I. Prolegomena WORKING ON THIS / WIP
A. Pannenberg – what kind of theologian lives behind this book?
Some experience(s) (1) convicting, and (2) dark.
a. “Neo-orthodox” conservative faith, apologia; Jesus as history.
b. Fearless about science/history; pertinance. Aristotle included discourse on mathematike, physike and theologike in Metaphysics. This inclusiveness with Science, and history, is characteristic of Pannenberg.
B. “Systematic Theology” - fearless love of connections in Academia
C. History as future, as Scripture, as revelation (comes from God)
II. First main point (strongest)
A. § I. Theology –
a. Source – divine or human. Does our insight come from revelation (from God) or from Dialogue (from human interaction/dialectic)?
As in Plato, this does not preclude a connection with the art of "true dialectic" {176-77) which leads to true wisdom through the power of discrimination, and which is a "science" (176). To understand statements of this kind, however, we must also take into account the Platonic doctrine that the source of all knowledge lies in an illumination for which dialectic can only prepare the way.
Says the Greeks were ambiguous and so are we. Pretends to walk through 2000 years of dialectics, but not interested in Roman Catholic theologians. Lands on Luther/Gerhard and the idea of “concensus” theology. Invokes Luther 27x.
“Although both medieval Scholasticism and older Protestant theology inclined toward a certain limitation of the validity of the principles of reason in theology, the latter favoring an instrumental but not a normative use,33 this was due to the special nature of the Aristotelian view of reason and rational knowledge. If strict rational knowledge consists only of deduction from universal principles, then it must be said that the statements of Christian doctrine cannot be deduced in this way because of their historical origin (Aquinas ST 1.32.1 ad 2). Opposition to the Aristotelian view of reason and rational knowledge also lies behind many of Luther's criticisms of the false dominance of natural human reason in theology. On the other hand, Luther not only spoke of a renewal of reason by faith but also stressed the need for reason in theology.
b. Practical. Seems to reject Aristotelian categorical distinction between theory and practicum, and challenges his own determination that Theology is pertinent -- “God's knowledge of himself cannot be regarded as practical knowledge.” Joins Aquinas: “knowledge of it is possible only by divme revelauon. But if God is the object of theology, then it is evident. from the ma1esty of this ob'ect that it can be known only if of itself it gives itself to be known. “ We know God through his created works, among these is counted “the data of salvation history.” History is divine revelation. “God made his incomprehensible essence known through his historical revelation.” Page 6.
c. Theology as the science of God. In which incarnation is indispensable. The created are brought into fellowship with God.
d. TRUTH. [123 hits.] Christian church life and the training of their leaders is not just a cultural artifact, but its theology must be true, whether it is right in what it says about God, and by what authority it speaks. Page 7.
e. “Talk about God that is grounded in humanity, in human needs and interests, or as an expression of human ideas about divine reality, would not be theology. It would simply be a product of human imagination. It is not self-evident that human talk about God can ever be more than that, that it can be genuinely theological and express divlne reality.” Page 7. Since plato, such talk has been greeted with “great skepticism”.
f. “As they are practiced in academic circles today, not all the disciplines of Christian theology have as their theme the truth of Christian discourse about God. The question is not raised in the teaching and research of the historical disciplines. Nor is it raised in the exegetical disciplines insofar as they use the tools of the historico-critical method.”
g.
B.
C. § 2. The Truth of Dogma – if not true, not Christian
a. Origen describes Christian dogma as “spoken and taught by God”. Of God.
b. Yet, it was centuries before dogma became “divine”. “A chmax came m 545 during the prolonged conflict over the val1d1ty of the Council of Chalcedon ( 451 ). In that year Justinian declared that the dogmata of the first four councils carried an authority equal to that of the holy scriptures.”
c. Directly from God (Jesus), by revelation through Scripture or history, or by Church concensus: “The antithesis of scripture and church or more precisely, of the gospel to which scripture bears witness and' th~ doctrine and confession of the church, is characteristic of Reformation theology. The church's confession does not create new articles of faith· it simply confesses the faith in the gospel to which scripture bears witn~ss (Luther, WA, 30, 2, 420).21 . p 14. Compares Catholic and Lutheran standards of interpretation, in which “church concensus” comes into play in both.
d. Very important description of the task of the exegete. There is never a unity between the text and the expositor. Page 15.
i. All interpretation, whether private or official, is measured against the truth of the subject matter, which is not decided by any one expositor but in the process of the expository debate.
ii. But what is the truth of the subject matter and how does it assert itself? 15
iii. As long as biblical exposition continues, the contours of the subject '."alter will neve~ be conclusively drawn. Knowledge of it will always be Ill flux. This applies no less to the more precise determination of the nature ?f the subject matter of scripture and the Christian faith than to the related issue of the truth of the saving act in God in Jesus of Nazareth to which scripture bears witness. As ~regards both its content and its truth, dogma, as Kar~ Barth said, 1s an eschatological concept. "24 Only God's final revelat10n at the end of history will bring with it final knowledge of the content and truth of the act of God in Jesus of Nazareth. God alone has the competence to speak the final word about God's work in history . This does not mean that present knowledge of the content is 0 I Page 16
iv. Truth – Dialectical Process Theology. “All interpretation, whether private or official, is measured against the truth of the subject matter, which is not decided by any one expositor but in the process of the expository debate.” Page 15.
v. “This process is itself an mterpretat10n of dogma because it takes seriously the claim of dogma to offer a summary of the central theme of scripture as the truth of God. The exposition and testing of dogma in this sense constitutes the task of dogmatics. Dogmatics inquires into the truth of dogma. Page 16.

D. § 3. Dogmatics as Systematic Theology
“Proof and confirmation come chiefly by way of the form of systematic presentation itself as a connection is shown between the various Christian doctrinal statements and also between these statements and whatever else is regarded as true. Hence the systematic presentation of the statement of Christian doctrine is already related as such to its truth claim. It _____ the truth of what is presented. If truth can only be one, the things that are regarded as true will not contradict one another, and they can be united with one another. To this extent a systematic presentation of the articles of faith directly involves their truth and the ascertainment of their truth. These are not things that we must add laterto their systematic presentation. Inquiry into the truth of the content is linked to the systematic presentation itself. Pages 18-19.
The “process of systemization” is a service rendered to the proclamation of the Christian message. It can be proclaimed as true. The claim of truth implicitly presupposes its inner coherence and its coherence with all that is true.
Origen presented his work in the form of systematic presentation of the Christian doctrine of God.
In medieval scholasticism, the form of systematic presentation was the central theme of discussions of the scientific nature of theology. Most appropriate form in the Summas as independent and comprehensive presentations of Christian teaching, demonstrating unity of doctrines and with reason.
“fhe syste1natic ("speculative") reconstruction of Christian doctrine, for reasons yet to be discussed, cannot conclusively decide the truth question. Page23