Title: Saving and secular faith : an invitation to systematic theology /
Authors: Gerrish, B. A. 1931-
Publisher: Fortress Press,
Year: 1999
Subjects: Faith History of doctrines
Abstract: "What does it mean to live by faith? Beginning from the term "faith" in the New Testament and Thomas Aquinas, eminent theologian Brian Gerrish shows that saving faith, as Martin Luther and John Calvin understood it, was not so much belief as discernment of God's good will toward them in the word about Christ and therefore also in their own lives. As such, saving faith has its counterparts in secular faith: other outlooks, religious or not, which enable persons to find meaning in their lives through discernment of a pattern on them or an object worthy of loyalty. Faith is not exclusively a Christian virtue but a characteristic activity of the human mind, and both saving a secular faith rest on inevitable beliefs shared by Christians with others."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: 1. Saving faith -- "Belief" and "trust" in the New Testament -- "Assent" in Thomas Aquinas -- "Confidence" in Martin Luther -- "Recognition" in John Calvin -- 2. Secular faith -- Faith and religion -- The search for meaning -- Stages of faith -- Faith and inclusive meaning -- 3. The justification of faith -- The lost virtue of believing -- Existential belief: The world as order -- Practical belief: The world order as moral -- 4. The confession of faith -- Creeds and confessional pluralism -- A confessing church -- A confessional theology -- 5. The doctrine of faith -- The shape of Christian dogmatics -- Dogmatic theology in the university and the church -- 6. Faith and Jesus Christ -- Christology at the crossroad -- The Christ of faith.