Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1400888 in Books
• Published on: 1982-01-13
• Released on: 1982-01-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

A good survey of themes in theology
Bloesch wrote these 2 volumes from the perspective of the mainline Evangelical and Reformed tradition, and so he deals extensively with the liberal Protestant theological writers of the 19th and 20th centuries (Schliermacher, Kierkiegaard, Harnack, Tillich,) as well as neo-orthodox writers (especially Barth, Brunner, Bonhoeffer, Kung, and Cullmann). He comes out evangelical in his teachings on the primacy of scripture (yet reflecting his Barthian influences, he sees scripture as a medium of divine revelation rather than just flat out divine revelation), salvation by grace through faith, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ (a doctrine that is sometimes ridiculed as archaic and primitive in the liberal Protestant tradition).

In volume two, Bloesch contributes fascinating chapters on the cruciality of preaching (a much ignored subject in most systematic theologies), scriptural holiness (where Bloesch is influenced somewhat by the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition), and the personal return of Jesus Christ (where Bloesch comes out with an awkward position combining elements of amillennial and postmillenial thought). He also concludes the book with an insightful discussion on heaven and hell, and a closing chapter on the future of evangelicalism. I recommend these volumes highly, but especially to those who are in mainline denominations such as the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Outstanding Theology!!
I can't add a lot to the excellent review by Marc Axelrod,
other than to say, "Amen!" Bloesch was and is a mentor,
teacher, and friend and I am so happy to have come across
his books while I was in theological school. They were
a great help to me then and continue to be a good resource
today. I frequently return to his works when I work on
sermons and Bible studies. I can't recommend his _Essentials_
and his current seven volume _Christian Foundations_ highly
enough.