The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Systematic Theology & Biblical Theology

With all due respect to the Head Honcho, I disagree. When Calvin set out to teach he wrote his Commentaries "Brevitas et Simplicitas". At the same time he also wrote his "Institutes of the Christian Religion". They were meant to complement each other. The reason why he separated them was that other Reformers like Bullinger (or was it Bucer?) tended to be "long winded" they would write their Commentaries on the Biblical books and then have lengthy asides to explain points of doctrine, dogma, theology etc. It got so that people were lost in the details.
Unfortunately, the well meant efforts of those like Geerhardus Vos to write Biblical Theologies were twisted by the later Biblical Theology movement which decried the writing, purpose and usefulness of Systematic Theologies. They created a false dichotomy between Systematic and Biblical theology. Both are intertwined and support each other in the proclamation of God's Glory in His self-revelatory Word. I would go even further to state that the third leg in this three legged stool is Historical/Dogmatic Theology. Here we can find and trace the development of the Church's theology and exegesis. Heresy and orthodoxy are revealed and perhaps lessons are learned and so the old heresies are not dug up, renamed, and presented to the body of Christ like it was some new discovery found with a more enlightened exegetical approach unencumbered by the grid imposed by the old "scholasticism" of say the Westminster Standards!
Having said all of this, though, it has always been held by the orthodox that Scripture has priority and is infallible regardless of our efforts to fully understand it and thus write Biblical and Systematic theologies. The latter two are the fallible productions of sinful and fallible men. That is why we continue to study God's Word and write systematic or narrative descriptions of His revelation to mankind in time. Unfortunately, this age suffers from an arrogance that does not comprehend and give due respect to, and dilligent study of, what went before. Many somehow think, that they can reinvent the wheel and dismiss the past work of the Holy Spirit in guiding the Body of Christ through the centuries.