Introductory theological text book?
In first term next year I will be teaching a Moore Theological College external studies course over seven weeks at Pennant Hills. The course is "Doctrine 1" and covers the doctrines of God, revelation and the person and work of Christ (and perhaps some other things; I'm still yet to receive a syllabus). I'd love to hear suggestions of possible introductory level textbooks to set as required reading. The participants are likely to have never studied any formal theology before and the classes are only two hours per week, so conciseness and accessibility are priorities. I am happy to include more stretching exercepts or texts as extension or recommended reading. Any ideas?
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10 comments:
Daniel Migliore's book "Faith Seeking Understanding" is really superb.
I use the book by Michael Jinkins, Invitation to Theology, InterVarsity, 2001. Ray Anderson
When we did this course in 1st year uni, our staffworker (another regular reader of your blog) used McGrath's "Christian Theology Reader". I'm sure Jess would remember that as well.
It's a pretty decent supplement to the course book, because it doesn't cover the same ground at all, but goes back to various influential texts (other than the Bible, of course) for the same concepts that the course covers.
Bruce Milne's Know the Truth is pretty good, Byron and was appreciated by the students at Glenbrook Baptist Church where I ran a similar Morling College external studies course about 10 years ago.
"Basic Christian Doctrines" edited by Carl Henry has some great essays in it. It covers all those topics.
I would start with something like Dermot Lane's "The Experience of God: An Invitation to Do Theology". This is a short and accessible (undergrad reading) read and gives a foundation for why theology is important.
'Knowing God' and 'Concise Theology' by Jim Packer are pretty accessible.
H. Berkhof, Christian Faith
I vote for Migliore's "Faith Seeking Understanding" too. It was required for my Intro to Theology class two years ago and I still refer to it.
Thanks for all these suggestions - now that I'm back I'm going to dive into taking a look at them and making a selection for my "recommended" and "core" reading.
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