Alister E. McGrath - Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought

Contents

Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought, Second Edition (2012)
Reformation Thought: An Introduction, Fourth Edition (2012)
Theology: The Basic Readings, Second Edition (edited, 2012)
Theology: The Basics, Third Edition (2012)
Luthers Theology of the Cross: Martin Luthers Theological Breakthrough, Second Edition (2011)
Darwinism and the Divine: Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology (2011)
The Christian Theology Reader, Fourth Edition (edited, 2011)
Christian Theology: An Introduction, Fifth Edition (2011)
Science and Religion: A New Introduction, Second Edition (2009)
The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology (2008)
The Order of Things: Explorations in Scientific Theology (2006)
Christianity: An Introduction, Second Edition (2006)
Dawkins God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life (2004)
The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation, Second Edition (2003)
Christian Literature: An Anthology (edited, 2003)
A Brief History of Heaven (2003)
The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism (edited with Darren C. Marks, 2003)
The Future of Christianity (2002)
Christian Spirituality: An Introduction (1999)
Historical Theology: An Introduction (1998)
The Foundations of Dialogue in Science and Religion (1998)
The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought (edited, 1995)
A Life of John Calvin (1990)

This second edition first published 2013
2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Edition History: Blackwell Publishers (1e, 1998)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McGrath, Alister E., 1953
Historical theology : an introduction to the history of Christian thought / Alister E. McGrath. 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-67285-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-470-67286-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. TheologyHistory. I. Title.
BT21.2.M17 2012
230.09dc23

2011046040

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This book aims to introduce you to historical theology as an important and interesting subject. It is also a very large topic; to do justice to it, at least five substantial volumes would be required. This book is an introduction to its aims and themes, which aims to pack as much useful information into a single volume as is realistically possible, using approaches which have been tried and tested in classrooms in Europe, North America, and Australasia. The book makes use of some material already presented in the best-selling work Christian Theology: An Introduction, which has been reconfigured for the specific purpose of introducing students to the discipline of historical theology. Although much new material has been added and some existing material rewritten, the basic approach and some contents of this earlier work have been retained.

The guiding principle which lies behind this volume is selective attention. It is like a map, giving you a good idea of the landscape, filling in enough detail to help you make sense of things, and making it easier to move on to a more detailed engagement with any of its features. It is assumed that you do not have the time to become familiar with every aspect of the history of Christian thought, but want a general familiarity with its most important aspects. The approach adopted is to begin by painting a scene using some very broad-brush strokes, and then filling in the fine detail in selected areas of importance. This will allow you to come away from reading this book with a good general understanding of the development of Christian theology. Despite its brevity, however, the work includes a lot of material considerably more than is included in most introductions of this kind.

The book opens with an Introduction which tries to explain what historical theology is, how it fits into the study of theology as a whole, and why it is a subject worth studying. You are strongly recommended to read this Introduction before proceeding further, as it will help you get a sense of orientation as you approach the subject.

To break the material down into manageable sections, the history of Christian thought has been divided into four broad periods. While this division of history is useful, it is important to realize that it is slightly arbitrary at points. We need to heed the warning of the Cambridge historian G. M. Trevelyan (18761962) on this matter: Unlike dates, periods are not facts. They are retrospective conceptions that we form about past events, useful to focus discussion, but very often leading historical thought astray. These four divisions are:

Chapter 1 The Patristic Period, c.100451

Chapter 2 The Middle Ages and the Renaissance, c.5001500

Chapter 3 The Reformation and Post-Reformation Periods, 15001750

Chapter 4 The Modern Period, 1750 to the Present Day

These divisions, though a little arbitrary, have proved useful in a teaching context, and have therefore been retained. Each chapter contains two major sections, as follows: