Examines Albrecht Ritschl's presentation of the person and life-work of Christ as Prophet, Priest and King. As father of modern academic theology, Ritschl attempted to present his understanding of the Christian faith through a critical history of the development of doctrine, reexamination of the biblical evidence of belief and exposition of the positive development of doctrine which sought to avoid the critical errors of the past. This agenda proved so demanding that few scholars since Ritschl have been able to work competently in all areas of the discipline. In this work McCulloh identifies characteristic emphases in Ritschl's thought: a definition of religion as a positive historical phenomenon; a critique of the place of metaphysics in theology; an assertion of the importance of the Bible for understanding the Christian faith; a view of the earthly ministry of Jesus as the only meaningful foundation for the knowledge of God; and a claim for the active participation of human beings with God in justification and reconciliation. McCulloh traces the history of the Munus Triplex title into Jewish messianic ascriptions and finds it to be more deeply involved in the historical transmission of the Christian faith than was acknowledged by Ritschl.

The Ritschlian theology, a reaction against rationalism, was influential in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ritschl held that God could be known only through the revelation contained in the person and work of Jesus. His theology stressed ethics and the community of man and repudiated metaphysics. Ritschl's most characteristic work is presented here and has been translated as 'The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation'. In it Ritschl proposes understanding the doctrine of justification in interpersonal rather than juridical categories.

Albrecht Ritschl (1822–1889) looms large in the second half of the nineteenth century. He redirected theology from speculative idealism toward a more concrete, historical apprehension of the Bible, the church, and Christian life. Ritschl in Retrospect reassesses Ritschl's rich legacy and current import, especially on such still-pertinent topics as his attempt to reinvigorate the Reformation tradition, his reflections on the communal dimensions of church, his recognition of the centrality of the kingdom of God, his community-based Christocentric reading of the Bible, his criticisms of classical theism, and his thoughts on religion and science. Joining Darrell Jodock in this reassessment are the following leading historians and theologians: William R. Barnett Clive Marsh Richard P. Busse Hans Schwarz David W. Lotz Rich M. Wall Jr. Gerald W. McCulloh Claude Welch

Gustaf Aulen's classic work, 'Christus Victor', has long been a standard text on the atonement. Aulen applies history of ideas' methodology to historical theology in tracing the development of three views of the atonement. Aulen asserts that in traditional histories of the doctrine of the atonement only two views have usually been presented, the objective/Anselmian and the subjective/Aberlardian views. According to Aulen, however, there is another type of atonement doctrine in which Christ overcomes the hostile powers that hold humanity in subjection, at the same time that God in Christ reconciles the world to Himself. This view he calls the "classic" idea of the atonement. Because of its predominance in the New Testament, in patristic writings, and in the theology of Luther, Aulen holds that the classic type may be called the distinctively Christian idea of the atonement.

Vols. 2-6 include "Theological and Semitic literature for 1898- 1901, a bibliographical supplement to the American journal of theology and the American journal of Semitic languages and literatures. By W. Muss-Arnolt." (Separately paged)

In this book, African Christian theology is introduced as a Kpelelogical reflection about life in the context of Africa, which exists in the context of the cosmos. Kpelelogy is the ontological mode of being grasped by the agape of God in Christ by grace through faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. By this mode, African theology is introduced by way of a definition, a principle of paradox, and a description, as well as a critical view of the works of African theologians. It examines the issues of method, criteria, and sources of doing theology in Africa and introduces the method of Kpelelogy as an African theological method. This is explored further as a holistic theological method that is conscious of its being in existence, and its life in history, that is driven by faith in the triune God in a pneumatic experience that has been termed in this book as the Kpelelogical ontological mode. The book is ecumenical in view of its engagement with Christian tradition. It presents a Kpelelogical theology that is concretely African and universally Christian in the Okpelejen Wulormor—the cosmic Jesus Christ who is and was, but beyond the munus triplex (Priest, King and Prophet, threefold office of Jesus Christ) that is to come. Hence it is a theology which embraces elements of Reformed, Lutheran, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox theological insights in the African context.

Stressing the historical and theological significance of pivotal figures and movements, William Baird guides the reader through intriguing developments and critical interpretation of the New Testament from its beginnings in Deism through the watershed of the Tubingen school. Familiar figures appear in a new light, and important, previously forgotten stages of the journey emerge. Baird gives attention to the biographical and cultural setting of persons and approaches, affording both beginning student and seasoned scholar an authoritative account that is useful for orientation as well as research.