Product Description

What is Christian doctrine? The fourteen specially commissioned essays in this book serve to give an answer to many aspects of that question. Written by leading theologians from America and Britain, the essays place doctrine in its setting - what it has been historically, and how it relates to other forms of culture - and outline central features of its content. They attempt to answer questions such as ‘what has, and does, Christian doctrine teach about God, the creation, the human condition and human behaviour?’ and ‘what is the part played in Christian doctrine by the Trinity, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit?’ New readers will find this an accessible and stimulating introduction to the main themes of Christian doctrine, while advanced students will find a useful summary of recent developments which demonstrates the variety, coherence and intellectual vitality of contemporary Christian thought.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #249609 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 327 pages

Review
"Useful collection for upper-division undergraduate or graduate course." Paul Lakeland, Religious Studies Review

"...fine work..." Currents in Theology and Mission

Customer Reviews

Summary of the modern interest in Christian doctrine
Each chapter deals with a seperate issue and the book is clear and easy to read. It is a must-have for any theology student learing about Christian doctrine. It tells you something about the history of the debates, the modern status of the debates, important thinkers for each debate, and so on. It is not a comprehensive textbook but a very useful, clear, concise supplement to other reading on Christian Doctrine.

Ancient and Modern


The late Colin Gunton was instrumental in reasserting traditional Christian theology against the apparent triumph of modern "scientific" criticism. According to the Guardian's obituary, Gunton had " a vision of classical Christian theology as a credible intellectual disciplines which, far from needing to accommodate itself to modern fashions of thought, provided the resources needed to criticise them." This volume represents that vision.

Modernism succeeded in part because the pretensions of the Christian church at the time of the Enlightenment made it an easy target for iconoclasm. In exploiting this institutional weakness monotheism was replaced by pantheism which suited the emergent secular age but collapsed with the cultural crises arising from the two world wars, the imposition of Communism on Eastern Europe and the faithfulness and intransigence of believers. Into this vacuum stepped Karl Barth who developed a systematic theology which Gunton himself described as, "a great and liberating testimony to the grace and goodness of the God of the Bible".

This collection of essays discusses in depth a variety of specific doctrinal issues, especially that of the Trinity, both in substance and historical development. Questions of creation, redemption and eschatology are all examined as examples of God's plan for the world, from beginning to end. The contributors are from a variety of Christian traditions which in itself provides testament to the reuniting of doctrine fractured by past divisions.

This is not an easy volume for non theologians to understand. However, a number of themes are apparent. The notion that Christianity provides a "God of the Gaps" in an attempt to fill in "scientific" knowledge is a false one. God encompasses everything. Secondly, the Christian message is thoroughly grounded in the person, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not then but now and relating it to the modern world does not require a dilution of fundamental doctrinal truths. This means actively engaging with Biblical critics and understanding the relationships with other cultures including those of religious and non religious belief.

Whether it will have an impact on materialists is doubtful, or for that matter on those for whom doctrine is subservient to practice and belief. However, for any serious student of traditional Christian theology in the early part of the twenty first century, it will serve as an excellent reference work and will be read and studied again and again.