Evolving Grace : The Spiritual History of a Christian Doctrine

Evolving Grace: The Spiritual History of a Christian Doctrine seeks to bring out the personal living significance and transformative power of the Christian faith throughout the ages. This book spans from Patristic foundations (with Irenaeus of Lyons and Augustine of Hippo), through the elaborated systematic constructions of the Middle Ages (with Bernard of Clairvaux, Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas), to the profound transformation induced by the Protestant Reformation and Roman Catholic responses to it (with Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila and the Council of Trent), to twentieth century de- and reconstruction (with Karl Barth, Karl Rahner, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans Urs von Balthasar). This theological history, grounded in and reflective of the spiritual experience and development of real Christians in and from the past, can contribute to the production and nurturing of a living theology in and for the present.