40 Most Influential Christians . . . Who Shaped What We Believe Today , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - Daryl Aaron

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135 pages

English

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Compelling Accounts of Key People Who Have Formed Christian Belief through the Ages All Christians' beliefs are shaped by those who went before them. Now these giants of Christian history are presented chronologically and in a format that helps readers get to know them. In addition to a biographical sketch, readers will discover each person's primary contributions to the Christian faith along with a brief quotation from their work. Students, history buffs, and curious readers will be fascinated as their faith is strengthened. Included are Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Karl Barth, Carl F. H. Henry, and more.

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Philosophie et théologie

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Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 août 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441261564
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0432€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 2013 by Daryl Aaron
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2013
Ebook corrections 04.05.2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-6156-4
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Cover d esign by Eric Walljasper
A highly readable, factually accurate, and attractively presented synopsis of the life and contribution of the major shapers of the Christian faith. The 40 Most Influential Christians Who Shaped What We Believe Today is a wonderful introduction to the history of the Christian church; it engages its readers, carrying them beyond the basics into an understanding of the progress and contours of Christian intellectual life. It is simply an informative, beneficial, and delightful read.
—John D. Hannah, Dallas Theological Seminary, Distinguished Professor of Historical Theology, Research Professor of Theological Studies
This book is dedicated to my past and present colleagues in the Biblical and Theological Studies Department of Northwestern College.
It has been my immense privilege to serve with you for sixteen years and counting. You too have been and are very influential Christians—in the lives of thousands of students as well as my own.
Contents
Cover 1
Title Page 2
Copyright Page 3
Endorsement 4
Dedication 5
Acknowledgments 9
A Chronology of These Influential Christians 10
Introduction 11
1. Clement of Rome 17
2. Ignatius of Antioch 23
3. Justin Martyr 29
4. Irenaeus 35
5. Tertullian 43
6. Clement of Alexandria 51
7. Origen 57
8. Cyprian of Carthage 65
9. Athanasius 71
10. Basil, Gregory, and Gregory (The Cappadocian Fathers) 77
11. Theodore of Mopsuestia 83
12. Cyril of Alexandria 89
13. Leo the Great 95
14. Augustine 101
15. Gregory the Great 111
16. John of Damascus 117
17. Anselm of Canterbury 123
18. Peter Abelard 129
19. Thomas Aquinas 135
20. Julian of Norwich 143
21. Martin Luther 149
22. Ulrich Zwingli 157
23. John Calvin 163
24. Menno Simons 171
Brief Interlude 177
25. Richard Hooker 183
26. James Arminius 189
27. Philipp Spener 195
28. Jonathan Edwards 201
29. John Wesley 209
30. Friedrich Schleiermacher 215
31. Albrecht Ritschl 221
32. J. Gresham Machen 227
33. Karl Barth 233
34. Paul Tillich 243
35. Dietrich Bonhoeffer 251
36. Jürgen Moltmann 257
37. Karl Rahner 263
38. Gustavo Gutiérrez 271
39. Rosemary Radford Ruether 279
40. Carl F. H. Henry 285
Conclusion 293
Appendix 296
The Creed of Nicea 297
The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed 299
Resources 301
About the Author 303
Endnotes 304
Back Ad 305
Back Cover 306
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. John Hannah for his gracious willingness to read this manuscript and offer a generous endorsement. This is especially meaningful to me because Dr. Hannah is the one who sparked my interest in the whole area of historical theology, the subject matter of the book. I took the first History of Doctrine course that he offered at Dallas Theological Seminary (in the fall of 1977!). That in turn prompted me to undertake an additional graduate program in the History of Ideas at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Hannah was also my favorite teacher. He was indeed a very influential Christian who shaped what I believe and how I teach today.
I would also like to thank Andy McGuire, my editor at Bethany House. He has guided and encouraged me now through three books. I greatly appreciate all that he has done, as well as the rest of the very capable staff at Bethany House.

