Californians Sanders and Sexton assemble leading voices and specialists both from within and without California for engagement with California’s influential culture. Leading theologians and cultural critics are included alongside leading specialists in film studies and cultural critique, theological anthropology, missiology, sociology and history. Exploring California as a theological place, this book renders critical engagement with significant Californian religious and theological phenomena and the inherent theological impulses within major Californian cultural icons.

A trinitarian exposition of Christian soteriology The relation of God and salvation is not primarily a problem to be solved. Rather, it is the blazing core of Christian doctrine, where the triune nature of God and the truth of the gospel come together. Accordingly, a healthy Christian theology must confess the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of salvation as closely related, mutually illuminating, and strictly ordered. When the two doctrines are left unconnected, both suffer. The doctrine of the Trinity begins to seem altogether irrelevant to salvation history and Christian experience, while soteriology meanwhile becomes naturalized, losing its transcendent reference. If they are connected too tightly, on the other hand, human salvation seems inherent to the divine reality itself. Deftly navigating this tension, Fountain of Salvation relates them by expounding the doctrine of eternal processions and temporal missions, ultimately showing how they inherently belong together. The theological vision expounded here by Fred Sanders is one in which the holy Trinity is the source of salvation in a direct and personal way, as the Father sends the Son and the Holy Spirit to enact an economy of revelation and redemption. Individual chapters show how this vision informs the doctrines of atonement, ecclesiology, Christology, and pneumatology—all while directly engaging with major modern interpreters of the doctrine of the Trinity. As Sanders affirms throughout this in-depth theological treatise, the triune God is the fountain from which all other doctrine flows—and no understanding of salvation is complete that does not begin there.

Exploring California as a theological place, this book renders critical engagement with significant Californian religious and theological phenomena and the inherent theological impulses within major Californian cultural icons. Harnessing conceptual tools inherent to theology, through theological reflection, assessment, and critique, the chapters in this volume begin to ascertain the significance of various empirical data and that no other qualitative methodological Californian study has done. Many universities are picking up on California literature as a theme that highlights a place of hope, wonder, and cultural innovation, but have neglected the significance of theological instincts flowing through the Californian dynamic. Californians Fred Sanders and Jason Sexton assemble leading voices and specialists both from within and without California for engagement with California’s influential culture: including leading theologians and cultural critics such as Richard J. Mouw, Paul Louis Metzger, and Fred Sanders, alongside leading specialists in Film studies and cultural critique, theological anthropology, missiology, sociology, and history.

A Fresh Look at the Doctrine of Christ. Christology was the central doctrine articulated by the early church councils, and it remains the subject of close theological investigation today. Christology, Ancient and Modern—the first volume in a series of published proceedings from the annual Los Angeles Theology Conference—brings together conference proceedings, surveying the field and articulating the sources, norms, and criteria for constructive theological work in Christology. The ten diverse essays in this collection include discussions on: The types of historical Christologies and evaluations of various approaches to the theology of Christ. A close look at the trajectory and divergence of modern denominational understandings of Christ's work and person. Discussions of implications and challenges to specific Christologies regarding detailed exegetical considerations. Each of the essays collected in this volume engage with Scripture as well as with others in the field—theologians both past and present, from different confessions—in order to provide constructive resources for contemporary systematic theology and to forge a theology for the future.

An Exploration of Different Issues in the Doctrine of the Trinity. Throughout the last century, theologians gave great attention to the doctrine of the Trinity, and they largely succeeded in restoring it to a central place in Christian thought. But as they highlighted the novelty of the revolutionary new trinitarianism, a number of generalizations crept into the discussion that requires a careful reevaluation of the classical tradition. Trinitarian Theology—the subject of the second annual Los Angeles Theology Conference—sought to make constructive progress in the doctrine of the Trinity by aligning the trinitarian revival with the ongoing task of retrieving the classical doctrine of the Trinity. The nine diverse essays in this collection include discussions on: Ways to clarify the doctrine of the Trinity without sacrificing its essential mystery. The ways in which trinitarian theology applies practically to the Christian life and mission. Highlighting the counter-revolutionary trends in the most recent trinitarian thought. Discourse on the role Karl Barth played in advancing trinitarian thought. Each of the essays collected in this volume engage with Scripture as well as with others in the field—theologians both past and present, from different confessions—in order to provide constructive resources for contemporary systematic theology and to forge a theology for the future.

How does Christianity relate to other religions? Beginning with a consideration of the biblical perspective, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen offers a detailed and comprehensive survey of the diverse explanations proposed by teachers of the church down through the ages. This indispensable guide is for anyone seeking to grasp Christianity?s relationship to world religions.

Jesus didn't give his followers a fixed set of statements defining everything they needed to know about the kingdom of God in a neat package. Rather he told stories, made comparisons, drew contrasts. He talked of a mustard seed, of yeast and of a hidden treasure to communicate some of the most important truths of the faith. Jesus didn't fall back on parables because he lacked the right words. Parables were the exact way Jesus intended to communicate. What pictures or analogies today can give us greater understanding of the Christian faith? Adam English finds fresh insight in four: Christianity as story, game, language, culture. Christianity is like a story with scenery, characters and plots. It's like a language with vocabulary, grammar and conversation. It's like a game with rules and players, goals and equipment. It's like a culture with a distinct way of living, working, playing and loving. No one analogy is complete, but all offer new windows of appreciation for the faith. English gives us a fresh representation of Christian theology that is neither modern nor postmodern, but in dialogue with both in order to articulate what we believe. Here is a book for those who want to grasp Christianity more fully and authentically in a way that illuminates our contemporary cultural context and enables us to make a compelling response.

A constructive study of Trinitarian theology that aims to clarify our knowledge of the triune God by rightly ordering the theological language we use to praise him. The Triune God reaches its conclusions about how this doctrine should be handled on the basis of the way the Trinity was revealed. As such, theologian Fred Sanders: Invites a doxological invitation to the reader to contemplate the mystery of the Trinity. Establishes the biblical exposition and draws the doctrinal implications from it. Offers dogmatic principles for Trinitarian exegesis. Though Sanders does interact with major voices from the history of doctrine—and his arguments are indebted to and informed by the great tradition of Trinitarianism—he is clear throughout that Trinitarianism is a gift of revelation before it is an achievement of the church. The most patristic way to proceed toward a well-ordered doctrine of the Trinity is, after all, to study Scripture. -ABOUT THE SERIES- New Studies in Dogmatics seeks to retrieve the riches of Christian doctrine for the sake of contemporary theological renewal. Following in the tradition of G. C. Berkouwer's Studies in Dogmatics, this series provides thoughtful, concise, and readable treatments of major theological topics, expressing the biblical, creedal, and confessional shape of Christian doctrine for a contemporary evangelical audience. The editors and contributors share a common conviction that the way forward in constructive systematic theology lies in building upon the foundations laid in the church's historic understanding of the Word of God as professed in its creeds, councils, and confessions, and by its most trusted teachers.

"While the struggle for disability rights has transformed secular ethics and public policy, traditional Christian teaching has been slow to account for disability in its theological imagination. Amos Yong crafts both a theology of disability and a theology informed by disability. The result is a Christian theology that not only connects with our present social, medical, and scientific understanding of disability but also one that empowers a set of best practices appropriate to our late modern context"--Publisher description.

Many people react negatively to the word theology, believing that it involves dry, fruitless arguments about minute points of doctrine. They prefer to focus on the basic truths of Scripture and may even declare, "No creed but Christ." Yet as Dr. R.C. Sproul argues, everyone is a theologian. Any time we think about a teaching of the Bible and strive to understand it, we are engaging in theology. Therefore, it is important that we put the Bible's varied teachings together in a systematic fashion using proper, time-tested methods of interpretation so as to arrive at a theology that is founded on truth.