The intellectual enterprise of reflecting on a religion's founding story and texts, in order to build a system of doctrines that is compatible with the theologian's worldview and that shows how the story and texts address important questions within that worldview.
For example, in Christianity doctrines of the nature of Christ were developed, using the terms of Greek thought, to show how Christ's life and death could be relevant to human salvation.
Muslim theology is divided between kalam (speculative theology), which stresses argument from reason alone, and traditionalist theology, which bases its claims on revelation alone.