course of study in theology because you want to serve God's people, in whatever way. Your study will no doubt be of enormous spiritual benefit to you. But it will, I pray, be of enormous benefit to the church, too.

Does that make a difference to your approach to your theology essay? I most certainly hope it does. Not because anyone other than the marker will ever read it necessarily! But because this essay is an opportunity to know God better so that you might make him known more truly. It doesn't mean you will choose the most 'relevant' topic, or the most contentious, or the most obviously pastoral. It doesn't mean you will 'dumb down' your answer. The opposite in fact: you should be motivated to do as thorough a job as possible, because you are seeking to serve God and his people - humble before him, responsible to his revelation of himself, and seeking the benefit of others in what you do.


POSTSCRIPT

Because of its object - God - theology makes particular demands on its students. But in making these demands, it actually can teach other fields of study about how they should go about their work. There is an ethics, or a spirituality of theological study. And so there ought to be with any subject. The kind of faithfulness to its object that theology requires ought to present in every field. Just as theology treats its object as holy and seeks to known it on its own terms - God as he reveals himself - so any discipline ought to revere its object and seek to serve it. The worst kind of academic work is found when the things that are studied become merely the tools in some kind of intellectual game. This certainly happened somewhat in the field of literary studies, in which I received my early training. The great literary works disappeared from university courses and were replaced by a plethora of options for study including an emphasis on literary theory.

I am not against literary theory. But to study it as a study in and of itself seems to perpetuate a circle of self-indulgence - and to prove that much of it is not designed to say anything about literary texts, but rather to focus our attention elsewhere. You can't known something properly without in some way humbling yourself before it. This is as true for physics or history as it is for theology.

3. What is a Theology Essay?

Try. Have a go.

That's what an essay actually is - an attempt. The word 'essay' comes from the French word 'essayer', which means 'to try'. We owe the term to the Frenchman Michel de Montaigne who, in 1580, published a book of 'essais'. Englishman Francis Bacon turned his hand to a few 'essais' a couple of decades afterwards, thereby bringing the idea of the essay accross the English channel.

But let's be under no illusions: the kind of thing Montaigne and Bacon wrote is not what you are being asked to write. More's the pity, too: those kinds of essays were exploratory in nature and elegant in style. It wasn't necessarily meant to persuade you of anything. Montaigne and Bacon noodled around, but it was a pleasure to watch them as they noodled. I am sorry, but if you submit a Bacon style essay you almost certainly will not do very well, though you may have more fun.

The form of the undergraduate essay in the humanities in most Western educational institutions has emerged because, in the Western way of thinking about learning, we value independence of thought and the ability to argue a case. Being asked to write an essay in the West is an invitation to state a thesis and defend a position - and to offer that as your own.

It's a notion that comes from a legal way of seeing the world, in which you get at the truth in a rather combatative way - you need to take sides. That's how Western law courts work - you have lawyers who try to persuade a jury (or a judge) to believe one construal of the evidence.

Now, it is worth saying that there are of course other ways of getting at the truth - and these other ways may even be superior to the legal model. Granted. But the persuasive essay does have many benefits to it for the student. It forces you to organise your thoughts, for one. It also requires you to read deeply in one subject area. I clearly remember each of my undergraduate theology essays as landmarks in my education. Thinking is hard work, and a theology essay helps you to think.

I emphasise that it is a Western way of thinking for a reason. If you are from a non-Western background, it may be that you have become accustomed to an educational model whose emphasis is on internalising knowledge delivered by authorised instructors. However strange it may seem, the point of exercise is to express your own informed opinion, and not someone else's. It may also be a difficult point to grasp if your previous tertiary training has been in science or engineering - disciplines in which originality of thought only gets you into trouble! But the tradition of the 'humanities' prizes the freshness of the perspective as a sign that the discipline is being internalised.

Things are not quite as straightfoward as this in theology, however. Of course, in theological thinking there is a body of recognised and authoritative truths to which a writer is accountable. Theology is not the same as, say, literary criticism, in which there are no wrong answers but only bad arguments. Nevertheless, theology is one of the 'humanities' (actually, it is 'divinity', but that's another matter). It is composed of sub-disciplines like history, languages, and the interpretation of texts - all of them literary disciplines. So it makes sense to assess theology in the same way that those subjects are usually assessed.

What of originality? Well, yes, in the practise Christian theology originality may be a vice rather than a virtue. Novelty as a principle does not bring the truth to light. I think theological essayists should reckon with this: faithfulness to the sources in front of you is as important as freshness. But it is still the case that there are many ways to express and articulate and respond to the great truths expressed in Christian orthodoxy. There may also be fresh ways to show the interconnection of these truths. So I am not willing to let go of originality as a principle so long as it is counterbalanced by a humility that says 'I must be true to the object of my study here'.

