Scholasticism

To my mind, "Scholasticism" should not be a theological dirty word. The attempt to distinguish and speak precisely is an important part of the theologian's tool-kit. However, it is not the only nor necessarily the best apparatus he has at his disposal. Ideally the theologian will be both scholastic and poet. He will teach and pray and sing.

The would-be scholastic must remember the primacy of the Bible. The Bible remains normative and it is the best form of speech for the purposes for which God gave it. Sometimes it is more scholastic, sometimes less so, but on the whole it is a book of stories and songs and prayers and letters and proverbs and laws and visions and so on, not a Systematic Theology text book - and we must say that it is all the better for that. God could have inspired a 10 volume Dogmatics had he wished. He did not.

Secondly, we should remember that it is both true to say that God does not change and that God repented, although in different ways. Language is never absolutely univocal and language about God is always especially analogical. This is true even of the most precise statements of the scholastics.