Topic Video: What Are Theological Propositions?

Systematicians have to establish theological facts, and to do this they often use theological propositions. Watch today's video to find out more of what theological propositions are.
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In courts of law throughout the world, lawyers try to convince a judge or jury of their point of view. It’s always crucial to their arguments that everyone understands the basic facts of the case. So, frequently near the end of a trial, lawyers review the facts stating them as plainly as possible in a series of propositions: “This is a fact.” “That is a fact.” “This happened.” “That happened.”
Well, in many ways, the same kind of thing is true in systematic theology. Systematicians also have to establish certain facts, certain theological facts. So, they present their cases in straightforward theological propositions.
A theological proposition is as an indicative sentence that asserts as directly as possible at least one factual theological claim.
Now, we all know that there are different kinds of sentences in ordinary human language. For instance, the sentence, “Where is my key?” is an interrogative, a question. “Open the door,” is an imperative sentence because it issues a command or invitation. Neither of these sentences qualifies as a proposition. But the sentence, “My key will open the door,” is an indicative sentence that declares what the key will do.
In addition to understanding that propositions are in the form of indicative sentences, it’s also important to see that they’re designed to assert factual claims.
Now through the millennia, philosophers, theologians, and linguists have noted that different kinds of propositions make different kinds of factual claims. These matters are far too complex for us to deal with comprehensively, but at the risk of oversimplifying the issues, we’ll note two aspects of propositions that should be kept in mind.
First, propositions may be described in terms of the quantity of their subject. The subject of a “universal” proposition includes every member of a set without exception. For example, it’s common for Christian theologians to say things like, “All human beings are the image of God” or “All good gifts come from God.”
On the other hand, other propositions are “particular” because their subjects include only some members of a larger set. Systematic theologians might say something like, “Some church members are unbelievers,” or they might claim that, “Paul was an apostle.”
In addition to quantity, propositions may be distinguished by their quality. That is, they may be categorized as either affirmative or negative assertions. On the one hand, affirmative propositions state positively that something is true. A proposition like, “Some biblical passages teach about sanctification” is a particular affirmative proposition because it states that at least some biblical texts fall into this category.
A universal and affirmative statement would include something like, “Everything that was created was created by God.”
On the other hand, propositions may also have a negative quality, and they may be either universal or particular. For instance, “Jesus was not a sinner” is a negative and particular proposition. It denies something about the one person, Jesus. And we also find universal negatives in theology, such as the statement, “No one who remains an unbeliever can be saved.”
Forming theological propositions is essential to the process of building systematic theology. We must know how to express and defend the facts of the Christian faith. For this reason, theological propositions have been crucial to building systematic theology throughout the centuries and they are vital to building sound systematic theology even today.

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