- "We can no more have exact religious thinking without theology, than exact mensuration and astronomy without mathematics, or exact iron-making without chemistry."
– John Hall
- "Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun."
– Alan W. Watts
Theology is a Classical Era civic in Civilization VI. It can be hurried by founding a Religion.
Strategy[]
Theology is nothing less than the first attempt to apply science to religion, not to the natural world. With religion starting to play an even greater part in everyday life in great kingdoms, it becomes inevitable that some philosophers dedicate themselves to studying religion and everything related to it. This elevates religion itself to a whole new level, and enables the second religious building in the Holy Site: the Temple. This, in turn, will later unlock the full potential of Religion thanks to the new unit it unlocks - and moreover, it will allow the later development of new governments!
Theology also impresses other states and awards 1 
Envoy.
Civilopedia entry[]
Once civilization created organized religion, it was inevitable that theologians would follow. Theology is a “philosophical discipline concerned with religious speculation and apologetics” focused on the divine and sacred, humanity and “god,” salvation, and eschatology. In its efforts to be as applicable and systematic as any science, theology has spawned a host of “isms”: agnosticism, atheism, deism, dualism, monotheism, pantheism, polytheism, animism, totemism and such. Although certainly applicable to all religions, theology has been a major thread primarily in the Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and their offshoots.
The philosopher Plato identified the term “theology” with the mythical, which might have a temporary pedagogical significance but that would eventually be cleansed from the rational state. This identification of theology with mythology remained common throughout the Mediterranean civilizations until the Christians took umbrage and declared that theology was a means of proclaiming the divine, of confessing to it, and of preaching this confession. Thus, by the early Medieval Era theology was the attempt by adherents to make a logical and reasonable statement of faith, to explicate that statement in terms of rationalism, and to place it in the context of the “real” world as well as the spiritual. By the Renaissance, theologians were striving mightily to distance themselves from mysticism and be taken seriously by other academic disciplines.
During the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, theology was the ultimate subject at most universities, being labelled the “Queen of the Sciences” and serving as the capstone for the Trivium and Quadrivium that learned young men were expected to master. Theology’s eminent place in the university curriculum finally began to be challenged during the Enlightenment, especially in Germany. Most of the unresolved debate since has centered on whether theology’s methods are appropriately theoretical and scientific.
