This book is about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity as it has developed in Germany. It argues there are three main ideas in that development: first, the way in which the Trinity has been seen as similar to the human self; second, the way in which differing understandings of revelation have affected people's attitude toward the doctrine; and third, the ways in which differing understandings of the conception of history have affected people's attitudes toward the doctrine.

Everyone knows about the rocky relationship between science and theology brought about by the revolutionary proposals of Copernicus and Darwin. Fewer people know about an equally revolutionary scientific innovation that is currently under way among neurobiologists. This revolution in brain research has completely rewritten our understanding of who we are. It poses fundamental challenges to traditional Christian theology. According to the scientific worldview that now dominates, it is no longer necessary to speak of a soul or spirit as distinct from the functions of the brain. Nor is it...

While many would argue that spirituality is a necessary component of authentic human living, there is a lot of confusion over what spirituality is. According to Powell Christian spirituality has five aspects. 1.) Christian living is inescapably corporate. It is inseparable from the Christian community. 2.) It is inescapably corporeal--it cannot be separated from specific and embodied practices. 3.) It is participation in the Trinitarian life of God. Thus Christian living reflects both upon us and God. 4.) It has an eschatological existence. 5.) It is marked by our essential finitude under the...

In this exciting work, Samuel Powell offers a new constructive and systematic vision of creation by interpreting it in terms of contemporary science and trinitarian theology.

Powell's work unfolds in three stages, building on the multiple ways the doctrine of creation actually functions for Christians. He first analyzes its regulative dimension. Even in all the multiplicity of historical Christianity, he shows, the doctrine commits Christians to a particular set of normative beliefs about the world and God's relation to it. Second, Powell builds on the doctrine's hermeneutical potential. It...

This book is about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity as it has developed in Germany. It argues there are three main ideas in that development: first, the way in which the Trinity has been seen as similar to the human self; second, the way in which differing understandings of revelation have affected people's attitude toward the doctrine; and third, the ways in which differing understandings of the conception of history have affected people's attitudes toward the doctrine.