{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Sgwrs Tei Bow","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy","author_name":"Clarke Roberts","author_url":"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy\/author\/clarke-roberts\/","title":"A beginner's guide to theology. | Bow Tie Talks","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"1KlTdXYqPN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy\/2011\/03\/27\/theology-how-to\/\">A beginner&#8217;s guide to theology.<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/cy\/2011\/03\/27\/theology-how-to\/embed\/#?secret=1KlTdXYqPN\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;A beginner&#8217;s guide to theology.&#8221; &#8212; Bow Tie Talks\" data-secret=\"1KlTdXYqPN\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/www.clarkeroberts.co.uk\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>","description":"Well, first off might I start by bidding you a good evening (or good night if you want to be pedantic), or indeed good morning if you&#8217;ve already changed your clocks. It has been far too long since my last update and I do feel slightly guilty, but university work has been a priority recently and has put me off writing to you for a while. Nonetheless, I&#8217;m writing now and on a topic which I promised to write about a few months ago, after I&#8217;d written my essay on it. I&#8217;m pleased to say that my Sources of Theology essay\u00a0has been completed and I would like to now share with you some of my thoughts that have arisen from researching and studying said topic. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, theologians and bored people with nothing else to read &#8211; may I present the Beginner&#8217;s Guide to Theology. Let&#8217;s start by outlining the basics, firstly and perhaps most importantly please by no means attempt to do any theology based on what is written here, for it is in no way an actual guide to theology; I just couldn&#8217;t think of a snazzier title. Secondly and a little more vital to the rest of the &#8216;article&#8217; (can I call it that?) is the fact that to do theology, us theologians must look at four different sources on which to base our theories; these being scripture, tradition, experience and reason. I must stress that throughout this piece I will be coming at this from the angle of reason, as I (would like but perhaps incorrectly) think of myself as a philosopher &#8211; placing higher value to conclusions that are arrived at using the power of human rationale. I will of course offer both positives and negative views on each of the four sources. Shall we begin? Before we do, we should probably try and establish what theology exactly is. We know the &#8216;theo&#8217; bit comes from the Greek word &#8216;theos&#8217; (\u03b8\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2) meaning &#8216;god&#8217; and as we&#8217;ve all been taught in secondary school that &#8216;ology&#8217; means &#8216;the study of&#8217;, giving us &#8216;the study of god&#8217;, but theology encompasses much more than just studying God. I think Anselm hit it on the head with his &#8220;faith seeking understanding&#8221; definition; theology attempts to provide explanations as to why people believe and practice what they do, it tries to make sense of things so that one can understand it themselves for example the nature of God, the person of Christ etc. Without theology, so much more of the world&#8217;s religious population would be ignorant and leading a spiritual path that is flawed due to their lack of understanding of their faith. Hence why to me, theology is one of the most important disciplines (if one may call it that) there is. Now that we have some sort of understanding as to what theology actually is, we can make sense as to what these &#8216;sources&#8217; are used for. The first such source is that of scripture; [&hellip;]","thumbnail_url":"http:\/\/www.turnbacktogod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/The-Bible-on-one-page.jpg"}