A Grammar of Christian Faith: Systematic Explorations in Christian Life and Doctrine
A Grammar of Christian Faith is a two-volume set that aims to confront the widespread disarray in the language and practices of Christian faith today. As a 'grammar,' it explains how Christian faith provides special ways of speaking and acting that make sense of human life by giving it meaning, practicality, and hope. It advances the thesis that learning how to speak Christian language in worship and life is crucial to learning how to be a Christian. Rather than supposing that Christian language and theology need continual updating in order to be relevant to the world, Jones urges the church to recover anew how Christian concepts and understanding are intended to form Christian life in all its rich depths. Construing theology as confessional theology in the context of the church, Jones understands the church as that liberative and redemptive community called into being by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to witness in word and deed the triune God for the benefit of the world. The full range of doctrinal themes that are deemed essential to the witness of the church are explored, including clear explanations of why they are essential and how they are to be understood. In pursuit of a truthful and beneficial witness of the church, the work centers on a trinitarian understanding of God, in which God freely and lovingly interacts with the world as Creator, Reconciler, and Redeemer. The work throughout affirms the belief that the gracious triune God is the Ultimate Companion who will redeem all creation.
Part 1 Volume I
Part 2 Chapter 1: The Context and Task of Christian Theology
Chapter 3 Language, Grammar, and Understanding
Chapter 4 On Clarifying the Concepts of Pragmatics and Practice
Chapter 5 Some Basic Theses about Language
Chapter 6 Proposals for the Meaning of 'Theology'
Chapter 7 A Theological Definition of the Church
Chapter 8 The Church's Witness as Summoned to Accountability
Chapter 9 The Task of Systematic Theology
Chapter 10 Systematic Theology, Dogmatics, and Apologetics
Chapter 11 The Dialectic between Church and World
Chapter 12 Some Diagnostic Points about the Situation of the North American Church and the World Today
Part 13 Chapter 2: Revelation and the Knowledge of God
Chapter 14 Biblical Notes
Chapter 15 Notes from Traditions
Chapter 16 Interlude: Some Diagnostic Notes about Knowings
Chapter 17 Epistemology and Confessional Theology
Chapter 18 The Grammar of God's Self-Revelation in Jesus Christ
Chapter 19 God's Self-Revelation, the Bible, and Human Discourses and Practices
Chapter 20 The Grammar of Faith as Knowledge of God
Chapter 21 Knowledge of God Apart from God's Special Self-Revelations
Chapter 22 Jesus Christ and Continuing Revelation in the Church
Chapter 23 Further Notes on the Christian Grammar of 'Truth'
Part 24 Chapter 3: Sources and Norms of Theology as Dialectical Confession and Profession
Chapter 25 Theology and the Presiding Model of the Gospel
Chapter 26 The Basic Sources of Theology
Chapter 27 The Bible as the Church's Holy Scripture
Chapter 28 Church Traditions
Chapter 29 Grammar and the Development of Doctrine
Chapter 30 Theology as the Discourse of Dialectical Confession and Profession
Part 31 Chapter 4: The Triune God
Chapter 32 Language About God
Chapter 33 Patriarchy and 'Father' Language
Chapter 34 Some Notes from Church History
Chapter 35 Puzzles in the Contemporary Discussions of Trinity
Chapter 36 The Grammar of God's Self-Identifications
Chapter 37 The Grammar of God's Unity, Multiplicity, Relationality, and Complexity
Chapter 38 The Grammar of God as the Triune One Who Loves in Freedom
Chapter 39 The Grammar of God's Essence and God's Actuality
Chapter 40 The Grammar of the Immanent Trinity
Chapter 41 The Grammar of God's Essential Attributes
Chapter 42 The Grammar of God's Self-Determined Relational Attributes
Chapter 43 The Grammar of God's Transcendence and Immanence
Part 44 Chapter 5: God the Creator: Creation, Providence, and Evil
Chapter 45 Orientation to the Doctrine
Chapter 46 Biblical Notes
Chapter 47 Basic Elements of the Grammar of God the Creator
Chapter 48 The Grammar of the Providence of God
Chapter 49 Further Issues in the Grammar of God's Action in Relation to the World
Chapter 50 The Grammar of Evil and Theodicy
Chapter 51 Creation Pragmatics
Part 52 Chapter 6: Human Being as Created and Sinful
Chapter 53 Human Being as Creaturely Being
