A Study Guide for Constructive Theology: A Contemporary Approach to Classical Themes

This study guide contains additional materials for each of the six chapters in Constructive Theology, all designed to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of the text. Each Summary highlights major historical and contemporary figures and movements that are central to the chapter’s themes. The Questions for Reflection and Discussion assist the reader in thinking about the text in detail and testing his or her understanding; they are also appropriate for guiding classroom discussions or study groups. Students interested in a particular topic or figure mentioned in a chapter will find resources in For Further Reading, which also provides potential bibliographic sources for research papers. For more on researching and writing academic papers in theology, see “A Short Guide to Writing Research Papers in Theology,” also included on this CD-ROM.

Chapter 1: God

→ Constructive Theology: A Contemporary Approach to Classical Themes, Chapter 1

Summary

Christian concepts of God are rich, many, and varied. Many ways of imagining divine being and presence came into Christianity from far more ancient Hebrew, Persian, African, and Asian beliefs. Christianity is a world religion; there are many patterns, traditions, practices, and claims about God that resonate in the rhythms and textures of the gathered people in Christian worship. This makes the task of the theologian who wants to celebrate and speak to the full multiplicity of the Christian community today a very complicated one indeed. No one has the last or only word when it comes to imagining the divinity expressed by Christian faith.

This chapter attempts to think critically about the history of debates about God in Christian theology in order to identify some of the themes or concerns that in our current context we share with our forebears. Major figures like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, G. W. F. Hegel, and Karl Barth are discussed in terms of their contributions to the multifaceted development of the Christian concept of God. A look at our shared doctrinal past (for example, the Nicene Creed, trinitarianism) also gives us a sense of the human dimension of theology, its fallible and ever-hopeful reaching for God. A discussion of contemporary theological developments notes the challenge of religious pluralism and the issue of gender and God language.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

1. Do Christians worship the same deity as is worshipped by Jews, Muslims, and those of other religions? What do you think is at stake in the answer one gives?

2. How do Christians understand that God is three and one at the same time?

3. Is it necessary for us to be able to speak rationally about God? Why or why not?

4. Does it matter whether we imagine or conceive of God to be “personal” or “nonpersonal”?

5. What does being “made in God’s image” (imago Dei) mean? What does your answer say about God?

6. Many hymns, ...