A New Handbook of Christian Theology.The Handbook of Christian Theology Noun 1. Christian theology - the teachings of Christian churches free grace, grace of God, grace - (Christian theology) the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God; "God's grace is manifested in the salvation of sinners"; "there but for the grace of God go (1958) was a standard on the shelf of the theological tyro. In just over one hundred succinct essays, the basic Christian theological vocabulary was explicated. The editors of A New Handbook note that Roman Catholics, women, and a lot of other people did not appear in the 1950s' version; hence a freshly minted handbook begun from scratch. The basic notion of the handbook goes something like this: pick a big topic and find the appropriate essay; that essay will lead one, in turn, to cognate cognate describes two biomolecules that normally interact such as an enzyme and its normal substrate or a receptor and its normal ligand. cognate cooperation essays which will provide a relatively broad sketch of a topic. Thus, for example, the two-page article on "Pentecostalism" refers the reader to Evangelicalism evangelicalism Protestant movement that stresses conversion experiences, the Bible as the only basis for faith, and evangelism at home and abroad. The religious revival that occurred in Europe and America during the 18th century was generally referred to as the evangelical , fundamentalism, Holy Spirit, popular religion, and sanctification sanc·ti·fy tr.v. sanc·ti·fied, sanc·ti·fy·ing, sanc·ti·fies 1. To set apart for sacred use; consecrate. 2. To make holy; purify. 3. . Each article has a succinct bibliography and references, again, to other articles. The entries I have read (honesty compels me to note that I am a contributor) are straightforward and nontechnical. Major articles (e.g., "Resurrection" or "systematic theology See under Theology. that branch of theology of which the aim is to reduce all revealed truth to a series of statements that together shall constitute an organized whole. - E. G. Robinson (Johnson's Cyc.). See also: Systematic Theology ") run about five or six pages of text. Even on subjects as murky as "deconstructionism" or as formal as "theological hermeneutics hermeneutics, the theory and practice of interpretation. During the Reformation hermeneutics came into being as a special discipline concerned with biblical criticism. " there is a genuine attempt to explain and clarify for the nonexpert. A volume like this is both a handy reference work for gaining a sense of the sweep of theological issues but could also be put to use as a kind of quick refresher course on contemporary theology. A volume of this sort is no substitute for reading original sources but as a handy tour of the theological horizon it is a useful and readable tool. I hope that it enjoys the same success as the original work. |
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