Vanhoozer, 'On the Very Idea of a Theological System: An Essay in Aid of Triangulating Scripture, Church and World' (in Always Reforming: Explorations in Systematic Theology ed. What Vanhoozer claims In the course of his advocacy of theology as involving 'thedramatic triangulation' between Scripture, church and world, Professor Vanhoozer has this to say about Hodge: Hodge's inductive method betrays certain tell-tale marks of its time, though this alone is hardly an argument against it. It is because of the work of the biblical theologian that Hodge is able to say, 'Although the Scriptures do not contain a system of theology as a whole, we have in the Epistles of the New Testament, portions of that system wrought out to our hands. Moreover, since Gutjahr depends almost entirely on primary resources—personal letters, classroom notes, journal entries, etc—the book reveals much of Hodge’s personal life.

Only if we take the term Theology in its more primitive and simple meaning, as the practical, historic knowledge of God imparted by revelation and deposited in the Bible, can we justify the use of the now commonly accepted name of our science. See, for example, Nancey Murphy, Beyond Liberalism and Fundamentalism: How Modern and Postmodern Philosophy set the Theological Agenda, (Valley Forge,Pa. Broken into eight sections, one for every decade of Hodge’s life, Gutjahr manages to synthesize large and often weighty subjects into short chapters. Second, that Hodge is said to work with a 'dichotomy' between fact and theory, not taking any account of the theory-ladenness of data. A final assessment of the book likely depends on whether you find tri-perspectivalism incredibly helpful or a bit tenuous.Hodge's inductive method betrays certain tell-tale marks of its time, though this alone is hardly an argument against it. There is a table over there' is 'laden' with the theory of the spatio-temporal location of middle-sized artifacts.

These sentences bear certain familiar tell-tale signs, expressed in three charges against Hodge: that he presupposes a ‘subject-object dichotomy’ in which the mind observes facts (which are in some sense mind-independent), and in which the situation of the interpreter is irrelevant. Grenz, Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era , (Grand Rapids, Baker, 2000 pp. It must embrace an exhibition of the internal relation of those facts, one to another, and each to all'. It is a matter of no moment in the city of God whether he who adopts the faith that brings omen to God adopts it in one dress and manner of life or another, so long as he lives in conformity with the commandments of God.Like the scientist, the theologian ought to carry out his induction as thoroughly and comprehensively as possible. It is alleged that this approach, besides having a primitive view of scientific method, does not make sufficient allowance for context, or presupposition, or for having due regard to the organic character of Scripture.

p. 1, 2) In a Christian view of Scripture 'God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself' is consistent with 'God created the heavens and the earth' and 'Our God is a consuming fire', and it is the task of the systematic theologian, as far as he is able, to display this consistency. As Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature, Hodge’s primary responsibility was instruction in biblical languages, hermeneutics, biblical criticism, and study of Old Testament texts. A stout Calvinist with a deep love for the Reformed confessions, his literary labours often involved a polemical thrust, as he sought to defend and expound the Reformed theology of the Protestant Reformation, and the teachings of the Westminster Confession and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, as received and adopted by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The idea that the data of Scripture are instances of data of a natural scientific kind is not one that Hodge entertained.If, therefore, theology be a science, it must include something more than a mere knowledge of facts.