It has been some years since I put together collection of around 500 of Professor F.F Bruce’s articles. I will be revisiting this project this year in an attempt to locate and upload some more of the missing material. These two articles are the firstfruits of this renewed effort. Thanks to F.F. Bruce Copyright International for their kind permission to place them on-line.
Open Theology journal invites groups of researchers, conference organizers etc. to submit their proposals of edited volumes to be considered as topical issues.
Emil Brunner and J.K. Mozley have affirmed that P.T. Forsyth is the greatest dogmatic theologian Great Britain has given to the Church in modern times. What is it that lifts Forsyth into that select company of theologians who remain contemporay despite the passing of the years? Why does Forsyth continue to speak in a fresh stirring manner?
These questions are asked and answered by Professor John H. Rodgers in this brilliant and very readable work which is likely to become the standard and definitive exposition of Forsyth’s theology. Hitehrtoo Forysth has lacked a sympathetic expositot to do for him what for all his brilliance and peiecing insight he could not do for himself: present his theology as a systematic whole. Now, in Professor John Rodgers, a young American tehologian who studied under Karl barth at Basle, we have such an expositor. His work, in which the major themes of P.T. Forsyth are expounded and related to one another, will serve as an introduction to Forsyth’s theology as a whole.
From the dustjacket
This title is in copyright and is reproduced here by kind permission of the United Reformed Church. Itr can be freely downloaded and copied for free educational purposes. It may not be sold for profit without the written permission of the copyright holder.
This book had its origin in lectures given by Sydney Cave at Cheshunt College, Cambridge. In its present form it is intended as a comprehensive statement of the Christian message aimed at teachers and preachers. This book is still in copyright. Permission to reproduce it on-line has been granted by the United Reformed Church. It can be used for educational purposes, but not sold for profit without permission from the copyright holder.
Preface
It is not easy in these days to write on the Doctrines of the Christian Faith. The old infallibilities are gone, and Biblical Scholarship seems to many to have made insecure the foundations on which in the past theology has been built. Yet so long as there is Christian preaching there must be Christian theology, for theology has for its task the exploration of that message which it is the preacher’s privilege to proclaim.
The Christian message precepts many problems. Yet it is not primarily an addition to our problems. It is Good News of God, a revelation of the character of God-in which is to be found the answer to those questions which are every man’s concern. It is this· conviction which has led to the writing of this book. It has been written in the hope that it may help some to a conception of Christianity less vulnerable than many of its older presentations, and yet as truly a gospel to be preached….
This brief outline of the Christianity was Intended to aid lay preachers in conveying the wholeness of the Christian faith and thought.
This book is still in copyright. Permission to reproduce it on-line has been granted by E.C. Blackman’s family and the United Reformed Church. It can be used for educational purposes, but not sold for profit without permission from the copyright holders.
Foreword
This little book is an attempt to set forth a rough outline of the Christian faith. It has in view the needs of Lay Preachers, and therefore does not presume that its readers will be trained in theology. It does, however, invite serious thought, and does not suggest that all is simple and capable of popular exposition. In spite of many omissions it is hoped that some idea is conveyed of the wholeness of Christian faith and thought; of Christianity, that is, not as a series of beliefs about this or that, plus a mainly negative ethic, but as an articulated system of belief, which contains within itself the motives of moral endeavour. We are here concerned with what Professor Farmer, in his book God and Men, calls “the unity and consistency” of the Christian view of life….
![John Stoughton [1807-1897], An Introduction to Historical Theology Being a Sketch of Doctrinal Progress From the Apostolic Era to the Reformation.](https://i1.wp.com/theologicalstudies.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/historical-theology_stoughton.jpg?resize=400%2C591&ssl=1)
John Stoughton’s Historical Theology covers the development of Christian doctrine from the early church to 1560. This title is in the public domain.
Introduction
In the present volume an attempt is made to trace the development of Dogmatic Theology.
Let me state what is meant by Dogmatic Theology. I distinguish it from Revelation on the one hand, and from Religion on the other. This distinction is of prime importance.
Theology is drawn from Revelation, and the human mind is a factor in the process. That from which a science is derived cannot be identical with the science itself; and, as it will appear that the process of forming theological conclusions is complicated, we shall find that the possibilities and probabilities of mistake are numerous. Even were the logical manipulation faultless, a distinction ought to be recognized between the Divine material and the result of its human handling; but the logical manipulation never has been faultless, and never will be. [Continue reading]
![Robert Baker Girdlestone [1836-1923], Old Testament Theology and Modern Ideas](https://i1.wp.com/theologicalstudies.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/old-testament-theology_girdlestone.jpg?resize=400%2C586&ssl=1)
Robert Baker Girdlestone [1836-1923] sets out in this volume to provide a brief survey of Old Testament Theology and apply this to questions of his day. This title is in the public domain.
