Introduction
Introduction
Anyone who thinks about the great questions of Christian theology soon finds out that a lot of them have already been addressed. It is virtually impossible to do theology as if it had never been done before. There is always an element of looking back over one's shoulder to see how things were done in the past, and what answers were then given. Part of the notion of “tradition” is a willingness to take seriously the theological heritage of the past. Although this emphasis on taking the past seriously is mainly associated with Catholic and Orthodox theologians, many Protestant writers would concur. The great Protestant theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968) is one of many to note and affirm the continued importance of the great theological luminaries of the past in today's theological debates:
With regard to theology, we cannot be in the church without taking responsibility as much for the theology of the past as for the theology of our own present day. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Schleiermacher and all the others are not dead but living. They still speak and demand a hearing as living voices, as surely as we know that they and we belong together in the church.
Most works of Christian theology – whether Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox – engage with major writers from the past, simply because those writers remain such an important resource for Christian theological reflection today. It is therefore important to become familiar with the main voices and conversations of the Christian past, which are interesting in themselves and also provide vital reference points for the debates of our own time.
In practice, there is widespread agreement over the broad division of the history of Christian theology for teaching purposes. In this brief (but important) survey of the development of Christian theology, we shall consider four periods of thought, as follows:
There is always going to be debate about these divisions, which may seem a little arbitrary. When did the patristic age end? Or the Middle Ages begin? The great Cambridge historian George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876–1962) wisely reminds us that historical “periods” are best seen simply as helpful constructions, rather than as well-defined realities. “Unlike dates, periods are not facts. They are retrospective conceptions that we form about past events, useful to focus discussion, but very often leading historical thought astray.” Trevelyan's point is well taken. Nevertheless, we still need to try to organize the material into workable blocks or sections, rather than rambling aimlessly through the vast amount of theological discussion of the past two thousand years.
This opening section of this textbook provides an introductory panorama of some landmarks in theological reflection. It surveys some of the most important developments associated with these four eras, including:
So let's get started. The first major era of Christian thought is often referred to as the “patristic period.” So what is meant by this? And what happened during this period? Let's find out.