Christian Theology: An Introduction, 4th Edition

by Alister E. McGrath (University of Oxford)

• ISBN13: 9781405153607
• ISBN10: 1405153601
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Alister McGrath's internationally-acclaimed Christian Theology: An Introduction is one of the most widely used textbooks in Christian theology. Fully revised and featuring lots of new material, this fourth edition provides an unparalleled introduction to 2,000 years of Christian thought. A fully revised new edition of the bestselling introductory textbook in Christian theology Features new sections on monastic schools of theology, the English Reformation, and Radical Orthodoxy Includes increased discussion of women in the early Church, feminist theology, Eastern Orthodox theology and history, and Catholic teachings on the Doctrine of the Church Incorporates user-friendly key terms sections, and study questions Supported by a website at www.blackwellpublishing.com/mcgrath, containing additional lecturer resources.

Author Biography

Alister E. McGrath is Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University, and Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. He is a world-renowned theologian, and is the author of numerous bestselling titles available through Blackwell Publishing, including The Christian Theology Reader 3rd edition (2007), Theology: The Basics (2004), Christianity: An Introduction 2nd edition (2006), A Brief History of Heaven (2003), and Dawkins’ God (2004).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xx
Preface	xxi
Mission Statement	xxiii
To the Student: How to Use this Work	xxiv
To the Teacher: How to Use this Book	xxvi
Resources for Further Study: Bibliographies and Websites	xxviii
Acknowledgments	xxix
Part I Landmarks: Periods, Themes, and Personalities of Christian Theology	1	(98)
Introduction	3	(2)
The Patristic Period, c.100--c.700	5	(17)
The Early Centers of Theological Activity	5	(2)
An Overview of the Patristic Period	7	(2)
A clarification of terms	7	(1)
The theological agenda of the period	7	(2)
Key Theologians	9	(3)
Justin Martyr	9	(1)
Irenaeus of Lyons	9	(1)
Origen	10	(1)
Tertullian	10	(1)
Cyprian of Carthage	10	(1)
Athanasius	10	(1)
The Cappadocian fathers	11	(1)
Augustine of Hippo	11	(1)
Key Theological Debates and Developments	12	(8)
The extent of the New Testament canon	12	(1)
The role of tradition: the Gnostic controversies	13	(1)
The fixing of the ecumenical creeds	14	(2)
The two natures of Jesus Christ: the Arian controversy	16	(1)
The doctrine of the Trinity	17	(1)
The doctrine of the church: the Donatist controversy	17	(1)
The doctrine of grace: the Pelagian controversy	18	(2)
Key Names, Words, and Phrases	20	(1)
Questions for Chapter 1	20	(2)
The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, c.700--c. 1500	22	(21)
On Defining the ``Middle Ages''	22	(3)
Medieval Theological Landmarks in Western Europe	25	(6)
The Carolingian renaissance	25	(1)
The rise of cathedral and monastic schools of theology	26	(1)
The religious orders and their ``schools of theology''	27	(1)
The founding of the universities	27	(1)
Peter Lombard's Four Books of the Sentences	28	(1)
The rise of scholasticism	29	(1)
The Italian Renaissance	29	(1)
The rise of humanism	30	(1)
Medieval Theological Landmarks in Eastern Europe	31	(2)
The emergence of Byzantine theology	31	(1)
The iconoclastic controversy	32	(1)
The hesychastic controversy	32	(1)
The fall of Constantinople (1453)	32	(1)
Key Theologians	33	(5)
John of Damascus	33	(1)
Simeon the New Theologian	34	(1)
Anselm of Canterbury	34	(1)
Thomas Aquinas	35	(1)
Duns Scotus	36	(1)
William of Ockham	36	(1)
Erasmus of Rotterdam	37	(1)
