Talk:List of Christian theologians

Referencing

I agree with past comments about coverage and no indication of criteria for inclusion in this list. I would like to add more theologians to this list. I began looking for criteria for inclusion and couldn't find any. The Wikipedia policy for standalone lists is that the people in the list can just be notable as a group and don't have to be notable individually and don't all have to have their own Wikipedia page as long as the existence of the group of people as a notable group is referred to in sources. So it may be enough to say that theologian has been defined in dictionaries, and theologians have been referred to as group in early Christian sources so they are as a group noted in sources. The Theology page on Wikipedia could have all these lists added under See Also.

However as individuals there is no guidance as to who is meant to be a Christian theologian or a notable Christian theologian. The traditional definitions are very broad and could include any Christian actively studying the Bible, God and beliefs about God. More recent definitions of the 20th and 21st century would confine theologians to those who have theological degrees obtained from universities, seminaries or theological colleges and/or teach theology as their profession. See Wikipedia page on Theology, how theology is studied as an academic discipline. Therefore can I get some guidance or consensus on who can be included in this list? Can it be someone who just sets themselves up as a Bible teacher and spends a lot of their time studying theology? Does the person have to at least have a theological degree? Do they have to be a lecturer in theology at a seminary/university? Do they have to have a wikipedia page? I am not really arguing about notability or whether anyone has heard of a particular theologian as people are biased for theologians in their own countries. I'm asking about what criteria for theologian are using? Do we have to be able to find a source that says they are a theologian? LPascal (talk) 06:02, 24 March 2024 (UTC)

Replying to my own comment- how about this as an answer to who can and can't be included on the list of Christian theologians:

For 20th and 21st century people each person must have a reference to a reliable source after their name that states the person is a theologian. It could be their job title on a university site, a review of their book, a biography...but it cannot be from their personal website where they just claim to be a theologian or from a fan club Reddit.

This is in line with wikipedia policy on bios of living people where you can't make statements about people without citing a reliable source. Putting people in a list of a profession when there is no reliable source to confirm they are a member of that profession is making unverifiable claim. If we do this it may shake out the bible teachers, apologists etc.LPascal (talk) 07:34, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Another comment from me. I notice that an editor or bot has put a "no references" template on this page. I think that accords with my suggestion above. My issue is that when I tried to go into edit mode and put a ref after someone's name, I was sent into the columns template which did not seem to allow me to insert references. Can anyone contributing to this list show us all how to insert citations to a source after a name that verifies the person is known as a theologian?LPascal (talk) 02:07, 26 March 2024 (UTC)

Coverage

Coverage of important theologians is poor. There is no mention of major figures such as Gordon Kaufman. I am not competent to write articles on the topic, but I have read enough to notice that there is a bias toward minor figures.

Manny eastern theologian are missing! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.80.42.99 (talk) 13:35, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Some of the modern theologians on this list are engaged in polemics and apologetics rather than theology. They should be moved to another page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.169.234.102 (talk) 18:50, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Graham Ward

I've never heard of Gordon Kaufman, I don't think that he's that major of a theologian. Graham Ward, whom I've also never heard of, links to the soccer player Graham Ward, it needs to link to the proper page. Can someone with the knowledge to do that do so? 24.18.249.218 (talk) 00:00, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

What about Jurgen Moltmann? He was and is a major Christian theologian of the 20th and 21st centuries. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.173.229.1 (talk) 01:52, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Never heard of Graham Ward? Seriously? He's got his own Wikipedia page. Also, please consider adding David Brown, who is no small theologian either. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.42.193.10 (talk) 07:17, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Proposal for change of title for this page

This list is (delibertately?) exclusively European, not including is even major Christian theologians from Africa (Coptic Church) or Asia (Nestorian Church). As such, it is proposed that its title be changed to "List of European Christian theologians". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 0XQ (talk • contribs) 14:55, 8 July 2008 (UTC) I have since added a Coptic and a Nestorian theologian; that should help remedy the situation. If these names are retained in this list, then no change of title for the article will be necessary. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 0XQ (talk • contribs) 15:14, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

-I agree that the list could be broader. But it does include some American theologians, so titling it European Christian Theologians would be misleading. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.92.184.174 (talk) 02:44, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

entries need substantiation

These entries don't give any indication of why they are included in this list. HokieRNB 06:13, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Rudolf Bultmann

Why is Rudolf Bultmann included in this list? I thought that he was a New Testament scholar, rather than a theologian. Vorbee (talk) 20:54, 20 February 2018 (UTC)

Denomination and movement?

Would it be beneficial to this list to list the theologians' denominations and theological movements? – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 18:05, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Include or exclude Bible scholars of this list ?

Since there is no specific "list of Christian Bible scholars", should we include or exclude Bible scholars of this list ? Whatever the answer, some direction should be added on the top of the page about that ---Telikalive (talk) 13:48, 5 January 2020 (UTC)

@Telikalive: I think the topics are distinct, plus list of Christian Bible scholars is probably notable enough to merit a list of its own. – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 14:28, 5 January 2020 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Lists of Christian theologians into List of Christian theologians

These are highly overlapping categories with a decade+ difference in edit history. The newer category is predominately linking to categories, rather than actual lists. Mason (talk) 02:51, 9 October 2024 (UTC)