What a Mess
Christian thought in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries goes in many directions:
sacramentalist, fundamentalist, revisionist, radical, secular,
traditional, missionary, indigenous, syncretist, isolationist, multicultural,
patriotic, high-tech, low-tech, modern, premodern, postmodern, and more.
Analysts lend coherence to any era
by sorting, generalizing, and typifying;
but this environment resists generalities (and does not uniformly deserve our full attention anyway).
We will concentrate on major highlights of particular concern to evangelicals:
The Historical and Contemporary Faith
Systematic theology: Mark A. McIntosh, Divine Teaching: An Introduction to Christian Theology:
The Christian faith is a learning from God with its own bearing, landmarks, and adventure.
Evangelical theology: Ben Witherington III, The Problem with Evangelical Theology:
America's dominant evangelical theological heritages (Lutheran, Reformed, Dispensational, and Wesleyan) rest on problematic biblical exegesis.
Catholic theology: Tim Perry, ed., The Legacy of John Paul II: An Evangelical Assessment:
Catholic life and theology now happen in a context of appreciative critical interaction with evangelical Protestants.
Bottom line: Christians have inherited immense living theological legacies.
Some Theological Currents
Philosophical theology: Kevin Vanhoozer, Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology
(part 1):
Postmodernity breaks with modernity in a variety of ways
and renarrates Christian faith accordingly.
Intercultural theology: Philip Jenkins, The New Faces of Christianity:
Christians of "the global south" live the Bible differently than modern and postmodern westerners.
Biblical theology: Markus Bockmuehl, Seeing the Word: Refocusing New Testament Study:
Regaining theological health demands renewed and transformed biblical practices.
Systematic theology: Amos Yong, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh:
Pentecostalism offers promise for a truly global Christian faith (and global Christianity the opportunity to realize the promise of Pentecostal theology).
Bottom line: Turbulence characterizes the present state of Christian theology.
What Did I Skip? Eastern Orthodox theology, liturgical theology, pastoral theology, liberal theology, theological ethics, spiritual theology ....
