The Christian Theological Tradition

This is a college-level textbook, the work of colleagues of the theology department at the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul). The volume is the happy response to the awareness that “fewer and fewer students were coming to St. Thomas with any real knowledge about the Catholic tradition, the contents of the Bible, the major doctrines of the Christian faith, or the meaning of the various parts of Christian liturgy” (Preface, p. ix). It is an impressive production, well designed, written at the appropriate level, and pedagogically realistic and helpful. The treatment, while frankly written from a Roman Catholic perspective, is admirably ecumenical.

The course content is divided into twenty-four chapters in historical progression. Five chapters are devoted to the Old Testament, and three to the New Testament. Then the treatment moves through the major periods of church history. A valuable feature is that each period is introduced in a general survey essay preparing the student for the more particular studies. For example, A general “History of Christianity” is followed by chapters dealing with “Christianity After the Apostles,” “The Age of the Imperial Church,” and “Christianity in the Early Medieval Period.” Key figures like Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Martin Luther get chapters to themselves.

There is a time-line with summary provided at the beginning of each chapter. The book is generously illustrated, including ten color plates. At the end of every chapter we find: a list of key terms that have been highlighted in the preceding text; questions for reading; and a reading list. There is a glossary, as well as a general index. The index is less than helpful, however, since it is not concept based but verbally generated. The result is, for example, that under “Saints” we find references to the islands of St. Kitts and St. Vincent (p. 339), while the frequent omission of the honorific “St.” before saints’ names compounds the problem.

The high incidence of minor errata and typos mars the production: the date of Abraham’s migration, given as c. 1850 (p. 34), is not “during the 18th century b.c.e.” (pp. 35, 403); the caption of figure 8.5 should read “Alexamenos worships his God,” not “worships God” (p. 119); “Helevitica” should read “Helvetica” (p. 295). I noted a tendency to dispense with diacritical marks where languages other than English were involved, e.g., Danielou (p. iv); Bibliotheque (p. v). The front matter is riddled with typos, e.g., “Matthais Grüenwald” (p. vi, and p. 251).

These are relatively minor defects, however, and I can see the existence of this text book actually giving rise to the provision of the corresponding course on other campuses in North America. The text book is designed to support a one-semester course to introduce students to Christian history. The need for such an introductory course can be acknowledged in places other than the University of St. Thomas, and now an appropriate text-book is available.