Key Theological Developments	38	(4)
The consolidation of the patristic heritage	38	(1)
The exploration of the role of reason in theology	38	(1)
The development of theological systems	39	(1)
The development of sacramental theology	40	(1)
The development of the theology of grace	40	(1)
The role of Mary in the scheme of salvation	40	(1)
Returning directly to the sources of Christian theology	40	(1)
The critique of the Vulgate translation of Scripture	41	(1)
Key Names, Words, and Phrases	42	(1)
Questions for Chapter 2	42	(1)
The Age of Reformation, c.1500--c.1750	43	(22)
Introducing the Reformation	43	(3)
Reformation -- or Reformations?	44	(2)
The Dynamics of Reformation	46	(5)
The German Reformation -- Lutheranism	46	(1)
The Swiss Reformation -- the Reformed church	47	(1)
The Radical Reformation -- Anabaptism	48	(1)
The English Reformation -- Anglicanism	48	(1)
The Catholic Reformation	49	(1)
The Second Reformation -- Confessionalization	50	(1)
Post-Reformation Movements	51	(3)
The consolidation of Roman Catholicism	52	(1)
Puritanism	53	(1)
Pietism	53	(1)
Key Theologians	54	(4)
Martin Luther	55	(1)
Huldrych Zwingli	55	(1)
John Calvin	56	(1)
Teresa of Avila	56	(1)
Theodore Beza	57	(1)
Johann Gerhard	57	(1)
Roberto Bellarmine	57	(1)
Jonathan Edwards	57	(1)
Key Theological Developments	58	(2)
The sources of theology	58	(1)
The doctrine of grace	58	(1)
The doctrine of the sacraments	59	(1)
The doctrine of the church	59	(1)
Developments in Theological Literature	60	(4)
The catechisms	60	(1)
Confessions of faith	61	(1)
Works of systematic theology	62	(2)
Key Names, Words, and Phrases	64	(1)
Questions for Chapter 3	64	(1)
The Modern Period, c. 1750--the Present	65	(34)
Theology and Cultural Developments in the West	66	(9)
Modernism: the new intellectual environment for theology	67	(1)
The Enlightenment critique of traditional theology	67	(3)
Romanticism and the renewal of the theological imagination	70	(1)
The crisis of faith in Victorian England: George Eliot and Matthew Arnold	71	(1)
An intellectual rival to Christianity: Marxism	72	(1)
Postmodernism and a new theological agenda	73	(2)
Key Theologians	75	(3)
F. D. E. Schleiermacher	75	(1)
John Henry Newman	75	(1)
Karl Barth	76	(1)
Paul Tillich	76	(1)
Karl Rahner	76	(1)
Hans Urs von Balthasar	77	(1)
Jurgen Moltmann	77	(1)
Wolfhart Pannenberg	77	(1)
Denominational Developments in Theology	78	(4)
Roman Catholicism	78	(1)
Eastern Orthodoxy	79	(1)
Protestantism	80	(1)
Evangelicalism	80	(1)
Pentecostalism and charismatic movements	81	(1)
Some Recent Western Theological Movements and Trends	82	(12)
Liberal Protestantism	82	(2)
Roman Catholic modernism	84	(1)
Neo-orthodoxy	85	(2)
Ressourcement, or, La nouvelle theologie	87	(1)
Feminism	88	(2)
Liberation theology	90	(1)
Black theology	91	(1)
Postliberalism	92	(2)
Radical orthodoxy	94	(1)
Theologies of the Developing World	94	(3)
India	95	(1)
Africa	96	(1)
Key Names, Words, and Phrases	97	(1)
Questions for Chapter 4	97	(2)
Part II Sources and Methods	99	(102)
Getting Started: Preliminaries	101	(20)
Defining Theology	101	(4)
A working definition of theology	101	(1)
The historical development of the idea of theology	102	(1)
The development of theology as an academic discipline	103	(2)
The Architecture of Theology	105	(6)
Biblical studies	105	(1)
Systematic theology	106	(1)
Philosophical theology	107	(1)
Historical theology	108	(1)
Pastoral theology	109	(1)
Spirituality, or mystical theology	109	(2)
The Question of Prolegomena	111	(1)
Commitment and Neutrality in Theology	112	(2)
Orthodoxy and Heresy	114	(2)
Historical aspects	114	(1)
Theological aspects	115	(1)
The Theology of the Relation of Christianity and Secular Culture	116	(4)
