The Substance of Our Faith

Douglas A. Sweeney (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is dean and professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books on the history of Christian doctrine, early modern Protestant history, American church history, Christology, and global evangelicalism and is a highly respected Jonathan Edwards scholar.

1. Jesus' Promise of the Spirit
Kerygma, Rules of Faith, Canons of Scripture, and the Spirit
Interpreting the Word by the Spirit with the Church
Listening to the Spirit in an Era of Improvement
The Spirit-Bound
Body of Christ as "Pillar" and "Bulwark" of Christian Teaching
2. From Every Tribe and Language
Modern Missions, Western Power, and the Rise of "the Global South"
But the Church Has Always Been Global
The Promise and the Peril of Postcolonial Christian Teaching
Teaching the Christian Faith across Both Time and Space
3. Doctrine as Church Teaching for the Shaping of Faith and Practice
What Is Christian Doctrine?
How Is Doctrine Devised?
Should Doctrine Ever Be Revised? How So? And by Whom?
Why Does Any of This Matter?
4. Teaching in, with, and under the Christian Church
"Constructive Theology" and Its Liberating Pedagogy
"Retrieval Theology" and Its Classical Instruction
Ressourcement Revisited
"Free Church Theologies" in Search of Deeper Roots
Late-Modern Work on the Concept of Tradition
Thinking in, with, and under the Christian Church
Conclusion
Index