Thing with theology is that it's not progressive but additive, with people just writing books about god and yet nothing can be said about God and no consensus has developed about gods and their will. This is in contrast with science, where consensus views have evolved in every field - views that may change with time, but always lead to a deeper understanding of the universe, one that expands our abilities and makes our predictions more accurate. Before 1940, there was no way to decide which primate was our closest relative, to land rockets on the Moon, to understand how the genetic material coded for bodies and behavior.
Theology in that way is similar to let's say Ufology where people write books but don't gain any new knowledge about aliens.
Theology and Ufology do change with time and those changes are driven largely by either science or changes in secular culture. From the beginning it was science that created most of the creation myths in Genesis, and archaeology to myths like the Exodus and the captivity of the Jews in Egypt. Just like it created Ufology.
Also advances in secular philosophy, like increasing empathy for minorities have changed notions of Hell, the infusion of social justice into churches, and the acceptance of minorities and women. That's also why religious morality promulgated by priests, rabbis, imams, and theologians, is usually one or many steps behind secular morality.
Theology in that way is similar to let's say Ufology where people write books but don't gain any new knowledge about aliens.
Theology and Ufology do change with time and those changes are driven largely by either science or changes in secular culture. From the beginning it was science that created most of the creation myths in Genesis, and archaeology to myths like the Exodus and the captivity of the Jews in Egypt. Just like it created Ufology.
Also advances in secular philosophy, like increasing empathy for minorities have changed notions of Hell, the infusion of social justice into churches, and the acceptance of minorities and women. That's also why religious morality promulgated by priests, rabbis, imams, and theologians, is usually one or many steps behind secular morality.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"