What makes a theology essay different is its purpose. The object of the theology essay is to say true things about God. Even when you are asked about something that is not God - creation, for example - the theology essay has to tell us something about God, or it is not a theology essay.

To do that it has to focus, naturally, on where God is made known to us. For evangelical theology students, that place is Holy Scripture. So, there will be a lot of Bible in a theology essay (though more about the role of Scripture in your essay later). Even so, it is important to distinguish the theology essay as a type from, say, the New Testament essay, whose goal is to tell us what the New Testament teaches. The two goals overlap of course. But whereas the New Testament essay tells us what a text says, the theology essay attempts to tell us what, when all is said and done, we may say about God himself.

To do that, the theological essayist needs to focus on concepts. Ideas. Thoughts. They are funny things, ideas: they aren't objects in the world like chairs and tables and laboratory rats. And they aren't events that can be accessed through witnesses. (Now theology in fact involves objects and events as it turns out - but it is primarily the thinking about them as ideas and in terms of the ideas that spring from them that involves you, the would-be essayist. But more of that later).

But it is more than just 'ideas' that are your concern. You are being asked to order ideas, in the form of an argument. How are the ideas connected? How do they relate? What do they amount to in the end? What are the implications of this connection of concepts?

That's why it is important for the student to realise that the theological essay does not merely summarise the teaching of scripture on a given subject. It is not a Bible dictionary article. It does that summative task, sure: but it does more. That's what makes it a challenge. One of the things that the theological essayist has to reckon with is that her chief source, Scripture, is composed of a variety of different types of literature only some of which look at all like the piece of writing she is attempting to compose herself. And Scripture doesn't explicitly answer all the theological questions that might be asked of her. The theology essay will hopefully distill, synthesize and extrapollate the teaching of Scripture.

It will distill it in that it will articulate what the whole of Scripture teaches with as much clarity as possible. It will synthesize in that it will look at the diversity of Scripture and try to find its points of coherence. It will extrapollate in that it will make explict what is merely implicit in the Bible, or make connections where the connections have not been articulated.

So, to summarize: remember a theology essay is an invitation to express an argument of your own. It's about God. And it will contain ideas.

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.

1: How not to lose heart before you start

I recently competed in a marathon. Doesn't every middle aged man who can't afford a Porsche do this? In the months leading up to the event, it was certainly easy to say 'hey, I'm running a marathon' and bask in the glory of the unattempted and unachieved with that little inner smug feeling.

It was quite another to stare down the hard tarmac on a warm Sydney morning and imagine pounding it for some four hours (more like five as it turned out). Some 20 kms in and everything in me was saying 'you can't do this, and you should stop now'.

A theology essay can feel an awful lot like that. If you don't feel just a little overwhelmed, then I don't think you have really grasped the size of the mountain you are being asked to climb. As I said in my previous post, a theology essay is a complex, multi-disciplinary entity involving a conversation with ancient and modern texts (oh, and all the stuff in the millennia in between). Knowledge of four or five languages would help. And the history, literature and philosophy of a number of cultures. Hardest of all, it is an exercise in thought. It asks you to think about concepts, and to nuance them.

Making the same point, the American theologian David Bentley Hart writes:

...theology requires a far great scholarly range than does any other humane science. The properly trained Christian theologian, perfectly in command of his materials, should be a proficient linguist, with a mastery of several ancient and modern tongues, should have a complete formation in the subtleties of the whole Christian dogmatic tradition, should possess a considerable knowledge of the texts and arguments produced in every period of the Church, should be a good historian, should be thoroughly trained in philosophy, ancient, medieval and modern, should have a fairly broad grasp of liturgical practice in every culture and age of the Christian world, should (ideally) possess considerable knowedge of literature, music and the plastic arts, should have an intelligent interest in the effects of theological discourse in areas such as law or economics, and so on and so forth. This is not to say that one cannot practice theology without these attainments; but such an education remains the scholarly ideal of the guild...

More of the nature of the theological task in a later post - but if even a genius like Hart finds it overwhelming (and I suspect he has most of the accomplishments that he lists) then what hope have we mere hackers? What is your little effort possibly going to contribute to the discussion of centuries? How can your attempt to wrestle with the question do it justice in any way at all given the gargantuan nature of the enterprise? These theological debates have been aged in centuries like a fine whiskey is aged in oak - and we are still drinking orange cordial.

But there's another thing. And it is that the task of serving Jesus and his people - which is why you signed up for theological study in the first place - seems a long way from this particular process. You aren't going to be writing essays for people who need to be show the love of Christ and to hear the good news. The slow train of the theology essay seems to take the long way around to the destination. How is it going to help me in my ministry?

