Hello to all

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hello Boru,

Good to "meet" you.

Why would you think you can’t say ‘pax et bonum’? I’ll take wishes for peace and good will in any language.

I agree! :-) My concern was that was too close to the kind of statement that theists should avoid. It is not specifically religious but it has religious origin and meaning.

SimpleCaveman

Administrator Notice
Link removed per 30/30 rule.

We don’t have a rule against theistic talk. As long as you don’t violate the Rules (link at the top of the page), you can say what you like.

Boru

[Mister Agenda]

Welcome, hope you like it here.

[SimpleCaveman]

Thanks!

[SimpleCaveman]

What is theology??
It sounds obvious, but, to me, it really isn't that obvious ???
If you don't know either, maybe you could describe what you mean when you say theology??

Hi!,

Thanks for the question.

Theology means the study of the nature of God and religious belief. That’s what the etymology of the word says and the way it’s been used throughout history. I’m curious why that isn’t obvious to you. What makes that so?

SimpleCaveman
p.s. atheology was an attempt at humor. If theology is the study of the nature of God, then maybe atheology is the study of the nature of not a God. ... Yeah. It’s okay.

[pocaracas]

Welcome aboard caveman.
Picking up on that definition of theology, how much of it do you suppose overlaps with sociology?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Hiyas and welcome, Caveman. Related to any of these guys?

[SimpleCaveman]

Welcome aboard caveman.
Picking up on that definition of theology, how much of it do you suppose overlaps with sociology?

Thanks, pocaracas. Interesting question. Thanks for asking.

Not being either a theologian or a sociologist, I’d be hard pressed to say how the practice of the fields overlap. Are you very experienced in either of these fields?

However, I can give you my layman’s perspective with very little research into the question (isn’t that the best way to be discussing these questions? :-) I’m open to correction (with evidence) on anything I say that is incorrect.

I would say that there could be some overlap between the two, but if one stays true to the fields, then probably not much. They might look at the same thing, e.g. how we worship God, but from different perspectives.

It does seem that since the 19th century, people have been trying to reduce theology to a subset of sociology. This fits with the other ways that skeptics have tried to reduce religion, Scripture, etc. to a mere human endeavor, rather than a gift from God.

On the other hand, even if the overlap is, in my thinking, minimal, we can see a clear connection and complementarity between the two such as the different perspectives on some things mentioned earlier.

I think also of the two greatest commandments in the OT, love of God (leading to theology) and love of neighbor (leading to sociology). I’m not saying that the OT was intended as a scientific study. Obviously not. However, the connection between these two commands does show a connection between the fields.

I think the Bible itself is a connection, as well. If we consider that the Nature of God is revealed to us, in large part, in the Bible, and that the Bible is about people, the growth and structure of their society (again, obviously not in a systematic way for either), then there could be some interesting ways to think about the overlap between the two with respect to the Bible as a resource.

Those are my initial thoughts. We can break each field down, if you’d like, and see where possible overlaps, contrasts and complementarities might occur. I suppose that would be in a separate thread. Can I start threads yet? I'll have to see.

Have a great day,

SimpleCaveman

[SimpleCaveman]

Hiyas and welcome, Caveman. Related to any of these guys?

Hi Thumpalumpacus, and thank you.

Ha! Those were good commercials. There are many good sources that the handle could be an homage to. (And I just got no one’s question. Sorry, no one. That’s another good one. :-)

The motivation for the handle, though, is Phil Hartman’s Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. I can’t link to it, but you can find it easily. Funny stuff.

Thanks again.

[SimpleCaveman]

Welcome aboard caveman.
Picking up on that definition of theology, how much of it do you suppose overlaps with sociology?

Continuing the thought, I suppose that atheology (turns out to be a real thing) is what you get when the skeptics reduce theology to a subset of sociology. Would you agree?

Along those lines, how do atheology and psychology overlap. I suppose that if you were attempting “to show that it is unlikely that god exists,” then psychology could be one of the tools you would use.

Philosophy might as well, but it seems like it would have to be a faulty philosophy.

Hmm, very interesting to think about.

[Fireball]

Welcome!