Professor Vanhoozer first alleges that Hodge presupposes a subject-object dichotomy in which the mind observes mind-independent facts in which the situation of the interpreter is irrelevant. So though the word 'hypothesis' may be absent, the idea of a hypothesis tested by the facts is clearly present, as we have just seen. The direction of theological reasoning is bottom up: from biblical foundations to doctrinal formulation. The largest and most trusted library of audio sermons from conservative churches and ministries worldwide. This is part of a discussion about the scientific character of theology, about whether, following Schleiermacher, the subject matter of theology ought to be the scientific study of human religious states.

This is part of a book in which various contemporary theologians of broadly Reformed sympathies sketch out their agendas for reformingtheology (by Scripture, one presumes). Using these principles the Christian theologian must 'ascertain, collect and combine all the facts which God has revealed concerning himself and our relation to Him'. It is the fundamental principle of all sciences, and of theology among the rest, that theory is to be determined by facts, and not facts by theory.So besides facts, Scripture, especially the Pauline epistles, also provides us with portions of systematic theology. So, I heartily recommend to you this three-volume work from the 1870s, Hodge's Systematic Theology, written by the second professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Charles Hodge. Is there a sharply defined division between the subject, the human senses and intellect, and the object, the data of Scripture? More Hamburger icon An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. As Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature, Hodge’s primary responsibility was instruction in biblical languages, hermeneutics, biblical criticism, and study of Old Testament texts.

The idea that Hodge plays down or dismisses theories, and allows that anyone can be a systematic theologian simply by assembling the facts of Scripture, without courting the danger of having those facts distorted by false theories, is a major misunderstanding. But it is also a Scriptural fact that ignorance and intellectual progress, as well as omniscience, are ascribed to our Lord. Whether asserting such things 'runs the risk of neglecting the larger canonical context and literary form of the biblical "facts", perhaps the inevitable result of biblical empiricism', as Vanhoozer claims, (p.

I rather fancy that Hodge, who was something of a Bible commentator, was appraised of the different literary forms of the Scripture, capable of distinguishing between parables, narratives and wisdom literature, and the literal from the metaphorical.

Unique among systematic theologies, the last two volumes are almost entirely devoted to sanctification, covering topics like contentment, self-denial, patience, and prayer. Anthony Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (1986), Saved by Grace (1989), The Bible and the Future (1979).

Systematic Theology is not a concatenation of the scattered theological data furnished by the exegetic process; it is the combination of the already concatenated data given to it by Systematic Theology. In a Christian view of Scripture ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself’ is consistent with ‘God created the heavens and the earth’ and ‘Our God is a consuming fire’, and it is the task of the systematic theologian, as far as he is able, to display this consistency. Second, that Hodge is said to work with a 'dichotomy' between fact and theory, not taking any account of the theory-ladenness of data. From this it was inferred that He could not have had a finite intelligence, but that the Logos was clothed in Him with a human body with its animal life. In fact, what Hodge does is he'll set up a theological problem, he'll present the different views, and then he'll say, “But the best way to think about this theological issue is in the words of Turretin,” or in the words of some other theologian, and then he will quote the Latin.

Nor does Hodge say that the theologian must authenticate the truths of the Bible, which are not truths until he authenticates them. For example, to the essential distinction between right and wrong, that sin deserves punishment, and other similar first truths, 'which God has implanted in the constitution of all moral beings, and which no objective revelation can possibly contradict'.This paper is intended as neither an attack nor a defence of Hodge, but only as an effort to put the record straight. Whether in these ways Hodge succeeds in avoiding a 'subject-object dichotomy' is not clear, because the term itself is not clear. Kevin DeYoung (PhD, University of Leicester) is senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina, and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte). Additional publications on the relationship between Christianity and science, and a collection of essays delivered at the Sabbath Afternoon Conferences (published by the Trust as Princeton Sermons), served to further confirm the breadth of his academic competency and the depth of his Christian piety.