Hi welcome. What Christians are loathed to admit is the incredible variety in their beliefs. Some are Trinitarian, some are not even that (I'm of course thinking about LDS and JW's here). Thomas Brodie is a Roman Catholic Priest and NT scholar who believes in Jesus-mythicism. Mind you he was pretty rubbish as a scholar, as since he published a non-academic work instead of something of a proper scholarly standard all the other scholars just ignored it anyway, as they should. I don't expect scholars to come to my blog and give me peer-review criticism they publish in academic journals, it just isn't done!
Most "theologians" are not real scholars, and if they are they aren't to be taken too seriously. I put the term in inverted commas because all NT scholars are theologians to some extent, if you agree with my definition of it here which is they make decisions about what a person had to say and what they believed. So even mundane findings about the most innocuous teachings Paul delivers are still theological in some way.
What most people understand the term to mean though is decisions about what us present-day sinners should believe and follow. These Theologians, at least the theist ones, do believe that Jesus was either the Jewish Messiah or a Prophet sent by God, or something similar (*except of course Jewish theologians who think he was just a first century preacher). They might ask questions that are near impossible to answer with scholarship alone, like why did Paul persecute the Christian church before his own conversion? Was it just because of his own zeal, or was it because certain beliefs taught by the very early Christians incited anger within him?
Belief and faith is highly subjective, and that's why there are thousands (perhaps even millions) of distinctly different Christian theologies today, all with their own set of believers.
Most "theologians" are not real scholars, and if they are they aren't to be taken too seriously. I put the term in inverted commas because all NT scholars are theologians to some extent, if you agree with my definition of it here which is they make decisions about what a person had to say and what they believed. So even mundane findings about the most innocuous teachings Paul delivers are still theological in some way.
What most people understand the term to mean though is decisions about what us present-day sinners should believe and follow. These Theologians, at least the theist ones, do believe that Jesus was either the Jewish Messiah or a Prophet sent by God, or something similar (*except of course Jewish theologians who think he was just a first century preacher). They might ask questions that are near impossible to answer with scholarship alone, like why did Paul persecute the Christian church before his own conversion? Was it just because of his own zeal, or was it because certain beliefs taught by the very early Christians incited anger within him?
Belief and faith is highly subjective, and that's why there are thousands (perhaps even millions) of distinctly different Christian theologies today, all with their own set of believers.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
