J. L. Houlden

Patterns of Faith: a Study in the Relationship Between the New Testament and Christian Doctrine J. L. Houlden

`Very good indeed. The subject here is the relationship between Christian doctrine and New Testament studies. Far too often New Testament studies remain unwittingly under the spell of the doctrinal and philosophical perspective of later Christianity, while systematic theologies focus on some theme abstracted from the New Testament erected into independent existence. Christian doctrine cannot subsist on outdated knowledge of the New Testament and New Testament scholarship cannot be divorced from the life of the church. To bring the two together and allow them properly to interact will compel us to evaluate afresh the function and nature of dogmatic statement and doctrinal tradition. Almost every page demands to be quoted, and the argument as a whole is much too closely knit to be expounded in a review. Beautifully written, this book is a timely example of how to assess Christian doctrine New Testamentally, or the New Testament doctrinally, and it cannot fail to enlighten many readers' (Fergus Kerr in New Blackfriars).