Justin Martyr	117	(1)
Tertullian	117	(1)
Augustine of Hippo	118	(1)
The twentieth century: H. Richard Niebuhr	119	(1)
Questions for Chapter 5	120	(1)
The Sources of Theology	121	(32)
Scripture	121	(15)
The Old Testament	121	(1)
The New Testament	122	(1)
Other works: deutero-canonical and apocryphal writings	123	(2)
The relation of the Old and New Testaments	125	(2)
The Word of God	127	(1)
Narrative theology	128	(1)
Methods of interpretation of Scripture	129	(5)
Theories of the inspiration of Scripture	134	(2)
Tradition	136	(5)
A single-source theory of tradition	138	(1)
A dual-source theory of tradition	139	(1)
The total rejection of tradition	139	(1)
Theology and worship: the importance of liturgical tradition	140	(1)
Reason	141	(4)
Reason and revelation: three models	141	(1)
Deism	142	(1)
Enlightenment rationalism	143	(1)
Criticisms of Enlightenment rationalism	144	(1)
Religious Experience	145	(7)
Existentialism: a philosophy of human experience	146	(1)
Experience and theology: two models	147	(4)
Ludwig Feuerbach's critique of experience-based theologies	151	(1)
Questions for Chapter 6	152	(1)
Knowledge of God: Natural and Revealed	153	(20)
The Idea of Revelation	153	(2)
Models of Revelation	155	(4)
Revelation as doctrine	155	(1)
Revelation as presence	156	(1)
Revelation as experience	157	(1)
Revelation as history	158	(1)
Natural Theology: Its Scope and Limits	159	(5)
Thomas Aquinas on natural theology	160	(1)
John Calvin on natural theology	161	(2)
The Reformed tradition on natural theology	163	(1)
God's two books: nature and Scripture	163	(1)
Approaches to Discerning God in Nature	164	(1)
Human reason	164	(1)
The ordering of the world	164	(1)
The beauty of the world	165	(1)
Objections to Natural Theology	165	(5)
A theological objection: Karl Barth	165	(1)
A theological response: Thomas F. Torrance	166	(1)
A philosophical objection: Alvin Plantinga	167	(1)
A philosophical response: William Alston	168	(1)
A debate: Karl Barth versus Emil Brunner (1934)	169	(1)
The Natural Sciences and Christian Theology: Models of Interaction	170	(2)
The continuity between science and theology	170	(1)
The distinctiveness of science and theology	171	(1)
The convergence of science and theology	171	(1)
The opposition of science and theology	172	(1)
Questions for Chapter 7	172	(1)
Philosophy and Theology: Introducing a Dialogue	173	(28)
Philosophy and Theology: The Notion of the ``Handmaid''	174	(7)
The ``handmaid'': the dialogue between theology and philosophy	174	(2)
Platonism	176	(1)
Aristotelianism	177	(1)
Verification and falsification: can Christian ideas be proved?	178	(2)
The debate over realism: to what do theological statements refer?	180	(1)
The Nature of Faith	181	(2)
Faith and knowledge	181	(1)
Faith and salvation	182	(1)
Can God's Existence be Proved?	183	(10)
Anselm of Canterbury's ontological argument	184	(3)
Thomas Aquinas's Five Ways	187	(2)
The kalam argument	189	(1)
The classic argument from design: William Paley	190	(3)
The Nature of Theological Language	193	(7)
Apophatic and kataphatic approaches to theology	193	(1)
Analogy	194	(2)
Metaphor	196	(1)
Accommodation	197	(1)
A case study: the Copernican debate	198	(2)
Questions for Chapter 8	200	(1)
Part III Christian Theology	201	(285)
The Doctrine of God	203	(40)
Is God Male?	203	(2)
A Personal God	205	(4)
Defining ``person''	206	(1)
Dialogical personalism: Martin Buber	207	(2)
Can God Suffer?	209	(7)
The classic view: the impassibility of God	210	(1)
A suffering God: Jurgen Moltmann	211	(3)
The death of God?	214	(2)
The Omnipotence of God	216	(3)
Defining omnipotence	216	(1)
The two powers of God	217	(1)
The notion of divine self-limitation	218	(1)
God's Action in the World	219	(4)
