Theology From The Great Tradition

This textbook provides complete and comprehensive coverage of the theological tradition of Aquinas, Maximus, Luther, Irenaeus, Lonergan, von Balthasar, Schmemann, Meyendorf and Barth. Each section of this textbook explores a wide variety of questions – who are we? Is there a God, and if so, what is his nature? Who is Jesus? What does it mean that we live both in sin and righteousness? It consists of 15 modules that are comprised of 46 chapters. Each module has two parts: there are systematic chapters that discuss and explain each module's topic; and the final chapter of each module examines 4 to 6 primary sources that are important for each topic. This textbook includes an extensive range of pedagogical features: - Sample tests in which each objective question has been quality tested by classroom use (with a discrimination index) - A discussion guide for each chapter - Learning objectives linked to each chapter - The text includes bold-faced terms, boxed text sections that identify central figures and points of debate, study question, chapter summaries, glossary

The rise of modernity, especially the European Enlightenment and its aftermath, has negatively impacted the way we understand the nature and interpretation of Christian Scripture. In this introduction to biblical interpretation, Craig Carter evaluates the problems of post-Enlightenment hermeneutics and offers an alternative approach: exegesis in harmony with the Great Tradition. Carter argues for the validity of patristic christological exegesis, showing that we must recover the Nicene theological tradition as the context for contemporary exegesis, and seeks to root both the nature and interpretation of Scripture firmly in trinitarian orthodoxy.

Southwestern Journal of Theology 2021 Book of the Year Award (Theological Studies) 2021 Book Award, The Gospel Coalition (Honorable Mention, Academic Theology) Following his well-received Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition, Craig Carter presents the biblical and theological foundations of trinitarian classical theism. Carter, a leading Christian theologian known for his provocative defenses of classical approaches to doctrine, critiques the recent trend toward modifying or rejecting classical theism in favor of modern "relational" understandings of God. The book includes a short history of trinitarian theology from its patristic origins to the modern period, and a concluding appendix provides a brief summary of classical trinitarian theology. Foreword by Carl R. Trueman.

This user-friendly guide will equip Christian students to apply their faith in various academic fields and make the most of their education.

This textbook provides complete and comprehensive coverage of the theological tradition of Aquinas, Maximus, Luther, Irenaeus, Lonergan, von Balthasar, Schmemann, Meyendorf and Barth. Each section of this textbook explores a wide variety of questions – who are we? Is there a God, and if so, what is his nature? Who is Jesus? What does it mean that we live both in sin and righteousness? It consists of 15 modules that are comprised of 46 chapters. Each module has two parts: there are systematic chapters that discuss and explain each module's topic; and the final chapter of each module examines 4 to 6 primary sources that are important for each topic. This textbook includes an extensive range of pedagogical features: - Sample tests in which each objective question has been quality tested by classroom use (with a discrimination index) - A discussion guide for each chapter - Learning objectives linked to each chapter - The text includes bold-faced terms, boxed text sections that identify central figures and points of debate, study question, chapter summaries, glossary

Too often pastoral care is uninformed by historical practice and is overly influenced by psychological theory and practice, according to Andrew Purves. At least one consequence of this is that it is often disaffiliated from the church's theological heritage. Purves examines Christian writers from the past who represent the classical tradition in pastoral theology--classical in the sense that they and their texts have shaped the minds and practices of pastors in enduring ways. He reflects on texts from Gregory Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, Martin Bucer, and Richard Baxter. He includes a brief biography of each author, introduces the major themes in the writer's theology, and discusses the issues arising for pastoral work.

"I have tried to describe a Christianity which is fully compatible with everything we now know, and to indicate why Christians feel privileged to give their lives to it." —Huston Smith In his most personal and passionate book on the spiritual life, renowned author, scholar, and teacher of world religions Huston Smith turns to his own life-long religion, Christianity. With stories and personal anecdotes, Smith not only presents the basic beliefs and essential teachings of Christianity, but argues why religious belief matters in today's secular world. Though there is a wide variety of contemporary interpretations of Christianity—some of them conflicting—Smith cuts through these to describe Christianity's "Great Tradition," the common faith of the first millennium of believers, which is the trunk of the tree from which Christianity's many branches, twigs, and leaves have grown. This is not the exclusivist Christianity of strict fundamentalists, nor the liberal, watered-down Christianity practiced by many contemporary churchgoers. In exposing biblical literalism as unworkable as well as enumerating the mistakes of modern secularists, Smith presents the very soul of a real and substantive faith, one still relevant and worth believing in. Smith rails against the hijacked Christianity of politicians who exploit it for their own needs. He decries the exercise of business that widens the gap between rich and poor, and fears education has lost its sense of direction. For Smith, the media has become a business that sensationalizes news rather than broadening our understanding, and art and music have become commercial and shocking rather than enlightening. Smith reserves his harshest condemnation, however, for secular modernity, which has stemmed from the misreading of science—the mistake of assuming that "absence of evidence" of a scientific nature is "evidence of absence." These mistakes have all but banished faith in transcendence and the Divine from mainstream culture and pushed it to the margins. Though the situation is grave, these modern misapprehensions can be corrected, says Smith, by reexamining the great tradition of Christianity's first millennium and reaping the lessons it holds for us today. This fresh examination of the Christian worldview, its history, and its major branches provides the deepest, most authentic vision of Christianity—one that is both tolerant and substantial, traditional and relevant.

In some of the church's history, Scripture has been pitted against tradition and vice versa. Prominent New Testament scholar Edith Humphrey, who understands the issue from both Protestant and Catholic/Orthodox perspectives, revisits this perennial point of tension. She demonstrates that the Bible itself reveals the importance of tradition, exploring how the Gospels, Acts, and the Epistles show Jesus and the apostles claiming the authority of tradition as God's Word, both written and spoken. Arguing that Scripture and tradition are not in opposition but are necessarily and inextricably intertwined, Humphrey defends tradition as God's gift to the church. She also works to dismantle rigid views of sola scriptura while holding a high view of Scripture's authority.