Books in the Mapping the Tradition series

This work focuses on historical writers in theology from ancient times to the advent of modern theology. It uses an 1820 Christmas sermon to examine psychological aspects of Schleiermacher's evangelical liberal theology. It also reflects on reception and influence of his theology and how he referred to his inner development as a person of faith.

This book introduces Augustine of Hippo and his influence on Christian theology, introducing the reader to Augustine's Confessions and their historical reception, especially during the Middle Ages and the Reformation.

The Gospel and Epistles of John are often overlooked in discussions of New Testament ethics; indeed, it has been asserted that the Fourth Gospel is of only limited value to such discussions--even that John is practically devoid of ethical material. Representing a range of viewpoints, the essays collected here by prominent scholars reveal the surprising relevance and importance of the Johannine literature by examining the explicit imperatives and the values implicit in the Gospel narrative and epistles. The introduction sets out four major approaches to Johannine ethics today. Essays in subsequent sections evaluate the directives of the Johannine Jesus (believe, love, follow), tease out the implicit ethics of the Gospel's narrative (including its fraught and apparently sectarian representation of hoi Ioudaioi as Jesus's opponents), and propose different approaches for advancing the discussion of Johannine ethics beyond the categories now dominant in critical scholarship. In a concluding essay, the editors take stock of the book's wide-ranging discussion and suggest prospects for future study. The sum is a valuable resource for the student as well as the scholar interested in the question of Johannine ethics.

This study provides a broad analysis of Anselm of Canterbury's theological method through a study of his Monologion. The author argues that Anselm's theology is often oversimplified and examines his various philosophical and theological contributions.

This book analyzes Luther's treatise On Christian Freedom and its revolutionary re-definition of what it means to be Christian as one freed by Christ from sin, the accusation of God's law, and death in order to be bound or bonded to the neighbor. Placing the treatise in its historical context, Robert Kolb examines its impact to the present day.

Existing Before God introduces readers to one of the most important 19th century Christian thinkers, Soren Kierkegaard. In this volume, Paul R. Sponheim, unfolds Kierkegaards Sickness unto Death a key text outlining the problem of the human condition and the paradoxical heart of authentic Christian faith, the qualitative difference between God and creatures and its synthesis in the God-man. Sponheim also draws out the connections between this text and Kierkegaards larger theological and ethical vision, and the reception and significance of this text in the modern and contemporary theological tradition.

This book probes how a twelfth-century woman became a Gospel interpreter, analyses the creative methodology and themes of the homilies, and deals with the vast legacy of Hildegard's works, including their relevance for today.

This book introduces the Pseudo-Dionysian mystical theology, with glimpses at key stages in its interpretation and critical reception through the centuries. Part one reproduces and provides commentary on the elusive Areopagites own miniature essay, The Mystical Theology, impenetrable without judicious reference to the rest of the Dionysian corpus. Stages in the reception and critique of this Greek corpus and theme are sketched in part two, from the sixth-century through the twelfth and to the critical reaction and opposition by Martin Luther in the Reformation.