Title: Scripture, creed, theology : lectures on the history of Christian doctrine in the first centuries /
Authors: Calhoun, Robert Lowry, 1896-1983.; Lindbeck, George A.
Publisher: Cascade Books,
Year: 2011
Subjects: Calhoun, Robert Lowry,; Theology, Doctrinal History; Church history
Abstract: In this long-awaited edition of the late Robert Lowry Calhoun's lectures on the history of Christian doctrine, a powerful case is made for the scriptural basis of the ancient ecumenical creeds. The way Calhoun reads the patristic authors helps us see that the Trinitarian "three-yet-one" and Christological "two-yet-one" creedal formulations provide patterns for sorting out the highly diverse biblical ways of speaking of God and of the Messiah (Jesus) so that they are not contradictory. The implied lesson (all the more effective for many of Calhoun's students, just because he let them draw this conclusion by themselves) is that the creeds are not to be understood as deductions from scripture (which they are not in any straightforward way) but as templates for interpreting scripture. It is Trinitarian and Christological patterns of reading-which are implicitly operative for vast multitudes even in churches that profess to be creedless-that make it possible to treat the entire bible, Old and New Testaments together, as a unified and coherently authoritative whole.
Contents: Introduction : Calhoun as historical theologian / by George A. Lindbeck -- Revelation, religion, theology, and dogma -- Jesus and the faith of the primitive church -- Johannine theology -- Apostolic fathers and second-century apologists -- Heresies : irregular versions of the gospel -- The formation of the Apostles' Creed -- Irenaeus of Lyons -- Tertullian of Carthage -- Alexandrine theology : Clement and Origen -- Efforts to define the Christian doctrine of God -- Theology in the Nicene Age -- Appendix : notes on terminology -- Defenders of Nicaea and the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed -- Christological controversies before and after Chalcedon -- Doctrinal closure in the east -- Appendix : Pseudo-Dionysius and the rise of mysticism -- Augustine of Hippo -- The end of the era : Orange, Leo, and Gregory the Great.