{"id":27104,"date":"2017-02-10T06:00:40","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=27104"},"modified":"2017-02-09T22:21:09","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T03:21:09","slug":"formal-and-material-principles-of-theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/02\/formal-and-material-principles-of-theology\/","title":{"rendered":"The formal and the material principles of theology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>\"\"The \u201cformal principle\u201d of a particular theology is its source and authority. \u00a0The \u201cmaterial principle\u201d of a theology is its central teaching, the characteristic \u201ccontent\u201d of the theology that shapes its other teachings and practices.<\/p>\n

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In the course of some research for a project I am working on, I learned that this distinction emerged out of Lutheran scholarship. \u00a0But it\u2019s a helpful way to understand any theological tradition.<\/p>\n

Wikipedia has an entry on the subject that lists the formal and material principles of Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Zwinglianism, Calvinism, and Methodism.<\/p>\n

These are taken\u00a0from F. E. Mayer\u2019s classic study The Religious Bodies of America.<\/a>\u00a0 I give them after the jump.<\/p>\n

These are theologies, not church bodies, and it\u2019s evident that\u00a0various evangelicals might be \u201cZwinglians,\u201d \u201cCalvinists,\u201d or \u201cMethodists\u201d (a.k.a. Arminians). \u00a0But there are still Baptist, Pentecostal<\/a>, and other theologies, including popular expressions such as \u201cthe prosperity gospel.\u201d \u00a0How would you break down their formal and material principles?<\/p>\n

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From\u00a0Formal and material principles of theology \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Eastern Orthodoxy<\/span><\/h3>\n