- God is triune – Father, Son, Spirit
- God is love, others-centred, relational
- We are created in His image, relational persons
- Relationship with nature, we are a part of creation
- Responding to injustice, dealing with our own idols
- God’s inclusive love – values of culture and diversity
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What is theology? Why is it so important?
Theology is not just an intellectual pursuit with no practical consequence. Rather, theology is simply our view of God: about His existence, nature, and purposes – and, consequently, also about the possibility – and type – of relationship we can have with God. Whether true or false, our ideas about God are more powerful than any of our other ideas, since the way we think about God is the main determinant of our character, conduct, and peace.
Excerpts, The Book of Confessions of the Church of Scotland (published on 5 Dec 2025)
“There are some members [of the Church] who feel that theology is inconsequential when compared to the organisational and missional challenges… Yet while these challenges can indeed be pressing, they are never as pressing as the need to know who God is, what salvation consists of, and what the Church is called to believe and do.
“Without at least some understanding of [theology], little the Church thinks or does makes sense, while [conversely] an intellectually robust faith – based on Scripture yet open to the insights of the world – allows us not only to understand God and the Good News of Jesus Christ, but also to understand ourselves: our purpose, our destiny and our mission within the one mission of God.
“[The very] basis of the Church’s life is its confession of faith in Father, Son and Spirit [and] this faith has far-reaching implications for how we view ourselves and our world, and what we do within it.
“The creeds [of the Church] are accepted by the overwhelming majority of Christians, who together confess their belief in the Trinity, the incarnation, atonement, resurrection and ascension… [The creeds] are not simply statements of faith among other statements of faith, but are said to express the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith.”
God is triune – Father, Son, Spirit
The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed express the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. (Infographic versions of the creeds are available here: AC and NC.)
Fundamentally…
- Christians believe that God is one God in three Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is called the Trinity. It means that God is not lonely. God has always been a loving relationship of three Persons, sharing life together forever. God is a community of love.
- Why does this matter? Because we are made in God’s image. From the beginning, God has wanted us to share in His love, to participate in the heart of His love and life and to enjoy personal communion with Him (and also with one another through the Trinity).
- It has always been God’s desire to include us in His divine life through the work of the Son. The Good News is what God has done in Christ, both for us and in our place, and through this we know our inclusion and communion with the triune God.
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God is love, others-centred, relational
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We are created in His image, relational persons
Caring for creation is grounded in the reality that we are made in God’s image (Foggin, 2023)
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Relationship with nature, we are a part of creation
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Responding to injustice, dealing with our own idols
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God’s inclusive love – values of culture and diversity
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