Chapter I
Book 1. On Theology in General.
Chapter I O n ὀνοματολογίας [nomenclature] — The danger of introducing foreign words into religion, and its twofold occasion — The words θεολογία [theology] and θεολόγοι [theologians] are ἄγραφα [unscriptural]
— The Jewish names for theology — The origin and use of that word among the Greeks — Who first among them wrote θεολογικά [theological works]
— The first theology was a fabulous description of θεογονίας [the genealogy of the gods] — The introduction of the names "theology" and "theologians" among Christians — John so called first — The title of the Apocalypse — The foolishness of the Ethiopic version of the New Testament
— How the evangelical doctrine is called in the Gospel itself — The term "theology" is accepted.
I. Those who undertake descriptions of things begin with the very names of their subjects, lest what they treat be ἀνώνυμα [nameless], and lest the fault of ὁμωνυμίας [ambiguity] be incurred, which frequently produces confusion in subject matter. Someone has rightly said, Πρὸς τὸ ὀρθῶς διδάσκειν, δεῖ πρῶτον ἐξετάζειν τὰ ὀνόματα [In order to teach rightly, one
must first examine the names]; and another, ̓Επὶ πάντων τῶν ζητουμένων, εἰς λόγον χρὴ μεταλαμβάνεσθαι τοὔνομα [In all matters under inquiry, the name must be taken up into the discussion], Galen, On the Method of Medicine, ch. 5; for words are τύποι καὶ μιμήματα [images and representations] of things. In sacred matters, however, regard must be had to ὀνοματολογίας [nomenclature], since names have been assigned by the Holy Spirit. The apostle has taught us to shun all Βεβήλους κενοφωνίας
[profane and empty chatterings] and λογομαχίας [word-strivings]. We also know at what great cost in words men have fought, often bitterly, over terms that the judgment of uncertain individuals has introduced into our religion. Nor does that confusion which is seen in the Christian religion owe a small part of itself to the introduction of foreign words into ecclesiastical use, and to the twisting of those proper terms which the dictation of the Holy Spirit has given, into a τεχνικόν [technical] and ἐξωτικόν [exotic] sense. Hence, it is an old complaint that the native simplicity and purity of evangelical doctrine — flowing as it does from the perennial fountain of all purity — has been adulterated from the very beginnings of the churches, whether daubed with adventitious colours or mingled with dross. That subsequent ages have struck upon the same rock, especially after it came to pass, as is the way of men, that whatever pleased the majority was reckoned right, until error grew to such immensity that within the Christian religion itself one would search almost in vain for the Christian religion — this is too well known to require proof. Indeed, that very confusion and uncertainty which is seen to have flowed through nearly all the sciences appears to have arisen from either ignorance of words used by the ancients, or from the audacity that twists them to alien uses and meanings.
II. Furthermore, of those terms whose use, emerging from an almost infinite mass of writings, has come to occupy some celebrated place in our religion, yet which are not found ῥητῶς [expressly] in holy Scripture, there are two kinds: first, those which necessity pressed out in order to refute the importunate ἀντιλογίας [contradictions] of heretics; and second, those which men of some learning either invented themselves, or adopted from others' inventions, under the pretext of illuminating truth or teaching it ἀκριβεστέρως [more precisely], relying on their own ingenuity. Now, as you will perhaps find very few who would wish to banish these terms from the altars and hearths of the church — except those who are at war with truth itself — so to wrangle stubbornly about retaining them is nothing other than to sacrifice perpetually to inveterate prejudices and party spirit.
III. Some persistently attack the ὀνοματολογίαν [nomenclature] of theology and theologians; nor does it please us to contend sharply about it, since both terms are εὕρημα [inventions] of heathen men, and there is no ἰσοδυναμοῦσα [equivalent term] in holy Scripture. For just as every honourable, indeed magnificent, name will prejudice the thing of which it is the name when it carries more weight than the thing itself: so when names can only be vindicated by means of many reasonings, the unlearned will judge the things themselves to be placed in no less jeopardy — especially where there is ἀμετρία ἀνθολκῆς [a disproportion of counterweight].
Moreover, since the practice has prevailed to such a degree among those by whom the right and standard of speaking has formerly been and still is held, that by these terms a certain discipline is designated as it were, along with a certain class of men trained therein — both of which the mystery of evangelical simplicity recoils from — they can seem, with respect neither to their origin nor their use, sufficiently fitted to express that of which
complaint is made. But since in every συζητήσει [disputation], the τὸ ἀμφισβητούμενον [matter in dispute] must have some name: come, let us
— with nails and hairs shaved clean — be content with that which use, by the consent of the majority, has introduced; remaining nonetheless entirely free in the investigation of the nature of the thing itself, which we have undertaken to expound. Concerning its designation among others by various names, we may first set down a few remarks.
IV. The Jews designate theology variously: ָחְכָמה ָהֱא ֹלִהית [divine wisdom], Buxtorf, Lexicon Talmudicurn, p. 752; ַהְּיִדיָעה ַהּתֹוִרִּיית [legal knowledge], ibid. and p. 984; and ַּתְלמּוד ּתֹוָרה [study of the Law]. They call the theologian
ִאיׁש ָהֱא ֹלִהי [a man of God]. Theology is divided by the most learned of their theologians, Maimonides, into two parts: Preface 2 to the More Nevukhim, and the Preface to the Third Part of the same work. It is either ַמֲע ֵׂשה ְּבֵראִׁשית
[the work of creation], that is, natural theology, or ַמֲע ֵׂשה ֶמְרָּכָבה [the work of the chariot], that is, mystical theology, a name drawn from Ezekiel 1; he teaches that the former is to be set forth publicly, the latter only to a few.
For the rest, there is in the Old Testament no word that can be rendered "theology," nor any other term ἀνάλογον [analogous] to it.
Generally, θεολόγος [theologian] among Greek writers is one who discourses concerning God; hence οἱ Δελφῶν θεολόγοι [the theologians of Delphi] in Plutarch, On the Obsolescence of Oracles. Θεολογούμενα
[theological matters] are "things disputed concerning God." Suetonius, in his Life of Augustus, mentions the books of Θεολογουμένων [theological discussions] by Asclepiades of Mendes; in these that monstrosity of a man brought to light and defended foul atheism, and the ἀθέμιτον μίξιν
[unlawful union] of the Egyptians with the goat they worshipped in the city of Mendes. Nichomachus of Gerasa also wrote two books of ἀριθμητικῶν
θεολογουμένων [arithmetical theological discussions]; an ἔργον πόῤῥω τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς διεῤῥιμμένον [work far removed from its title], says Photius,
Bibliotheca, Codex 187 — that is, a worthless thing. Now θεολογία [theology] from the usage of the Greek language signifies rather "discourse concerning God" than "the discourse of God"; and thus Augustine expounds that term, City of God, Bk. VIII, ch. 1: "It is," he says, "discourse or reasoning concerning God." Yet examples of the other signification are not lacking. Θεοπρόπιον is "an oracle of God," or what God declares; and θεοσημεία is "a sign which God exhibits."
The most ancient writers of Greece who dealt with the gods and the worship of the gods were the first to be called θεολόγοι [theologians], and their knowledge θεολογία [theology]. Lactantius, On the Wrath of God, ch.
2, — these were poets; and they were accordingly commonly distinguished by that name. Aristotle, Metaphysics, Bk. III; Clement of Alexandria,
Stromata, Bk. III; Isidore, Bk. V: Pherecydes of Syros is said to have been the first among the nations to have treated "theological" matters in continuous prose. Moreover, they affirm that his doctrine was of the symbolic and cryptic, or αἰνιγματικήν [enigmatic], kind which the Pythagoreans afterwards employed. He was himself the principal teacher of Pythagoras, and was called a "theologian." Diogenes and Hesychius
Illustrius testify that Heraclitus wrote θεολογικά [theological works] of this kind; hence, he is called σκοτεινός [the obscure]. Now this Pherecydes flourished in the age of Cyrus; to such a degree were the Greeks infants in every branch of knowledge, if compared to the Orientals. This was reproached to Solon by a priest of Sais: Ω Σόλων, Σόλων, ἔφη, Ἕλληνες ἀεὶ παῖδές ἐστε, γέρων δὲ Ἕλλην οὐκ ἔστιν. Ἀκούσας οὖν, πῶς τι τοῦτο λέγεις, φάναι. Νέοι ἐστὲ, εἰπεῖν, τὰς ψυχὰς πάντες· οὐδεμίαν γὰρ ἐν αὐταῖς ἔχετε
δι' ἀρχαίαν ἀκοὴν παλαιὰν δόξαν, οὐδὲ μάθημα χρόνῳ πολιὸν οὐδέν [O Solon, Solon, said he, the Greeks are always children, and there is no such thing as an old Greek. When Solon heard this and asked what he meant by it, the old man replied: You are all young in soul; for you have in your souls, through ancient tradition, no old opinion, nor any knowledge grey with time] — Plato, Phaedo. For it is well known that theology had attained splendour, indeed had passed its ἀκμήν [prime], long before the times of Cyrus. See Pliny, Natural History, Bk. VII, ch. 1, "what each person discovered in life." Τοῦτον φησὶ Θεόπομπος πρῶτον περὶ φύσεως καὶ θεῶν
Ελλησι γράψαι [Theopompus asserts that he was the first of all to write for the Greeks concerning nature and the gods] — Diogenes, in his Life of Pherecydes. This also appears from the letter of Thales to the same man, which begins thus: Θαλῆς Φερεκύδει· πυνθάνομαί σε πρῶτον ̓ Ιώνων μέλλειν λόγους ἀμφὶ τῶν θείων χρημάτων εἰς τοὺς ̔́ Ελληνας φαίνειν
[Thales to Pherecydes: I hear that you are about to be the first of the Ionians to make public discourses concerning divine matters among the Greeks].
