The Goal of Systematic Theology

The goal of a developed systematic theology is not to provide academic and
philosophical arguments and conclusions. Rather the goal is to provide people
with a coherent understanding of God and his creation so that they can develop a
consistent worldview that governs their thoughts and actions.

– Glenn Daman, Shepherding the Small Church (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2002), p. 82.

Systematic theology, in a nutshell, is the topical study of the major doctrines (teachings) of the Bible. For instance, the doctrine of God (called Theology Proper) attempts to assemble the complete biblical teaching about God.

Systematic theology is based on the idea that the Bible has a single system of truth, and that all verses about any given topic relate to all other verses without contradiction. It recognizes that no one verse contains the entire truth about any given topic, but that the total Scripture is needed to gain God's full revelation.

Systematic theology is divided in various ways. I usually divide it into these ten categories:

1. Bibliology – The doctrine of the Bible
2. Theology Proper – The doctrine of God
3. Angelology – The doctrine of Angels and Demons including Satan
4. Anthropology – The doctrine of Man
5. Harmartiology – The doctrine of Sin
6. Christology – The doctrine of Christ
7. Pneumatology – The doctrine of the Holy Spirit
8. Soteriology – The doctrine of Salvation
9. Ecclesiology – The doctrine of the Church
10. Eschatology – The doctrine of Last Things (the return of Christ and the end of the world)