A Way with Words - Topic: Theology course

Bob Bridges on Theology course

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 14:03:53 -0700

Rafee: Yes, "ecclesiastic" relates to Christian churches. It's from Greek words meaning "called out", and originally meant "assembly" generally; but in the New Testament it's used most often (naturally) of assemblies of Christians, and nowadays that's the only meaning used in English that I'm aware of.

Glenn on Theology course

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 14:47:29 -0700

There are several courses and topics associated with graduate study of the Christian faith. I associate these with seminary study, rather than with most undergraduate curricula, or secular study of religion: hermeneutics; ecclesiology; soteriology; homiletics; apologetics; haggiology; bibliology. Of course there is theology which is a much more specific topic in seminary than in common parlance.

Raffee on Theology course

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 05:29:04 -0700

Does it not mean 'related to a Christian church'?!!

Richard on Theology course

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 18:32:38 -0700

How about "ECCLESIASTIC"?

Raffee on Theology course

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 05:20:37 -0700

K the G, that's a religion-related topic, but not the subject taught at schools.

Thanks anyway.

K the G on Theology course

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:40:28 -0700

Could it be hermeneutics?

Bob Bridges on Theology course

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:09:38 -0700

I would have guessed that "apologetics" was more general, as Heimhenge said. An "apology", in the old sense, is a logical defense; it has to do with reason and debate, not religion. But apparently it's been used to mean the defense of Christian doctrines so long that nowadays that's accepted as the normal definition, and the more general meaning is secondary.

Raffee on Theology course

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:03:54 -0700

Well, in its narrow sense it is related just to Christianity; besides, it's in fact a branch of Theology which is, I think, far from what students may learn at school or even at church ( it's a lot more specialized), even though the course may be named 'Theology'. Also, I consulted my dictionary and shamefully 'nope' was the result. :-(

Heimhenge on Theology course

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 08:38:33 -0700

Could the term have been apologetics? That might be too general, but it does include theology.

Raffee on Theology course

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 06:37:34 -0700

I checked all of those, but none, unfortunately, was what I was looking for. I just found RE( Religious Education) with the same definition, but what I was after was one word.

Maybe I have to go through the dictionary once to find it, what I have almost done before. But then, what's the point of being so seriously after a word which seems not to be used anymore? ( In school context I mean, or you had heard of it I assume).

Bob Bridges on Theology course

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 08:34:21 -0700

I started out as a religion major in college, with the idea that I would eventually have a career in Christianity somewhere, though at the time I had no clear idea in what specialty. Of course in the US a major in "religion" means the Christian religion. The courses I took were varied: classical Greek, philosophy, old and new Testaments, "comparative religions" (in which we studied what other religions believe), church history, things like that. Had I continued I would have also had to study more of the same plus Hebrew, exegesis, literary criticism, lots of things about the Bible of course, the writings of Christian and Jewish theologians throughout history, and no doubt tons of other subjects I'm forgetting just now.

I'm not sure what one term would have covered all those subjects. A man in that major was sometimes called a "divinity" student, or a "religion" major, or a "seminary" student (a seminary is a specialized college for such studies). Usually such a person was considering "going into the ministry", ie having a career in some field related to Christianity, ie as a pastor, an evangelist, a missionary etc. Are any of those what you're looking for, Rafee?

Raffee on Theology course

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 05:02:18 -0700

Heimhenge said
Rafee was looking, I think, for a more generic term.

Yes, the dictionary definition was almost: "religious lessons presented in/at (the difference?) school".

FWIW, here we call those courses in high school, literally, 'Religion and Life'.

Jackie on Theology course

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:02:12 -0700

Heimhenge, that was just the first word that popped into my head. Where I grew up, the local Catholic church had catechism classes for those students who attended public school and so didn't have religious instruction. It's not really a common, every day word, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Dogma 101--could be interesting! Don't know though. I'm a bit of a skeptic. *grin*

Heimhenge on Theology course

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:29:59 -0700

Jackie" As I understand it, catechism is specific to Christian religions. Rafee was looking, I think, for a more generic term. Not sure there is a truly generic single term. I don't recall ever seeing "Dogma 101" in any course catalog. :)

Jackie on Theology course

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:28:34 -0700

Catechism? That was the word used for religious classes in the Roman Catholic church.

Heimhenge on Theology course

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 07:40:30 -0700

At the private religious school where I taught, the course was called Comparative Theology. It was a survey of the differences between major western and eastern religions, and also looked at the philosophical underpinnings of agnosticism and atheism.

Raffee on Theology course

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 04:04:18 -0700

What is the name of the theology courses, or whatever religious course, presented at school? Once, around 6 or 7 years ago, I ran across the word in the dictionary, but have never since and now I miss it.