The Gospel in Christian Traditions

Throughout the history of Christianity, there have been theological disputes that caused fissures among the faithful. There were the major ruptures of the Great Schism of 1054 and the Protestant Reformation. Since the Reformation, though, there has been an eruption of new denominations. The World Christian Database now list over 9000 worldwide. And new denominations are created every day, often when a group splits off from an established church because of a dispute over doctrine or leadership. With such a proliferation of denominations, could there possibly be one core Christian message that all churches share? That's the question that Ted Campbell sets out to answer in this book. He begins his examination of Christian doctrine where it started: in the gospels. He then shows how the gospel has been received and professed by Christian communities through the centuries, from the first "proto-Orthodox" Christian communities right through the modern evangelical, Pentecostal, and ecumenical movements. Campbell shows that, despite all the divisions, there is indeed a single unifying core of the faith that all Christians share. In the process, he offers a brief, well-written, and acceptable history of Christian doctrine that will be ideal for courses in the history of Christian thought.

Ted A. Campbell was born in Beaumont, Texas, and was educated at Lon Morris College, the University of North Texas, Oxford University, and Southern Methodist University, where he received the Ph.D. degree in 1984. He served as a faculty member at a variety of theological institutions including Duke Divinity School and Wesley Theological Seminary, and also as president of Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. He currently serves as Associate professor of Church History at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.