James McCosh: God without parts and the importance of systematic theology

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Reformed Covenanter

Cancelled Commissioner
Those of you who read sets of Puritan works may be tempted to skip over the introductions, but there can be some interesting insights - especially since they are often written by men who are significant theologians in their own right. I came across the following quotation in James McCosh's introduction to the works of Stephen Charnock:

... Systematic theology has important purposes to secure, not only in testing and guarding purity of doctrine in a church, but in combining the scattered truths of God’s Word, so that we may clearly apprehend them: in exhibiting the unity of the faith; and in facing the misapprehensions, mistakes, and errors which may arise. In particular, great good may be effected by a full display, and a reflective contemplation of the divine character; and in order to this, there must be some order, plan, and division, and the more logical these are the better for every purpose, speculative or practical. ...

For more, see James McCosh: God without parts and the importance of systematic theology.
 
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Very nice (and I removed the strikethrough). I am repeatedly struck, reading commentaries, by how often the Biblical scholars struggle to answer something that could be addressed in a sentence or two using the categories of systematic theology.
 
Very nice (and I removed the strikethrough). I am repeatedly struck, reading commentaries, by how often the Biblical scholars struggle to answer something that could be addressed in a sentence or two using the categories of systematic theology.

Thanks, Ruben. I am going to quote your second sentence on Facebook, as I know a few people who will appreciate that observation.
 
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