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Systematic Theology Volume 1

Systematic Theology Volume 1

By Dr. Norman Geisler

Books used in theology courses

Building on that foundation, Geisler’s bibliology, including the inspiration and authority of the Bible, has been called "the most extensive defense of the consistent evangelical view of Holy Scripture available."

Contents

• Volume 1: Introduction and Bible
• Part One: Introduction (Prolegomena)
• Systematic Theology - Chapter One - Introduction

• Systematic Theology - Chapter Two - God - The Metaphysical Precondition
• 7 opposing worldviews - Theism is foundation for evangelical theology
• Pluralism vs. monism
• Arguments for existence of God: cosmological, teleological, ontological, moral
• Conclusion about theistic arguments

• Systematic Theology - Chapter Three - Miracles - The Supernatural Precondition
• Introduction, weak and strong definitions of miracles
• List of some Bible miracles
• Old and New Testament use of the words Sign, Wonder and Power
• The theological nature of miracles
• The purpose of miracles
• Dimensions of miracles
• Theism makes miracles possible
• Answering objections to miracles by people such as Spinoza, Hume, and Flew - Restating their arguments, evaluating their statements

• Chapter Four: Revelation: The Revelational Precondition
• Prerequisites for divine revelation
• Theistic God capable of giving revelation
• Human Beings capable of receiving revelation
• Medium that makes revelation possible
• God's general revelation in
• Revelation in physical nature
• Revelation in human nature
• Revelation in human history
• Revelation in human music
• Relationship between general and special revelation
• Bible alone is infallible and inerrant
• The Bible alone reveals God as Redeemer
• The Bible alone has message of salvation
• The Bible is the written norm for believers
• The Role of General Revelation
• General Revelation is Broader than Special Revelation
• General Revelation is essential to human thought
• General revelation is essential to human government
• General revelation is essential to Christian apologetics
• Some Objections to General Revelation. Rebuttals of ideas such as:
• Is Natural Revelation is Unclear and Without Content?
• Is Natural Revelation distorted by sin?
• Is Natural Revelation identifiable?
• External manifestations are identifiable
• Internal manifestations are identifiable
• Natural Law is expressed in writings
• Interaction between general and special revelation
• Important distinction
• Which revelation has priority?
• Mutual enrichment
• Summary and Conclusion
• Sources

• Chapter Five: Logic: The Rational Precondition
• Fundamental laws of thought
• Law of noncontradiction
• Law of identity
• Law of excluded middle
• A Defense of the Lws of Thought
• The Laws of Rational Inference
• Deductive Logic
• Categorical Syllogisms
• Propositions
• Distribution
• Rules of Categorical Syllogisms
• Fallacies of Categorical Syllogisms
• Hypothetical syllogisms
• Disjunctive syllogisms
• Deductive Logic
• Nature of Inductive Reasoning
• Rules of Inductive Logic
• Kinds of Probability
• A priori probability
• A posteriori probability
• Degrees of Probability
• Logic and God
• Logic is subject to God ontologically
• God is subject to logic epistemologically
• Rationality or Rationalism?
• Did Artistotle Invent Logic?
• Are there different logics?
• Can't an omnipotent God break the laws of logic?
• Can't God transcend logic as he does natural law?
• Are not the mysteries of the Faith against Logic?
• The trinity
• The incarnation
• Predestination and free will
• Conclusion
• Sources

• Chapter Six: Meaning: The Semantical Precondition

• Chapter Seven: Truth: The Epistemological Precondition

• Chapter Eight: Exclusivism: The Oppositional Precondition

• Chapter Nine: Language: The Linguistic Precondition

• Chapter Ten: Interpretation: The Hermaneutical Precondition

• Chapter Eleven: Historiography: The Historical Precondition

• Chapter Twelve: Method: The Methodological Precondition

• Part Two: Bible (Bibliology)
• I. Section One: Biblical
• Chapter Thirteen: The Origin and Inspiration of the Bible
• Chapter Fourteen: The Divine Nature of the Bible
• Chapter Fifteen: The Human Nature of the Bible
• Chapter Sixteen: Jesus and the Bible
• II. Section Two: Historical
• Chapter Seventeen: Church Fathers on the Bible
• Chapter Eighteen: The Historical Church on the Bible
• Chapter Nineteen: The History of Destructive Biblical Criticism
• Chapter Twenty: Liberalism on the Bible
• Chapter Twenty-One: Neo-Orthodoxy on the Bible
• Chapter Twenty-Two: Neo-Evangelicals on the Bible
• Chapter Twenty-Three: Evangelicals on the Bible
• Chapter Twenty-Four: Fundamentalism on the Bible
• III. Section Three: Theological
• Chapter Twenty-Five: The Historicity of the Old Testament
• Chapter Twenty-Six: The Historicity of the New Testament
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Inerrance of the Bible
• Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Canonicity of the Bible
• Chapter Twenty-nine: Summary of the Evidence for the Bible
• Appendices
• Appendix One: Objections Against Theistic Arguments
• Appendix Two: Do Historical Facts Speak For Themselves?
• Bibliography
• Scripture Index
• Subject Index

Comments about this book

• A profound work from one of the finest theological and philosophical minds of our time - Dr. Ravi Zacharas, president, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

A Review

• Reviewer: T. B. Vick "Learn 2 Discern" (The Lone Star State) - See all my reviews

Geisler begins this volume (there are others to follow) with a section on the "preconditions" of theology. This is typical Geisler style (since he did this in the classroom as well) and I believe it strengthens the whole "doing" of theology. In like fashion, Geisler also includes philosophical and apologetical preconditions for doing theology. This is another feature that I thought set this text apart from others. Thus, in the "Introduction" alone, Geisler has set the stage for his "doing" theology quite well (I can't wait to read the volumes that follow).

From the "preconditions," Geisler then moves into biblical theology. Not theology that is biblical, but Bibliology, or perhaps better put, The Bible. This section covers the truth claims from and about the Scriptures, the history of the manuscripts, Church history and the Bible, and also those aberrant teachers and their teachings who try and distort or alter traditional views about the Bible. Geisler is pretty thorough in this section. Of course, I think that this issue (the Bible and its inerrancy) is one of Geisler's strongest fields of expertise.

This text is a great "Introduction" text. What I mean by this is not that the text is for beginners (while it is written clear enough to be understood by anyone who never studied the issues previously and also for those seasoned readers), but by "Introduction" I mean just what the text actually is. It is an introduction to his overall systematic theology series which is to follow this text.

There are several areas of controversy in the text itself (of a more philosophical nature). For instance, Geisler is very much a Gilsonian Thomist. As such, Geisler believes and teaches that "beings" have a real distinction between their being and their essence, but God does not have this real distinction. This is a very hot Thomistic topic in current philosophy of religion circles. The debate rages mainly between those Thomists who follow Gilson's teachings on this issue and those who side with Wippel. While Geisler does not touch on the issue as controversial, he does address it in nice Gilsonian fashion. And I for one am in agreement with Geisler (and Gilson) on this issue.

Overall, this is a great text which demonstrates Geisler abilities and knowledge in these specific areas. I look forward to the volumes that follow and I highly recommend this volume.

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