Christian Theology: An Introduction

730 Pages·2010·3.86 MB·English

by  Alister E. McGrath

BRIEF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
To the Student: How to Use this Book
To the Teacher: How to Use this Book
Acknowledgments
PART I LANDMARKS: PERIODS,
THEMES, AND PERSONALITIES OF
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
Introduction
1 The Patristic Period, c.100–c.700
2 The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, c.700–
c.1500
3 The Age of Reformation, c.1500–c.1750
4 The Modern Period, c.1750 to the Present
PART II SOURCES AND METHODS
5 Getting Started: Preliminaries
6 The Sources of Theology
7 Knowledge of God: Natural and Revealed
8 Philosophy and Theology: Dialogue and Debate
PART III CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
9 The Doctrine of God
10 The Doctrine of the Trinity
11 The Doctrine of the Person of Christ
12 Faith and History: The Christological Agenda of
Modernity
13 The Doctrine of Salvation in Christ
14 The Doctrines of Human Nature, Sin, and Grace
15 The Doctrine of the Church
16 The Doctrine of the Sacraments
17 Christianity and the World Religions
18 The Last Things: The Christian Hope
A Glossary of Theological Terms
Sources of Citations
Acknowledgments of Figures
Index
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
To the Student: How to Use this Book
To the Teacher: How to Use this Book
Acknowledgments
PART I LANDMARKS: PERIODS,
THEMES, AND PERSONALITIES
OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
Introduction
1 The Patristic Period, c.100–c.700
The Early Centers of Theological Activity
An Overview of the Patristic Period
A clarification of terms
The theological agenda of the period
Key Theologians
Justin Martyr (c.100–c.165)
Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130–c.200)
Tertullian (c.160–c.225)
Origen (c.185–c.254)
Cyprian of Carthage (died 258)
Athanasius (c.293–373)
The Cappadocian fathers
Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
Key Theological Debates and Developments
The extent of the New Testament canon
The role of tradition: the Gnostic controversies
The fixing of the ecumenical creeds
The two natures of Jesus Christ: the Arian controversy
The doctrine of the Trinity
The doctrine of the church: the Donatist controversy
The doctrine of grace: the Pelagian controversy
Key Names, Words, and Phrases
Questions for Chapter 1
2 The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, c.700–
c.1500
On Defining the “Middle Ages”
Medieval Theological Landmarks in Western Europe
The Carolingian renaissance
The rise of cathedral and monastic schools of theology
The religious orders and their schools of theology
The founding of the universities
Peter Lombard's Four Books of the Sentences
The rise of scholasticism
The Italian Renaissance
The rise of humanism
Medieval Theological Landmarks in Eastern Europe
The emergence of Byzantine theology
The iconoclastic controversy
The hesychastic controversy
The fall of Constantinople (1453)
Key Theologians
John of Damascus (c.676–749)
Simeon the New Theologian (949–1022)
Anselm of Canterbury (c.1033–1109)
Thomas Aquinas (c.1225–74)
Duns Scotus (c.1265–1308)
William of Ockham (c.1285–1347)
Erasmus of Rotterdam (c.1469–1536)
Key Theological Developments
The consolidation of the patristic heritage
The exploration of the role of reason in theology
The development of theological systems
The development of sacramental theology
The development of the theology of grace
The role of Mary in the scheme of salvation
Returning directly to the sources of Christian theology
The critique of the Vulgate translation of Scripture
Key Names, Words, and Phrases
Questions for Chapter 2
3 The Age of Reformation, c.1500–c.1750
Introducing the Reformation
Reformation – or Reformations?
The Dynamics of Reformation
The German Reformation: Lutheranism
The Swiss Reformation: the Reformed church
The radical Reformation: Anabaptism
The English Reformation: Anglicanism
The Catholic Reformation
The Second Reformation: Confessionalization
Post-Reformation Movements
