Bad Theology

Traces the decline of Christianity in America since the 1950s, posing controversial arguments about the role of heresy in the nation's downfall while calling for a revival of traditional Christian practices.

Why does bad theology happen to good people? Is it even possible for theology to go "bad"? On the one hand, the answer ought to be ‘no’. It comes from God, so how can it be bad? Yet theology is predominately human construct, and as a result, humans can influence their theological conclusions with their own desires and beliefs. The result, more often than we care to admit, is ‘bad theology’. Drawing on a careful definition of ‘bad theology’ as theology which denies human flourishing, avoids self-reflection and doesn’t seek justice and equality, Leah Robinson offers a series of penetrating case studies which show what bad theology can look like when put into action. As we look at how theology can be bad, she argues, we might begin to understand how it might be better.

Christopher A. Hall offers you the opportunity to study theology and church history under the preaching and instruction of the early church fathers.

Responses to the recent pandemic have been driven by fear, with social distancing and locking down of communities and borders as the most effective tactics. Out of fear and strategies that separate and isolate, emerges what has been described as the “new normal” (which seems to mutate daily). Truly global in scope, with contributors from across the world, this collection revisits four old responses to crises – assure, protest, trick, amend – to explore if/how those might still be relevant and effective and/or how they might be mutated during and after a global pandemic. Together they paint a grounded, earthy, context-focused picture of what it means to do theology in the new normal.

This is a fresh reading of Christian theology, re-interpreting discussions of theological method and considering them in light of contemporary philosophical debates. It re-evaluates the traditional theological warrants and the concept of systematic theology, arguing that Christian theology is inherently systematic.

A theory of human origins that is one-half Charles Darwin and one-half Cain and Abel is bound to entail a lot of rethinking of traditional themes. René Girard’s thesis of original human violence and the Bible’s power to reveal it has been around for more than a generation, but its consequences for Christian theology are still only slowly being unpacked. Anthony Bartlett’s book makes a signal contribution, representing an astonishing leap forward in understanding what a biblical disclosure of founding violence means for Christian thought and life. If human language arose directly out of the primal experience of murder, then semiotics becomes a core area for theological examination. Tracing the discipline of semiotics through postmodern thinkers, then back through its birth in the Latin era, Bartlett shows how Girard’s thought is itself a semiotic emergence, beyond standard Christian metaphysics. Above all, Girardian theory of human signs demands we see the generative impact of violence in our language and thought, and then, conversely, that the Word of God, crucified without retaliation and risen in the same identity, brings a totally new sign and relation into history, offering a thoroughgoing transformation of human life and meaning.

Love, Redemption, Vocation, and the Church Volume 4, Number 2, June 2015 Edited by David M. McCarthy Roman Catholic Teaching on International Debt: Toward a New Methodology for Catholic Social Ethics and Moral Theology M. Therese Lysaught Narrative, Social Identity and Practical Reason: On Charles Taylor and Moral Theology Mark Ryan Hobbes Contra Bellarmine Matthew Rose Grace Is the Emotion of the Love of God Edward Collins Vacek No Woe to You Lawyers: A Virtue Ethics Approach To Happiness Within the Legal Profession John J. Fitzgerald Dignity and the Body: Reclaiming What Autonomy Ignores Joel J. Shuman and Brian Volck More Than Self-Gift and Sex: The Role of Receptivity in Catholic Marital Ethics Robert Ryan Review Essay on Catholic Higher Education: After Ex corde Ecclesiae Jason King

Written by a skilled theologian with over two decades of classroom experience, this introduction to evangelical theology explains how connecting to five sources of Christian theology--Scripture, tradition, reason, experience, and community--leads to a richer and deeper understanding of the faith. Graham McFarlane calls this the "evangelical quintilateral," which he recommends as a helpful rubric for teaching theology. This integrative model introduces students to the sources, themes, tasks, and goals of evangelical theology, making the book ideal for introductory theology courses.