Beacon dictionary of theology

For Further Reading: Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines; Michalson, Worldly Theology, chap. 3.

Leon O. Hynson THEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY. See

systematic theology.

THEOLOGY. Theology may be defined as a systematic explanation of the contents of a religious faith. Such a general definition can apply equally to Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or a number of other theologies. Theology aims at a comprehensive and coherent exposition of the various doctrines that are essential to the particular religion in question. It seeks to give linguistic structure and conceptual wholeness to what can be known about God and His relationship to the world.

Christian theology is the methodical explanation of the contents of the Christian faith and is primarily a function of the Christian Church. It results from participation in and orderly reflection upon God's self-disclosure in Jesus of Nazareth; it is Christian faith brought to a particular kind of expression. Christian theologians work within this community and are responsible to it.

But Christian theology is not simply a restatement of what the Church has believed in the past. Because the Church bears witness to Christ in the contemporary world, and because it too lives in the world, theology must remain a dynamic enterprise. Through theology the Church repeatedly answers the question—for itself and for the world—"What does it mean to confess that Jesus is the Christ?"

Christian theology is not primarily reflection on Christian faith as such but on the God who became redemptively incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth and who by the Holy Spirit creates faith in the Church.

Christian theology may be arranged into at least five classifications, normally called theological disciplines. They are: (1) Biblical theology; (2) Historical theology, which concentrates on the history of Christian thought, its thematic organization, and its continuing instruction for the Church; (3) Systematic theology, which is heavily influenced by biblical and historical theology, but whose assignment is to systematically state the contents of the Christian faith with reference to the general milieu of the time in which the theologian is working; (4) Moral theology, or Christian ethics, which aims at a systematic understanding of how the Church, and the individual Christian within the life of the Church, can bear witness to the new reality established by Christ; and (5) Practical or applied theology, which includes pastoral theology, missiology, and Christian education.

See BIBLICAL THEOLOGY, HISTORICAL THEOLOGY, SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY PRACTICAL THEOLOGY.

For Further Reading: Wiley, CT, 1:13-99; MacQuarrie,


THEOLOGY, NATURAL—THOMISM

521

Principles of Christian Theology, 1-36; Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of God: Dogmatics, 1:3-85.

Albert L. Truesdale, Jr.
THEOLOGY, NATURAL. See natural theology.
THEOLOGY OF MISSIONS. See mission.

missions, missiology.

THEOPHANY. A theophany is a mode of revelation, an appearance of God to human beings in a visible or audible form.

The OT records several such appearances: angelic visitors came to Abraham's tent, one of whom spoke as the Lord (Gen. 18:2-22); Jacob wrestled with a man whom he called God (32:22-32); Moses talked with "the angel of the Lord" at the burning bush (Exod. 3:2) and spoke with God face-to-face at Mount Sinai (19:20 ff); Gideon talked with the angel of the Lord 0^udg. 6:11-24); Manoah received instruction from a personage whose name was Secret (Wonderful, rsv) (13:1-20); a dream theophany came to Solomon (1 Kings 3:5-15); Elijah heard "the still small voice" of God speaking to him while in a cave at Horeb (19:9-18); even Ezekiel saw "the likeness as it were of a human form" while on the banks of Chebar (Ezek. 1:26-28, rsv).

The NT records that God spoke to Jesus at His baptism (Matt. 3:17); that three disciples heard a voice out of the cloud at the Transfiguration (17:1-13); that Paul saw the risen Christ on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:1-9); and that John had a vision of the exalted Christ on the Isle of Patmos (Rev. 1:12-20).

In general, theophanies were brief and temporary, but the appearance of God in a pillar of cloud and smoke accompanying His people during the Exodus, and the Shekinah Presence in the Tabernacle and Temple were lasting phenomena.

The key theophany of "the angel [messenger] of the Lord" may be interpreted as a preincarnate appearance of the Messiah. Often the heavenly messenger is identified with the Hebrew name Adonai (Ps. 110:1; Mai. 3:1), a name which the author of Hebrews ascribed to the Son-Creator (Heb. 1:10-12; Ps. 102:25-27).

