As background to my view on theological matters, I would like to quote a few paragraphs from Thomas C. Oden's Systematic Theology (a self described
“paleo-orthodox" ecumenical theologian from a Reformed background) that I find particularly meaningful:
Christian theology seeks to understand in a reflective and orderly way what God has revealed. It is not merely reading the Bible as such, although it presupposes having read the Bible... There is no Christian theology without the Bible, yet there is no Bible without an inspirited community to write, remember and translate it, to guard it and pass it on, to study it, live by it, and invite others to live by it. The Bible provides means by which the Christian message can be received into the minds and hearts of each new generation...
The Christian study of God is a faith seeking understanding (fides quarens intellectum), a branch of learning in which the faith of the Christian community is seeking intelligibility...
It is this sort of emergent, maturing understanding that the study of God seeks to attain and articulate. It is a knowledge that is not to be equated with faith, but that emerges out of faith. It is not a form of knowing that is simply infused or given directly to the recipient by God, but acquired only with human effort enabled by grace. It is a knowledge that differs from philosophical inquiry about God because it exists as a response to relevation. Its reasoning is not self-sufficient, but lives out of its being enlightened by faith.
(Thomas C. Oden, Systematic Theology, Volume One: The Living God, p. 25)