Deism: God acts through the laws of nature	219	(1)
Thomism: God acts through secondary causes	220	(1)
Process theology: God acts through persuasion	221	(1)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Point Omega	222	(1)
God as Creator	223	(8)
Development of the doctrine of creation	224	(1)
Creation and the rejection of dualism	225	(1)
The doctrine of creation ex nihilo	226	(1)
Implications of the doctrine of creation	227	(1)
Models of God as creator	228	(2)
Creation and Christian approaches to ecology	230	(1)
Theodicies: The Problem of Evil	231	(4)
Irenaeus of Lyons	231	(1)
Augustine of Hippo	232	(1)
Karl Barth	233	(1)
Alvin Plantinga	233	(1)
Other recent contributions	234	(1)
The Holy Spirit	235	(7)
Models of the Holy Spirit	235	(2)
The debate over the divinity of the Holy Spirit	237	(2)
Augustine of Hippo: the Spirit as bond of love	239	(1)
The functions of the Spirit	240	(2)
Questions for Chapter 9	242	(1)
The Doctrine of the Trinity	243	(29)
The Origins of the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity	243	(5)
The apparent illogicality of the doctrine	243	(2)
The Trinity as a statement about Jesus Christ	245	(1)
The Trinity as a statement about the Christian God	245	(2)
Islamic critiques of the doctrine of the Trinity	247	(1)
The Biblical Foundations of the Doctrine of the Trinity	248	(1)
The Historical Development of the Doctrine	249	(5)
The emergence of the trinitarian vocabulary	249	(1)
The emergence of trinitarian concepts	250	(2)
The problem of visualization: analogies of the Trinity	252	(1)
``Economic'' and ``essential'' approaches to the Trinity	253	(1)
Two Trinitarian Heresies	254	(3)
Modalism: chronological and functional	254	(1)
Tritheism	255	(2)
The Trinity: Six Classic and Contemporary Approaches	257	(8)
The Cappadocians	257	(1)
Augustine of Hippo	258	(2)
Karl Barth	260	(1)
Karl Rahner	261	(1)
Robert Jenson	262	(2)
John Macquarrie	264	(1)
Some Discussions of the Trinity in Recent Theology	265	(3)
F. D. E. Schleiermacher on the dogmatic location of the Trinity	265	(1)
Jurgen Moltmann on the social Trinity	265	(1)
Eberhard Jungel on the Trinity and metaphysics	266	(1)
Catherine Mowry LaCugna on the Trinity and salvation	267	(1)
The Filioque Controversy	268	(3)
Questions for Chapter 10	271	(1)
The Doctrine of the Person of Christ	272	(33)
The Place of Jesus Christ in Christian Theology	273	(3)
Jesus Christ is the historical point of departure for Christianity	274	(1)
Jesus Christ reveals God	274	(1)
Jesus Christ is the bearer of salvation	275	(1)
Jesus Christ defines the shape of the redeemed life	275	(1)
New Testament Christological Titles	276	(5)
Messiah	276	(1)
Son of God	277	(1)
Son of Man	278	(1)
Lord	279	(1)
Savior	279	(1)
God	280	(1)
The Patristic Debate over the Person of Christ	281	(10)
Early contributions: from Justin Martyr to Origen	282	(1)
The Arian controversy	283	(3)
The Alexandrian school	286	(1)
The Antiochene school	287	(2)
The ``communication of attributes''	289	(1)
Adolf von Harnack on the evolution of patristic Christology	290	(1)
The Relation of the Incarnation and the Fall in Medieval Christology	291	(1)
The Relation Between the Person and Work of Christ	292	(2)
Christological Models -- Classic and Contemporary	294	(10)
The substantial presence of God in Christ	295	(1)
Christ as mediator between God and humanity	296	(1)
The revelational presence of God in Christ	297	(1)
Christ as a symbolic presence of God	298	(1)
Christ as the bearer of the Holy Spirit	299	(1)
Christ as the example of a godly life	300	(1)
Christ as a hero	301	(1)
Kenotic approaches to Christology	302	(2)
Questions for Chapter 11	304	(1)
Faith and History: The Christological Agenda of Modernity	305	(21)
