|
|
Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Christian theology > General
There are numerous books that offer an historical account of
Anglican theology or that detail the lives and work of particular
Anglican theologians. Books that focus on the nature and character
of Anglican theology itself, however, are hard to find. This volume
fills that gap. In The Shape of Anglican Theology, Scott MacDougall
examines what it is that makes Anglican theology Anglican.
Beginning with a treatment of the ways in which Anglican theology
is and is not distinct from other types of Christian theology, he
describes the theological features that mark the general boundaries
of Anglican theologizing before turning to consider a set of eight
interconnected characteristics that provide Anglican theology with
its distinctive profile. MacDougall argues that, by setting its
boundaries as widely as possible and requiring subscription to
specific theological propositions as little as possible, Anglican
theology is in essence a wisdom theology that seeks to build the
capacity for faithful Christian discernment in belief and practice.
Susannah Ticciati explores Augustine's scriptural interpretation,
as well as the ways in which he understands the character of signs
in theory. The book explores Augustine's scriptural world via three
case studies, each geared towards the healing of a particular
modern opposition. The three, interrelated, modern oppositions are
rooted in an insufficient semiotic worldview. Ticciati argues they
contribute to the alienation of the modern reader not only from
Augustine's scriptural world, but more generally from the
scriptural world as habitation. Examining the ways in which the
therapy for our modern day semiotic illiteracy can be found in the
5th-6th-century Augustine, Ticciati brings close readings of
Augustine to bear on significant concerns of our own day:
specifically, our modern alienations from the rich world of
Scripture.
This book investigates the relationship between justification by
faith and final judgment according to works as found in Paul's
second epistle to the Corinthians within a Protestant theological
framework. Benjamin M. Dally first demonstrates the diversity and
breadth of mainstream Protestant soteriology and eschatology
beginning at the time of the Reformation by examining the
confessional standards of its four primary ecclesial/theological
streams: Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, and Anglican. The
soteriological structure of each is assessed (i.e., how each
construes the relationship between justification and final
judgment), with particular attention given to how each speaks of
the place of good works at the final judgment. This initial
examination outlines the theological boundaries within which the
exegesis of Second Corinthians can legitimately proceed, and
illuminates language and conceptual matrices that will be drawn
upon throughout the remainder of thebook. Then, drawing upon the
narrative logic of Paul's Early Jewish thought-world, Dally
examines the text of Second Corinthians to discern its own
soteriological framework, paying particular attention to both the
meaning and rhetorical function of the "judgment according to
works" motif as it is utilized throughout the letter. The book
concludes by offering a Protestant synthesis of the relationship
between justification and final judgment according to works in
Second Corinthians, giving an explanation of the role of works at
the final judgment that arguably alleviates a number of tensions
often perceived in other readings devoted to this key aspect of
Pauline exegesis and theology. Dally ultimately argues a three-fold
thesis: (1) For the believer one's earthly conduct, taken as a
whole, is best spoken of in the language of inferior/secondary
"cause" and/or "basis" as far as its import at the last judgment.
(2) One's earthly conduct, again taken as a whole, is
soteriologically necessary (not solely, but secondarily
nonetheless) and not simply of importance for the bestowal of
non-soteriological, eschatological rewards. (3) There are crucial
resources from within mainstream Protestantism to authorize such
ways of speaking and to simultaneously affirm these contentions in
conjunction with a robust, strictly forensic/imputational,
"traditional" Protestant understanding of the doctrine of
justification by faith alone.
|
|