Systematic Theology: The Complete Three Volumes

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by the inductive method applied to Scripture) that the relation of these Biblical facts to each other, the principles involved in them, are in the facts themselves…. p.12-13) Finally (at least as far as we are concerned) according to Hodge 'principles are derived from facts, and not impressed upon them'. The second main method, the mystical, in its supernatural form holds that the Spirit of God is in direct communion with the soul, granting otherwise unattainable knowledge. So induction may be followed by deduction, as the consequences of the meaning of the canonical sentences are addressed, and the deductive implications of such sentences are part of those data.

Unfortunately, Professor Vanhoozer's negative comments about Charles Hodge's systematic theological method are not novel. Professor Vanhoozer first alleges that Hodge presupposes a subject-object dichotomy in which the mind observes mind-independent facts in which the situation of the interpreter is irrelevant. The very name Biblical Theology is frequently vaunted so as to imply a protest against the alleged un-Biblical character of Dogmatics. Whether asserting such things 'runs the risk of neglecting the larger canonical context and literary form of the biblical “facts”, perhaps the inevitable result of biblical empiricism', as Vanhoozer claims, is hard to tell.Using these principles the Christian theologian must 'ascertain, collect and combine all the facts which God has revealed concerning himself and our relation to Him'. This is part of a discussion about the scientific character of theology, about whether, following Schleiermacher, the subject matter of theology ought to be the scientific study of human religious states. Gutjahr attributes this to his steadfast constitution, but one wonders if there is not something more.

And in the second place, we must remember that the revealing acts of God never appear separated from His verbal communications of truth.

The second task is to attempt to explain these facts by the presupposition of creation, fall, the deity of Christ, the inspiration of Scripture. In addition to articles and essays, Hodge published commentaries on Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Ephesians. But it is also a Scriptural fact that ignorance and intellectual progress, as well as omniscience, are ascribed to our Lord. Yes, it’s often a distillation of Bavinck, but you will not find a better one-volume systematic theology in the Reformed tradition. It must embrace an exhibition of the internal relation of those facts, one to another, and each to all'.