Thursday, June 21, 2007

A Theology for the Church

In the mail this morning comes a new systematic theology textbook by a number of Southern Baptists. It's entitled A Theology for the Church, edited by Daniel Akin and published by B&H.

Major sections of this 992-page work include:
  1. The Doctrine of Revelation (with writings from Greg Thornbury, Russell Moore, David Dockery, David Nelson)
  2. The Doctrine of God (Timothy George, David Nelson, Peter Schemm)
  3. The Doctrine of Humanity (John Hammett, Stanton Norman)
  4. The Doctrine of Christ (Danny Akin, Paige Patterson)
  5. The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Malcom Yarnell)
  6. The Doctrine of Salvation (Kenneth Keathley)
  7. The Doctrine of the Church (Mark Dever)
  8. The Doctrine of Last Things (Russell Moore)
  9. The Pastor as Theologian (conclusion by Al Mohler)
Each section seeks to answer the following questions:
  1. What does the Bible say? Each Christian doctrine is rooted in the Bible's own teaching in both the Old and New Testaments.
  2. What has the Church believed? Christians have interpreted these doctrines in somewhat different ways through the centuries.
  3. How do the doctrines fit together? Each Christian doctrine must cohere with the other doctrines.
  4. How does each doctrine impact the church today? Each Christian doctrine must be meaningful for today's church. It's sure to become a widely-used resource in systematic theology study.