Divine Teaching: An Introduction to Christian Theology ... (ISBN 1405102713)

Excellent Resource for Teachers, Scholars, and/or the Theologically Curious:
Let me say at the outset: I am using this as the main secondary text in the university class I am teaching. It's a helpful text for students to read alongside the primary readings from the Christian tradition. It is an ecumenical text, drawing from Eastern and Western tradition (Origen, Athanasius, Augustine, Maximus, Aquinas, Bonaventure, Barth, Rahner, von Balthasar, and a number of feminist theologians, including Elizabeth Johnson). This book comes from the mind of a scholar who devotes much of his work to exploring the intersection between theology and spirituality, a major motif in DIVINE TEACHING. I am currently doing my Ph.D. under Dr. McIntosh at Loyola University Chicago, which means that I get to observe the classroom environment from which DIVINE TEACHING emerged. This is a refreshing text, written by someone who loves theology, teaching, and inspiring others to seek truth. (The following is a piece from my complete review of DIVINE TEACHING in Anglican Theological Review, Spring 2008). The premise of McIntosh's Divine Teaching is that God, the Creator of all things, is the real teacher of Christian theology. He asserts that the goal of this text (of two-hundred and twenty-eight pages) is not to retrace a brief history of Christian theology, but rather to introduce the reader to various approaches to theology so that he/she might be better equipped to do some theologizing. McIntosh says that he intends for this text to be "a sort of explorer's guidebook," something I will explain more fully below (pp. ix, x). Divine Teaching unfolds in two parts. The first section, "Becoming a Theologian," looks at the way theologians are fashioned, the manner in which God teaches them, and how this divine teaching shapes their thinking and talking about God. The common thread running through this section is, in McIntosh's words, how "theologians are formed by their encounter with God" (7). In the second part, "Theology's Search for Understanding," McIntosh takes the reader on a journey into what he calls the "strangely beautiful world of Christian belief " (p. x). In this section McIntosh offers the reader more details on how this text is to function as an explorer's guidebook. The first thing he does is to take the reader to a vantage where they look out over the vast stretches of three theological vistas: the mystery of God's life, the mystery of creaturely life, and the mystery of salvation. McIntosh divides each of these three sections into what he calls "Orientation," "Landmarks," and "Pathfinding." In "Orientation" he helps the reader discern the salient features within the vista they are viewing, pointing out the big picture questions and issues that need to be addressed. In "Landmarks" McIntosh considers some of the theological maps and portraits that influential theologians have devised over the centuries. In "Pathfinding" he leads the reader deep into the theological terrain, where they can explore further and discover other paths for future, constructive investigation (such as salvation and the paschal mystery, thinking about and mystically participating in the Trinity, and the human calling in creation) (p. x). In short, this is a helpful resource for theological veterans and novices, as well as those interested in checking out Christian theology. Please see my complete review in ANGLICAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW, Spring 2008.

Divine Teaching:
Mark A. McIntosh, "An Introduction to Christian Theology: Divine Teaching" is a book about the real teacher of Christian theology in the deepest sense. McIntosh goal is to guide his readers to practice divine teachings. He believed that Christian theology bears the kind of truth that discovers itself to people in a relationship with God who is faithful to all. As a means of maturity for Christian divine teaching, there is an assertion of Christian truth. No adequate theology is possible without a belief in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. If divine teaching is abandoned, reason becomes the source of authority and reason sits in judgment upon the text of Scripture. McIntosh argues that to study theology would thus mean not only studying the works of divine teaching but trying to imagine what it would be like to learn from the author directly. The author of all things, Christians believe, is God. This presents the readers with remarkable opportunities and challenges. Therefore, McIntosh direction in this book is not so much to recount for long history of Christian theology but rather to guide his readers. His aim is to give the reader a taste of what Christians think it is like to do theology, that is, to learn from God. His expectations give the reader a reasonable basis upon which to decide whether there are any good reasons for thinking that God does actually exist, and is worth listening too. In the first three chapters, McIntosh tries to describe what seems to happen to people who become theologians in the deepest sense, that is, thinking and talking about God. In the remainder of the book, McIntosh sets off into three vast dimensions of the strangely beautiful world of Christian belief that theology explores. Of course, this world is in fact the deep reality of humanities true spiritual structures and depths made luminous with a new revealing light. In "Landmarks" McIntosh takes his readers into an advance way by considering crucial figures in the history of Christian theology, which has shaped the landscape for generations. Finally, in "Path finding" McIntosh guides his readers toward several aspects of Christian theology that suggest paths heading significant questions that face further exploring. At risk of frightening his readers off, he recalls Christian theology in its most elemental form because he felt students of theology are intrepid, bold, and passionate. The author personal hope is that everyone who studies Christian theology has the gift of faith, which only given by God. Although, it is adequate simply to notice and ponder the mysterious role that Christians believe God does play in shaping human life and thought. The final divine teaching of Christian theology gives sense of what Christians think happens to those whom God lures into encounter and how that gives rise to all the various ideas that Christians value. While most of human energy devotes to understanding the beliefs of faith in and of humanity, it will be salutary to recall a healthy act of faith is always the precondition for believing with honesty, generosity, and an authentic desire to grow theologically. The textbook is usability in that its purpose is how God makes theologians. It is reading is user friendly and suitable for life applications.