Starting somewhere in the late medieval period (Occam's razor, etc.) people started studying the natural world ("the world is made by a reasonable creator, it is his artwork / handiwork. if we study it, we'll get to know Him better.")
From that, people began to observe rather than merely wax eloquent; to record carefully, then to predict based on the experiments, by creating ideas of what was causing the behaviour they observed, *and then correcting their ideas if what they saw, didn't agree*.
Over time, people forgot to think of this practice as "natural philosophy" and began to consider as though the idealizations or theoretical frameworks ("models") for natural behaviour, were not idealizations from generalizing under controlled conditions, but were "really" what was going on. Think of the philosophers' reactions to Newton's laws of mechanics -- "hooray, we now know how the whole world works, we don't need a fictitious "God" to explain stuff. I F'ing Love Science!"
But implicit in that was an error, which I tried to indirectly mock/make reference to with the Bud Light commercial: the idea that God or gods, were really superstition designed to explain a complex, ever changing world, and that science was the superior method of doing so.
And so, since that's all the natural scientists cared about, was being able to predict/control things (and thereby improve the lot of humanity, or at least get rich helping *some* people, in return for money), they assumed that that had always been the goal of theology, too, and made fun of theology either for not being very good at it, or for wasting its time in esoteric disputations ("how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?")
Disclaimer: typed in a great hurry while watching YouTube Videos on strength/flexibility training and doing several other things. Meant as a broad overview hand-waving rather than a historical treatise. Close cover before striking. Void in Arizona, Georgia, and anywhere else with apparent voter fraud.
#FJB
You petered out just as it was getting really interesting!
Please continue!
So, in reality, the purpose/goal of Theology TODAY should be recognized as...?
HINT: If it ain't to improve our lives, eliminate suffering, etc. - it ain't worth jack.
Regards,