The Genesis of Doctrine: A Study in the Foundations of Doctrinal Criticism (BAMPTON LECTURES) - Hardcover

McGrath, Alister E.

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9780631166580: The Genesis of Doctrine: A Study in the Foundations of Doctrinal Criticism (BAMPTON LECTURES)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0631166580 ISBN 13: 9780631166580

Publisher: Blackwell Pub, 1990

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What is doctrine? How may a doctrinal statement made in the past have any authority in the modern period? And how may doctrinal statements be evaluated and criticized? These questions are of central importance to Christian theology, and have important consequences for the Christian churches. In the course of its historical and theological analysis, this study presents an investigation of the conditions under which Christian doctrine came into existence, and the nature of doctrine itself. "The Genesis of Doctrine", based on the 1990 Bampton Lectures at Oxford University, explores a range of fundamental issues relating to the nature of doctrine, including the social functions of Christian doctrine, the relation between doctrine and scripture, the external referents of doctrine, and the impact of historicism and the sociology of knowledge for an understanding of doctrine. A major theme of this book is the influence of ideology upon Christian theology. Exploring this theme with particular reference to the question of the theological authority of the past in the modern period, McGrath aims to provide an assessment of the relation between "liberal" and "conservative" approaches to theology which is certain to generate intense debate.

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From the Back Cover:

Alister E. McGrath begins his book by critically engaging the views of George Lindbeck on doctrine before moving on to present a fresh understanding of the nature and function of Christian doctrine within the church. Particular attention is paid to the way in which doctrine acts as a demarcator between communities of faith, providing important insights into contemporary ecumenical debates.

About the Author:

Alister E. McGrath is professor of historical theology at Oxford University and director of the Oxford Centre for Evanglism and Apologetics, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. The director of the John Templeton Oxford Seminars on Science and Christianity, he holds doctorates from Oxford in molecular biophysics and historical and systematic theology. He is the author of more than forty books, including The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World, and In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture.

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