What is theology for? Modern theological study can easily fragment Scripture, doctrine, history, polemics, and Christian practice into separate disciplines. Petrus van Mastricht offers a different vision. Theology is knowledge of God ordered toward living for God through Christ. His famous fourfold method matters because exegesis, doctrine, controversy, and practice belong to a single theological task. This earlier essay explores that unity and asks what might be recovered when theology is once again understood as truth about God that leads to life before God.

From the archives: Originally published by Donnie L. DeBord on June 8, 2026. Read the original essay, “Beyond the Fourfold Method: Petrus van Mastricht and the Unity of Theology as the Doctrine of Living for God Through Christ,” on Donnie’s Dogmatics.