Moreover, Hesychius Illustrius thinks that Pherecydes was called "Syrius" from the island of Syra: ̔́́Εστι, he says, μία τῶν Κυκλάδων νήσων, ἡ Σύρα
[There is, he says, one of the Cyclades islands called Syra], in his Life of Pherecydes. Others hold that he was a Syrian, which is the more probable view. In the preface to his work, however, he himself affirmed that Musaeus, son of Eumolpus, was πρῶτον θεογονίαν ποιῆσαι [the first to compose a theogony]. The Platonists emphatically called him τὸν θεολόγον
[the theologian], and he was always esteemed the most excellent theologian. But concerning Homer, Philostratus says in the Heroicus:
Ορφέα ἐν πολλοῖς τῶν κατὰ τὴν θεολογίαν ὑπερῇρε [He surpassed Orpheus in many things pertaining to theology] — he added to what had
been discovered. Their θεολογία [theology], however, was the exposition of θεογονίας [the genealogy of the gods]; for they maintained that all the gods had been begotten. Thus Herodotus on the Persians in his Clio: Οὐκ ἀνθρωποφυέας ἐνόμισαν τοὺς θεοὺς καθάπερ οἱ ̔́Ελληνες εἶναι [They did not regard the gods as having a human nature, as the Greeks did] — for the Persians worshipped natural gods. I speak of the Greeks after the introduction of Hellenism; for Eusebius demonstrates that the most ancient
Greeks, after the manner of other nations, first worshipped the heaven and the stars, Praeparatio Evangelica, Bk. I, ch. 9: Οὐκ ἄρα, he says, τὶς ἦν θεογονίας ̔ Ελληνικῆς, ἢ βαρβαρικῆς τοῖς παλαιοτάτοις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λόγος, οὐδὲ ξοάνων ἴδρυσις, οὐδὲ ἡ νῦν πολλὴ φλυαρία τῆς τῶν θεῶν ἀῤῥένων τε καὶ θηλειῶν κατονομασίας [There was, he says, no account among the most ancient men of either Greek or barbarian theogony, nor the setting up of images, nor the present-day abundant nonsense of naming gods both male and female]. And long before him, Plato in the Cratylus:
Φαίνονταί μοι οἱ πρῶτοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων περὶ τὴν ̔Ελλάδα τούτους μόνους Θεοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι οὖσπερ νῦν πολλοὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην, καὶ γῆν, καὶ ἄστρα, καὶ οὐρανόν [It seems to me that the first men in Greece held these alone to be gods, which many barbarians still do — the sun, moon, earth, stars, and heaven]. But more on these matters later.
At what time this term received Christian citizenship is uncertain. In the title of the Apocalypse, John is called ὁ θεολόγος [the theologian]. In the royal copy of Montanus, it reads: ̓ Αποκάλυψις τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου καὶ εὐαγγελιστοῦ ̓Ιωάννου τοῦ θεολόγου [Revelation of the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian]. In the remaining copies, it is stated absolutely in this manner. To this is added in the Ethiopic version: "Who was John, bishop of the metropolitan city of Constantinople, when he was
about to suffer persecution" — foolishly enough, and as befitted that translator. Furthermore, since that ἐπιγραφή [title] is of most uncertain origin and rightly οἴχεται [has vanished], it may seem to have been drawn from the second verse of the book: "John ἐμαρτύρησε τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ
[bore witness to the word of God]" — that is, the word of God, not concerning God. But the other, more common, signification of the term is as we have shown. And it was not because he bore witness to λόγον τοῦ
Θεοῦ [the word of God], but because he expounded with the greatest clarity λόγον τὸν Θεὸν [the Word who is God], that the ancients called John κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν [preeminently] the Theologian. The first to do this was Origen.
Dionysius the Areopagite, ch. 3 of On the Divine Names, makes mention of theology and theologians as familiarly as if those τεχνικά ὀνόματα
[technical terms] were at that time in most frequent use; but nearly all agree that that writer is ὑποβολιμαίον [a spurious substitute]. And so, as far as holy Scripture is concerned, these terms are ἄγραφα [unwritten — not found in Scripture].
Indeed, the evangelical doctrine is called λόγος ζωῆς [the word of life], Phil. 2:16; ὁ λόγος ὁ τοῦ σταυροῦ [the word of the cross], 1 Cor. 1:18; λόγος τῆς πίστεως [the word of faith], 1 Tim. 4:6; ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
[the word of Christ], Col. 3:16; λόγος Θεοῦ [the word of God], 1 Thess.
2:13. Having regard for these and other similar expressions, we do not reject a sober use of such terms; although we are well aware that their τεχνικόν [technical] sense cannot be retained without prejudice to truth. Let us therefore call this matter of which we are to speak, together with Eusebius in his work To Marcellus, θεολογίαν ἐκκλησιαστικήν
[ecclesiastical theology].