Running Head: PRACTICAL THEOLOGY 1

Practical Theology

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Functional theology is how Christians understand the meaning of the scripture and the

understanding of who God is. However, the functional theology may be wrong, and our practical

theology does not always reflect the reality of God; however, it shapes ideas and the words

corresponding with who God is and the truth about God’s character and his divine being.

Johnsons explains that, whether we are aware of it or not, an individual will always be ready to

operate in the practical theology in daily life based on how they understand the scripture. He

also claims that nobody can avoid it when he/she reads the Bible. He spends the rest of the

theology as discipleship trying to come up with a framework to help understand the practice of

theology as an essential part of growing up in Jesus. He also explains Trinitarian concept of

activity patterns like “God's saving actions in Christ and the Spirit show us that God plans to

make us participants in his own divine life” (pp.56-57). “our participation in God through Christ

serves as the basis of our knowledge of God” (p.57) and "It is only because Christ has united

Himself to us that we can participate in the life of God (p.74).

Practical theology involves pre-conceived notions about the scripture. Without better

understanding, we may try to make the passages fit our systems, which is not easy to do and may

lead to losing the exegetical accuracy. Nonetheless, it is easy to fall prey to the "accidental

papalism," which leads to crossing the line between the hero of faith and hero of worship, which

is a line that should never be crossed. Divisiveness and arrogance may also arise if we believe

that we understand the bible better than others.

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References

Johnson, K. L. (2015). Theology as Discipleship. InterVarsity Press.