350 BCE, Aristotle discovered logical syllogism.
1854, George Boole published "An Investigation of the Laws of Thought" and started Boolean propositional logic.
1879, Gottlob Frege laid the groundwork for First-Order Logic. FOL underpins all modern science and mathematics.
1559, John Calvin finalized and published his Institutes. At best, in terms of logical reasoning, he could only analyze the scriptures using Aristotelian logic and contemporary scholastic rhetoric which lacked the formal precision endowed in FOL. His systematic theology lacked that level of rigor and precision equipped in the modern axiomatic system of argumentation.
E.g., Institutes, Book II, Chapter 1, Section 8:
Similarly, since the time of Frege, many theologians have not been trained in FOL. They suffer the same handicap. Aristotelian syllogism is a primitive form of FOL.
See also A Disciplined Probabilistic Approach to Biblical Hermeneutics.
1854, George Boole published "An Investigation of the Laws of Thought" and started Boolean propositional logic.
1879, Gottlob Frege laid the groundwork for First-Order Logic. FOL underpins all modern science and mathematics.
1559, John Calvin finalized and published his Institutes. At best, in terms of logical reasoning, he could only analyze the scriptures using Aristotelian logic and contemporary scholastic rhetoric which lacked the formal precision endowed in FOL. His systematic theology lacked that level of rigor and precision equipped in the modern axiomatic system of argumentation.
E.g., Institutes, Book II, Chapter 1, Section 8:
Calvin did not use "therefore" in the first-order logical sense. The words "therefore" and "seems" do not go together in the FOL sense. The word "seem" carries subjective evaluation. FOL prefers objective precision. He did not think according to the precise syntax of FOL. No one did in the 16th century.
Similarly, since the time of Frege, many theologians have not been trained in FOL. They suffer the same handicap. Aristotelian syllogism is a primitive form of FOL.
See also A Disciplined Probabilistic Approach to Biblical Hermeneutics.