Since a theophany is a revelation of God's person and proclamation, it cannot be bounded by the laws of human psychology, although God undoubtedly used the sum and substance of human nature in making himself known. God is His own messenger as He reveals His person and will to man.

See REVELATION (SPECIAL), HEILSGESCHICHTE. For Further Reading: Baker's DT, 520.

Bert H. Hall

THEOSOPHY. Theosophy is a highly complex religio-philosophical system that claims to give systematic expression to an "ancient wisdom" derived from many cultures and religions. The "ancient wisdom" has been held in trust and communicated by a complex of suprahuman masters. Theosophy purports to introduce its communicants to ecstatic and expanding forms of consciousness that ascend hierarchically into the cosmic levels of reality that supposedly lie behind the visible world. AH elements of reality are parts of an ultimate harmony and are themselves expressions of intricate chains of consciousness. Entrance by the communicant into these transcendent realities is achieved primarily by interiorized myth and doctrine rather than through ritual or social interaction.

Theosophy teaches that the solar system emanated from the ONE, an eternal, unknowable, boundless, and immutable principle. The emanation occurred in a series of major cycles of divine activity and rest, of which the evolution of man through several worlds and races is a part.

In addition to a hierarchy of divine beings who are subordinate to the ONE, there is an earthly plane which is constituted and energized by seven rays or lines of activity that govern all aspects of terrestrial life, each of which is headed by a master.

Theosophy was founded in 1875 by Madame (Helena Petrovna) Blavatsky (1831-91), and Col. Henry Steel Olcott. Others who were significant in its formation were Annie Besant, C. W. Lead-beater, and W. Q. Judge.

See CULTS, OCCULT (OCCULTISM), NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS. TRUTH, SALVATION, GNOSTICISM, PREEXISTENCE OF SOULS.

For Further Reading: Ellwood, Religious and Spiritual Groups in America; Judah, The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical Movements in America.

Albert L. Truesdale, Jr.

THEOTHANATOLOGY. See death of god

doctrine.

THOMISM. The most general description of Tho-mism is that it is a theological/philosophical movement originating in the 13th century with Thomas Aquinas and continuing with great force into the 20th century. Thomism places primary emphasis upon attempting to understand and explain each generation's problems and needs in a systematic way with Aquinas' spirit, insights,


principles, methods, and conclusions as the key to understanding.

Thomas Aquinas (a.d. 1225-74), variously known as the "great dumb ox of Sicily" and the "Angelic Doctor," was the most outstanding philosopher and theologian of the medieval church. He was born in Italy, became a Dominican in 1244, studied under Albertus Magnus, and was a teacher at Paris.

Several of his teachings were almost immediately condemned as heresy, but this decision was later reversed. And in 1323 he was canonized by Pope John XXII; in 1567 he was declared by Pius V the "Fifth Doctor of the Church"; in 1879 Leo XIII gave Thomism "official" (though not exclusive) place in the Roman Catholic church; and in 1918 Thomas became an institution in the church with his being mentioned in the Code of Canon Law—this is the only name in the code— with the strong position urged that his system should be the basis of all theological instruction.

Thomism is the complex melding of Aristotle (no superficial baptism), Augustine, and general Catholic Christianity into a massive whole. It stands in opposition to a Neoplatonic projection of a world of reality beyond this (the medieval form of realism), with the world of human experience and action as a mere appearance or shadow of the truly real world beyond. In harmony with Aristotle he focused on the significance of the empirical and gave a Christian interpretation as focusing on knowledge of this world as infused with divine reality rather than separated from it.

In opposition to a world of pure process (cf. Heraclitus: all is flux) as well as to total rigidity (cf. Parmenides: reality is immobile), Aquinas took the middle road of accepting both being and becoming, both substance and process. God has no potentiality: He is actus purus or pure actuality. God does not change or become; however, all other beings change. And the point is that for Aquinas, both God and the world are real.

In opposition to extreme positions on the evils of human nature and culture, Aquinas held that man himself, his reason, appetites, and achievements are significant and positive. He attached positive values to the state, law, art, philosophy, and culture in general. This would be substantiated by his celebrated five ways (proofs of the existence of God) as well as his development of natural theology.

