Those of you pursuing ordination will be asked to write a theological paper that demonstrates your ability identify and analyze theological issues you encounter as you study the texts of the Old and New Testament. Theology is the summation of biblical study. We engage the biblical texts to grow in the grace and knowledge of God (2 Pet. 3:18) and to serve God more faithfully (2 Tim. 3:16–17) and as an example to other others. When we think theologically we mean to say we are asking what a text contributes to our overall knowledge of who God is and how he relates to his creation, as well how we relate to him and to the world around us.

Maybe you feel like you have a pretty good understanding about what’s involved with such a paper, but you know you could benefit from an overview and to refresh your thinking about studying theological issues. Well, that’s the whole purpose of our next seminar. We want to continue to equip you and reinforce the skills you need in order to write a strong theological paper. Our upcoming seminar is going to cover the following topics: 

·         What is theology?

·         How is a theological paper different from a sermon or an exegetical paper?

·         What should I include in my theological paper?

·         What kinds of resources should I use? Where can I find them?

Thinking theologically as we study Scripture isn’t always natural for us. It’s a skill that we have to develop and develop well. To give you an idea of how we want to think theologically with our theological analysis papers, we have to do more than just look a word up in a concordance and document what the whole Bible says about a topic. Theology is much more! For example, we want our graduates to be capable of thinking about history and theology. Historians tell us that if you want to know what’s going to happen in the future, all you have to do is take a look at what’s happened in the past. Solomon said something similar, remember? “There’s nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). The theological issues we face today within the Body of Christ and the ones we see conflict with the ways of the world are present in history past. Do you want to know how you can respond to a theological issue or make an informed decision about what a biblical text means regarding an issue of theology? One path forward is to see what Christians have written about this issue in the past and also the historical contexts surrounding why they explained certain theology.

There’s much more to talk about. We are looking forward to helping you prepare for your theological paper. See you at the seminar!

Thomas W. Hudgins earned a PhD in Ancient World Studies from the Complutense University of Madrid and an EdD and MDiv from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of various books and articles related to New Testament philology. His most recent publications include “Electronic Tools and New Testament Greek” in Linguistics and New Testament Greek: Key Issues in the Current Debate (Baker Academic 2020), “Philippians” in Discourse Analysis of the New Testament (Fontes 2020). And his forthcoming publications already submitted to the editors include “Justice: A Concept Study in Biblical Greek” in Biblical Justice (Kregel) and “Textual Issues Involving Old Testament Quotations in Peter’s First Two Speeches in Acts” in a volume edited by J. K. Elliott and published by Brill.