As one who has undertaken the writing of a historical theology that follows a topical-chronological structure, I am intrigued by and appreciative of Gerald Bray’s distinctive approach to this discipline. Noting the recent renewal of trinitarian theology and underscoring the church’s common confession of belief in the triune God, the research professor at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, thoroughly addresses all the topics expected in a substantive historical theology volume, and does so according to a trinitarian framework. This unique approach in and of itself is enough to attract great attention to God Has Spoken: A History of Christian Theology.
Bray’s headings, along with the timeframe to which they roughly correspond, are eight in number. Part One, “The Israelite Legacy,” establishes the early foundation of the church through a discussion of Christianity and Judaism, specifically how the former parted from the latter yet inherited much from it (e.g., its Scripture and its beliefs in the oneness of God and divine creation). Parts Two and Three treat “The Person of the Father” and “The Work of the Father,” the church’s theological focus from the first through third centuries. The radical address of God as “Our Father,” taught by the church’s founder to his disciples (Matt. 6:9), launched Christian theology. At the same time, a potential rift between God the Creator as set forth in the Old Testament and God the Redeemer in Jesus Christ loomed large and demanded the early church’s attention. They also had to address, within the context of monotheism, the relationship between the Father who is God and the Son who is God. Further, the church developed a doctrine of the creation of the world and of people as divine image bearers, along with the doctrines of providence and predestination, all within a growing trinitarian framework and against the specter of Gnosticism.
God Has Spoken: A History of Christian Theology
Gerald Bray
With the Gnostic heresy over, the church then turned (Part Four) to “The Person of the Son,” its focus in the fourth and fifth centuries. Orthodox Christology was hammered out in the context of challenges in the form of adoptianism (Bray’s corrected spelling), Arianism, Apollinarianism, Nestorianism, and Eutychianism. Nicea, Athanasius, the Cappadocians, Constantinople, Augustine, and more were key markers along the road to the church’s never-overturned Chalcedonian consensus. Even then, however, monophysitism, monothelitism, and iconoclasm would not allow the church to rest from its Christological labors.
While the church occupied itself with matters concerning the identity of the Son, other issues simmered and eventually came to the forefront, attracting the attention of the two halves of Christendom. One issue was the Son’s sacrificial work on the cross—and the Western church leaned toward soteriology. The other was the person of the Holy Spirit—and the Eastern church leaned toward pneumatology. Accordingly, Part Five treats “The Work of the Son,” the focus of the Western (Catholic, and eventually Protestant) churches during the medieval and Reformation periods. Various views of the atonement, diverse viewpoints of the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper, the development of the sacramental system, the invention of purgatory, the doctrine of justification, Martin Luther’s contribution, as well as (briefly) that of John Calvin find treatment in this section.
While the Western church was devoting itself to soteriology, the Eastern church was focusing (Part Six) on “The Person of the Holy Spirit.” To appreciate the divergent roads these two halves of Christendom have taken, this section returns to biblical affirmations about the Spirit and the development of the early church’s pneumatology—focusing on personhood, deity, and trinitarian relationships—culminating in the medieval controversy (and ultimate East-West split) over the double procession of the Spirit. Bray concludes with a brief treatment of the current state of the filioque question.
Part Seven, “The Work of the Spirit,” covers the period from the Reformation through today, focusing on disputes over the Spirit’s work as determinative for the major differences between the Catholic Church and Protestant churches. Accordingly, this section covers ecclesiology in its many expressions (Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist), practices (baptism, the Lord’s Supper, polity), and doctrines (covenant theology, extent of the atonement, assurance of salvation, the works and gifts of the Spirit, Christian living) at length. Bray concludes with a brief treatment of Wesley’s Christian perfectionism, the holiness movement, revivalism, and Pentecostalism/the charismatic movement.
Part Eight, “One God in Three Persons,” concludes with the many issues that face the church in the modern period. Attacks abound. The first barrage came against the doctrine of the Trinity, and today virulent atheism is on the rise; at the same time, Christian theology is experiencing a revival of trinitarian theology. With the modern advance of the cult of reason, the issue of biblical and ecclesial authority is a perennial issue, as are the question of the suffering of God and the very credibility of theology itself.
God Has Spoken concludes with two helpful chronological lists of persons and of events.
Because of its trinitarian framework, this volume provides relatively easy access to material that addresses the historical development of theology proper, Christology, pneumatology, and the Trinity. However, it does not lend itself as well to knowing where to turn for discussion of the progress of other theological loci: bibliology, anthropology, angelology, hamartiology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. These topics are scattered throughout the book, meaning that readers must work their way through several sections, with occasional help from the (non-exhaustive) index. Using the doctrine of Scripture as a first example, the canon of the Old Testament is treated in chapter 1, and the canon of the New Testament is presented in chapter 18; chapter 19 covers other important ground, like the relationship between Scripture and church tradition. Similarly, theological anthropology is presented in terms of its Jewish background (the image of God, chapter 2) and its shaping through debates about Christology (chapter 11). Angelology (chapter 20) is slipped under Part Seven, “The Work of the Holy Spirit.” Ecclesiology appears regularly and often (e.g., “The Body of Christ,” chapter 12; “The Coming of Christ’s Kingdom,” chapter 14; “The Presence of God,” chapter 17; “The Preservation of the Church,” chapter 19; “The Mystical Body of Christ,” chapter 21). Even as the book progresses trinitarianally and chronologically, it often reaches back to earlier developments of doctrines, developments that were not presented in earlier chapters.
Readers will need to decide for themselves the fittingness of this trinitarian approach to structuring historical theology. Whatever their assessment, they will be challenged by a refreshing, highly creative, well-researched book that is a tour du force among histories of Christian theology. To my knowledge, no theologian has ever undertaken to compose a historical theology with a trinitarian scaffolding. Moreover, the breadth of Bray’s command of his subject matter, executed in this unique way, is formidable, yet his writing is concise and engaging. God Has Spoken: A History of Christian Theology has my highest recommendation.