Faith and History: A Modernist Agenda	305	(1)
The Enlightenment and Christology	305	(3)
The philosophical uselessness of history	306	(1)
The critique of miracles	306	(1)
The development of doctrinal criticism	307	(1)
The Problem of Faith and History	308	(2)
The chronological difficulty	308	(1)
The metaphysical difficulty	309	(1)
The existential difficulty	310	(1)
The Quest of the Historical Jesus	310	(10)
The original quest of the historical Jesus	311	(1)
The quest for the religious personality of Jesus	312	(1)
The critique of the quest, 1890-1910	313	(3)
The retreat from history: Rudolf Bultmann	316	(1)
The new quest of the historical Jesus	317	(1)
The third quest of the historical Jesus	318	(2)
The Resurrection of Christ: Event and Meaning	320	(5)
The Enlightenment: the resurrection as nonevent	320	(1)
David Friedrich Strauss: the resurrection as myth	320	(2)
Rudolf Bultmann: the resurrection as an event in the experience of the disciples	322	(1)
Karl Barth: the resurrection as an historical event beyond critical inquiry	322	(1)
Wolfhart Pannenberg: the resurrection as an historical event open to critical inquiry	323	(2)
Resurrection and the Christian hope	325	(1)
Questions for Chapter 12	325	(1)
The Doctrine of Salvation in Christ	326	(34)
Christian Approaches to Salvation	327	(3)
Salvation is linked with Jesus Christ	327	(2)
Salvation is shaped by Jesus Christ	329	(1)
The eschatological dimension of salvation	329	(1)
The Foundations of Salvation: The Cross of Christ	330	(19)
The cross as a sacrifice	330	(4)
The cross as a victory	334	(3)
The cross and forgiveness	337	(6)
The cross as a demonstration of God's love	343	(5)
Violence and the cross: the theory of Rene Girard	348	(1)
Models of Salvation in Christ -- Classic and Contemporary	349	(5)
Some Pauline images of salvation	350	(1)
Deification: being made divine	351	(1)
Righteousness in the sight of God	351	(1)
Personal holiness	352	(1)
Authentic human existence	353	(1)
Political liberation	353	(1)
Spiritual freedom	354	(1)
The Appropriation of Salvation in Christ	354	(2)
The institutionalization of salvation: the church	354	(1)
The privatization of salvation: personal faith	355	(1)
The Scope of Salvation in Christ	356	(3)
Universalism: all will be saved	356	(1)
Only believers will be saved	357	(1)
Particular redemption: only the elect will be saved	358	(1)
Questions for Chapter 13	359	(1)
The Doctrines of Human Nature, Sin, and Grace	360	(31)
The Place of Humanity Within Creation: Early Reflections	360	(2)
The image of God	360	(2)
The concept of sin	362	(1)
Augustine of Hippo and the Pelagian Controversy	362	(6)
The ``freedom of the will''	363	(1)
The nature of sin	364	(1)
The nature of grace	365	(2)
The basis of salvation	367	(1)
The Medieval Synthesis of the Doctrine of Grace	368	(3)
The Augustinian legacy	368	(1)
The medieval distinction between actual and habitual grace	369	(1)
The late medieval critique of habitual grace	370	(1)
The medieval debate over the nature and grounds of merit	370	(1)
The Reformation Debates over the Doctrine of Grace	371	(9)
From ``salvation by grace'' to ``justification by faith''	372	(1)
Martin Luther's theological breakthrough	372	(1)
Luther on justifying faith	373	(2)
The concept of forensic justification	375	(1)
John Calvin on justification	376	(1)
The Council of Trent on justification	377	(3)
The Doctrine of Predestination	380	(7)
Augustine of Hippo	380	(1)
John Calvin	381	(1)
Reformed orthodoxy	382	(1)
Arminianism	383	(1)
Karl Barth	384	(1)
Predestination and economics: the Weber thesis	385	(2)
The Darwinian Controversy and the Nature of Humanity	387	(3)
Young earth creationism	387	(1)
