A 1994 Christianity Today book award winner. In the inaugural volume of his seven-volume systematic theology, Christian Foundations, Donald G. Bloesch surveys his method. His approach is conversant with up-to-the-minute theological concerns but also vitally grounded in the Reformation emphasis on biblical revelation illumined by the Holy Spirit. In A Theology of Word & Spirit Bloesch draws out the contemporary implications of the biblically founded theology of Augustine, Luther, Calvin and Barth. He also offers fresh and faithful discussions of relativism, the present church conflict over biblical authority, fideism and rationalism, feminine-gender language for God, narrative theology, and the hermeneutical problem. Harvesting the fruit of a lifetime of devoted scholarship and passionate dialogue, Bloesch offers his assessments and reflections at a time of extraordinary change and challenge. InA Theology of Word & Spirit he points the way toward a confessional theology for the 21st century.

In The Last Things Donald G. Bloesch takes up difficult and sometimes controversial themes such as the coming of the kingdom of God, the return of Jesus Christ, the life hereafter, the millennial hope, the final judgment, hell, heaven, purgatory and paradise. Wrestling with biblical texts that often take metaphorical form, Bloesch avoids rationalistic reductionism as well as timid agnosticism. While he acknowledges mystery and even paradox, Bloesch finds biblical revelation much more than sufficient to illuminate the central truths of a Christian hope articulated throughout the history of the church. The Last Things is not just a review of past Christian eschatology but a fresh articulation of the grace and glory of God yet to be consummated. The triumph of the grace of Jesus Christ and the dawning of hope beckon us to reach out in the power of the Spirit to receive that blessed future and the promise to renew the life of the church universal today.

In The Holy Spirit: Works & Gifts Donald Bloesch aptly brings his grasp of historical and systematic theology together with his deep concern for spirituality. The fruit of a lifetime of study and devotion, this work masterfully interweaves biblical study, historical overviews, and reflection on contemporary developments and issues to shed light on faith in God the Holy Spirit. On a topic that sadly threatens to divide the church, Bloesch strives to build bridges between the various traditions of Christian faith, especially between Reformed theology and the Pentecostal movement.

Building on the inaugural volume of the Christian Foundations series, A Theology of Word & Spirit, Bloesch guards against the equal dangers of a subjective spiritualism and a cold formalism. He speaks out of the perspective of the Protestant Reformation with its emphasis on the complementarity of Word and Spirit and the priority of grace over works. But he also acknowledges the Pentecostal perception that the work of the Spirit involves empowering for witness as well as sealing for salvation. Bloesch likewise finds truth in the mystical tradition of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy that the Spirit calls us to holiness of life as well as to a decision of faith.

This wide-ranging and in-depth reflection on the presence, reality and ministry of the Holy Spirit serves as a landmark guide to those seeking a faithful theological understanding of the Holy Spirit as well as those searching for a renewing and empowering hope for the church of Jesus Christ.

Evangelical in spirit, ecumenical in breadth and biblical in depth, Donald G. Bloesch's sixth volume in the Christian Foundations series engages in a critical dialogue with historical and contemporary views of ecclesiology, including church authority, worship and church reunion.

Voted one of Christianity Today's 1998 Books of the Year With his customary encyclopedic reach and epigrammatic style, Donald Bloesch turns his attention to the hotly disputed, yet absolutely crucial, subject of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He brings a much-needed clarity to the current christological debate, which, as Hans K?ng noted, "has persisted since the dawn of the modern age and] has not yet been resolved." Drawing on more than forty years of devoted study, Donald Bloesch now brings a much-needed clarity to the discussion. Well apprised of the most recent developments, yet grounded in his own deep Reformed faith, Bloesch goes beneath current reconstructions of the Jesus of history to probe underlying issues of theological method, models of salvation, the plausibility of miracles, the language of faith and the doctrine of sin. As Bloesch declares, "Christology constitutes the heart of theology, since it focuses on God's work of salvation in the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth, and the bearing that this has on the history of humankind. To know the nature of God we must see his face in Jesus Christ." This important book is a vital exercise in seeing Jesus Christ faithfully and truthfully.

In The Holy Spirit: Works & Gifts Donald Bloesch aptly brings his grasp of historical and systematic theology together with his deep concern for spirituality. The fruit of a lifetime of study and devotion, this work masterfully interweaves biblical study, historical overviews, and reflection on contemporary developments and issues to shed light on faith in God the Holy Spirit. On a topic that sadly threatens to divide the church, Bloesch strives to build bridges between the various traditions of Christian faith, especially between Reformed theology and the Pentecostal movement.

Building on the inaugural volume of the Christian Foundations series, A Theology of Word & Spirit, Bloesch guards against the equal dangers of a subjective spiritualism and a cold formalism. He speaks out of the perspective of the Protestant Reformation with its emphasis on the complementarity of Word and Spirit and the priority of grace over works. But he also acknowledges the Pentecostal perception that the work of the Spirit involves empowering for witness as well as sealing for salvation. Bloesch likewise finds truth in the mystical tradition of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy that the Spirit calls us to holiness of life as well as to a decision of faith.

This wide-ranging and in-depth reflection on the presence, reality and ministry of the Holy Spirit serves as a landmark guide to those seeking a faithful theological understanding of the Holy Spirit as well as those searching for a renewing and empowering hope for the church of Jesus Christ.

The doctrine of God is receiving renewed and vigorous attention in theology. Even a cursory examination of recent scholarship reveals what leading evangelical theologian Donald Bloesch describes as "a mounting controversy over the concept of God." God is variously portrayed as vulnerable (J?rgen Moltmann, Clark Pinnock), as lover (Norman Pittenger, Ronald Goetz), as friend (Alfred North Whitehead, Sallie McFague) and as empowerer (Rosemary Radford Ruether). Bloesch agrees that many of these proposals have some biblical merit. But what is lacking, he argues, "is a strong affirmation of the holiness and almightiness of God." So in this volume, while Bloesch offers cogent criticisms of the classical view of God, he skillfully seeks to hold in faithful tension "the polarities that are reflected in God's nature and activity--his majesty as well as his vulnerability, his sovereignty as well as his grace, his wholly otherness as well as his unsurpassable closeness, his holiness as well as his love."

Donald Bloesch surveys the history of Christian thinking on the nature of the spiritual life. In his own charitable, ecumenical yet evangelical way he provides incisive guidance toward a genuine Christian spirituality that is firmly rooted in biblical faith and fully aware of the positive contributions of various streams of Christian tradition, while critically engaging the current plethora of options being offered today.

Donald G. Bloesch provides incisive guidance toward a genuine Christian spirituality that is firmly rooted in biblical faith and fully aware of the positive contributions of various streams of Christian tradition.