The Bible is not a dogmatic handbook but a historical book full of dramatic interest," argued the Dutch-American theologian Geerhardus Vos (1862–1949). But this is not to dismiss out of hand "dogmatics" or the enterprise known as "systematic theology." Instead, serious students of the Bible should employ both methods as mutually supportive for growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Avoiding a handbook approach, Vos utilized the classic distinction between systematic theology that draws a circle and biblical theology that draws a line.
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Ryan Glomsrud (D.Phil., University of Oxford) is Executive Editor for Modern Reformation and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the History Department at Harvard University. He earned his M.A. in Historical Theology from Westminster Seminary California and B.A. from Wheaton College, Illinois.
Issue: "No Girls Allowed" May/June 2012 Vol. 21 No. 3 Page number(s): 60-61
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