About this item
Highlights
- What can the early church contribute to theology today?
- About the Author: Donald Fairbairn (Ph.D., University of Cambridge, U.K.) is professor of historical theology at Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, South Carolina, and a part-time professor at Evangelische Theologische Faculteit in Leuven, Belgium.
- 272 Pages
- Religion + Beliefs, Christian Theology
Description
About the Book
What can the early church contribute to theology today? Donald Fairbairn takes us back to the biblical roots and central convictions of the early church, showing us what we have tended to overlook, especially in our understanding of God as Trinity, the person of Christ and the nature of our salvation as sharing in the Son's relationship to the Father.
Book Synopsis
What can the early church contribute to theology today? Donald Fairbairn takes us back to the biblical roots and central convictions of the early church, showing us what we have tended to overlook, especially in our understanding of God as Trinity, the person of Christ and the nature of our salvation as sharing in the Son's relationship to the Father.
Review Quotes
"Donald Fairbairn offers an engaging introduction to evangelical theology, as enriched and challenged by key patristic emphases. Given the recent expansion of interest in the church fathers in evangelical circles, this winsomely written, stimulating invitation to listen to and learn from the church fathers is both timely and welcome."
"Donald Fairbairn's mastery of early Christian theology shines out of this wonderful introduction to the world of patristic theology for evangelical readers. It is more than a wise and trustworthy guide taking the reader along what are unfamiliar paths for many Western readers. It is also a work that wears its learning lightly, but amounts to nothing less than a sustained exposition of the majestic coherence of the early Christian doctrine of union with God. I recommend it most highly."
"The author has successfully presented a doctrine that has become identified with Eastern Orthodox theology. The author offers an important complement to most contemporary introductions to theology."
"This is the first book that teachers should assign to every beginning student of theology. It gives them not an explanation of individual doctrines, but a theological goal that is faithful to the very heart of the gospel, namely, that the Father sent the Son so that humans may participate in the Son's relationship to the Father. Our sharing in Christ's life (theosis) is, therefore, the north star that guides the whole of theology and integrates its individual parts. This is a penetrating and coherent reading of the biblical and patristic vision of the way theology should be done."
About the Author
Donald Fairbairn (Ph.D., University of Cambridge, U.K.) is professor of historical theology at Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, South Carolina, and a part-time professor at Evangelische Theologische Faculteit in Leuven, Belgium. He is the author of Grace and Christology in the Early Church and Eastern Orthodoxy through Western Eyes.