Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The study of the nature of God and religious truth; rational inquiry into religious questions.
- noun A system or school of opinions concerning God and religious questions.
- noun A course of specialized religious study usually at a college or seminary.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The science concerned with ascertaining, classifying, and systematizing all attainable truth concerning God and his relation to the universe; the science of religion; religious truth scientifically stated.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The science of God or of religion; the science which treats of the existence, character, and attributes of God, his laws and government, the doctrines we are to believe, and the duties we are to practice; divinity; (as more commonly understood) “the knowledge derivable from the Scriptures, the systematic exhibition of revealed truth, the science of Christian faith and life.”
- noun See
Ascetic ,Natural . - noun that phase of theology which is concerned with moral character and conduct.
- noun theology which is to be learned only from revelation.
- noun theology as taught by the scholastics, or as prosecuted after their principles and methods.
- noun theology as founded upon, or influenced by, speculation or metaphysical philosophy.
- noun that branch of theology of which the aim is to reduce all revealed truth to a series of statements that together shall constitute an organized whole.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The study of God, or a god, or gods, and the
truthfulness ofreligion in general. - noun An organized method of interpreting spiritual works and beliefs into practical form.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the rational and systematic study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truth
- noun a particular system or school of religious beliefs and teachings
- noun the learned profession acquired by specialized courses in religion (usually taught at a college or seminary)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word theology.
Examples
-
_theology_, and this theology is a continual insult to the reason of man.
Good Sense Paul Henri Thiry Holbach 1756
-
I was hired, worked there for eight years -- and decided to return to school, this time to get my Masters in theology from a Catholic institution.
Archive 2006-07-01 Heidi Hess Saxton 2006
-
I was hired, worked there for eight years -- and decided to return to school, this time to get my Masters in theology from a Catholic institution.
"Gee... This road looks awfully familiar..." Heidi Hess Saxton 2006
-
They strike me as being about how we practice as religious people, not about what we believe which, for my purposes, is the stress I'm laying on the term theology for this discussion.
Philocrites: News about UUA, Bay Area marketing campaigns. 2007
-
The atheist who refuses to engage in such projection may well be theologically more sophisticated - although, alas, the term theology is also tainted for so many of them, that they may not believe I mean this as a compliment!
Archive 2007-12-01 James F. McGrath 2007
-
The atheist who refuses to engage in such projection may well be theologically more sophisticated - although, alas, the term theology is also tainted for so many of them, that they may not believe I mean this as a compliment!
Theology And A Handshake James F. McGrath 2007
-
Fathers, strictly limiting the term theology to doctrine about God, distinguished it from the doctrine of His external activity, especially from the Incarnation and Redemption, which they included under the name of the "Divine economy".
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 14: Simony-Tournon 1840-1916 1913
-
I afterwards came to learn that the term theology was by them quite misunderstood, and that they had some crude conceptions that nothing was taught at Oxford but the black arts, which ridiculous idea prevailed over all the south of Scotland.
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg 1802
-
If by the term theology I understand the cognition of a primal being, that cognition is based either upon reason alone (theologia rationalis) or upon revelation (theologia revelata).
The Critique of Pure Reason Immanuel Kant 1764
-
I also heard a report that I am trying to track down that Clinton and Carter are going up against the Southern Baptists saying their theology is a bit too strict.
Sound Politics: "Ample provision" is a function of both funding and expenses 2007
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.