Roch Kereszty asks why, if “Scriptural formulas are the most accurate and the best suited for expressing christological doctrine,” we need “theological speculation.” He answers that theology exists to clarify and explain the Bible:
“Systematic theologians . . . will follow the direction given in the New Testament itself (that used Hellenistic terms to express theperson and work of Jesus, in a Hellenistic culture), and will find in every age and culture new auxiliary languages ‘in order to make clear for their contemporaries the special and fundamental language of Sacred Scripture.’ Thus further explanations and clarifications are constantly necesssary, but their goal is to make accessible to the people of a given age and culture that fullness which is contained in the Scripture.”
Oh, Kereszty is Roman Catholic, and the quoted clause is from a Pontifical Biblical Commission document, “Scripture and Christology.”
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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