The Practice of Theology: A Reader

by Colin E. Gunton (Editor)

This text aims to expose students to the history of Christian thought, which is a central part of the discipline of theology. The rationale behind it is that students should not complete an introductory course without having been exposed to a wide variety of competing approaches and having gained some broad knowledge of the tradition, rather than studying methodological concerns only. The extracts are accompanied by commentary and annotation. They are divided into themed chapters, and ordered chronologically within chapters. Figures from different periods of history are included within each chapter, in order to represent the breadth of theological traditions, while texts are also included which represent some form of ongoing debate, in order to meet pedagogical needs. Commentary on each text outlines the historical situation of the author and the literary context of the extract, while each chapter offers an introductory essay highlighting the central debates and concerns in that area and indicating how the texts illustrate and illuminate these.

Genres: Theology

Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Colin Ewart Gunton (1941-2003) was a British systematic theologian. As a theologian he made contributions to the doctrine of Creation and the doctrine of the trinity. He was Professor of Christian Doctrine at King's College London from 1984 and co-founder with Christoph Schwoebel of the Research Institute for Systematic Theology in 1988. Gunton was actively involved in the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom where he had been a minister since 1972. He was arguably the most important British theologian of his generation.

Gunton's most influential work was on the doctrines of Creation and the Trinity. One of his most important books is The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity" (1993), and is "a profound analysis of the paradoxes and contradictions of Modernity." The One, the Three and the Many remains a "majestical survey of the western intellectual tradition and a penetrating analysis of the modern condition."

Reviews

[Vic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible introduction to key questions and classic historical answers to the sources and issues of theological reflection, and the practice of theology in the pluralistic and secularised world of today. I especially benefitted from Gunton’s excellent essay on studying theology in the university today, which helped me better understand the history of reflection on the relationship between faith and reason, not least by condensing the essential ideas of key thinkers.

[Taylor Stamps · Rating 3 out of 5]

A primary text reader focused on theological methods