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Introducing Historical Fridays!

As many of you know the purpose of this blog is to help equip fellow believers for serving Christ. The main posts on Wednesday, based on feedback I have received, seem to be helping with just that. Now that this blog has been running for six months, I think it is time to add another helpful piece to the puzzle; historical theology.

What is Historical Theology?

Now we have already talked about two kinds of theology; biblical and systematic. Biblical theology focuses on the intent and message of individual books and passages while systematic theology focuses on the big picture based on questions we ask today. This is what the Wednesday posts are all about; either walking through specific books or asking big questions and looking at the Bible as a whole. 

So how exactly does historical theology fit into all this? Well historical theology looks at how the people, events, and theology of the past influence the theology and interpretations of today. This is one of the most neglected areas of theology. 

Everything we do today as Christians is built upon what other Christians in centuries past has done, whether we know it or not. A lot of the language we use to describe God does not come from the Bible but from history. The very fact that we have the Bible we have is a product of how God has worked through the history of his church!

Everything from church buildings to the way we think about Jesus has been shaped by Christians of the past. It is very important for us to know what comes from history and what comes from Scripture, because sometimes we confuse the two. Just because something comes from history and not Scripture doesn't mean it is wrong, but we should know where our customs and language comes from.

Studying history also provides a strong commentary on the situations we as Christians face today. Sometimes the issues that seem the biggest to us are merely cultural. Studying historical theology shows us what issues and situations have endured throughout Christianity. 

Conclusion

I hope I have made the case to study historical theology well. What this blog will do every Friday is look at one thing from history that is important and has affected who we are or what we do. This could be a person, an event, a group, or even an idea. What I think you will find is that we owe so much to the brothers and sisters who have gone before us. What you will also see is how God has been active the entire time.

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