Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought (1998)

by Alister E. McGrath

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Freshly updated for this second edition with considerable new material, this authoritative introduction to the history of Christian theology covers its development from the beginnings of the Patristic period just decades after Jesus's ministry, through to contemporary theological trends. A substantially updated new edition of this popular textbook exploring the entire history of Christian thought, written by the bestselling author and internationally-renowned theologian Features additional coverage of orthodox theology, the Holy Spirit, and medieval mysticism, alongside new sections on liberation, feminist, and Latino theologies, and on the global spread of Christianity Accessibly structured into four sections covering the Patristic period, the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the reformation and post-reformation eras, and the modern period spanning 1750 to the present day, addressing the key issues and people in each Includes case studies and primary readings at the end of each section, alongside comprehensive glossaries of key theologians, developments, and terminology Supported by additional resources available on publication at www.wiley.com/go/mcgrath… (more)

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	Christianity: McGrath or Lane as primary historical theology book?	4 unread / 4	jburlinson, February 2013

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In this new textbook, Alister McGrath utilizes the successful historic chapters from Christian Theology: An Introduction, Second Edition and builds on them to provide all the material that students will need to understand the development of Christian theology from its beginnings. No previous knowledge of any aspect of Christian theology is assumed. A substantial introduction by McGrath explains the importance of historical theology and its place within the study of Christian theology as a whole, and outlines some of the best ways of studying it. Numerous case studies of relevance to the subject have been added to each section to allow the reader to engage fully with a particular topic of historic debate, and each section is cross-referenced with McGrath's Christian Theology: An Introduction, Second Edition and with the primary texts included in his Christian Theology Reader. Historical Theology also provides its readers with full glossaries of key theologians, key theological developments and key names, words and phrases together with an extensive bibliography.

dfortson | Mar 10, 2020 |

This book has a prefatory section ("How to Use This Book") that is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. Although it's only 3 pages long, it's packed with comedy, so much so that I can instance a couple of things without spoiling most of the fun. Basically the secret to "how to use this book" is to read it. We are informed that "the book opens with an Introduction," and we are urged to read this first. Who'd have thought? For those readers who are wanting to learn about historical theology, the author recommends reading "the chapters in the order in which they are presented." For all others, "ask for guidance." One interesting feature of this book is that the author works on the principle of "explain it the first time round." Sound practice, but, to be honest, I'd really like to read a book in which the author explains it the second time round. So many of them just say the same thing on second reading. After reading all of this carefully, I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to jump into the patristic period. (

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jburlinson | May 17, 2011 |

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Canonical title

Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought

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1998

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▾Book descriptions

Freshly updated for this second edition with considerable new material, this authoritative introduction to the history of Christian theology covers its development from the beginnings of the Patristic period just decades after Jesus's ministry, through to contemporary theological trends. A substantially updated new edition of this popular textbook exploring the entire history of Christian thought, written by the bestselling author and internationally-renowned theologian Features additional coverage of orthodox theology, the Holy Spirit, and medieval mysticism, alongside new sections on liberation, feminist, and Latino theologies, and on the global spread of Christianity Accessibly structured into four sections covering the Patristic period, the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the reformation and post-reformation eras, and the modern period spanning 1750 to the present day, addressing the key issues and people in each Includes case studies and primary readings at the end of each section, alongside comprehensive glossaries of key theologians, developments, and terminology Supported by additional resources available on publication at www.wiley.com/go/mcgrath

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In this new textbook, Alister McGrath utilizes the successful historic chapters from Christian Theology: An Introduction, Second Edition and builds on them to provide all the material that students will need to understand the development of Christian theology from its beginnings. No previous knowledge of any aspect of Christian theology is assumed.

A substantial introduction by McGrath explains the importance of historical theology and its place within the study of Christian theology as a whole, and outlines some of the best ways of studying it. Numerous case studies of relevance to the subject have been added to each section to allow the reader to engage fully with a particular topic of historic debate, and each section is cross-referenced with McGrath's Christian Theology: An Introduction, Second Edition and with the primary texts included in his Christian Theology Reader. Historical Theology also provides its readers with full glossaries of key theologians, key theological developments and key names, words and phrases together with an extensive bibliography.

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