The Faith of the Church: A Reformed Perspective on Its Historical Development

"Reflection on the faith of the church means an involvement in doctrine, in church teaching which is considered to be correct," writes the author in his prolegomena. And the following 17 chapters of his book provide students and laypersons with precisely the information they need for this kind of reflection and involvement. The Faith of the Church is a basic, comprehensive, and systematic history of the beliefs of the church, starting with the doctrines formulated by ancient Israel and ending with a discussion of the doctrine of eschatology.

Each doctrine is treated in that period in history when it received its most significant attention. In addition, the author attempts to give each doctrine what he terms "a normative rounding-off" either in the position of the theologian being discussed, in squaring the doctrine with Scripture, or both.

Technical terms and foreign languages have been avoided to render this textbook accessible to an undergraduate and general lay readership.

M. Eugene Osterhaven is Professor of Systematic Theology at Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan.