The Ritschlian theology, a reaction against rationalism, was influential in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Ritschl held that God could be known only through the revelation contained in the person and work of Jesus. His theology stressed ethics and the community of man and repudiated metaphysics. Ritschl's most characteristic work is presented here and has been translated as 'The Christian Doctrine of Justification and Reconciliation'. In it Ritschl proposes understanding the doctrine of justification in interpersonal rather than juridical categories.

"This is not a theological trestise on the one hand, nor on the other is it a volume of sermons. Like its predecessor, the volume on Prayer, it has a distinct office to fulfill, an office that in the judgment of the editor is of immense importance. For between and the professor's lecture-room and the preacher's study there is a great gulf fixed. In the lecture-room the lectures on systematic theology are laboriously entered into notebooks, which are useful for the exit examinations. But when the active work of the ministry begins and so many sermons have to be prepared every week, the cupboard into which those notebooks have been stowed away is left undisturbed. The preacher begins to spin his sermons out of his own brains, with the assistance of such popular books as happen to be at his hand." -- From the Preface

John Leith provides a brief but comprehensive statement of Christian faith for contemporary Christians. He considers the theologians of the ancient church and affirsm the faith of the ancient creeds.

Christian theology needs to be reconstructed in light of recent and momentous intellectual changes, social revolutions, and steep pedagogical challenges. That is the conviction of many of North America's leading theologians whose close collaboration over several years bring us this exciting volume. Reconstructing Christian Theology introduces theology in such a way that readers can discern the relevance of historical materials, pose theological questions, and begin to think theologically for themselves. Further, like other projects of the Workgroup on Constructive Theology, this volume stems from a deep desire to model a credible, creative, and engaged contemporary theology. So each chapter tackles major Christian teaching, juxtaposes it with a significant social or cultural challenge, and then reconstructs each in light of the other. The result is an innovative and compelling way to learn how theology can contribute to rethinking the most pressing issues of our day.

Jaroslav Pelikan begins this volume with the crisis of orthodoxy that confronted all Christian denominations by the beginning of the eighteenth century and continues through the twentieth century in its particular concerns with ecumenism. The modern period in the history of Christian doctrine, Pelikan demonstrates, may be defined as the time when doctrines that had been assumed more than debated for most of Christian history were themselves called into question: the idea of revelation, the uniqueness of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the expectation of life after death, even the very transcendence of God. "Knowledge of the immense intellectual effort invested in the construction of the edifice of Christian doctrine by the best minds of each successive generation is worth having. And there can hardly be a more lucid, readable and genial guide to it than this marvellous work."—Economist "This volume, like the series which it brings to a triumphant conclusion, may be unreservedly recommended as the best one-stop introduction currently available to its subject."—Alister E. McGrath, Times Higher Education Supplement "Professor Pelikan's series marks a significant departure, and in him we have at last a master teacher."—Marjorie O'Rourke Boyle, Commonweal "Pelikan's book marks not only the end of a dazzling scholarly effort but the end of an era as well. There is reason to suppose that nothing quite like it will be tried again."—Harvey Cox, Washington Post Book World

This book provides a series of challenges to Jorge J. E. Gracia’s views on metaphysics and categories made by realist philosophers in the Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. Inclusion of Gracia’s responses to his critics makes this book a useful companion to Gracia’s Metaphysics and its Task: The Search for the Categorial Foundation of Knowledge.