I am here to tell you that a) it is going to help you enormously; b) even you can do it; and c) it may even be fun (bear with me here.).

a) the theology essay is your chance to spend serious time with your attention focused on an issue, question or problem in the knowledge of God that really matters. There is a kind of theological reasoning which is obsessed with abstract and irrelevant questions - the proverbial 'how many angels can dance on the head of a pin' question. The theologians of the Reformation period, however, insisted that theology properly done is an intensely practical discipline - not because it is really only concerned with what we should do, but because the knowledge of God is always relevant to the lives of men and women. There is, in fact, no more vital study than to know God and his benefits. Your essay is going to shape you as a servant of God's people and is going to benefit you in your own spiritual life - because to know God more deeply is the goal. The Elizabethan scholar William Perkins wrote:

Theology is the science of living blessedly for ever. Blessed life ariseth from the knowledge of God and therefore it ariseth likewise from the knowledge of ourselves, because we know God by looking into ourselves.

b) ...and you can do it. Now, I haven't met you, so I don't really know at one level whether you can do it or not. But one important conviction ought to sustain you here - and that is that the knowledge of God itself is not the domain only of the clever. Let Jesus's prayer in Matt 11:25 be your comfort: "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children." We are all gifted differently, and have had different educational and cultural backgrounds that make this process easy for some and less so for others. But whatever level you are at, there is a profound equality amongst Christians in terms of the knowledge of God - because this knowledge is a revealed and not a discovered knowledge. It is to that revelation of God in his Son Jesus Christ that we answer in our writing of theological essays.

That's not to say that an answer full of pious observations is what is looked for in a theology essay. You aren't writing a sermon, or a devotional reflection. That's a mistake of genre that some students make. But you aren't coming at this cold - you not only know, but you are known by the object of your study!

c) ...and yes, it can be fun. It's overwhelming, but - what a challenge! You are being asked to think alongside some of the most profound thinkers of all history - Augustine, Aquinas, Luther. You are being invited to scale the heights and see the panoranic view at the summit - but not to do it unassisted but alongside expert guides. You being challenged to grow as a knower of the knowledge of the God. You are being invited to hear unfamilar voices express familiar truths. Because theological thinking emerges from the Christian gospel, which addresses all human beings everywhere and everywhen, then the discipline of theology invites you to learn from what the Holy Spirit has taught Christian believers in places that you and I can't even locate on a map.

So: what are you waiting for?

How to Write a Theology Essay

So, you've signed up for your theological studies; you've weathered the storm of those early weeks of langauge study (and yes, it is still all Greek to me); you've coped with your early forays into biblical exegesis; and you've been given a sketch of the history of the early church. There's been some spiritual highs and some frustrating lows. You can see perhaps just the beginnings of the benefits of the process of theological education creeping into your ministry - such precious minutes of it as you can grab, anyway.

But sensing a deadline looming, you go to the relevant webpage on your seminary website (past all those smiling photos of students from minorities) and discover that a strange beast is lying in wait for you: the theology essay. It might look something like this:

With regard to the doctrine of election, on what basis may a Christian person have personal assurance of salvation?

or this:

What would be lost by denying that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was bodily?

You have been given 3,000 words in which to form an adequate response. Perhaps you are already aware of the impossibility of what is being asked, and your heart skips a beat. Whereas in, say, New Testament, there is a clear object to be studied - perhaps Paul, or John, or Colossians - here the object is an idea.

And the scope for answering the question is truly enormous. You have to integrate the whole teaching of Scripture with an awareness of the critical discussions that have been taking place on the matter in recent times; the two millennia of Christian thought lies on the table, running the whole gamut from Irenaeus to Miroslav Volf; you should have an awareness of philosophical challenges to the Christian view; some regard for the great creeds and confessions of the Church; and tie it all up in a tight and cogent argument.

How can anyone even begin to contemplate such a task?

I am hoping in the next series of posts to provide an apprentice's guide to the theological essay.

Here's the proposed outline:

1. What's the point? How not to lose heart before you start

2. What is 'theology' in any case? Isn't it just a summary of the Bible?

3. What is a theology essay?

4. Choosing the question

5. Analysing the question and framing a line of argument

6. How to read theology for essays, and what to read

7. Using the Bible in doing theology

8. Creeds and confessions

9. Standing on the shoulders of giants - and slaying some dragons: interacting with the tradition of Christian thought

10. Choose your enemies carefully - the practice of respectful disagreement

11. Contemporary theology and your essay

12. The place of philosophy and other disciplines

13. Finding people to talk with - making the most of the community experience

14. Three types of theological essay

15. The art of writing well in theological essays

16. Publishing your essay - why not?

17. Turning your theological essay into a sermon