The story of Christian theology : twenty centuries of tradition & reform / Roger E. Olson. [print]

Critics and cultists cause confusion -- The Apostolic fathers explain the way -- The Apologists defend the faith -- Irenaeus exposes heresies -- North African thinkers examine philosophy -- Origen of Alexandria leaves a troubling legacy -- Cyprian of Carthage promotes unity -- Christianity gets its act together -- Alexandrians argue about the Son of God -- The Church responds at the Council of Nicaea -- Athanasius stubbornly keeps the faith -- The Cappadocian fathers settle the issue.

The schools of Antioch and Alexandria clash over Christ -- Nestorius and Cyril bring the controversy to a head -- Chalcedon protects the mystery -- Fallout from the conflict continues -- Augustine confesses God's glory and human depravity -- The western church becomes Roman Catholic -- The eastern church becomes Eastern Orthodox -- The Great Schism creates two traditions out on one -- Anselm and Abelard speculate about God's way -- Thomas Aquinas summarizes Christian truth -- Nominalists, reformers and humanists challenge the scholastic synthesis.

Luther rediscovers the gospel and divides the church -- Zwingli and Calvin organize protestant thought -- Anabaptists go back to the roots of Christianity -- Rome and Canterbury go separate but parellel ways -- Arminians attempt to reform reformed theology -- Pietists seek to renew Lutheran theology -- Puritans and Methodists struggle to revive English theology -- Deists try to transform protestant theology -- Liberal theology accommodates to modern culture -- Conservative theology hardens traditional categories -- Neo-orthodoxy transcends the divide -- Contemporary theology struggles with diversity.

"In this panoramic work of historical theology, theologian Roger Olson vividly recounts the deeds and words of the cultists and Apostolic Fathers of the second century, the clash between the monumental theological schools of Alexandria and Antioch, the epochal division between East and West, the revolutionary advent of the Reformation, and much more - right on up to the sometimes dazzling, sometimes dismaying fallout that has continued to shake Christians through the twentieth century. Through it all Olson detects and traces a common thread: a concern for salvation, God's redemptive activity in forgiving and transforming sinful human beings."--BOOK JACKET.

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