System of the Christian Certainty

by Fr. H. R. Frank

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 1886

Franz Herman Reinhold Frank believed that theology is rooted in the living context of the church. Theology produced in isolation from the church can come to any conclusion, but “without such connectedness its theologizing were a groundless and baseless one, a Will o’ the Wisp movement about the object,” possessing the form of Christian theology without actually being it. For this reason Dr. Frank wrote System of the Christian Certainty to present Christian theology that was already established, rather than basing his thoughts on new theological discoveries. The result is a calculated, critical breakdown of why the Christian church is so firmly grounded in faith, and how that faith empowers Christians with confidence.

In his thorough dissection of faith, Frank seeks to prove that God’s existence and character, Christ’s work, and eternal life are self-evident. Frank defines and uses the system of beliefs already working within the Christian church to express the truth individual Christians often struggle to explain to the world: that faith has a basis. Frank goes to great lengths to express the challenge in taking on a work like this; as an individual, his writing can only prove to be the shared belief of the church if the church confirms that captures the voice of their faith as well. After over 100 years, this volume remains a relevant theological text.

Key Features

• Critically analyzes the basis of faith
• Distinguishes “the Christian certainty” from certitudo salutis
• Examines the position of “the Christian certainty“

Praise for the Print Edition

No weightier or more valuable theological work has come to us from Germany since the publication of Dr. Dorner’s Christian Doctrine

—Literary World

The theory can only be even tentatively worked out by hard-headed reasoning, and of this the work before us is a marvelous example . . . It is a hard nut to crack, but the nut is worth cracking.

—The London Quarterly Review

. . . the whole work is distinguished, alike, for the persevering, learned, and critical industry, manifested in collecting the materials; and for the solidity and independence of judgment, with which they are methodically arranged, and agreeably expressed.

—Continuation of Noesselt’s Guide to the Literature of Theology

It is to be regarded as (hauptwerk) the best work on the subject.

—Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, founder of Corpus Reformatorum

Product Details

• Title: System of the Christian Certainty
• Author: Franz Herman Reinhold Frank
• Translator: Maurice J. Evans
• Edition: 2nd
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 1886
• Pages: 482

About Fr. H. R. Frank

Franz Hermann Reinhold von Frank (1827–1894) was a German Lutheran theologian who played an important part in the German Neo-Lutheranism movement. He received his PhD at the University of Leipzig in 1850, and then worked as a school subrector in Ratzeburg. In 1857, he was appointed professor of church history and systematic theology at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, where he specialized in theological dogmatics. His published works include Dogmatic Studies and System of the Christian Certainty.

Maurice Evans was a reverend and translator. His other translations include Christian Dogmatics: A Textbook for Academical Instruction and Private Study and Practical Theology: A Manual for Theological Students by Johannes Jacobus van Oosterzee, The Prophecies of Our Lord and His Apostles: A Series of Discourses by Wilhelm Hoffmann, and a series of German critical and exegetical handbooks.