Protestant Theology at the Crossroads: How to Face the Crucial Tasks for Theology in the Twenty-First Century

by Gerhard Sauter

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2007

Overview

In an atmosphere of growing skepticism and discouragement, what hope has theology for the future, and what sources might deliver that hope? In this astute analysis of Protestant theology today, Gerhard Sauter sets himself to help theology answer critical questions and accomplish crucial tasks in order to move forward with hope.

Protestant Theology at the Crossroads examines contextual theology, in which particular cultural heritages, race and gender, economic conditions, and the structure of social life inform the teachings of the faith rather than vice versa. How, for example, do we approach the crisis in American self-understanding caused by terrorism? Do changes in European politics alter our theological perceptions? Sauter argues that dogmatics -- properly understood as the process of theological reasoning that supports the life of the church -- can and should be used as the tool to save theology. Dogmatics, he says, can break through pious isolationism and converge with genuine public theology, leading to the church’s understanding of its own essence.

Key Features

• Examines contextual theology.
• Argues that dogmatics can and should be used as the tool to save theology.
• Helps theology answer critical questions and accomplish crucial tasks in order to move forward with hope.

Contents

• Foreword, by Daniel L. Migliore
• Introduction: Is There Really a Turning Point?
• 1. What Dare We Hope — at the Beginning of the Third Millennium?
• 2. A Shared Hope for Jews and Christians
• 3. The Art of Reading the Bible
• 4. No Fear of Dogmatics!
• 5. God Creates Faith — Do We Consent?
• 6. Contextual Theology as a Challenge to Dogmatics
• 7. Theological Reflections on the Political Changes in Europe
• 8. The Religious Dimension of American Self-Understanding and Its Crisis Today
• 9. Public Theology — Theology outside the Church?
• 10. Observations on the Current State of Reformed Theology
• Index of names
• Index of subjects
• Index of biblical references

Praise for Protestant Theology at the Crossroads

Protestant Theology at the Crossroads offers the rarely found combination of erudite theological scholarship conjoined with profound wisdom emerging from a lifelong engagement with the biblical text. As such, this book is the work of a scholar who has incisively reflected upon and deftly treated the crucial theological issues of our day, including theological rationality, contextual theology, scriptural authority, and so on. One finds here an eminently readable text with all of the earmarks of Sauter’s work — comprehensive in thought, ecumenical in style, and penetrating in its insights.

—Thomas G. Guarino, Seton Hall University

Product Details

• Title: Protestant Theology at the Crossroads: How to Face the Crucial Tasks for Theology in the Twenty-First Century
• Author: Gerhard Sauter
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 2007
• Logos Release Date: 2025
• Pages: 188
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subject: Theology
• ISBNs: 9780802840349, 0802840345
• Resource ID: LLS:PRTSTNTTHTCNTRY
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-10-02T21:54:42Z

About Gerhard Sauter

Gerhard Sauter is professor of systematic and ecumenical theology and director emeritus of the Ecumenical Institute in the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Bonn, Germany.