An Invitation to Analytic Christian Theology

188 Pages·2016·2.14 MB·English

by  Thomas H. McCall

An Invitation to
A NA LY T I C
C H R I S T I A N
T H E O LO G Y
Thomas H. McCall
InterVarsity Press
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©2015 by Thomas H. McCall
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ISBN 978-0-8308-9930-2 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-4095-3 (print)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McCall, Thomas H.
An invitation to analytic Christian theology / Thomas H. McCall.
1 online resource.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
ISBN 978-0-8308-9930-2 (eBook) -- ISBN 978-0-8308-4095-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Theology—Methodology. 2. Analysis (Philosophy) 3. Philosophical theology. I. Title.
BR118
230’.046—dc23
2015034219
To Bill Ury, my first and finest teacher of theology.
You showed me what it means to do theology to the glory of God and
for the sake of the world, and you helped me catch a precious glimpse
of “love divine, all loves excelling.” I’ll be forever grateful.

Contents
Introduction 9
1 What Is Analytic Theology? 11
2 Analytic Theology and Christian Scripture 37
3 Analytic Theology and the History of Doctrine 83
4 Analytic Theology for the Church and the World 123
5 Analytic Theology to the Glory of God 161
Author Index 181
Subject Index 183
Praise for An Invitation to Analytic Christian Theology 184
About the Author 186
More Titles from InterVarsity Press 187

Introduction
The wide range of events and publications that are loosely
gathered under the label “analytic theology” is both quite broad
and very active. Proponents and practitioners range from traditionally
minded Orthodox and Roman Catholic philosophers and theologians
through Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and other tradition-sensitive
scholars to conservative evangelicals and to revisionist or “progressive”
theologians. In some quarters, enthusiasm runs high. In other sectors
of the theological (and philosophical) academy, suspicion and even
hostility run deep. Misunderstanding often accompanies the label, and
questions abound. But just what is this thing called “analytic theology”?
What are its “accidental” features, and what are its “essential” attributes?
And what are we to make of it as theology? Or is it merely a technically
precise and agenda-driven subdiscipline of analytic metaphysics?
Where is it going? Is there some discernible direction that it will—or
should—take?
In this book, I introduce nonspecialists to analytic theology. I try to
make clear both what it isn’t and what it is. Accordingly, I discuss what
makes analytic theology analytic, and I try to lay out what makes analytic
theology really theology. Specifically, I outline analytic theology’s con-
nections to Scripture, Christian tradition and culture (broadly con-
ceived), and I do so by using case studies to illuminate the relationships
and the need for further integration. Here I must also confess to an
agenda: I am hoping to influence the future of analytic theology by
10 Invitation to Analytic Christian Theology
calling the discipline to a deeper engagement with the traditional re-
sources of the theological task.
I come to the work of analytic theology as someone who is, by training
and by vocation, a theologian. Thus I am especially grateful for the pa-
tience and graciousness of those friends and colleagues who have
genuine expertise in epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of re-
ligion (as well as the history of philosophy). I am deeply indebted to you
for whatever abilities I have as an analytic theologian, and I am truly
grateful for your collegiality and encouragement. I am also thankful for
those fellow theologians who have taken up the mantle of analytic the-
ology; and I am grateful as well to those who led the way by actually
doing it before it was ever called by that name. Oliver Crisp, Mike Rea
and Billy Abraham read the manuscript and offered very helpful critique
and encouragement, and the book is much improved as a result. (All
remaining faults are, of course, entirely mine.)
In addition, I am grateful for the community of saints and scholars
who surround me at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (and especially
the members of the Deerfield Dialogue Group who read part of the
manuscript), and I am indebted as well to the administration and the
board of regents for a sabbatical in the fall of 2014.