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Originally Posted by Davidius  I think the scholastic method refers to the medieval form of biblical interpretation which had 4 parts: literal, spiritual, allegorical, and something else...can't remember. Maybe I'm thinking of something else, though.  |
This is something distinct from the scholastic method. What you are thinking of here is the Medieval quadriga, or four-fold method of interpretation of Scripture.
The scholastic method was just that, a method. I do not think it had nearly the impact on the content that some people today think it had. It certainly had NOTHING to do with a dry, dead orthodusty. a'Brakel was a scholastic, and a more practical systematic theology you will never find. The scholastic method has to do with a method developed in order to teach theology in a school. That is what a schola is, a school. In Turretin, for instance, you will find the statement of the question (including what the question is and what the question is not), the arguments for and against, and then a section on sources (which include biblical, patristic and other relevant sources). For the very best description of the scholastic method, you have to read Richard Muller's four volume Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics.