Contents:
Introduction : The nature and task of theology
- The historical development of theology
Theology and faith, Theology and religious studies, Theology and the sciences
Theology and truth
The ongoing nature of the theological task
Dangers in the theological enterprise
Substitution
Dogmatism
Intellectualism
- Theological method
The sources for theology
The reformation debate
Contextualization and experience
The threefold norm of theology
The integrative motif of theology
Representative alternatives
The kingdom of God
The community of God
The eschatological community
The structure of the theological system
Theology and ethics
1. Theology : The doctrine of God
A. The God who is
- The reality of God in an era of atheism
Does God exist?
- The ontological argument
- The cosmological and teleological arguments
- The moral argument
The rise of intellectual atheism
- The critique of the first cause
- The critique of the concept of God
- The elimination of the idea of God
Theology and the modern situation
- The assertion of the uniqueness of Christianity
- The reformulation of the proofs
- The appeal to anthropology
Christian faith in the contemporary context
- Knowledge of God in an era of Agnosticism
The claim to know God and intellectual agnosticism
- Epistemological agnosticism
- Logical positivism
- Agnosticism and the incomprehensible God
The means to knowledge of God
- Knowledge of God through reason
- Knowledge of God through religious experience
- Knowledge of God through God's self-revelation
Knowing God
- Knowing God as subject
- Knowing God in history
- Knowing God and the concept of community
B. The Triune God
- Trinitarian doctrine in theological history
The situation of the first Christian
- The One God
- Jesus' Lordship
- The Spirit's presence
Historical development of Trinitarian doctrine
- The deity of Jesus
- The deity of the Spirit
- Formulating Trinitarian doctrine
Trinitarian doctrine in Post-Cappadocian theology
- Eastern and Western conceptions
- The Filioque controversy
- Decline of the doctrine
- Recovery of the doctrine
- The formulation of Trinitarian doctrine
The content of Trinitarian doctrine
- God is one
- God is three
- God is diversity
- God is unity
The Filioque and the relational Trinity
Analogies to the Trinity
- The Theological implication of Trinitarian doctrine
Love as the essence of God
- Love and the inner dynamic of God
- Love as the fundamental divine attribute
Love and the divine holiness, jealousy, and wrath
Love and the other moral attributes
- Trinitarian doctrine and Christian life
Trinitarian prayer
Trinitarian ethics
C. The Relational God
- The nature of the relational God
God as (a) being
God as transcendent and immanent
God as Spirit
- Hegel's conception of "Spirit"
- The Biblical conception of "Spirit"
- Theological implications
God as Person
- The philosophical concept of "person"
- Personhood and God's relationship to the world
- Personhood and God
The name of God
- The Divine attributes
The attributes and the divine substance
- The medieval debate
- The doxological position
The division of the attributes
The eternal God
- Eternality and our experience of time
- Attributes related to God's eternality
The good God
- Holiness
- compassion
- God as the moral standard
The practical importance of the attributes
D. The Creator God
- God as the Creator of the world
The creation of the world as the act of God
- The free act of creation
- The loving act of creation
The creation of the world as a Trinitarian Act
- The role of the Father
- The role of the Son
- The role of the Spirit
The Act of Creation and the sovereign Creator
- Present and final sovereignty
- De Jure and De Facto sovereignty
- God's future
The time of creation
- Creation as past
- Creation as future
- Creation and essence
- God as the providential Administrator of the world
"Community" as God's purpose for creation
The doctrine of providence in recent theology
- The classical position
- Providence in liberal theology
- The destruction of providence
God's administration of His world
- Preservation
- Concurrence
- Government
2. Anthropology : the doctrine of humanity
E. The human identity and our origin in God
- Our place in creation
Humankind and the cosmos in changing cultural contexts
- The 'premodern' answer
- The modern answer
Christian faith and the insights of anthropology, the concept of openness to the world, the theological significance of the concept, "openness to the world and general revelation, the question of general revelation in theology, the meaning of general theology, the place of general revelation in theological history, the theological importance of general revelation, revelation in the human person, revelation in nature, the limit of general revelation, God as our origin, the existential significance, God as the ground of personal existence, God as universal Father, the essential significance, Our temporal origin, the question of the "first human", the traditional position, the mythical view, the underlying hermeneutical question, the first human and evolution, considerations in the evolution debate, Adam as a historical person, anthropology and our temporal origin, the temporal beginning of humankind, the temporal beginning of each person, the unity of humankind
F. Our nature as persons destined for community
- Our Ontological nature, autonomy versus determinism, the focus on autonomy, the focus on essence, the Christian perspective, human substances, the idea of substantial entities, the Trichotomist and Dichotomist viewpoints, substantial entities and modern theology, the contemporary wholistic alternative, death and the whole person, the origin of the soul, traditional alternatives, the classical debate and the contemporary context, the soul and our Ontological nature, humans as the Image of God
G. Sin : the destruction of community
- The nature of sin, original sin, the results of sin : our human situation
H. Our spiritual co-creatures
- The nature of the spiritual realities, Angelology in Christian theology, a Biblical theology of angels, a Biblical theology of demons, a Biblical theology of Satan, Angelology and structures of existence, the demonic and superstition
3. Christology : the doctrine of Christ
I. The fellowship of Jesus the Christ with God
- Jesus, the Divine One, development of the affirmation of Jesus's deity, Christological controversy in the second century, the Arian controversy, the basis of Christology, the foundation of our Christological affirmation, Jesus' sinlessness, Jesus' teaching. Jesus' death, Jesus' claim, Jesus' resurrection, Jesus' claim and His resurrection, Jesus as One with God
J. The fellowship of Jesus the Christ with humankind, Jesus as human, Jesus as the true human, Jesus as the universal human
K. The fellowship of deity and humanity of Jesus, Jesus as divine and human, the incarnation, the virgin birth
L. The mission of Jesus, the vocation of the earthly Jesus, the atonement and the mission of Jesus, the ongoing work of Christ
4. Pneumatology : the doctrine of the Holy Spirit
M. The identity of the Holy spirit, the Spirit in salvation history, the Spirit in the Trinitarian life, the Spirit as the foundation of Scripture, the task of the Spirit speaking through Scripture, the Bible and revelation, Biblical authority
N. The dynamic of conversion, the individual aspect of conversion, the divine aspect of conversion, the community aspect of conversion
O. Individual salvation, conversion, sanctification, glorification, the eternal context of salvation
5. Ecclesiology: the doctrine of the church
P. The church - the eschatological covenant community
Q. The ministry of the community
R. Community acts of commitment
- Baptism: the seal of our identity, the Lord's supper : reaffirming our identity
S. The organization for community life
6. Eschatology : the doctrine of last things