Theology

Theology is the critical study of the nature of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divinity" title="Divinity">the divine</a>. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities, seminaries and schools of divinity.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-1">[1]</a>

(2) Theology is man's attempt to study God through ideas, beliefs, experiences and doctrines.

Theology translates into English from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language">Greek</a> theologia (θεολογία) which derived from Τheos (Θεός), meaning "God," and -logia (-λογία),<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-12">[12]</a> meaning "utterances, sayings, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle" title="Oracle">oracles</a>" (a word related to logos [λόγος], meaning "word, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse" title="Discourse">discourse</a>, account, or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasoning" class="mw-redirect" title="Reasoning">reasoning</a>") which had passed into Latin as theologia and into French as théologie. The English equivalent "theology" (Theologie, Teologye) had evolved by 1362.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-13">[13]</a> The sense the word has in English depends in large part on the sense the Latin and Greek equivalents had acquired in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patristics" title="Patristics">Patristic</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_theology#Medieval_Christian_theology" title="History of theology">medieval</a> Christian usage, though the English term has now spread beyond Christian contexts.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo" title="Augustine of Hippo">Augustine of Hippo</a> defined the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> equivalent, theologia, as "reasoning or discussion concerning the Deity";<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-Cityof-2">[2]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hooker" title="Richard Hooker">Richard Hooker</a> defined "theology" in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a> as "the science of things <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divinity" title="Divinity">divine</a>".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-3">[3]</a> The term can, however, be used for a variety of different disciplines or fields of study.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-4">[4]</a> Theologians use various forms of analysis and argument (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophical</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnography" title="Ethnography">ethnographic</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History" title="History">historical</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality" title="Spirituality">spiritual</a> and others) to help <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding" title="Understanding">understand</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explanation" title="Explanation">explain</a>, test, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique" title="Critique">critique</a>, defend or promote any of myriad <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_topics" class="mw-redirect" title="List of religious topics">religious topics</a>. Theology might be undertaken to help the theologian:

<ul>

<li>understand more truly their own religious <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradition" title="Tradition">tradition</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-5">[5]</a></li>

<li>understand more truly another religious tradition,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-6">[6]</a></li>

<li>make <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_religion" title="Comparative religion">comparisons</a> among religious traditions,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-7">[7]</a></li>

<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics" title="Apologetics">defend</a> or justify a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion" title="Religion">religious</a> tradition,</li>

<li>facilitate reform of a particular tradition,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-8">[8]</a></li>

<li>assist in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proselytism" title="Proselytism">propagation</a> of a religious tradition,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-9">[9]</a> or</li>

<li>draw on the resources of a tradition to address some present situation or need,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-10">[10]</a></li>

<li>draw on the resources of a tradition to explore possible ways of interpreting the world,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-11">[11]</a></li>

<li>explore the nature of divinity without reference to any specific tradition or</li>

<li>challenge (ex. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_criticism" title="Biblical criticism">biblical criticism</a>) or oppose (ex. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion" title="Irreligion">irreligion</a>) a religious tradition or the religious <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World-view" class="mw-redirect" title="World-view">world-view</a>.</li>

</ul>

The history of the study of theology in institutions of higher education is as old as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University#History" title="University">history</a> of such institutions themselves. For instance, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxila" title="Taxila">Taxila</a> was an early centre of Vedic learning, possible from the 6th century BC or earlier;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-33">[33]</a> the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_Academy" title="Platonic Academy">Platonic Academy</a> founded in Athens in the 4th century BC seems to have included theological themes in its subject matter;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-34">[34]</a> the Chinese <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taixue" title="Taixue">Taixue</a> delivered Confucian teaching from the 2nd century BC;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-35">[35]</a> the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Nisibis" title="School of Nisibis">School of Nisibis</a> was a centre of Christian learning from the 4th century AD;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-36">[36]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda" title="Nalanda">Nalanda</a> in India was a site of Buddhist higher learning from at least the 5th or 6th century AD;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-37">[37]</a> and the Moroccan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Al-Karaouine" class="mw-redirect" title="University of Al-Karaouine">University of Al-Karaouine</a> was a centre of Islamic learning from the 10th century,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-38">[38]</a> as was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_University" title="Al-Azhar University">Al-Azhar University</a> in Cairo.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#cite_note-39">[39]</a>

Theology

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