Theology and Science
Often times we use those two words, and we like to think that we know them.
But to use them, we first need to study and understand them.

For that, we need to consider: their etymology, that is, their origin; the lexicon, that is, how the words live and exist within the language and their denotations and connotation, that is, what they mean and what they try to express in different contexts.

 

What is the Origin of the Word Theology?

Theology comes from the Greek word: θεολογία (theología)
and from the Latin word: theologia

In Greek, the word is formed by two powerful elements:

• θεός (theós), God - prefix

• λόγος (lógos), word, reason, discourse -sufix

But λόγος in the ordinary sense means order, intelligence, expression.

So θεολογία is not merely “the study of God.”

It is something more alive and dynamic. For example, it is a speaking or a speech about God, a listening to God, and a way of understanding the nature of God. Saint Anselm of Canterbury wrote: fides quaerens intellectum. That is, faith seeking understanding.

In its earliest sense, theology is not first academic.
It is contemplation that results in knowing something about God
It belongs as much to silence as to speech.

But, when the word passes into Latin; theologia, it keeps its form.
But over time, especially in the Western tradition, it begins to take on a more structured expression:

an ordered reflection on God.

Not less profound, but more articulated, more systematic. 

Still, beneath both languages, the same pulse remains:

a word that arises because God is always speaking.

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