The Life of Christian Doctrine

✍ Scribed by Mike Higton

• Publisher: T&T CLARK
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 287
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The lives of Christian churches are shaped by doctrinal theology. That is, they are shaped by practices in which ideas about God and God’s ways with the world are developed, discussed, and deployed. This book explores those practices, and asks why they matter for communities seeking to follow Jesus.
Taking the example of the Church of England – a church often thought to have a tenuous relationship to doctrinal theology – this book explores the contexts in which doctrinal ideas appear, and the work that discussion of them does. It discusses the temptation to intellectualism, and the need to remember the embodied, affective and located reality of all doctrinal practices. It describes the relationship of doctrine to ordinary Christian believing, arguing that doctrinal theology can help the church know God better, even though doctrinal theologians don’t know God better than their fellow believers. It analyses doctrine’s relation to scripture, arguing that doctrine can help the church to read in scripture challenges to its life, including to its doctrine. It examines deep doctrinal disagreements, and argues that a better quality of disagreement is possible even in the absence of knock-down arguments between traditions. And it explores the role that doctrinal theology can play in the ongoing discovery of God’s surprising work, especially amongst those whose voices have been ignored or silenced.
In the light of all this, The Life of Christian Doctrine indicates how churches might develop a richer ecology of doctrinal deliberation.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half title
Title
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgements
Part One Doctrine in the life of the church
1 What is doctrine?
Beginning in the middle
Questions and concerns
The path ahead
Contexts
Terminology
Final comments
2 The story of doctrine in the Church of England
Introduction
Doctrinal diffidence?
Inventing Anglican diffidence
A contested inheritance
Empire and exclusion
The integrity of Anglicanism?
Conclusion
3 Locating doctrine in the Church of England
Introduction
Ordinary belief
Circulations
Formal theological education
Ecclesiastical deliberation
Conclusion
Part Two The nature of doctrine
4 The emergence of doctrine
Introduction
The life of the church
The emergence of doctrine
Conclusion
5 Doctrine and intellectualism
Introduction
The lure of intellectualism
The knowledge and love of God
Conclusion
6 Doctrine and belief
Introduction
Doctrine as second order
Belief
Doctrinal theology and ordinary belief
Conclusion
7 Doctrine and scripture
Introduction
The unchained word
Reading settlements
The call to Christian reading
Reading differently
Conclusion
8 Doctrine and disagreement
Introduction
Christian disagreement
Beyond separation
Facing disagreement
Conclusion
9 Doctrine and change
Introduction
Reforming the sinful church
Diligence and disruption
Cries, feasting and intimacy
The dynamics of change
Conclusion
10 Coda: Serving the church
Introduction
Serving ordinary belief
Dimensions of the task
Illustrations from the Church of England
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index