First Line Friday #20: The Substance of Our Faith by Douglas Sweeney

Thanks to Carrie at
Reading is My Superpower
for the Link-up

 

Title:  The Substance of Our Faith
Author:  Douglas Sweeney
Genre:  Historical Theology

  〰First Line〰

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There would be no history of doctrine if Jesus had not promised the Spirit to disciples in the upper room before his crucifixion.  Or, at least, the history of doctrine would have proven far poorer.

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Synopsis:  (From Goodreads) 

Doctrine is central to Christian discipleship and maturity. Unfortunately, it is often sidelined in churches' teaching ministry as irrelevant or impractical. Countering this, leading church historian Douglas Sweeney defines doctrine as church teaching intended for the shaping of daily faith and practice.

The Substance of Our Faith addresses introductory issues in the study and application of historical doctrine, incorporating a unique global and catholic perspective. It addresses the Spirit's role in the rise of doctrine in the early church, the authority of Scripture and tradition in the development of doctrine, the challenges of doing global historical theology, the nature and purpose of doctrine, and implications for teaching the faith today. Specifically, Sweeney advocates that those who teach the Christian faith in all churches do so in communion with the saints who have come before.

〰First Thoughts〰

This book is part of my hunt for a good set of textbooks for the courses I teach.

 

In teaching Christian Doctrine and Theology, the concepts I long for my students to assimilate are what is the faith, why is the faith and how is the faith.  What, meaning what is the scriptural and historical basis of the faith.  Why, meaning why do the particular doctrines matter.  How refers to the means by which believers apply the what and the why to real life,  What I don't want is for the subjects to become esoteric and impractical.  

 

My hopes for Sweeney's book is that first, he doesn't just present dry historical facts but shows how doctrine developed in both theory and practice. And second, that the author's mention of the Holy Spirit (as evidenced by the first line of chapter one) does justice to how intricate the Spirit's role is to doctrine.  It has been my observation that many "scholarly" works out of fear of being seen as Pentecostal (?!) minimize, or completely omit the depth of the Spirit's role in the formation and development of the Church and its doctrines.

So, what's the first line of the book you're currently reading?