Introduction
Theology is often not a very popular topic among Christians. The term sometimes conjures up visions of overly educated individuals who have overly lofty thoughts about things that are totally irrelevant to pretty much everything. But this reflects a misunderstanding of what theology is as well as the vital importance of theology to our own spiritual health and that of our churches. [1] Similarly, the idea of any kind of “history of theology” is sometimes not highly regarded and is often misunderstood by many Christians. The thinking is, “The Bible was complete in the first century. What we believe is based on the Bible. Therefore, how can there be a history or development of that? Isn’t that just going beyond the Bible?”
There is something both right and wrong in this thinking. What is right and important to note is that the earliest generations of Christians, all the way back to the first century, had a basic belief system: There is only one true God—Yahweh, the God of Israel. Sin has separated all people from God, who is holy. God fulfilled his Old Testament promises of a Messiah who happens to be the Son of God, God himself (fully and eternally), and who also became a human. This unique individual, Jesus Christ, died to pay the penalty for sin, was buried, and was resurrected in victory over sin and death (1 Corinthians 15:1–9). This same Jesus returned to heaven but will one day come back to earth. This is also what most Christians believe today in continuity with first-century Christians.
So what the first-century Christians knew and believed was necessary —those truths are the heart of the Christian faith—but it was not sufficient . How could it be when the object is the infinite being and mind of God himself? For example, the first-generation Christians believed that Jesus was fully God and fully human, but they had not yet considered how that could possibly be. They also believed that Jesus’ heavenly Father was also God, as was the Spirit, who was sent on a broader mission on the Day of Pentecost. This did not mean that they believed in three gods—they were still strictly and fervently monotheists—but they had not yet thought through how there could be three but still one. They believed that Jesus died for sin, but they had not yet fully considered the significance of this. How exactly did he die for sin? For whose sin? Is forgiveness of sin all his death accomplished? And so on and so on. These are the questions and issues that later generations of Christians took up. Their suggested answers were sometimes wrong and rejected by the majority of Christians; this was called heresy . But little by little, Christians were coming to grips with the deeper truths of God and becoming spiritually healthier as a result.
So the idea of development of theology or doctrine is not wrong or dangerous; rather, it is to be expected. It does not involve expanding on Scripture, that is, going beyond it; the Word of God is sufficient, meaning God has given us everything that we need to know (2 Timothy 3:16–17). Rather, it involves explaining Scripture, that is, going deeper into it. Scripture is sufficient, but our understanding of it is not sufficient. [2] Even now in the twenty-first century we are only really “scratching the surface” of the infinitely deep and high things of God (Job 11:7–9; Isaiah 55:8–9).
So theology is a good thing and the history of theology is a good thing because they both help us to understand God better, and that is a very good thing. There are a few other benefits that come from studying the history of theology that could be mentioned: First, it helps us to be discerning by being able to recognize theological errors that have been made in the past. Second, it helps us to distinguish between what is just a passing fad in Christianity today from what is timeless and enduring biblical truth. Third, it should impress upon us the sovereignty and mercy of God who has preserved his truth despite false teaching and fleeting trends. Fourth, it promotes a healthy humility as we realize that great thinkers have made great errors in the past and that our understanding of the Bible today is in large part due to hundreds of years of thought on the part of others. As many have said, we modern Christians are standing on the shoulders of giants. Fifth and finally, in an age when the concept of truth—especially universal, timeless truth—is being denied, the history of theology reminds us that, for centuries, God’s people have not only believed in universal truth, but also that the most vital truth has been recorded and preserved in the Bible. And it is just as relevant today as when it was written.
Regarding the title of this book, you may be thinking, Really? THE 40 MOST Influential Christians?! Come on! Please understand that I am not under the illusion that I have nailed the definitive top 40 list of theologians. (Actually, it is the top 42; I snuck a couple of bonus Gregorys into chapter 10.) I thought a more accurate title would be 40 of the Most Influential Christians Who Shaped What We Believe Today, in the Humble Opinion of One Particular Writer , but that seemed a little unwieldy to the publisher . Good arguments can be made that some of these should not have made it while others should have.
Some of them are blatantly obvious: Tertullian, Athanasius, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, etc. Other names are perhaps rather unfamiliar: Clement, Cyprian, Cyril, Julian, Richard Hooker, Rosemary Ruether, etc. In fact, just because I have chosen to include some of these theologians does not mean that I am necessarily a fan of their theologies. A few of them, in my opinion, have been more harmfu