Truth Aflame Theology For The Church In Renewal

Truth Aflame-Revised Edition Copyright © 1999, 2005 by Larry D. Hart Original edition published in 1999 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hart, Larry (Larry D.) Truth aflame : theology for the church in renewal / Larry D. Hart.-Rev. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN-10: 0-310-25989-4 (printed hardcover) ISBN-13: 978-0-310-25989-3 (printed hardcover) 1. Evangelicalism. 2. Theology, Doctrinal-Popular works. I. Title. BR1640.H37 2005 230'.04624-dc22 2005002766 This edition printed on acid-free paper. Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved. For copyright information of other versions used, see special page at end of book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Beth Shagene Printed in the United States of America 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 /?DCI/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 We want to hear from you. Please send your comments about this book to us in care of zreview@zondervan.com. Thank you. 1. Introduction Is Theology Really Necessary? Why Didn't Someone Tell Me that I'm a Theologian? What about the Bible? Get Your Thinking Straight! There Are Theologians . . . and There Are Theologians Who Is the Theologian Who Wrote This Book? So What's the Strategy? What, Exactly, Is Theology? Biblical, Historical, and Contemporary Theology A Christian Theology Knowing God Get with the Program! There Was a Time . . . Creeds, Confessions, and . . . Confusion! The Necessity of Theology Then Along Came Kant . . . Some Said That It Was Thunder Where Do We Go from Here? Select List of Confessions If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching [doctrine] that you have followed. -1 Timothy 4:6 TNIV For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. -2 Timothy 4:3 TNIV Why Didn't Someone Tell Me That I'm a Theologian? A fine professional Presbyterian theologian once said that sex, politics, and theology were the only things worth talking about. Sex, he said, presents us with the question, "Who am I?" Politics asks, "How can we learn to live together?" But theology raises the ultimate questions about our origins, meaning, and destiny. Of the three topics, theology is the most interesting and important because it includes all the questions of the other two topics. "The study of theology is by definition the quest for the ultimate truth about God, about ourselves and about the world we live in. What else is there to talk about?"1 We unknowingly think about and discuss theology almost by the minute! Everyone is a theologian. If you have any opinions at all about what life is all about-what we humans are up to, what God (if you believe there is a God) is up to, and what is important in life-then you are a theologian. You have a theology whether you like it or not. Your theology is either well thought out and coHart, Larry is the author of 'Truth Aflame Theology For The Church In Renewal' with ISBN 9780310259893 and ISBN 0310259894.