LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
What are the Four Types of Theology? Answers from a Theology School
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
9/2022
Introduction
Theology is the study of God, God’s character, God’s actions in relation to the cosmos, and
especially God’s relationship to humanity (the character and history of humankind) in its
responsive relationship to God within the panorama of the world and history, space and time.
The breadth and complexity of theology’s subject matter are unrivaled among human
sciences. This creates utterly unique challenges for theological reflection. Over the centuries,
theology schools have developed ways of organizing this complexity that make theology more
manageable. Presently, a common way of approaching this organization is to differentiate
theology into four areas of focus. So what are the four types of theology?
The four types include biblical theology, historical theology, systematic (or dogmatic)
theology, and practical theology. This arrangement was arrived at relatively recently, only
settling in as such in the 19th and 20th centuries; the majority of the history of theology there
was an assumed fluidity between these four. Rightly so: there is no consideration of the
question of God in relation to humanity which does not invite all four of these dimensions of
theology.
1. Biblical Theology
Biblical theology is the focus on the specific ways that the discreet and unique authorial
voices in Scripture reflect on the larger questions of theology and the relationships of actions
and activities between God and human creatures. Biblical theology is undertaken by persons
who are formed and practiced by their Christian faith, account for the historical currents which
feed and flow in and through Scripture, and do so with full awareness of how the particular
voices in Scripture rise together as a canonical choir, coordinating together in ways that are
ultimately reflected in dogmatic theology.
2. Historical Theology
Historical theology, likewise, is undertaken within the practices of faith, paying specific
attention to all the movements of human history from the perspective of biblically informed
views of space and time, accounting for the dynamic movements of dogmatic theology and the
practices of the Church.
3. Systematic Theology
The practices and reflections of systematic theology take up the canonical currents of
Biblical theology, appropriating the theological voices of history. It does so with the full
consciousness that dogmatic theology serves the Church as the people of God in her efforts to
live and act faithfully in relation to her Creator, and Lord and Savior in the power of the Holy
Spirit. Dogmatic theology’s goal is forming practiced faithfulness.
4. Practical Theology
Lastly, practical theology begins with the full consciousness that all the practices of the
church and Christians are underwritten by theologies; biblical, historical and systematic. The
goal of practical theology is to reflect intentionally on present practices and their ingredient
theologies in order to critically discern their shape and character so as to deeper faithful
practices, correct those which are sinful, and discern with greater clarity how to live out biblical
Christian virtues.
The strength of a fourfold organization of theology is its capacity to simplify the
overwhelming and demanding complexity of the question of God and humanity; Father, Son
and Holy Spirit in all of the Trinity’s relations with human creatures against the backdrop of
creation in both time and space. The challenge, and temptation, of this artificial organization
within theology schools and otherwise, is to think of any of the four as discreet or
independent.
Scientific cosmology describes human beings as existing simultaneously in four dimensions:
height, length, depth, and time, all of which are implicit and necessary for defining the being
and actions of human beings. Likewise, should we think of the necessity and mutuality of the
four types of theology?
