Herald of
Culturology

Christian theology as a science of humanity

Чернявский А.Л.

Abstract

Christian theology has one feature that brings it closer to scientific theory: it turns out that some theological ideas – even those behind which there is a centuries-old tradition – can be refuted by new, previously unknown facts. The article considers in detail one of such situations: the traditional ideas about the hypostatic Union of the divine and human natures in Christ (Christological dogma) are refuted by the conclusion of the new Testament Bible that Christ as a man expected an eschatological catastrophe in the very near future. Such situations, on the one hand, testify to the crisis of traditional Christian theology and, on the other hand, stimulate its further development. Possible direction of development is the creation of alternative theological systems, invulnerable to any rigorous critical thought reflecting the real diversity of religious aspirations of those people, which leads to the Christianity of modern life. The theological systems of Albert Schweitzer, Paul Tillich and Carl Barth are given as examples.

Keywords

theological theory; falsifiability; the problem of ignorance of Christ; alternative theological systems.

DOI: 10.31249/hoc/2020.01.05

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