Isn't most of theology just folks getting red faced arguing over things which are ultimately just made up, and are unknowable anyway in the first place? It's only a step away from a couple of guys shouting at each other about how the warp nacelles work in Star Trek.
There's a substantive difference between a religious argument on Twitter and proper theological argument which leans into philosophy. The problem is that people aren't typically exposed to the good stuff because teachers and the media don't know it either. Sadly even local religious leaders; that's a serious issue.
It's still all make-believe. And I say this as someone who has had an interest in Fortean and occult lore for years - it's just folklore people choose to pretend is real.
How can theology be a metaphor for truth when the core of what it's trying to reason about is unknowable?
"Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief" [1]. The latter part I get, lots of people and groups (and regions) have religious beliefs and differences, so it's definitely worth some effort to figure out (from a sociological or anthropological view) what's going on within and between groups of people.
I also get the ethics and philosophy parts, trying to what it means to be "good" etc. But this study of the divine is pure horses*t - even if it's not all just made up, then by definition it's still unknowable. If it's something that someone has just concocted on a whim and claimed it was dictated to them by the Almighty, then it's at best a 2nd or 3rd hand source and a dubious one at that.
In my estimation it is, in its basest explanation, a means of hacking religious reward system of ones own brain. We have this spiritual nature to us which cannot be explained, but the study of the divine is an excercise in honing and directing that spiritual aspect. This can absolutely affect real change in ones own mindset and behaviour. In this way, I say it is metaphor that reveals truth. It reveals truth about the way our brains work, what motivates us, how to direct ones own will, etc.
Now, on a more abstract and heady level, I would posit that because these techniques do induce real change in our brains, that they may point at a truth outside of ourselves. For instance- when I hear of occult practicioners worshipping demons of greed in order to obtain personal wealth- it makes me think that the idea of "demons" ought mot to be tossed out ebtirely. In a certain sense, theyre real. Worship of these demons amounts to giving oneself over to the spirit of that demon (e.g. greed) now does this mean there is a real flying bat like demon creature - no, but it is a lesson in the nature of these demons within ourselves. We all have inner aspects which are base and immoral, and when we choose to feed them, it is akin to worshiping a deity- i creasing the influence and control it has over your thought processes.
Hope this made sense. I find the intersection of occult practice, jungian psychology, and judeo christion demonology to be a very very rich subject where surprising insights abound.
You might like to look at some apologetical writing. Christian apologetics, for example, are often split into three layers, essentially:
1. Is there a God - this is actually fairly straightforward to argue, simply because we can use analytical philosophy to reason about the unknowable and first causes and so on.
2. Is Jesus God - much tougher to approach for obvious reasons, but can at least be reasoned about if you've gone through step 1.
3. Should I be x sort of Christian - easier to reason about if you accept 1 & 2.
That first step is very approachable if you're already interested in things like logical proofs and higher physics.
Your first layer isn't really "Is there a God" but "Does the Judeo-Christian God exist?" Like Pascal's Wager, Christian apologetics begins by assuming that the only God that can possibly exist is the one Christians already believe in.
And neither logic nor higher physics proves that Christianity has the right idea out of the multitude of human religions and infinitude of possibilities beyond.
@krapp - Disagree on that point. Obviously the three above are going to break down into further stages, but there are plenty of apologetic arguments which squarely fall into a broad question of "is there a God?" and not a more specific question.
You're right about the starting point though. By its very nature it has to start there, but it doesn't assume that the people it'll be arguing with will be in the same place.
You might want to take a look at Rebuttal of the Logicians by Ibn Taymiyyah and The Incoherence of the Philosophers by Al-Ghazali, as far as classical Islamic theological works that have been translated, those will be your go to books but they're by no means introductory works.
As a contrast to those works, Summa Contra Gentiles by Aquinas would be a good follow up.
Then to pull both together try Christian-Islamic Preambles of Faith - An Exercise in Philosophy of Religion or Kalâm for Our Day Modeled after Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Contra Gentiles, Books I-III by Joseph Kenny, OP.
That's a good shout. What are invaluable and in sadly limited supply are religious teachers who can explain things one on one. As a result of (amazingly and sadly) the Second World War, this sort of training fell out of fashion in seminaries, and led to all sorts of dire consequences.
I'll go out on a limb here because the alternative is recommending a load of Christian stuff in combination with Philosophy and Eastern theology. David Bentley Hart is quite good, and his book "You Are Gods" may well be what you're looking for. I haven't read that specific title though. I ought to, it's sitting in my bookcase.
I am a Sikh (this isn't the reason I am not so keen on christian literature, I've just already been exposed to a fair bit) so I would definitely be interested in some material related to Eastern faiths, I'll check out David Bentley Hart too.
I just picked up You are Gods and it's actually pretty dense stuff and would be a poor choice if you were tired of Christian thought (even if he winds Vedanta into it). It might be worth having a look at Bentley Hart on Wikipedia and seeing if some of his other work appeals. "The Experience of God" is very good, as is "The Beauty of the Infinite". But obviously he's writing from a Christian perspective. From a completely different tack, you might read the "Tripura Rahasya", that's a good Eastern book of mystical philosophy.
Some of the stuff I found most satisfying was proper modern Christian Apologetics, such as the Handbook of Catholic Apologetics. But the Eastern writing is excellent getting across the scale of the infinite and relating that to people on a personal level.
Plato is pretty good. He does this cool thing where the theology and morality of the city state is presented in a way which enables further development of the sciences and arts.
Really blows your mind when you start to put it all together.
I've always been fascinated by the idea that there's this arcane knowledge, hidden from ordinary people, mastery of which allows the universe to be one's plaything.
Math, programming, science, economics: These things seem to be as close to the real deal as one can get. Which makes them quite satisfying on the one hand, but also a little disappointing. Those things are...too limited, not magical enough, not...powerful enough to deal with many Real Problems. There's still sickness, death, weakness, evil, conflict...
On the one hand, our resources and technology are incredible by the standards of any prior period in history. On the other hand, we seem to be beset by problems on all sides. I badly want magic to be real, and humanity to have an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent father figure to help solve its problems and guide its development.
Christianity has some fascinating hints of supernatural powers. It's a real shame religion is so obsessively focused on the moral lessons. As a child learning about the Bible for the first time, I had so many more practical inquiries that I've never gotten adequately answered:
- Jesus went around healing people with a touch. What exactly were the mechanics of this? Is it only usable on leprosy specifically, or did it work for other diseases? Did other people have this ability? Has anyone come up with a plausible explanation of how the healing powers worked on a molecular level? Could this be a clue to useful cures for diseases today?
- Death and resurrection. How was the resurrection practically achieved? Can anyone be brought back to life, or do you have to have the kind of relationship with God that Jesus did? If we figure out the process Jesus used to come back to life, could we create technology to repeat this process and bring other dead people back to life? Is the power far beyond our current technology? Or is there some fundamental limitation making it a power that only God can use?
- The relationship between God and Jesus is super confusing to me. Jesus is commonly explained as the Son of God, but also he's sort-of like a body part of God -- and there's also a Holy Ghost involved that's sort-of a third thing, but also the Holy Ghost is also sort-of another body part of both Jesus and God -- I really don't understand it, but apparently it's super important and something that caused major disagreements among early Christian scholars. What are the practical implications?
- God talking through the burning bush. What the heck was going on there? Is there any explanation of why the burning bush was the form God chose to manifest? Has anyone else managed to set a bush on fire and hold an actual conversation with the Creator of the Cosmos? Has anyone tried performing, say, 10,000 experiments, setting 100 species of bushes on fire with 100 different firestarting methods, with a super sensitive microphone in case the voice is very faint, and a bunch of fancy physics gear to look for weird particles or radiation that might be emitted as a side effect of opening a DM to the Sysadmin of the Universe?
- One of the Old Testament prophets (Elijah I think?) at the end of his life, was taken into Heaven on a chariot of fire. That's exactly how I'd expect people from a couple millenia ago describe a rocket launch. Could this have been an instance of space travel?
- The angels come from heaven and look super weird -- apparently frightening to humans because they always open conversations with "Do not be afraid". Could angels be aliens?
- The city turned to ash in a flash of light. Could this be a description of a nuclear bomb? What about the survivor who turned around to look at it, and got petrified into a pillar of salt? Is there any known physical phenomenon that could account for that? Has anyone found those ruins and tested them for radiation, weird isotopes, etc.? Has anyone found the pillar of salt? Is it good old NaCl, or some other kind of salt? Is there DNA preserved in it? Is there any evidence of other ancient cities being nuked, or people being turned into pillars of salt?
- The Ten Commandments etched into stone tablets with lightning. Are there any other known instances of lightning carving useful information in human language into stone or other materials? Are the tablets themselves still around? Has anyone tested them for radioactive isotopes or other weird stuff that might still be around a couple thousand years later, either from the lightning or from God's power directing the lightning?
- I'm super confused about why God doesn't do more. If I was God, I'd definitely smite some evildoers with lightning bolts. Heal those who are sick and shouldn't be. Resurrect those who are dead and shouldn't be. Set a bunch of bushes on fire everywhere and start reminding people they should be good. Use lightning to write a proof or disproof of P=NP on a stone tablet during the Super Bowl in front of thousands of live witnesses, and millions more watching on TV.
- I'm super confused about how God is supposed to be good. He gets super mad at us when we follow the sinful urges he built into us when he designed us, floods an entire country with water for 40 days because too many people were bad, punished people for crap their ancestors did, and only stopped when we killed his son? That sounds like a narcissistic bully who's prone to falling into murderous rages. Not any father figure I'd want to have.
Isn't most of theology just folks getting red faced arguing over things which are ultimately just made up, and are unknowable anyway in the first place? It's only a step away from a couple of guys shouting at each other about how the warp nacelles work in Star Trek.