Theology: A Quick Start Overview
What is theology? Theology proper is the study of God. The theologian's aim is to know God, his character and his will, his nature and his relationship to man. Who is God? This is the major question the theologian asks. Christian theology aims to know the God of Scripture, the God of the Old and New Testament, also revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the redeemer, Immanuel, and in the work of the Holy Spirit explicitly demonstrated in the early Church. Theology may be broken into several sub-categories, creating an interconnected web of investigation, a system of answering the question, who is God?
A few of the major categories are as follows:
Theology Proper:
The study of God, particularly the nature of God, his character, and communicable attributes. The Godhead, or the Trinity, is the heart of theology proper, where God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three in persons, but one as the Godhead. All of the other sub-categories feed into theology proper to answer the question, who is God? What is this Godhead like? What role does each person of the trinity play in creation, revelation and redemption?
Christology:
As the name leads one to assume, this category is concerned with understanding who Jesus Christ is as the second person of the Trinity. The redeemer sent in obedience to the love of the Father.
Pneumatology:
This category focuses in on understanding the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. What role does He play in the life of the believer? What role does He play in bringing people to faith?
Bibliology:
The primary resource for theology is Scripture, which is God's revelation to man. Here and only here might man discover that which he did not know, nor could he ever know unless it were reveled to him, namely the attributes of God, such as the doctrine of the Trinity, and the plan of redemption where God himself would plan, communicate and carry out the act of redeeming a fallen creation.
Soteriology:
The plan and drama of redemption is the focus of soteriology. How does God actively bring about the salvation of men and women, and what role do we play in this beautiful process through the preaching of the gospel?
Eschatology:
The end times, that final hour when Christ in all His glory is revealed, when the great accuser is put away and eternal states become reality for the living and the dead.
A great introduction to theology is J.I. Packer's book, Concise Theology.