About Theology

Although God does not change, we can come to better understand Him by prayer and study of what we know: scripture, tradition, and spirituality. Theology is the combined academic study of these things for the benefit of mankind.

Theology is not mere spirituality. It cannot be separated from a healthy spiritual life or relationship with God, but in itself it is something different. It is not the reason that we believe, because one can only believe by faith. It is not an attempt to defend the faith, that is apologetics. People often confuse theology with apologetics. Apologetics consists of sets of quick explanations for when someone asks a question concerning Christianity.

Theology is more of a science, and it tends to find more questions than answers. It is the study of God in His being and in his economy, how he interacts with the world. Theology is very closely related to philosophy. It uses both revelation (scripture and tradition) and natural reason to understand who God is and who man is in light of Him.

Theology deals a lot with the specific language of how to express barely expressable mysteries. Since God is way beyond us, much of the faith is built of mysteries, paradoxes, truths that we know are true and yet they are hard to comprehend. Thus the truth of God cannot be accepted merely as an intellectual thing, but it is something that involves the entrie soul.

After already having accepted the truth, Theology is a way to go deeper into it, to come to know God in a special way. Theology is a practice of the intellect brought on by the spirit. it is “faith seeking understanding,” or in Latin, fides quaerens intellectum, the Catholic motto for theology, and especially my motto. It comes from St. Anselm, who explains it well at the end of Proslogion chapter 1, saying:

I do not try, Lord, to attain your lofty heights, becuase my understanding is no no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand Your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand so that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand. For I believe this also, that ‘unless I believe, I shall not understand’ [Isa 7:9].

Theologians have helped the Church to understand Divine Revelation for nearly 2000 years. They formulated the “Apostle’s Creed” and the “Nicene Creed.” They fought off the early heresies, the Gnostics, the Arians, and so forth, in order to preserve the truth, and the announce to the whole world that God lives, and that He is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that He loves us. I am the continuation of this long tradition, but I'm a mere man trying to grasp what is far beyond me. I pray that God will reveal himself through me and make me a blessing to all who read my thoughts.

~Michael Anthony