When I was a new Christian, in my foolishness I seldom gave a thought to my Christian heritage except to possibly wonder how and when my particular local church got started. Who cares what happened hundreds and thousands of years ago? Well, I learned to care and to realize that the Church’s history is important to understanding the Church today. It’s a fascinating study!
Man of the House bought The History of Christian Theology from The Teaching Co. with some money he got for Christmas. I finished the 36-lecture series not long ago and loved it, learned from it, and was occasionally confused by it. Professor Philip Carey is one of those people who knows so much about his subject that you wonder how his brain can hold it all. He himself is Anglican, but he treats all Christian traditions so fairly that wouldn’t know that from these lectures. (I know because I heard him say so once on Issues, Etc. [see the sidebar if you want to know what that is]). He speaks of everthing from Orthodoxy to Catholicism to the various Protestant denominations with an eye to accurately presenting their viewpoint without denigrating it. He insists that his listeners fairly treat other traditions with respect as well.
Beginning with the Gospels and traveling through the history of theology all the way to the present time, Prof. Cary covers each major stream of Christian thought with insight and enthusiasm. I admit that sometimes I didn’t understand every point, but I did gain a much better and broader understanding of the sweep of Christian thought over the past two millenia. It’s well worth listening to . . . and listening ag ain. I’m sure I will revisit these lectures in the future.
Unfortunately these lectures aren’t on sale right now, so they are very expensive. But keep your eyes open for them to go on sale. The markdown is usually 70%, which is very reasonable.
P.S. No hymn post this week because it's spring break.
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