The Right of Systematic Theology
Overview
Systematic theology has fallen on hard times—even its right to exist has been called into question since the late nineteenth century. What’s the cause? The skepticism about the human capacity for knowledge, the reduction of religion to sentiment and emotion, the erosion of divine revelation by modernist critics—and much more. In the face of these obstacles, Warfield argues that theology is not only possible, but is now more necessary than ever. The task of theology remains urgent because only theology can address the most basic questions of our existence: Does God exist? How is God known? Are our faculties for understanding God—his nature, his works, his purposes—reliable and trustworthy? The Right of Systematic Theology addresses these questions in the face of widespread denial and doubt.
Product Details
- Title: The Right of Systematic Theology
- Author: B. B. Warfield
- Publisher: T & T Clark
- Publication Date: 1897
- Pages: 92
About Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield
Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield was born in 1851 in Lexington, Kentucky. He studied mathematics and science at Princeton University and graduated in 1871. In 1873, he decided to enroll at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was taught by Charles Hodge. He graduated from seminary in 1876, and was married shortly thereafter. He traveled to Germany later that year to study under Franz Delitazsch.
After returning to America, Warfield taught at Western Theological Seminary (now Pittsburgh Theological Seminary). In 1881, Warfield co-wrote an article with A. A. Hodge on the inspiration of Scripture—a subject which dominated his scholarly pursuits throughout the remainder of his lifetime. When A. A. Hodge died in 1887, Warfield became professor of Theology at Princeton, where he taught from 1887–1921. History remembers Warfield as one of the last great Princeton Theologians prior to the seminary’s re-organization and the split in the Presbyterian Church. B. B. Warfield died in 1921.
Top Highlights
“What Christianity consists in is facts that are doctrines, and doctrines that are facts. Just because it is a true religion, which offers to man a real redemption that was really wrought out in history, its facts and doctrines entirely coalesce. All its facts are doctrines and all its doctrines are facts.” (Page 34)
“to define truth and to state with precision the doctrinal presuppositions and contents of Christianity” (Pages 15–16)
“But the doctrines are the interpretation of the facts. The facts do not stand blank and dumb before us, but have a voice given to them and a meaning put into them. They are accompanied by living speech, which makes their meaning clear.” (Page 34)
“As sensation is the mother of ideas, so the Christian life is the mother of Christian doctrine. Life, then, is before doctrine, not merely in importance, but in time: and doctrine is only a product of the Christian life.” (Page 68)
“Men who have no faculty for truth will always consider an appeal to truth an evil” (Page 28)
- Title: The Right of Systematic Theology
- Author: Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Print Publication Date: 1897
- Logos Release Date: 2008
- Era: era:modern
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Dogma; Philosophical theology; Theology, doctrinal
- Resource ID: LLS:RIGHTSYSTHEO
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-01-25T21:45:12Z
B. B. Warfield (1851–1921) was a prolific writer, accomplished scholar, and ranks as one of America’s greatest theologians. After studying mathematics and science at Princeton University, he enrolled at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1873, where he was taught by Charles Hodge, in order to train for ministry as a Presbyterian minister. He later returned to America and taught at Western Theological Seminary (now Pittsburgh Theological Seminary).
In 1881, Benjamin B. Warfield co-wrote an article with A. A. Hodge on the inspiration of Scripture—a subject which dominated his scholarly pursuits throughout the remainder of his lifetime. When A. A. Hodge died in 1887, Warfield became a professor of theology at Princeton, where he taught from 1887 until 1921.
History remembers Warfield as one of the last great Princeton Theologians prior to the seminary’s re-organization and the split in the Presbyterian Church.
Warfield is known as one of Reformed theology’s most ardent defenders. The foundation to Warfield’s theology was his adherence to Calvinism as supported by the Westminster Confession of Faith and much of his writings are centered on this.
He has authored many books in his lifetime, including The Atonement and Modern Thought in the Classic Studies on the Atonement collection, Westminster Doctrine anent Holy Scripture: Tractates by A. A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield, and the titles included in the B. B. Warfield Collection.