The Pastor-as-Theologian's Library

Theological Anthropology

Margarite Shuster, The Fall and Sin  

Margarite Shuster has spent years as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA, she has a Ph.D. in psychology. She teaches preaching and theology at Fuller Seminary. This is an engaging book on “sin” which calls Christians to overcome their rationalizations and modern “reductions” of the doctrine of sin, rediscovering how admitting that we are sinners can be life-giving. The chapters in this book are accompanied with sermons that correspond to the theme of each chapter.

Henri De Lubac, Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man

This is a classic work by one of the 20^th century’s most influential Roman Catholic theologians. Key to this work is a theological anthropology – a view of humanity – that is rich in the imago dei and that sees true humanity as united to God, participating in God. De Lubac traces this lofty and communal vision of humanity through other parts of Christian teaching as well, including the church, the sacraments, salvation in Christ, and more.

On Job: God-talk and the suffering of the innocent / Gustavo Gutiérrez
 

Gutierrez is a central figure in Liberation Theology, and this commentary on Job is one of his most powerful and insightful works. It touches upon doctrines of sin, humanity, and providence, from a distinctive Liberationist perspective. In this work, Gutierrez is more explicitly ecclesial in his theological sources and methods than in his early work such as A Theology of Liberation.

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2

 Bavinck was a Dutch Reformed theologian in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Irenic and insightful, his work is a good place to go for a statement of a classically Reformed approach to Christian teaching.

©2007-08 J. Todd Billings