Theology v. Philosophy

In contemporary theology, the situation is just about nothing short of a disaster. The theologians have relied upon Continential philosophy including Kantian philosophy. This type of philosophy claims that one cannot make any true statements about reality in itself, only appearances. Hence, one cannot make any kind of propositional statements about God. This reduces the theologian to taking biblical statements in the Bible and using them for theology, instead, the theologian is reduced to claiming X is what the Bible asserts, but all we can say is X. For example, if the Bible mentions how God changes his mind, a majority of theologians - this type of interpretative theology is referred to as narrative theology - will claim that we cannot systematize God changing His mind, but only view it in the context that it takes place in. So no meaningful statements can be made about God. Perhaps the most significant factor in all of this is that it produces a gap between academic theologians and the folks in the pews. Those in the pews are not aware that they cannot make any meaningful statements about God.

The problem with all of this is that theologians have given Kantians way too much credit. Plantinga discusses this in his book, Warranted Christian Belief, but Plantinga mentions that no one ever asked the philosophers if they should take Kant's argument as conclusive. Plantinga claims to have refuted Kant's argument that one cannot make statements about reality or God. I think the one thing this shows is that philosophy does have something to say to theology. Though theologians do often ignore this fact. --this has made me feel more secure in my decision to pursue a degree in philosophy rather than theology