Anthropology by God

Ichthyology (what a big word!) is fish-understanding. (Ichthy - fish, logy - understanding).  It speaks about fish.  Theology (another big word) is God-undertanding. (theo - God, logy - understanding).  It speaks about God.  Fish understanding, I would think, is more direct than God understanding.  The reason is obvious.  Fish we can catch: from “teri” fish to sharks, from piranha to sarden.  We can catch them and study their behaviour, dissect them and see their organs.  We can take our time and consult other authorities when necessary.  We have control over the fish, the object of our studies.  God understanding is quite different.  We cannot catch Him, watch Him or open Him up.  ‘God is Spirit’ (John 4:24).  In fish understanding man observes and studies fish.  In God-understanding man is, as it were, studied by God.  It is --- let me be a little confusing here --- an anthropology (man-understanding) by God, a very special kind of anthropology.

Anthropology is, of course, man’s understanding of himself.  It is really a tremendous undertaking.  Any textbook on anthropology makes evident its immense scope: pre-historic man, man studied through heredity, genetics, race, evolution, culture, tools, food gathering, clothing, shelter, transport, economics, family-life, management, political organization, religion, language, art, education,  and other aspect.  When I say theology is anthropology by God I do not mean that we have a comprehensive textbook on anthropology written by God.  Theology as ‘man-understanding by God’ means that theology is man’s understanding of God on the basis of God’s understanding of man.  It is as a child understands his mother only by way of his mother’s far more intense and profound understanding of the child.  Theology does not and can not just speak about God apart from man.  Theology is then, “God-man-ology.”