A few moments ago I wrote the following email asking about how we use the word “theology.” There may be a few souls out there who read this who have some good input so I will toss it out and see if we get any bites. What do you think? Do you think we misuse the word “theology?” If any of you know the post I am referring to please don’t mention that in the comments. It was a great post but that is not my point in posting this 🙂
Maybe you can help me with this one. I almost posted a comment with this question on your post concerning a theology of pets but I thought it might be out of place so I will ask it in an email. The word theology is used all over the place for lots of things and I often wonder if that is a proper use of the term. Isn’t theology the study of God? If that is the case what is a theology of pets or a theology of nature or a theology of [fill in the blank]? Could we have a theology of mankind? Or wouldn’t that be theological anthropology? It seems like there wouldn’t be a theology of pets as much as a theological study of pets or theological zoology or something of the sort. Having a theology of pets would be like having a an anthropology of trees. Humans climb on trees, cut trees down, and plant trees but can you have an anthropology of trees because anthropology would imply you are studying humans and not trees. I would think it would be an anthropological study of trees. Just something I wonder about because you see the word theology used like that all over the place. Any thoughts/suggestions?
