What is a Theologian?
I recently asked a question on Twitter about whether a person needs a PhD to be a theologian. You can see the results below.
Must a person hold a PhD to be considered a theologian?
— Stephen Bedard 🇨🇦 (@SJBedard) November 29, 2021
If you check out the comments, you will see that much of the discussion revolves around our definition of a theologian. Is a theologian just someone interested in or who talks about God? Does this mean that everyone is a theologian as some seemed to claim?
It really does depend on our definition.
Here are a couple of definitions from the Collins dictionary:
a student of or specialist in theology or of a particular branch, school, etc. of theology; often, specif., a person who expounds a specific theology, or theological doctrine
a person versed in theology, esp. Christian theology; divine
These definitions suggest that a theologian is more than just someone interested in theology and it is more than just a well-read layperson.
Going back to my Twitter question, does someone require a PhD to be a theologian? I don’t think so. Theologians of past generations, such as Karl Barth, did not have PhDs. Of course universities and seminaries today would require a PhD for someone to be a professor of theology.
I think that a theologian is someone who is contributing to the ongoing work of theology of the Church. This may be through teaching but also may be through researching and writing. It is more than reading the Bible and reading theology books. It is about going to what is already there and developing ideas that are applicable and relevant to where we are today.
It may be that certain pastors without a doctorate are actually doing very important theology. At the same time, there may be Christians with PhDs who are doing very little theology.
Theology is the study of theology but also the interaction with the available sources. A theologian is someone who does theology and is not just interested in it.