While Aquinas may have held that there are two orders of truth corresponding to the natural and supernatural dimension of reality, he also maintained that these two levels do not stand in opposition. Rather, all realms of truth are held together and are harmonious with each other through coming from the one God who brings unity to all dimensions of His creation.

Aquinas' vast philosophic synthesis stands with those of Aristotle and Hegel as encyclopedic monuments to human rational effort.

See historical theology, reason. realism and nominalism, scholasticism, platonism, rationalism, process theology neo-thomism, substance (substantive).

For Further Reading: New Catholic Encyclopedia, 14:126-38; Sacramentum Mundi, 6:249-55; N1DCC, 60-61; Schaeffer, Escape from Reason; Barrett, A Christian Perspective of Knowing 60-86, 91.

R. Duane Thompson

THOUGHT. See reason.

TIME. Time and history are crucial concepts to Christianity, for time makes possible creation, the whole range of salvation history, the Incarnation, human freedom, and the movement of this age toward a significant goal. Without time such action would be neither possible nor meaningful. All would be locked up in a motionless system with no experiencer to contemplate it, enjoy it, or act upon it.

Thus time, in the most basic theological and philosophical sense, must not be conceived of as aligning with views of time held by science and technology. It must be thought of as the passage or duration comprehended within the matrix of the experiencing person. And while chronos may refer to the simple passage of such time or to time as measured by clocks and calendars, kairos refers to the importance of proper timing and fulfillment: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:15).

Time or the temporal may be seen as providing the potential for birth, life, growth, creativity, and perfection; on the other hand, it may be seen as a power enslaving man to wear and tear, fatigue, old age, and death.

The temporal is often contrasted with the eternal and thus takes on the character of the secular or this-worldly. It may also mean in some theological systems the order of change or process (the material world) as opposed to the time-lessness of the eternal.

Time has a past, present, and a future; various types of mind tend to emphasize or exaggerate one or the other. Overemphasis on the past will produce traditionalism and authoritarianism. Overemphasis on the present may be tied in with a barren empiricism or hedonism (pleasure is the
TITHE, THE—TONGUES, GIFT OF

523

highest good). Overemphasis on the future may create utopianism or a violent form of revolution.

A Christian can observe a significant coming together of past, present, and future in accepting creation, Incarnation, and inscripturation from the past within a present context which sees history as moving in a genuine direction toward a divinely projected goal. In his life and thought these all come together in his cooperation with God in the fulfillment of the divine goals.

See IMMUTABILITY, CHRONOS, PROCESS THEOLOGY ETERNITY, LEISURE, ATTRIBUTES (DIVINE).

For Further Reading: Sacramentum Mundi, 6:257-62;
Wood, "Space-Time and a Trinitarian Concept of
Grace," Pentecostal Grace, 101.-36; Cullmann, Christ and
Time. R. Duane thompson

TITHE, THE. In simplest terms the tithe is Vio (or 10 percent) of our wages or salary, or net gain (profits) from our own business or investments, or any combination of these.

In ancient days Abraham was the first recorded example of paying tithes, when he so honored the priest of God, Melchizedek (Gen. 14:20). Also, Jacob, his grandson, volunteered to give a 10th of all that God gave him. It was more than a trader's bargain, however, for he did it in gratitude for God's promise of food and clothing, protection and guidance (Gen. 28:13-22).

Under the Mosaic covenant God taught His people to tithe the increase. Even the priestly tribe (Levi), who lived on one of the tithes, was taught to tithe the tithe (Num. 18:26; Neh. 10:38). In general the teaching was, "The tithe ... is the Lord's" (Lev. 27:30). Malachi even accuses tithe withholders of robbing God (3:8).

Some have thought that on the advent of the new covenant all tithes were done away. But Jesus was careful to teach, '"Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them'" (Matt. 5:17, rsv). And to the Pharisees He said: '"But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others'" (Luke 11:42, rsv). Thus He endorsed the tithe, even while putting it in perspective.

