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Types of Christian Theology

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In Types of Christian Theology, Frei does not lay down any formal systematic of his own, but rather outlines the five major movements in Christian Theology. Type 1 is distinctively "outer"; that is, it looks at the Church from the outside and tries to justify beliefs in a propositional manner. Frei uses Kant and Kaufman as archetypical of this typology. Types 2 through 4 all have some similarities, namely, they all have elements of expressive-experientialism. Type 2 relies on David Tracy, Type 3 on Schleirmacher, and Type 4 on Barth. As we move towards Type 5, we become increasingly "inner" in our discussion of theology. That is, by the time we reach Type 5 and D.Z. Phillips, we are completely concerned with the inner workings of the Church and her doctrine, rather than judging her by external propositionalism (such as logic or philosophy in general). For Frei, Barth is the hero; here we find a theology that is distinctively inner in its workings, but recognizes that "you cannot ignore philosophy". For Barth, we must suppose logic and its rules to communicate effectively; however, when logic conflicts with faith, "so much the worse for logic".

For a good introduction into the typologies out there, this is an excellent text. Despite his obvious Barthian bias, Frei does a more than adequate job of presenting the arguments for and against each side. The books one flaw is in its conception: it was not written by Frei as a book, but rather a combination of essays compiled by his students posthumously.