The consolidation of Catholicism
Puritanism
Pietism
The Copernican and Galilean Controversies
Key Theologians
Martin Luther (1483–1546)
Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531)
John Calvin (1509–64)
Teresa of Avilà (1515–82)
Theodore Beza (1519–1605)
Roberto Bellarmine (1542–1621)
Johann Gerhard (1582–1637)
Jonathan Edwards (1703–58)
Key Theological Developments
The sources of theology
The doctrine of grace
The doctrine of the sacraments
The doctrine of the church
Developments in Theological Literature
The catechisms
Confessions of faith
Works of systematic theology
Key Names, Words, and Phrases
Questions for Chapter 3
4 The Modern Period, c.1750 to the Present
Theology and Cultural Developments in the West
The Enlightenment critique of traditional theology
Romanticism and the renewal of the theological imagination
Marxism: an intellectual rival to Christianity
The crisis of faith in Victorian England
Darwinism: a new theory of human origins
Postmodernism and a new theological agenda
Key Theologians
F. D. E. Schleiermacher (1768–1834)
John Henry Newman (1801–90)
Karl Barth (1886–1968)
Paul Tillich (1886–1965)
Karl Rahner (1904–84)
Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905–88)
Jürgen Moltmann (born 1926)
Wolfhart Pannenberg (born 1928)
Denominational Developments in Theology
Catholicism
Orthodoxy
Protestantism
Evangelicalism
Pentecostal and charismatic movements
Some Recent Western Theological Movements and Trends
Liberal Protestantism
Modernism
Neo-orthodoxy
La ressourcement, or La nouvelle théologie
Feminism
Liberation theology
Black theology
Postliberalism
Radical orthodoxy
Theologies of the Developing World
India
Africa
Key Names, Words, and Phrases
Questions for Chapter 4
PART II SOURCES AND METHODS
5 Getting Started: Preliminaries
Defining Theology
A working definition of theology
The historical development of the idea of theology
The development of theology as an academic discipline
The Architecture of Theology
Biblical studies
Systematic theology
Philosophical theology
Historical theology
Pastoral theology
Spirituality, or mystical theology
The Question of Prolegomena
Commitment and Neutrality in Theology
Orthodoxy and Heresy
Historical aspects
Theological aspects
The Theology of the Relation of Christianity and Secular
Culture
Justin Martyr (c.100–c.165)
Tertullian (c.160–c.225)
Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
The twentieth century: H. Richard Niebuhr (1894–1962)
Questions for Chapter 5
6 The Sources of Theology
Scripture
The Old Testament
The New Testament
Other works: deutero-canonical and apocryphal writings
The relation of the Old and New Testaments
The canon of Scripture: historical and theological issues
The Word of God
Narrative theology
Methods of interpretation of Scripture
Theories of the inspiration of Scripture
Tradition
A single-source theory of tradition
A dual-source theory of tradition
The total rejection of tradition
Theology and worship: the importance of liturgical tradition
Reason
Reason and revelation: three models
Deism
Enlightenment rationalism
Criticisms of Enlightenment rationalism
Religious Experience
Existentialism: a philosophy of human experience
Experience and theology: two approaches
Ludwig Feuerbach's critique of experience-based theologies
Questions for Chapter 6
7 Knowledge of God: Natural and Revealed
The Idea of Revelation
Models of Revelation
Revelation as doctrine
Revelation as presence
Revelation as experience
Revelation as history
Natural Theology: Its Scope and Limits
Thomas Aquinas on natural theology
John Calvin on natural theology
The Reformed tradition on natural theology
God's two books: nature and Scripture
Approaches to Discerning God in Nature
Human reason
The ordering of the world
The beauty of the world
Objections to Natural Theology
A theological objection: Karl Barth
A theological response: Thomas F. Torrance
A philosophical objection: Alvin Plantinga
A philosophical response: William P. Alston
A debate: Karl Barth versus Emil Brunner (1934)
The Natural Sciences and Christian Theology: Models of
Interaction