Top Ten Theological Influences

Okay I haven’t done a top ten list before, but given that Nijay and Nick have done it, it’s time for me to join in… but to add to the excitement, I’ll do a countdown from 10 to 1…

10. Irenaeus: He is just fun to read (’Against Heresies’), and I like the way he tries to creatively explain Christian doctrines at a time before those doctrines received standardised terminology: For example, he speaks of God the Father working through his two “hands”, which are the Word and the Spirit.

9. Dan Brown: His work is unsurpassed in Grail scholarship…. hehehe nah not really – just keeping you on your toes to make sure you’re paying attention!!!

8. Larry Hurtado: His book ‘Lord Jesus Christ’ is an excellent exploration of the origins of devotion to Christ in early Christianity.  It’s certainly the best and most thorough book on the way Jesus was treated as God in earliest Christianity.

7. Tie between Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur for their work on hermeneutics: Drawing on Hegel, Heidegger & other philosophers, they’ve really challenged me about limits of ’scientific’ knowledge and the relationship between ’subject’ and ‘object’ in the exercise of interpretation.

6. Tie between Margaret Mitchell, David Garland, and Bruce Winter, all for their work on 1 Corinthians.  In some ways, this represents “influence” in the sense of provocation – for example, Margaret Mitchell’s book ‘Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation’ is essential reading for the study of 1 Corinthians, but I don’t find her application of Rhetorical Criticism ultimately convincing.  Garland’s commentary is good, and Winter’s book ‘After Paul Left Corinth’ is excellent.

5. Tie between John Calvin and the Anabaptists: Often maligned (and sometimes understandably so), I think Calvin is worth giving a chance.  Calvin’s ‘Institutes’ is essential reading: He has a way of clarifying the issues that Luther raised, in a way that is far more careful than many of his followers.  I put the Anabaptists in here too, because I appreciate their corrective to Calvin’s reliance on the magisterium: Estep’s ‘The Great Restoration’ is an interesting introduction.

4. Tie between NT Wright, John Howard Yoder, and Stanley Hauerwas.  I probably haven’t read enough of each of them for them to get a place in their own right…  But they have helped me to consider the role of the church in relation to society.  NT Wright’s big works (eg Resurrection of the Son of God) are worth a read, as well as his little book ‘The Challenge of Jesus’; and Yoder’s ‘Body Politics’ is a good short introduction.  Hauerwas’ essay on why gays are superior to Christians raises a giggle.

3. Tie between Martin Luther and Karl Barth: When they’re bad, they’re bad: annoyingly one-sided and insensitive, but when they’re onto something good, they really push it well: Most importantly, they force us to consider the theological significance of the cross.  My fave Luther is ‘On the Freedom of the Christian’.  I haven’t read heaps of Barth, but his book on 1 Corinthians ‘The Resurrection of the Dead’ is underrated and worth a read.

2. Augustine: I am always impressed with his ability to combine passion and intellect.  He has such a commitment to the absolute Godness of God, and I think he is sensitive and nuanced, despite being annoyingly misrepresented in stupid booklets about “The Great Philosophers” in The Independent Newspaper.  His letters, his work on the trinity, and of course the ‘City of God’ are such worthwhile reading.

1. Anthony Thiselton: I have never encountered someone who has such expertise in so many areas.  His work on hermeneutics is outstanding, and is yet to be fully recognised for how creative and important it is: Read New Horizons or Thiselton on Hermeneutics or Hermeneutics of Doctrine.  And his commentary on 1 Corinthians is the result of a lifetime of careful, thorough, sensitive exegetical work.  He also happens to be an endearing teacher and a good Christian man.

~ by Matthew on May 8, 2008.