Methodology
Methodology
( and ) is the scientific plan of investigating any department of knowledge. In the science of theology, it is the practical application of encyclopedia. The one leads to the other. A clear insight into the nature and connections of any science will lead to a right mode of treating it; and as the complete knowledge of a science is essential to a good method, so, on the other hand, a good method is the best test and verification of knowledge. The aims of methodology are to furnish a plan of theological study, showing the order in which the topics should be taken up, and indicating the best methods of study, and necessary books and helps of all kinds. Some writers hold that methodology should be treated and studied entirely apart from encyclopedia. In a strictly scientific sense, this view is correct; but, for practical purposes, these two branches are generally blended into one connected whole. The whole treatment taken together is therefore called by the double name of theological encyclopedia and methodology. Of these, encyclopedia is the objective side, the outline of the science itself; methodology is the subjective side, having reference to the work of. the student of the science.
The science of theological encyclopedia and methodology is a comparatively recent study., The history of the science has been so fully treated in the article on ENCYCLOPEDIA SEE ENCYCLOPEDIA (q.v.), and the methods pf the chief writers on the subject so amply set forth, that we simply refer to it. Since the publication of that article, however, an important work, Lectures by the late John McClintock, DD., LLD., on Theological Encyclopedia and Methodology (NY. 1873, 12mo),has appeared, which contains so many new thoughts that we here insert Dr. McClintock’s division of the subject. He divides theological science into the following four departments:
1. Exegetical Theology, which is concerned with the records if Revelation 2. Historical Theology, which is concerned with the development of revelation in the life and thought of the Church. This definition gives a twofold division of Historical Theology:
a. The Life of the Church; that is, Church History.
b. The Thought of the Church; that is, Doctrinal History.
3. Systematic Theology, which is concerned with the matter of revelation- with the scientific treatment of its contents; making a fourfold subdivision’:
a. Apologetics, or the defence of Christianity from attacks from without.
b. Dogmatics, or the scientific statement of doctrines as admitted by the Church.
c. Ethics, or a scientific statement of duty in which man stands to God
d. Polemics, or the vindication of doctrine from he retical attacks from within the Church.
4. Practical Theology, which is concerned with the preservation of revelation and its propagation in and through the Church, as the outward and visible form of the kingdom of Christ among men. Here we have two general divisions:
a. The Functions of the Church; and
b. The Organization and Government of the Church.
This treatment, which has largely prevailed since the 16th century, rests upon the theory that Christianity is a system founded upon divine revelation, and that theology is really the product of the application of the human intellect, to the conceits of revelation.
See Crooks and Hurst, Theol. Encycl. and Methodology (N. Y. 1884); also Jahrb. Deutsch. Theol. Oct. 1871.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Methodology
The systematic analysis and organization of the rational and experimental principles and processes which must guide a scientific inquiry, or which constitute the structure of the special sciences more particularly. Methodology, which is also called scientific method, and more seldom methodeutic, refers not only to the whole of a constituted science, but also to individual problems or groups of problems within a science. As such it is usually considered as a branch of logic; in fact, it is the application of the principles and processes of logic to the special objects of the various sciences; while science in general is accounted for by the combination of deduction and induction as such. Thus, methodology is a generic term exemplified in the specific method of each science. Hence its full significance can be understood only by analyzing the structure of the special sciences. In determining that structure, one must consider
the proper object of the special science,
the manner in which it develops,
the type of statements or generalizations it involves,
its philosophical foundations or assumptions, and
its relation with the other sciences, and eventually its applications.
The last two points mentioned are particularly importantmethods of education, for example, will vary considerably according to their inspiration and aim. Because of the differences between the objects of the various sciences, they reveal the following principal methodological patterns, which are not necessarily exclusive of one another, and which are used sometimes in partial combination. It may be added that their choice and combination depend also in a large degree on psychological motives. In the last resort, methodology results from the adjustment of our mental powers to the love and pursuit of truth.
There are various rational methods used by the speculative sciences, including theology which adds certain qualifications to their use. More especially, philosophy has inspired the following procedures
The Soctattc method of analysis by questioning and dividing until the essences are reached;
the synthetic method developed by Plato, Aristotle and the Medieval thinkers, which involves a demonstrative exposition of the causal relation between thought and being;
the ascetic method of intellectual and moral purification leading to an illumination of the mind, as proposed by Plotinus, Augustine and the mystics;
the psychological method of inquiry into the origin of ideas, which was used by Descartes and his followers, and also by the British empiricists;
the critical or transcendental method, as used by Kant, and involving an analysis of the conditions and limits of knowledge;
the dialectical method proceeding by thesis, antithesis and synthesis, which is promoted by Hegelianlsm and Dialectical Materialism;
the intuitive method, as used by Bergson, which involves the immediate perception of reality, by a blending of consciousness with the process of change;
the reflexive method of metaphysical introspection aiming at the development of the immanent realities and values leading man to God;
the eclectic method (historical-critical) of purposive and effective selection as proposed by Cicero, Suarez and Cousin; and
the positivistic method of Comte, Spencer and the logical empiricists, which attempts to apply to philosophy the strict procedures of the positive sciences.
The axiomatic or hypothetico-deductive method as used by the theoretical and especially the mathematical sciences. It involves such problems as the selection, independence and simplification of primitive terms and axioms, the formalization of definitions and proofs, the consistency and completeness of the constructed theory, and the final interpretation.
The nomological or inductive method as used by the experimental sciences, aims at the discovery of regularities between phenomena and their relevant laws. It involves the critical and careful application of the various steps of inductionobservation and analytical classification; selection of similarities; hypothesis of cause or law; verification by the experimental canons; deduction, demonstration and explanation; systematic organization of results; statement of laws and construction of the relevant theory.
The descriptive method as used by the natural and social sciences, involves observational, classificatory and statistical procedures (see art. on statistics) and their interpretation.
The historical method as used by the sciences dealing with the past, involves the collation, selection, classification and interpretation of archeological facts and exhibits, records, documents, archives, reports and testimonies.
The psychological method, as used by all the sciences dealing with human behaviour and development. It involves not only introspective analysis, but also experimental procedures, such as those referring to the relations between stimuli and sensations, to the accuracy of perceptions (specific measurements of intensity), to gradation (least noticeable differences), to error methods (average error in right and wrong cases), and to physiological and educational processes.
— T.G.