[thee-ol-uh-jee] 
| 1. | the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity. |
| 2. | a particular form, system, branch, or course of this study. |
| the·ol·o·gy (thē-ŏl'ə-jē) n. pl. the·ol·o·gies
[Middle English theologie, from Old French, from Latin theologia, from Greek theologiā : theo-, theo- + -logiā, -logy.] |
The disciplined study of religious questions, such as the nature of God, sin, and salvation.
"Theology moves back and forth between two poles, the eternal truth of its foundations and the temporal situation in which the eternal truth must be received." [Paul Tillich, "Systematic Theology," 1951]Theologian is first recorded 1483, from O.Fr. theologien (14c.). A petty or paltry theologist is a theologaster (1621), coined in M.L. by Martin Luther (1518).
theology
1. Ironically or humorously used to refer to religious issues.
2. Technical fine points of an abstruse nature, especially those where the resolution is of theoretical interest but is relatively marginal with respect to actual use of a design or system. Used especially around software issues with a heavy AI or language-design component, such as the smart-data vs. smart-programs dispute in AI.
[The Jargon File]
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