Historical Theology

Definition and Meaning

Historical theology is the branch of theology that studies how Christian faith and doctrine have been understood, expressed, and changed from one era to the next. Korean theological seminaries commonly divide theology into biblical theology, systematic theology, historical theology, and practical theology. Within this division, historical theology is the field concerned with the church's past.

Historical theology usually includes two branches:

• Church history: broadly covers the history of the church's organization, missions, worship, and social activity.
• History of doctrine: traces the controversies through which doctrines (the content of faith that the church officially teaches), such as the Trinity, Christology, and justification, came to be formulated.

Some scholars regard church history as the broader, overarching category, while others use the term historical theology as nearly synonymous with the history of doctrine. The scope of these terms is therefore not fixed. Historical theology is distinguished from systematic theology in that, whereas systematic theology sets out "what we believe" in an orderly way, historical theology asks "how the church came to believe it."

Biblical and Historical Background

Scripture repeatedly calls God's people to remember what God has done and to pass it on to the next generation (Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Psalm 78:4). The book of Acts records the spread of the early church in the form of a historical narrative. Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, written in the fourth century, is known as the first systematic history of the church.

The church formulated its doctrines through such developments as the Council of Nicaea, the Council of Chalcedon, and the Reformation. Retracing this process has long been part of theology. The history of doctrine emerged as an independent academic discipline in nineteenth-century German theology, and Adolf von Harnack's work on the history of dogma is often cited as a representative example.

Practice in the Korean Church

Most theological colleges and graduate schools of theology in Korea maintain historical theology as a distinct field of specialization. Within this field they teach ancient and medieval church history, the history of the Reformation, the history of doctrine, and Korean church history, and church history courses are also part of the curriculum for ministerial candidates.

Each denomination places its emphasis differently:

• Presbyterian: Seminaries tend to emphasize John Calvin, the Calvinist tradition, and the history of the formation of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
• Methodist: John Wesley and the Methodist movement are studied as the denomination's roots.
• Holiness (Sungkyul): The Holiness movement and its theology are studied as the denomination's roots.
• Full Gospel churches: Interest centers on the history of Pentecostalism, including the Azusa Street Revival.
• Baptist: Two views are discussed side by side: one locates the denomination's origins in seventeenth-century English Separatist congregations, while the other emphasizes the influence of the Anabaptists.

Perspectives differ in the study of Korean church history. Some approaches center on the activities of missionaries, while others focus on the church's relationship to Korean national history. The work of L. George Paik (Paik Nak-chun) is regarded as one of the starting points for the study of early Korean Protestant history.