Christianity

[Anonymous No.15842401]

what are the best books or essays for learning about the intricacies of christian theology

[Anonymous No.15842452]

sure

[Anonymous No.15842457]

>>15842452
god bless you, my friend.

[Anonymous No.15842484]

>>15842401
i sent that list as somewhat of a joke(you can read all of it in due time ofc.).Theology is complicated,so there is no "sure" book to pick up to "learn" everything.Reading theology is great,but be sure to pick books which will help you conduct a good daily life.Read the desert fathers,the various saints homilies(many can be found on the list i sent you) catholic explained by leo j trese,introduction to the devout life...

[Anonymous No.15842491]

>>15842484
Joke as in it's a huge list.great list though.May god bless the anon that bothered to create that list

[Anonymous No.15843752]

The beauty of Christianity is what draws me to it, in certain moments I even consider converting. I appreciate Troubadour poetry. What holds me away is that I have too many questions, on Theodicy, free will and others. Will I have to look for answer to each one of them in theology books or just expect an eventual leap of faith? I also don't know what church is the true one, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran? Flaws are found on each one apparently.

[Anonymous No.15843800]

>>15843752
>I also don't know what church is the true one, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran?
Start with this doctrine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_invisible

[Anonymous No.15843818]

>>15843752
it’s a lot easier to see reasonable explanations after you’ve converted. It’s not simply that you’ve been brainwashed, but you actually gain a new perspective and begin to understand the nuances that you didn’t before. And don’t worry about denomination. The Bible is clear on what it takes to be saved. Even if only one denomination were “correct,” that doesn’t mean you can’t be saved. Just find a good church with good people that aligns with the teachings of the Bible.

>free will
some believe in it, others don’t. A good middle position is to believe in free will while also believing God knew what would happen. So God looked at all the possibilities beforehand, all of them including free choice, and chose this timeline for his purposes. So foreknowledge and free will are both valid.

>theodicy
easily explained away by one extra premise: God has sufficiently moral reasons to allow suffering to exist. At worst the only intellectual problem here is that we don’t know exactly why God does this or that, but of course, we shouldn’t expect to have God’s understanding anyway. But there is still suffering, and that’s an emotional problem, but Christianity recognizes that and through Christ we are able to overcome suffering.

John 16:33
> 33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

[Anonymous No.15844198]

>>15842401
https://www.ageoflaodicea.com/

[Anonymous No.15844506]

>>15843752
Read Kierkegaard

[Anonymous No.15845167]

>>15844506
what works specifically

[Anonymous No.15845180]

>>15845167
I would suggest:

Fear and Trembling
Practice in Christianity
For Self-Examination
Judge For Yourself
Philosophical Fragments
Concluding Unscientific Postscript

[Anonymous No.15845943]

>>15845180
Thanks anon. How much familiarity with other philosophers of the era is necessary?

[Anonymous No.15846104]

>>15842401
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis is the best starting point. It's not intricate, so perhaps it's not what you want, but I find personally that my relationship with God has taught me more theology than any book.

[Anonymous No.15846128]

>>15842401
Just do 10 grams of shrooms and when you're coming up pray for Jesus Christ to help you. You'll understand then.

[Anonymous No.15846733]

>>15842452
>tfw you were named after one of these people

[Anonymous No.15846773]

How do you reconcile the prophecies that Jesus didn't fulfill? While the idea of a messiah Second Coming to fulfill the rest isn't really based in scripture, the counterargument that I normally hear of "two messiahs" doesn't have any real basis either.
I'm lost and I can't seem to find my way. Eternity is a long time to bet on anything that isn't a sure thing.

[Anonymous No.15846781]

>>15842452
Did the list maker really need to list every single book of the Holy Bible in order to make his chart bigger?

[Anonymous No.15846782]

>>15842401
Forget about Jewsus or M*hammad. I am a much better prophet. Follow me instead.

[Anonymous No.15846789]

>>15842401
Did that actually happen? Somebody posted that specific Bible quote and had >>17777777 as their digits?

[Anonymous No.15847802]

>>15843800
>Starting 1500 years after Christ founded his Church and ignoring the majority of the Church Fathers, Martyrs and the Apostles themselves.
Cringe

>>15843752
> I also don't know what church is the true one, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran?
Start here anon:
https://www.amazon.com/Four-Witnesses-Early-Church-Words/dp/0898708478

[Anonymous No.15847821]

>>15842457
god ain't real dumbass

[Anonymous No.15847887]

>>15842401
read everything by Fr. Romano Guardini and Fr. Jean Daniélou, especially Daniélou's God and the Ways of Knowing (this has everything you need)

Another writer would be Frank Sheed.

[Anonymous No.15848047]

>>15846773
>How do you reconcile the prophecies that Jesus didn't fulfill?
such as?

[Anonymous No.15848100]

read spurgeon

[Anonymous No.15848121]

>>15847802
>Cringe
Ignoring the part where the doctrine originated with Augustine.
Cope

[Anonymous No.15848146]

>>15846733
Greetings.

