Theology
Objective
I can define and explain that Theology is the study of God and the things of God.
Warm Up
Discussion Questions
What does the word theology mean?
Theology is the study of God and the things of God. The study of God, however, is different from the study of other things. Coming to know God is more like coming to know a good friend. It involves far more than just memorizing facts about that friend. It means to learn about him, to grow in love for and trust of him, and to build a relationship with him. The same is true with the study of God. It is about more than learning things about Him. It is about growing in relationship with Him. And that involves learning to trust and love Him. But you can’t do that without knowing Him.
Discussion Questions
How do we know about God?
Where do we find divine revelation?
If the Bible is one of the primary sources for the study of God, what do we need to know?
“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
St. Jerome
Discussion Questions
What does it mean to be ignorant of something?
What is St. Jerome suggesting then?
Above all else, in Scripture we encounter not simply words on a page but a living Person, the Person of Jesus Christ. If we don’t know Scripture well, we likely don’t know Jesus well.
Activity 1: Three-Sentence Autobiography Part I
Write your own three-sentence autobiography. Include the most important information about yourselves that you would want another person to know. (Note: This will be challenging, but that is okay.)
Activity 2: Three-Sentence Autobiography Part II
Next, in groups of three or four sit in a circle and place all of your three-sentence biographies in the center. Then randomly choose an autobiography from the pile. Make sure no one has his or her own. Then read the three-sentence autobiography you chose from the group pile and then respond to the questions on the handout, individually.
Three-Sentence Autobiography.pdfDiscussion Questions
What were your thoughts from the worksheet and the experience of reading and writing the three-sentence biographies as a whole.
To study God is more than just to learn facts about Him; it is also to enter into a relationship with Him and to explore more deeply His revelation of Himself. God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through Tradition and Scripture. These are our primary sources of divine revelation and the foundation for the study of God, or theology. God, however, goes beyond Scripture and Tradition. As St. John noted in his Gospel, Scripture and Tradition cannot contain all that God is. He is bigger and greater than anything we can know or understand. This does not mean, however, that we cannot know God. We can know God, because He has revealed what is most important for us to know about Him and what He wants for us, which is to be saved. Not only do we meet the Person of Jesus Christ in His Scriptures, but we also learn the truth that we need to know for the sake of our salvation.