But Jesus never encouraged a legalistic spirit which would tithe carefully, then be just as careful to go no farther. Actually He underscored "Plus Giving." A classical illustration is the scene where He called attention to the widow who put in two copper coins while the rich put in their much larger gifts. Jesus said: "T tell you .. . this poor widow has given more than any of them;

for those others who have given had more than enough, but she, with less than enough, has given all she had to live on'" (Luke 21:3-4, NEB). And Paul quotes the positive insight of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

Paul taught the Corinthians some basic principles in Christian giving. (1) Let everyone engage in giving (1 Cor. 16:2); (2) Give regularly (weekly); (3) Give proportionately "according as he hath been prospered" (v. 3, Wesley); (4) Give cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:7).

Proportionate, cheerful giving would imply the tithe as a minimum, never the maximum. It would be unthinkable for the Christian under grace, prompted by love, to give less than the Israelite was required by law.

Roy L. Smith observes wisely: "The value of the system [tithing] is not in the funds that it produces but in the spiritual integration that results" (Stewardship Studies).

See STEWARDSHIP, MONEY.

For Further Reading: Young, The Tithe Is the Lord's;
ISBE, 5:2987. SAMUEL YOUNG

TOLERANCE. This has special reference to one of James Arminius' teachings, which urged that his own view of conditional predestination be permitted in the Dutch churches—along with the unconditional view. It also refers to the view held by many who are liberal in doctrine and practices, that the promoting of varying views should be permitted within given denominations. There is a great difference, however, between divergent views which are essentially evangelical being tolerated by the government in a state church, and the toleration of evangelical and nonevangelical views within an autonomous, confessional denomination. There is a tolerance which is Christian, and there is also a tolerance which is betrayal—as the apostle Paul would agree (cf. Galatians).

See LATITUDINARIANISM. J. KENNETH GRIDER

TONGUES, GIFT OF. This gift refers to a 17th-century English word used to translate the Hebrew lashon and the Greek glossais, "language/lan-guages" in KJV and subsequent translations; now, by wide usage, applied to the practice of glossolalia, speechlike sounds unintelligible both to speaker and hearer unless interpreted.

Languages or tongues as a phenomenon of the Holy Spirit are mentioned in two NT books, Acts (2:4-13; 10:44-46; 19:6) and 1 Corinthians (12:10, 30; and possibly 14:2-39).

524

TORAH—TOTAL DEPRAVITY

Interpretations of the biblical phenomena differ widely:

1. 
   Some hold that 1 Corinthians 14, interpreted as relating to ecstatic or unintelligible speech, is the normative NT gift of languages, and that Acts is to be understood in harmony with 1 Corinthians.
   
2. 
   Others hold that Acts 2:4-13 represents the normative NT language gifts and that 1 Corinthians is to be understood as related to intelligible (although not locally understood) languages.
   
3. 
   Others hold that the Acts and Corinthian phenomena are different: Acts reporting the use of intelligible languages, and 1 Corinthians relating to an esoteric language or languages used in prayer and praise but otherwise unintelligible unless accompanied by a parallel gift of interpretation.
   

Modern "Pentecostal" denominations regard glossolalia as the biblical evidence of the baptism with or "in" the Holy Spirit. Some nondenomina-tional charismatics deemphasize glossolalia as an evidence of the Spirit's fullness, but regard its practice as a gift to be expected normally by those filled with the Spirit.

The languages of Acts 2 seem clearly to have been foreign languages understood without interpretation. Luke goes beyond the necessity of simple narration to insist three times on the intelligibility of the tongues (vv. 6, 8, 11). Intelligibility is also implied of the speaking at Caesarea and Ephesus (Acts 10:46; 19:6). Each instance represents a breaking out of the gospel beyond previous limits—to Gentile proselytes, and to converts directly out of paganism.

That Luke wrote Acts nine years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, and that Luke had firsthand knowledge of the situation at Corinth (e.g., 2 Cor. 8:18 as a possible reference to Luke), makes Luke's insistence on intelligibility a matter of crucial importance as indicating what NT language gifts really are.

First Corinthians 14 is the major biblical basis for the modern practice of glossolalia. Three chief interpretations have been offered:

1. 
   First Corinthians 14 represents a practice introduced into Christian worship from the Corinthian background of pagan mystery religions.
   
2. 
   First Corinthians 14 reports the practice of glossolalia understood as a genuine gift of the Spirit for use in devotion.
   
