Customer Reviews

Transforming Christian Theology: For Church and Society

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Philip Clayton's important book is a must read for all who are concerned about the future of the Christian church. Clayton (in collaboration with Tripp Fuller) offers something like a blueprint, in my opinion, for the way-forward for progressive Christianity, including the Emergent church and the Mainline church. That being said, this is not a book intended to provide comprehensive answers to theological questions, but instead to help the progressive Christian community think through and formulate their theology boldly and honestly. He rightly emphasizes the need for the church to present transformative statements of belief that are sensitive to the challenges of pluralism, post-modernity, and advances in science. Clayton is one of the leading philosophical theologians of our time who normally writes quite dense theological works, so it is a pleasure to have such a clearly written book that will appeal to those in and out of the academy. I gave this book to the leaders at our church (a relatively young Emergent church) who read it and were inspired to refocus their theology. The result was an extremely exciting four-month teaching series on Christian theology, not to mention plenty of provocative and thoughtful conversations within the church. A book every thoughtful Christian should read more than once!

Philip Clayton and Tripp Fuller offer a masterful argument for the centrality of theology for transforming the church. Upon reading this book, I entered a quest of my own to think about the role theology should play in the kind of radical change most people I know need. I now find myself saying something like the following, "Theology shouldn't simply play a part in church renewal; it should play the main part!" I also find myself recommending this book often...

Philip does an amazing job inviting the entire church into the theological conversation. More than that he does so with a purpose....transforming the church and society. Would be excellent for an introductory class and even better for a church discussion group.