From Doing Theology to Being a Theologian: Principles and Methods of Theology

Zoltán Szallós-Farkas. Cernica, Romania: Editura Universitatii Adventus, 2022. 207 pp. ISBN: 978-606-9065-25-9

The book From Doing Theology to Being a Theologian: Principles and Methods of Theology, written by Zoltán Szallós-Farkas, professor at the Seventh-day Adventist Adventus University in Cernica, Romania, deals with an important but often neglected subject in theology. It addresses the crucial “relationship between Systematic Theology and Christian Spirituality” (p. 7). Dr. Szallós-Farkas is an expert in spirituality. He earned his PhD from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and published his dissertation under the title The Rise and Development of Seventh-day Adventist Spirituality: The Impact of the Charismatic Guidance of Ellen G. White.¹ In his new book From Doing Theology to Being a Theologian, he is not focusing on Ellen G. White and how she has influenced and shaped Adventist spirituality, but he attempts to lay the methodological and theological foundation for the relationship between theology and spirituality. For him, theology and spirituality belong together and “Christian Spirituality, as an academic discipline, cannot be seen as independent from Christian/Systematic Theology” (p. 190).

The book has eight chapters. In the first chapter he introduces the purpose, perspective, and presuppositions for his book. In chapter two he deals with the relationality and spirituality of the divine and human identities and reflects on the nature of God as Trinitarian based on love. He delineates what it means for the nature of doing theology and for our spirituality. The next chapter has a methodological analysis of theological knowledge to show how human beings know. In chapter four he deals with scientific criteria of theological knowledge formation. The following chapter points out that knowledge and spirituality are dependent on the proper method that is being used. This is followed by a chapter on the interdisciplinary character and implications of this approach. In chapter seven the interdisciplinary usefulness and the interconnectedness of systematic theology and spirituality is unfolded. And in the final chapter the author concludes with a brief summary of his findings.

This book has significant and far-reaching implications for what it means to do theology and for being a proper theologian. He perceptively explores the important connection between theology, spirituality, and ethics. While the author repeatedly points out practical implications of this essential interconnectedness, this book is not a book on practical theology. It rather deals with the subject from an informed academic and methodological perspective. This requires, at times, not just careful reading and personal reflection of complex epistemological questions, but also a sufficient familiarity of theological and epistemological thinking. But when this is brought to the task, the reader will be rewarded with perceptive and rich insights. His chapter on the relational ontology within the Godhead and the Trinitarian spirituality of love (pp. 17–47) is an example of advanced Adventist theological thinking that is in conversation with other theological and philosophical approaches on foundational methodological matters. To see how the Trinity is the foundation of how God relates within Himself, how He relates to His created human beings, and how human beings in turn should pursue their quest for God presents a rich and rewarding biblical and theological reflection. Dr. Szallós-Farkas correctly points out that “whatever the understanding of spirituality, it depends on one’s idea of God” (p. 45).

For the author, the text of Scripture is decisive “for defining both theological method and theological matter” (p. 53). Therefore, “to research God and to study him actually means to interpret the data that is available about him in the Text, the Scriptures” (p. 59). While the author is certainly right that what God has said or done is connected to the text of Scripture (p. 59), the work of the Holy Spirit in the process of knowing God could have been elaborated and unfolded more than just in the following one and a half pages (pp. 61–62), especially in light of the intra-Trinitarian life of the Godhead that he presents so ably in chapter two.

In chapter three the author utilizes Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concept of language game and claims that it “has contributed to a clearer understanding of the relationship between knowledge and the use of words/language” (p. 74). I am not convinced that Wittgenstein’s model of language game is helpful in what the author tries to do. For Wittgenstein, only those involved in religion can discuss it effectively. This, however, makes it difficult, if not impossible, for those outside to engage in any meaningful discussion. If I understand Dr. Szallós-Farkas correctly, he does affirm the factual reality of propositional statements about God in Scripture (p. 78 and passim) and does not draw the conclusion that often is associated with Wittgenstein’s language game—namely, that a statement such as “God exists,” made by religious believers, does not connote a real, empirical argument for the existence of God, but is a statement that has meaning only for those who participate in this language game. A more critical interaction with the concept of “theological language game” (pp. 77, 81, 82, 85, 91, 92–93, 97 and passim) is needed, especially considering the correct insight that “it is entirely untenable to study the Bible if the researcher ‘simply takes over methods from other scientific disciplines’” (p. 97).

The author is correct that the fundamental and ultimate presupposition of doing theology is relational faith and not autonomous human reason, which easily reassigns “God’s supreme authority to ourselves, thereby seeking to be ultimately self-governing and self-defining” (p. 134). This becomes visible in the historical-critical method. In his book Dr. Szallós-Farkas perceptively and convincingly shows that the presuppositions of historical-critical methods are inappropriate and detrimental for biblical spirituality and delineates instead the historical-grammatical method. His comparison between the two approaches (pp. 187–190) is insightful and outlines aspects that rarely are taken into consideration when comparing the two approaches. Less clear is his claim that systematic “theology provides Spirituality with the necessary analytical and evaluative tools with which one is able to assess traditions, text, and ideas that underlie different practices and customs that are specific to a certain way of life” (p. 144). This raises the question of why systematic theology should provide this and not biblical theology, or biblical exegesis. While he is correct that systematic theology should be informed by the findings of a careful historical-grammatical method (p. 168), one wonders whether the outline of different subjects on pages 168–169 really is derived from a careful biblical analysis or reflects more of a systematic theological structure. The subject of creation and its implication for biblical spirituality and systematic theology is strangely absent.

A subject and Scripture index is missing and would have enhanced the usability of the book, especially since the author has read widely and engages numerous different philosophical and theological positions. The bibliography on pages 195–207 unfortunately does not list all the books and references that he refers to in the footnotes.

These details, however, should not detract from the overall very positive contribution of this fine book. Any person interested in exploring the theological rationale for integrating God in our study of the Bible in a way that leads to a biblical-based spirituality will benefit from the engagement with its thoughtful content. Every theological library should have a copy.