Method of Treatment [page 8]
The course which will be adopted in this manual is, first, to take a brief general survey of the theology of the Books, beginning with the Prophets and Psalms and working back gradually to the dawn of sacred history; secondly, to examine the names, titles and attributes of God as presented in the volume as a whole; thirdly, to investigate the teaching of the Old Testament in what may perhaps be called a scientific method, bringing it as far as possible into touch with the questions of the day. For this last purpose all parts of the Hebrew Scriptures will be freely quoted without reference to speculative questions as to authorship and composition, the unity of the Scriptures being recognised throughout, and the Books being taken on their own profession as bona-fide and authoritative documents received by the Jewish Church and accepted by the Christian. [Continue reading]
F.F. Bruce let the Bible speak freely and did not make it fit a particular system of theology. He was humble and gentle, and he respected those with whom he disagreed. He was a superb scholar, and his scholarship had the purpose of helping people encounter Jesus Christ. J.I. Packer said, “No Christian was ever more free of narrow bigotry, prejudice and eccentricity. . . . No man did more to demonstrate how evangelical faith and total academic integrity may walk hand in hand.”
Robert has a history of keeping the best of older Christian works in front of today’s Bible students. In the 1990s he brought Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (which F.F. Bruce had edited) back into copyright for the benefit of W.E. Vine’s daughters and he encouraged the promotion of the book.
After receiving the support of F.F. Bruce’s daughter, Sheila Lukabyo, Robert enlisted the help of Larry Stone, former editorial vice president of Thomas Nelson Publishers in the U.S. and co-founder of Rutledge Hill Press. They formed a new company, F.F. Bruce Copyright International, and they contacted nearly twenty of F.F. Bruce’s publishers. They will now make many of Bruce’s works available in 2017.
First, a few will be reformatted into printed booklets suitable for evangelism and Bible study in universities and in church groups. Second, about 20 of Professor Bruce’s books and collections of articles will be published as reasonably-priced ebooks, which can be easily distributed around the world to places such as Zambia, Australia, and India – places where it is expensive and time consuming to ship printed books.
Third will be a promotion of all of F.F. Bruce’s books – including those now in print and those already available as ebooks. Professor Bruce’s works can help young students and scholars understand the truths of the faith and the techniques of handling Scripture. As Tim Grass said in his biography of F.F. Bruce, “The issues which, for Bruce, were non-negotiable may be summarized as the reliability of the New Testament, the person and work of Christ, the Christian life as one of forgiveness and liberty as befits those who are being led by the Spirit, and the right and duty of every believer to use whatever gifts God has given them.”
Larry Stone
November 2016
An on-line bibliography of F.F. Bruce’s books and articles is available here.
Thanks to the kind permission of Paternoster Publishing, the following collection of essays is now available for free download.
David F. Wright, ed., Essays in Evangelical Social Ethics. Wilton, CN: Morehouse-Barlow Co., Inc., 1983. Pbk. ISBN: 0819213268. pp.192.
During recent years Christians have done a great deal of radical thinking about society. Some of it has indeed been not so much radical as anti-supernaturalist. Consequently, Christians are now being urged to abandon their concern for social justice and concentrate on ‘spiritual’ matters.
But social involvement is basic to Christian commitment. Rather than abandon it, Christians should learn to think more biblically about the subject. The conference at which these lectures were delivered was convened with a view to building a biblical approach to ethics which would take account both of the realities of society and of the historic faith.
Beginning with methodology, the lectures covered the pluralist nature of modern society, the critique of Marxism, human rights, political structures and the procedures involved in using revelation to build an ethical system for today.
The syposium will thus be of interest to all Christians who are determined to live responsibly with the ‘market-place’ of society without abandoning the foundations of the historic faith.
[From the back cover]
Theology on the Web was launched 14 years ago this month. It is exciting to note that this anniversary coincides with three other major milestones in the development of the ministry.
To mark these events, I have prepared a Press Release which I am sending to Christian News services in the UK and posting online. Please feel free to download and share this document as widely as possible.
Finally, thank you all for making this possible by your ongoing support and encouragement!
