in general, worded in a contemporary idiom, and related to the issues of life.”2 That is, theology seeks to study and express the key tenets or beliefs of Christianity. Its authoritative source is Scripture, while a secondary resource is other truth about God. Theology is always carried out in a particular context—for this book American evangelicalism at the beginning of the third millennium—and expressed in a contemporary and relevant manner. As it examines all the relevant doctrines, theology seeks