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The purpose of this book is to bring within a single volume a
representative selection of extracts from the writings of the Early
Christian fathers, covering the main areas of Christian thought.
The extracts, for the most part newly translated by the editors,
are arranged by topic under the following headings: God, Trinity,
Christ, Holy Spirit, Sin and Grace, Tradition and Scripture,
Church, Sacraments, Christian Living, Church and Society, and Final
Goal. Care has been taken to reflect the full range of writing on
these themes - exposition and commentary, homily, epistle and
polemic - and the extracts are of sufficient length to show the
distinctive flavour of each individual writer. Annotation has been
kept to a minimum, but each main section has a short introduction
which places the extracts in their particular context within the
development of Christian thought.
A paperback edition of this well-known study. Since its first
publication in 1967 this book has aroused a lively debate among
theologians and practicising clergy. The author had since returned
to the discussion (The Remaking of Christian Doctrine, SCM Press
1974) and has stressed the contemporary need to define and develop
Christian doctrine. In the earlier work Professor Wiles asks how
the early Church fathers' doctrinal affirmations - expressed for
example in the Nicene Creed and Chalcedonian Definition - remain
valid today when the framework of the fathers' learning and
discourse has disappeared. Doctrine was necessary, he argues, to
answer objections to Christianity in a largely non-Christian world,
to tackle the problem of heresy and to satisfy the desire of
Christians to express their faith more deeply. He also considers
the sources of doctrinal reasoning - Scripture, the practice of
worship and the nature of salvation. These sources are still vital
to any development of Christian doctrine today and the author
concludes his study with a call for 'the continuation of the same
task of interpreting the Church's Scriptures, her worship and her
experience of salvation'.
Does God act in the world? Does he affect what happens to us in the
varied experiences of our daily life? If so, in what ways and by
what means? In an age when so many of the particular cases in which
communities or individuals find themselves led to speak of God's
acting prove to be cases which appear to others both morally and
spiritually unacceptable, we need to give thought to the deeper
underlying issue. Can God be said to act in the world at all? Does
God even exist? The nature of God's action is clearly of the utmost
importance for Christians, because they claim that God does act in
the world and has acted specifically in the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. But how does his action here relate
to his action elsewhere? How do we discern it? These questions lead
Professor Wiles to discuss the nature of creation, the origin of
evil, providence in public and private history and finally God's
action in Christ and in us. Concerned to give a consistent overall
interpretation, he provides answers which at the same time question
much current Christian thinking.
This book is a lucid examination of the relation between faith and
reason in light of the varied forms assumed by Christianity in the
past as well as in the present. The backdrop for the examination is
change--change in theology, church life, and society itself--and
the purpose of the examination is to recall the Christian community
to its true function as a unifying force in the world. In an effort
to enlighten our future, Wiles shows how the concept of God as
Spirit points toward a way of understanding God that does
substantial justice both to the main insights of traditional faith
and to the critical challenges of contemporary reflection.Faith and
the Mystery of God delineates an intimately personal view of
Christian faith along with grounds for holding it. Thus it is
intended to help people affirm their belief in God in the modern
world--in the face of all odds.
Sets thinking and preaching about atonement in new directions.
In this book noted Oxford theologian Wiles (What is Theology?)
provides a clear and accessible introduction to Christian belief.
Rather than simply stating and explaining the doctrinal tenets of
Christian faith, however, Wiles sets forth what seem to him
appropriate responses to basic questions about Christian belief
that perplex Christians and non-Christians alike. Instead of
providing a technical overview of Christian doctrine, he offers a
short section within each chapter printed in bold type that discuss
some of the issues that are important for reasonably assessing the
truth claims of Christianity. Wiles free-flowing argument is not
broken up with footnotes, although a bibliography at the end of the
book provides suggestions for further reading for anyone interested
in pursuing in more detail any of the book s topics. An index of
biblical references is also included. Maurice Wiles is Regius
Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Oxford University. He is the
author of many books, including Christian Theology and
Interreligious Dialogue. For: General audiences; clergy;
seminarians>
Does God act in the world? Does he affect what happens to us in the
varied experiences of our daily life? If so, in what ways and by
what means? In an age when so many of the particular cases in which
communities or individuals find themselves led to speak of God's
acting prove to be cases which appear to others both morally and
spiritually unacceptable, we need to give thought to the deeper
underlying issue. Can God be said to act in the world at all? Does
God even exist? The nature of God's action is clearly of the utmost
importance for Christians, because they claim that God does act in
the world and has acted specifically in the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. But how does his action here relate
to his action elsewhere? How do we discern it? These questions lead
Professor Wiles to discuss the nature of creation, the origin of
evil, providence in public and private history and finally God's
action in Christ and in us. Concerned to give a consistent overall
interpretation, he provides answers which at the same time question
much current Christian thinking.
"In The Remaking of Christian Doctrine, I attempted a critical
discussion of some of the central facets of traditional Christian
doctrine. To some Christians that aim in itself seemed suspect. But
many scholars who had no complaints to raise about the general aim
were unhappy about the outcome. It appeared to them to be
"negative" or "unconstructive", failing to do justice to the living
character of Christian faith. However, that book had a limited role
in that respect. I spoke of the need for further work to be done.
But the problem of how that further work is to be done, how to
spell out more fully and more richly the experienced content of
Christian belief, is an acute one. In particular, how can the
critical theologian show the relation of his critical studies and
the faith as it is believed and practised, and do so responsibly in
an age where we are so aware of the varieties both of imagery and
of forms of faith. The answer has seemed to me to write more
personally about Christian faith, as I apprehend it, than I would
naturally have chosen to do. I have tried not merely to describe
that faith, but to give some account of the grounds for my holding
it. Despite the more personal approach, the book is still intended
as a contribution to theology rather than as a piece of directly
religious writing. Whether the result embodies that more "positive"
or "constructive" approach that some of my critics have
desiderated, I must leave to others to judge."
Maurice Wiles shows that it doesn't require a vast tome to present
a penetrating challenge to traditional doctrinal positions . . .
The great merit of this important study is that it both highlights
the need for massive rethinking of the self-understanding of the
Christian faith and challenges those who engage in such rethinking
to pay strict attention to what the evidence demands. Doctrine done
this way may replace some of the richness of imaginative
speculation with a welcome "freedom from certain inevitably
fruitless and frustrating lines of enquiry". This book is
important. It deserves to be read carefully and its challenge
profoundly considered' (David Pailin in The Expository Times).
`This largely non-technical and text-free book is distinguished by
its author's intellectual power (manifest in the rigour and brevity
of every page) and by his courageous seriousness in tackling the
greatest themes open to a theologian - on the person and work of
Christ, the Holy Spirit, the eternal hope, the nature of doctrine
itself. He is relentlessly honest in relying on his experience,
study and thought. Before our eyes he is driven to faith and to
agnosticism - and back again' (David L. Edwards in the Church
Times).
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