NATURE OF THEOLOGY AND THE PREREQUISITE FOR DOING THEOLOGY GREGORY OF NAZIANZEN

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NATURE OF THEOLOGY AND THE PREREQUISITE FOR DOING THEOLOGY
GREGORY OF NAZIANZEN
According to Gregory of Nazianzen, theology is to philosophise about God. To philosophize entails thinking, talking and deliberating about God. However, for him, it does not belong to everyone to philosophize about God. It is permitted to only those who have been examined and are passed masters in meditation, and who have been previously purified in soul and body or at the very least are being purified. This is because, it is impure to touch the pure. It is further permitted to only those who take the subject matter of theology seriously. It is only when one knows God, says Gregory of Nazianzen, that one can speak about God and thus, apprehend the truth. Thus, to know God, there must be conversion and purity, and by so doing we become free from all external defilement or disturbance, and that which rules within us is not confused with vexations or erring images.
A theologian is someone going through the process of conversion. Conversion is not just a pre-requisite, it is a guide to theology. Theologizing about God also involves acting (living relationship). This furher grounds Gregory of Nazianzen’s submissions that, a scholar cannot be addressed as a theologian because, although a scholar may have the eloquence and understanding of something in the religion, these are not sufficient to speak about God. Speech about God requires knowledge of God, eloquence, understanding, conversion and purity as necessary conditions. It requires constant conversion expressed in three ways:
1) Intellectual conversion- geared towards the truth.
2) Moral conversion- geared towards the good.
3) Spiritual conversion- comprising intellectual and moral.
            Hence, for Gregory of Nazianzen, the nature of theology is constituted on the fact that it is to philosophize about God. And a scholar who is unable to fulfill the requirements as set above, cannot be said to be a theologian. A theologian is always on his knees when doing theology, says Fr. Akinwale.
THOMAS AQUINAS
            Theology, for Aquinas, is a sacred doctrine. This Scared doctrine is a science since in the second kind of science he explained, some sciences proceed from principles known by the light of a higher science, like music from principles established by arithmetic. In this sense, Aquinas rightly avers, Sacred Doctrine is a science because it proceeds from principles established by the light of a higher science, namely, the science of God and the blessed.
For Aquinas, God is the object of the science of theology, because in it, all things are treated of under the aspect of God: either because they are God himself or because they refer to him as their beginning and end. Theology is the study of the truth about God. It focuses on those things that are divinely revealed, with God as its subject matter. Aquinas posits that since everything actual is knowable, then God who is pure act is supremely knowable.
Furthermore, Aquinas avers that the truth about God is known through the light of faith that illumines the human intellect, exposing and enabling it to know who God is. This is the light of faith which is the foundation of theology. But since, Aquinas opines, the knower knows according to his/her nature, the infinite God cannot be perfectly known by the finite human being. God is infinitely knowable but not infinitely known, hence, we cannot know everything about God. Although we can see God, we know him from his effects, that is, created things. Hence, our knowledge of God is derived from creatures. On the basis of this mediated knowledge, our speech about God is imperfect. And because we know God from his creatures, our speech about God will be similar to the way we speak about creatures.
The names we apply to creatures we apply to God, not univocally or equivocally, but analogically. Analogy is when a term applies to different subjects according to the meaning that is partly the same and partly different. The names we give to God signify the divine substance (what is signified), but in an imperfect manner (mode of signification). Just as creatures represent God imperfectly, thus the mode of signification does not strictly apply to God.
AQUINAS AND GREGORY.
            For Gregory, theology is to philosophize about God. But in philosophizing about God, which words can one use?
            Aquinas presents the basis for philosophizing about God when he posits that we know God by his effects, that is, his creatures. Hence, our speech about God will similar to that of creatures. The names we apply to creatures, we apply to God analogically. Therefore, in philosophizing about God, we speak about God analogically. Hence, our speech about God, though imperfect is valid.


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