While putting together a post for Koinonia I came across this quote from Michael Horton’s new volume The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way which frames the task of systematic theology as one of storytelling.
“A modern myth is that we outgrow stories. When someone asks us to explain who we are, we tell a story. Furthermore, we interpret our personal stories as part of a larger plot. Who are we? Why are we here? Where are we going? What’s the point? Is there a God and if so can we know him? Why is there evil in the world?
…The Christian answers these big questions by rehearsing the story of the triune God in creation, the fall of the creatures he made in his own image, the promise of a redeemer through Israel, and the fulfillment of all types and shadows in the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus Christ.
The Apostles’ and Nicene creeds are not just a list of key doctrines; they are a confession in the form of a story, our shared testimony to the most significant facts of reality.”
My question as someone in a systematic program is this. As much as I appreciate this way of framing the theological task, is this really what our systematic theologies do?
Are theologians trained to be a storytelling people, or are we instead trained to rip apart stories and turn them into something else altogether, into lists of propositions?
Can a systematic theology truly be a narrative bound theology?