3. 
   First Corinthians 14 relates to the polyglot background of Corinthian society in which the introduction of foreign languages locally unintelligible and untranslated resulted in confusion in Christian worship.
   

Even a casual reading of the chapter shows Paul's grudging permissiveness in regard to the Corinthian practices.

Isbell (cf. "For Further Reading") makes a good case for the theory that common English translations have misinterpreted Paul in 1 Cor. 14:39, which should read, "So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not impede prophesying with glossolalia."

See GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT, BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, SIGN.

For Further Reference: Robert H. Gundry, '"Ecstatic Utterance' NEB?", Journal of Theological Studies, October, 1966, Charles D. Isbell, "Glossolalia and Proph-eteialalia: A Study of 1 Corinthians 14," WT], Spring, 1976, 15-24; Kildahl, The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues; Purkiser, The Gifts of the Spirit; Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States; Taylor, Tongues: Their Purpose and Meaning.

W. T. Purkiser

TORAH. See mosaic law.

TOTAL DEPRAVITY. Certain distinctions should be made among the terms original sin, inherited depravity, and total depravity. Strictly speaking, original sin refers to man's first sin, the disobedience of Adam and Eve, resulting in the Fall. Inherited depravity has reference to the fact that the sinfulness of man is passed on from one generation to the next. Total depravity describes the extent to which each person is affected by this racial corruption.

The concept of total depravity is often misunderstood. It "does not mean that man is totally bad; rather it means there is nothing in man that has not been infected by the power of sin" (Handbook of Theological Terms, 68). The mind is darkened, the will enslaved, the emotions alienated. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint" (Isa. 1:5).

Theologians in the Reformed tradition often misunderstand and therefore misinterpret the Wesleyan view (e.g., Baker's DT, 164). Three questions emerge: (1) the meaning of natural inability in spiritual matters, (2) in what sense guilt attaches to original sin, and (3) the extent of total depravity.

Wesleyans take sin as seriously as the Scriptures do. They insist that sin is "exceeding sinful" (Rom. 7:13), that mankind is "dead in trespasses and sins" (see Eph. 2:1-3; 4:17-24), that apart from grace man is totally unable in spiritual things. "We believe that . .. through the fall of Adam he became depraved so that he cannot now turn and prepare himself by his own natural

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525

strength and works to faith and calling upon God" (Manual, Church of the Nazarene).

It is helpful to make a distinction between guilt as culpability, or personal blameworthiness; and guilt as liability for consequences. The former was Adam's guilt alone, the latter belongs potentially to the race, if the remedy in Christ is rejected. It is remarkable that Louis Berkhof (Cal-vinist) and H. Orton Wiley (Wesleyan) use almost identical language on these subjects (see "For Further Reading"). Moreover, no responsible evangelical advocates total depravity in the intensive sense (that man is totally evil), only in the extensive sense: that the corruption of sin extends to the whole of man's being.

It is the testimony of both the OT and the NT that the image of God in man has been seriously marred (not destroyed) by the Fall. Man lost the moral image (holiness), while retaining the natural image (personality). The divine warning against disobedience had come to pass: "Thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17).

The OT sees the sinfulness of man in such terms as "perversity," "crookedness," "stubbornness." "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). Isaiah's vision in the Temple (Isa. 6:5), the Psalmist's prayer of confession and plea for cleansing (Psalm 51), and Ezekiel's vision of the need for the new covenant (Ezek. 36:25-27) are further examples of maris moral plight (Turner, The Vision Which Transforms, 24-31).

NT references are likewise numerous, but Rom. 5:12-21 brings the issue into focus—by one man (Adam) sin penetrated the race. Because all men have sinned, some in ignorance, others willfully, death and condemnation have passed to all men. Between Rom. 5:12 and 8:10, the phrase "the sin" appears 28 times. Paul sees this force as a "principle of revolt... against the divine will." It is an "inner moral tyranny ... alien to maris true nature" (GMS, 291). That is, though it marks man's fallen nature, it does not belong to true human nature, as created. From this corruption proceed all the evils that trouble and harass mankind (Mark 7:20-23). Contravening all this darkness is the "gift of righteousness" available to all men through the Last Adam, Christ (Rom. 5:17).

See sin, original sin, prevenient grace, divine

image, fall (the).