Chapter 54 Human Being as Personal Being
Chapter 55 Human Being as Spiritual Being
Chapter 56 Jesus the True Human Being
Chapter 57 Preliminary Observations on Human Sin
Chapter 58 Knowledge of Sin in Jesus Christ
Chapter 59 The Origin of Sin
Chapter 60 Exploring Multiple Shapes and Faces of Sin
Chapter 61 The Consequences of Sin and Jesus Christ
Part 62 Volume II
Part 63 Chapter 7: The Person of Jesus Christ
Chapter 64 Orientation to Christology
Chapter 65 Some Problems of Faith and History
Chapter 66 A Theological/Historical Schematic Narrative of the Actual Jesus
Chapter 67 The Grammar of Christological Titles in the New Testament
Chapter 68 Notes from Church History
Chapter 69 The Grammar of the Identity of the Human Jesus as the Incarnate God
Chapter 70 The Grammar of Jesus' Identity as the Messianic Bearer of the Spirit
Chapter 71 Some Further Questions
Part 72 Chapter 8: The Work of Jesus Christ
Chapter 73 Some Elements of the New Testament Witness
Chapter 74 Atonement Issues and the Salvific Work of Jesus
Chapter 75 The Grammar of Jesus the Prophet
Chapter 76 The Grammar of Jesus the Priest
Chapter 77 The Grammar of Jesus the Victor
Chapter 78 The Grammar of Jesus' Work and Human Salvation
Chapter 79 Narrative and the Rationale of God's Salvific Work
Part 80 Chapter 9: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Chapter 81 The Trinitarian Context of the Doctrine
Chapter 82 The Witness of Scripture
Chapter 83 Notes from Tradition
Chapter 84 A Constructive Grammar of the Holy Spirit
Chapter 85 A Schematic Grammar of Salvation
Part 86 Chapter 10: The Christian Life
Chapter 87 The Grammar of Just Deserts and Justification by Grace
Chapter 88 The Grammar of Faith and the Christian Life
Chapter 89 The Grammar of Christian Freedom
Chapter 90 The Grammar of Sanctification
Chapter 91 The Grammar of Discipleship
Chapter 92 The Grammar of the Works and Passions of Agapic Love
Chapter 93 The Grammar of Christian Vocation
Chapter 94 Summary
Part 95 Chapter 11: The Doctrine of Church
Chapter 96 Images of the Church in the New Testament
Chapter 97 Notes from Church History
Chapter 98 Basic Ecclesial Grammar
Chapter 99 The Ecclesial Grammar of the Practices of the Body of Christ
Chapter 100 The Nurturing Practices of the Body of Christ
Chapter 101 The Outreach Practices of the Body of Christ
Chapter 102 The Administrative Practices of the Body of Christ
Chapter 103 The Ecclesial Grammar of Unity, Diversity, and Boundaries
Chapter 104 The Dialectic between Church and World
Part 105 Chapter 12: Proclamation, Sacraments, and Prayer
Chapter 106 The Grammar of Proclamation
Chapter 107 The Grammar of 'Sacrament'
Chapter 108 The Grammar of Baptism
Chapter 109 The Grammar of the Lord's Supper
Chapter 110 The Grammar of Prayer
Part 111 Chapter 13: Christian Hope and Eschatology
Chapter 112 The Grammar of Hope as a General Human Phenomenon
Chapter 113 The Grammar of Christian Hope as Eschatological Existence
Chapter 114 The Grammar of Hope and Historic Redemption: Everyday Futurity
Chapter 115 The Grammar of Hope and Historic Redemption: Works of Love and the Kingdom of God
Chapter 116 Interlude: Is there a Dual Destiny?
Chapter 117 The Grammar of Hope and Ultimate Redemption: Death and Eternal Life
Chapter 118 The Grammar of Hope and Ultimate Redemption: The End of All Things in God's Absolute Future
This project is a remarkable achievement. It is comprehensive, coherent, consistent, fluent, and subtle. It is contemporary, earthed, mature, and nuanced. It never misses a trick.
Refreshingly engaging.
I believe that A Grammar of Christian Faith is destined, along with the work of Jenson and McClendon, to be the book that signals the recovery of the Christian voice in modernity. Deeply schooled by Wittgenstein, the Church Fathers, Barth, and Yoder, Jones' presentation of Christian convictions is as elegant as it is profound. Anyone committed to serious theological reflection must read this book.
Product Details
- Title : A Grammar of Christian Faith: Systematic Explorations in Christian Life and Doctrine
- Author: Jones, Joe R.
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
- Publication Date: 2002
- ISBN: 9781461665373
Joe R. Jones is professor emeritus of theology and ethics at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Author of a number of articles on Christian and Jewish theologies, he holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Yale University.