Understanding Our Christian Neighbors

Included on this page are readings for the course meetings of Understanding Our Christian Neighbors.

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Keith Stanglin

Email hall@christian-studies.org for pdf readings.

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I highly recommend two books for getting the most out of this study.  Read either one or both, and you will be well prepared for the class.

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Ted A. Campbell. Christian Confessions: A Historical Introduction. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.  This book takes an objective, analytical approach to comparing and contrasting the major doctrines in the major Christian denominations, based on the respective creeds and confessions.

 

Robert L. Plummer, ed. Journeys of Faith: Evangelicalism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Anglicanism. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.  This book takes a more subjective, experiential approach, with contributions from authors about why they changed churches and critical responses from others.

And then there are shorter readings that correspond more closely to the scheduled topic.

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Schedule (Monday evenings, Jan. 8–Feb. 19, 7:00–8:30 CST):

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Jan. 8: Historical Unity and Diversity, Understanding and Assessing

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Watch: “Church Compass (of Christian Denominations),” at https://youtu.be/sLgraIFgldc?feature=shared

 

See handout “Church History Timelines” [email for pdf]

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Read the texts of the Old Roman Creed and of the Apostles’ Creed at https://www.logos.com/grow/the-apostles-creed-its-history-and-origins/

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Keith Stanglin, “Apostles’ Creed” [email for pdf]

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Jan. 15: Major Christian Divisions

 

Andrew Louth, Introducing Eastern Orthodox Theology, xiii-xx, 1-15 [email for pdf]

 

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Jan. 22: Religious Authority

 

Athanasius of Alexandria, “Paschal Letter” (AD 367), sections 4-7, at https://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/Athanasius.html

 

Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae Ia.i.8, Reply to Objection 2, at https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1001.htm#article8

 

Confession of Dositheus, Decree 2 and Questions 1-3, at https://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html

 

 

Jan. 29: God and Christ

 

Creed of Nicaea (325) and Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381), at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicene_Creed#Comparison_between_creed_of_325_and_creed_of_381

 

Definition of the Council of Chalcedon (451), at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalcedonian_Definition#Content

 

Confession of Dositheus, Decrees 1, 7-8 and Question 4 (seven paragraphs on icons and saints), at https://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html

 

 

Feb. 5: Human Nature and Salvation

 

Decrees of the Council of Orange (529), at https://www.crivoice.org/creedorange.html

 

Confession of Dositheus, Decrees 3, 6, 9, 13-14, 18, at https://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html

 

 

Feb. 12: Church

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Confession of Dositheus, Decrees 10-12, 15-17, at https://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html

 

Stanglin, “Visible Signs of Invisible Grace” [email for pdf]

 

 

Feb. 19: Theological and Practical Ecumenism (guest lecturer: Carl Trueman)

 

Avery Cardinal Dulles, “Saving Ecumenism from Itself,” at https://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/12/saving-ecumenism-from-itself

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Further Reading

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The major pre-twentieth-century Christian creeds and confessions may be found in Philip Schaff, ed., The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes, 3 vols., 6th ed. (1931; reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998). This collection is available in public domain and online. See ccel.org. 

For a selection of more recent documents and other secondary sources, see the bibliography below.

 

Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1982.

 

Burgess, John P. Encounters with Orthodoxy: How Protestant Churches Can Reform Themselves Again. Louisville: WJKP, 2013.

 

Campbell, Ted A. The Gospel in Christian Traditions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

 

Catechism of the Catholic Church. New York: Image, 1994. 

 

Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Creeds. London: Longman, 1972.

 

Kolb, Robert, and Carl R. Trueman. Between Wittenberg and Geneva: Lutheran and Reformed Theology in Conversation. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017.

 

Leithart, Peter J. The End of Protestantism: Pursuing Unity in a Fragmented Church. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2016.

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Levering, Matthew, and Kevin J. Vanhoozer. Was the Reformation a Mistake? Why Catholic Doctrine Is Not Unbiblical. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017.

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Mattox, Mickey L. and A. G. Roeber. Changing Churches: An Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran Theological Conversation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.

 

Murphy, Francesca Aran, and Christopher Asprey, eds. Ecumenism Today: The Universal Church in the 21st Century. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008.

 

Olson, Roger E., et al. Handbook of Denominations in the United States. 14th ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2018.

 

Pelikan, Jaroslav J. and Valerie R. Hotchkiss, eds. Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition. 4 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

 

Rouse, Ruth, John Briggs, et al., eds. A History of the Ecumenical Movement. 3 vols. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1993–2004.

 

Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations. Edited by Austin Flannery. Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Company, 1996. Esp. Lumen Gentium, Dei verbum, and Unitatis redintegratio. 

 

Winer, Georg Benedikt. A Comparative View of the Doctrines and Confessions of the Various Communities of Christendom, with Illustrations from their Original Standards. Introduction by William B. Pope. Clark’s Foreign Theological Library, 4th series, vol. 35. Edinburgh: T and T Clark, 1873.