Historical Theology: A Review of the Principal Doctrinal Discussions in the Christian Church Since the Apostolic Age, Volume 1
Overview
The history of the Church is a history of God’s interaction with people—making the study of church history a fundamentally theological enterprise. William Cunningham’s 2-volume Historical Theology, derived from his lectures given at New College in Edinburgh from 1847–1861, tells the story of the church through the history of its theology. He chronicles the theological tension between law and grace, between sin and forgiveness, and between Christ’s first coming and his second. Cunningham’s living faith, devout submission to God, clarity of thought, and reverence for the authority of the Bible make him well-positioned to comment on the relationship between the church and its theology. Volume one covers the biblical view of the church, the church councils and the apostolic fathers, the development of the church’s central doctrines—such as the incarnation and the Trinity—as well as the rise of scholasticism, the Reformation, and the Council of Trent. In volume two, Cunningham documents the development of the doctrine of justification, the doctrine of the atonement, the Arminian controversy, and the Socinian controversy. He also devotes lengthy discussions to Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and the Free Church of Scotland.
Top Highlights
“These controversies, indeed, may be said to turn essentially upon this question, What definition or description of the church does the Scripture warrant or require us to give?” (Pages 10–11)
“The Reformers’ answer was in substance this:—Wherever there is a true church, there is or may be a valid ministry.” (Page 11)
“Protestants do not dispute that the Scripture sets before us a visible as well as an invisible church: not meaning” (Page 14)
“is infallible,—i.e., that she always holds and proclaims the truth of God without any mixture of error” (Page 17)
“as two different phases or aspects of what is in substance one and the same.” (Page 14)
- Title: Historical Theology: A Review of the Principal Doctrinal Discussions in the Christian Church Since the Apostolic Age, Volume 1
- Author: William Cunningham
- Publisher: T&T Clark
- Print Publication Date: 1863
- Logos Release Date: 2008
- Era: era:modern
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Theology, doctrinal › History
- Resource ID: LLS:HISTTHEO1
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T07:21:27Z