the period of the early church or in the sixteenth century. Nonetheless, if this method is utilized with a candid recognition of its limitations, it does serve as a useful approach to particular doctrines and a good prologue to the study of systematic theology. c. The Great Thinker Model The third, and by far the most problematic, of the methods can be identified as the “great thinker” method. An example of this model is A. C. McGiffert’s often brilliant History of Christian Thought. McGiffert was
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