I'm hoping this is an appropriate place for this post, though I'm sure the moderators will be dutiful in deleting it if it's not. I'm currently a graduate student in theology and it has opened up a fascination with philosophy and a desire to supplement my theological study with philosophy.

However, I have one important question as I have begun to dip my toes in the water. How in the world do you read philosophical works or comprehend what someone is saying? I am an amateur of amateurs who lags in general reading comprehension abilities as it is. As excited as I get about studying a certain topic like religious pluralism or God and time, I am immediately lost in the waters of technical terminology and rhetoric and my excitement is exhausted and replaced with intimidation. When I listen to a lecture series where someone has mined through the works and explains them clearly, I can latch on and understand. However, when I engage with the works directly myself, I struggle to pull clear systematic information together.

I'm hoping someone would be willing to offer some tips on comprehending and critically engaging philosophy, not the history, but the theory and development. A simple search on Google would likely yield some reasonable results, however, I'm hoping that a sympathetic philosopher who remembers being in the state that I am in, could offer some testimony, guidance, and maybe even encouragement for myself and for anyone else who may feel this way.

Thank you in advance.