Old earth creationism	388	(1)
Intelligent design	388	(1)
Evolutionary theism	388	(2)
Questions for Chapter 14	390	(1)
The Doctrine of the Church	391	(28)
Biblical Models of the Church	391	(2)
The Old Testament	391	(1)
The New Testament	392	(1)
The Early Development of Ecclesiology	393	(1)
The Donatist Controversy	394	(2)
Early Protestant Doctrines of the Church	396	(6)
Martin Luther	397	(1)
John Calvin	398	(2)
The radical Reformation	400	(2)
Christ and the Church: Some Twentieth-century Themes	402	(4)
Christ is present sacramentally	402	(2)
Christ is present through the word	404	(1)
Christ is present through the Spirit	405	(1)
The Second Vatican Council on the Church	406	(2)
The church as communion	407	(1)
The church as the people of God	407	(1)
The church as a charismatic community	408	(1)
The ``Notes'' of the Church	408	(9)
One	408	(4)
Holy	412	(1)
Catholic	413	(3)
Apostolic	416	(1)
Questions for Chapter 15	417	(2)
The Doctrine of the Sacraments	419	(26)
The Early Development of Sacramental Theology	420	(1)
The Definition of a Sacrament	421	(3)
The Donatist Controversy: Sacramental Efficacy	424	(2)
The Multiple Functions of the Sacraments	426	(7)
Sacraments convey grace	426	(1)
Sacraments strengthen faith	427	(1)
Sacraments enhance unity and commitment within the church	428	(2)
Sacraments reassure us of God's promises toward us	430	(1)
A case study in complexity: the functions of the Eucharist	431	(2)
The Eucharist: The Question of the Real Presence	433	(7)
The ninth-century debates over the real presence	434	(1)
The medieval clarification of the relation of ``sign'' and ``sacrament'' in the Eucharist	435	(1)
Transubstantiation	436	(1)
Transignification and transfinalization	437	(2)
Consubstantiation	439	(1)
A real absence: memorialism	440	(1)
The Debate Concerning Infant Baptism	440	(4)
Infant baptism remits the guilt of original sin	441	(1)
Infant baptism is grounded in the covenant between God and the church	442	(1)
Infant baptism is unjustified	443	(1)
Questions for Chapter 16	444	(1)
Christianity and the World Religions	445	(19)
Western Pluralism and the Question of Other Religions	446	(1)
Approaches to Religions	447	(8)
The Enlightenment: religions as a corruption of the original religion of nature	448	(1)
Ludwig Feuerbach: religion as an objectification of human feeling	449	(1)
Karl Marx: religion as the product of socioeconomic alienation	450	(1)
Sigmund Freud: religion as wish-fulfillment	451	(1)
Emile Durkheim: religion and ritual	452	(1)
Mircea Eliade: religion and myth	453	(1)
Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer: religion as a human invention	454	(1)
Christian Approaches to Other Religions	455	(8)
Exclusivism	457	(1)
Inclusivism	458	(2)
Pluralism	460	(2)
Parallelism	462	(1)
Questions for Chapter 17	463	(1)
The Last Things: The Christian Hope	464	(22)
Developments in the Doctrine of the Last Things	465	(12)
The New Testament	465	(2)
Early Christianity and Roman beliefs about reunion after death	467	(1)
Augustine: the two cities	468	(1)
Joachim of Fiore: the three ages	468	(1)
Dante Alighieri: the Divine Comedy	469	(2)
Hope in the face of death: Jeremy Taylor	471	(1)
The Enlightenment: eschatology as superstition	472	(1)
The twentieth century: the rediscovery of eschatology	472	(1)
Rudolf Bultmann: the demythologization of eschatology	473	(1)
Jurgen Moltmann: the theology of hope	474	(1)
Helmut Thielicke: ethics and eschatology	475	(1)
Dispensationalism: the structures of eschatology	476	(1)
The Last Things	477	(8)
Hell	477	(2)
Purgatory	479	(1)
The millennium	480	(2)
Heaven	482	(3)
Questions for Chapter 18	485	(1)
Glossary of Theological Terms	486	(9)
Sources of Citations	495	(11)
Index	506