[Anonymous No.15848299]

>>15848121
He also said that sex was a sin even in marriage. Just because someone is a saint/Church Father doesn't make them infallible. Plus,it comes more from Neoplatonism (which disparaged the material world and called it corrupt and distorted, which goes against the belief that all things God created were good) than actual Christianity.

[Anonymous No.15848310]

>>15848299
>things created good can't be corrupted and distorted

[Anonymous No.15848390]

>>15848310
Neoplatonism (at least the Manichee interpretation St. Augustine once held to) held that matter by it's very nature was always evil and disparaged it accordingly, not just corrupted and distorted from a previous glorified state.

[Anonymous No.15848397]

>>15848047
muh earthly kingdom

[Anonymous No.15849085]

>>15848047
Well, there's the whole Davidic line bit that people argue isn't adequately fulfilled due to the way lineages are traced. He didn't build the Third Temple, gather all the Jews in Israel, bring about world peace or reveal God to all. I'm sure there are others, but is anything I can look at that can reconcile or rebut these points or others like them?

[Anonymous No.15849294]

I read this and found it helpful, goes from church fathers to medieval to enlightenment to 20th century New theology, very good book and will prepare you for more

[Anonymous No.15849310]

>>15849085
https://www.jewishvoice.org/learn/jesus-did-not-fulfill-messianic-prophecies-found-old-testament

>the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone

[Anonymous No.15849312]

>>15849294
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christian-Theology-Introduction-Alister-McGrath/dp/1118869575/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=58596897252&dchild=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwjLD4BRAiEiwAg5NBFg1Y-Qvjjqoj3tz2sj0CFN8WEADlerD3wndoxg82gprXC0DGy5pP9xoCwRoQAvD_BwE&hvadid=259149421867&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9046046&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=6281709335222545168&hvtargid=kwd-299108762586&hydadcr=28430_1792647&keywords=christian+theology+mcgrath&qid=1594656903&sr=8-1&tag=hydrukspg-21

LOL forgot to postvit

[Anonymous No.15849315]

>>15846733
Habakkuk?

[Anonymous No.15849364]

>>15845943
The books I recommended do not require much, or any, background in the philosophers of his time really since they are all focused around Christianity and how Kierkegaard conceptualizes how the Christian is to act in response to their faith, etc.

[Anonymous No.15849456]

>christian thread
haven't read the thread yet, are they fighting about denominations already

[Anonymous No.15849815]

>>15849364
ok thanks anon

[Anonymous No.15851327]

>>15842401
Alister McGrath - Christian Theology

[Anonymous No.15852747]

>>15851327
>Includes increased discussion of women in the early Church, feminist theology,
cringe

[Anonymous No.15852786]

I'd go with Chestie.

[Anonymous No.15854131]

>>15842401
Louis Berkhof
Wayne Grudem
Millard Erickson
Norman Geisler

[Anonymous No.15854156]

>>15843818
>God looked at all the possibilities beforehand, all of them including free choice, and chose this timeline for his purposes.

so we dont really have free will then

if God chooses the universe where you do what he wants

you dont have free will

[Anonymous No.15854212]

Kingdom through Covenant

[Anonymous No.15854221]

>>15842401

I found an excellent youtube channel about a university professor talking about the history of christianity (christological controversies, council, heresies, emperor pope problems, latin west greek east problems, protestant reformation etc, everything).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az4sztb0Tlc

I know you all think it's bad to learn from videos, but I am 36 and envy younger people because I had to read many books to learn what he is sharing for free.
Obviously if you are interested in a subject, you should read about it, and also go to the primary sources.

The only bad video Ive seen is the one about the crusades, because it was a war caused by political and military issues of the Byzantine empire, and the guys doesn't that touch that subject much, he only focuses on the religious aspect, so you can't really learn what the crusades were about from that.

[Anonymous No.15854247]

I want to join a Lutheran church when I move after graduating college

[Anonymous No.15854262]

>>15854156
small brain, this is a non sequitur. God existing outside of time does not mean he ordains everything that happens within time, and him choosing to give us free will is the opposite of him choosing everything we do

[Anonymous No.15854722]

>>15854262
if God foreknows everything that will happen, including what you do with your own free will and as the guy i responded to said, God chooses which timeline will come to fruition, or even aside from that, that if God foreknows your free will choice you cant make any other decision than the one god foreknew,

isnt that incredibly fucked and self defeating

[Anonymous No.15854743]

>>15842452
Cool, thanks

[Anonymous No.15854746]

>>15854722
It’s not “foreknowing.” God can see every moment in time, so foreknowledge isn’t required. It’s just knowledge.

[Anonymous No.15854757]

>>15842452
Revelation is really considered scripture by everyone? I woulda thought maybe some denominations thought it was BS

[Anonymous No.15854780]

>>15854746
>>15854722
How come in 1st Samuel, God makes Saul king, but then later God says, "I deeply regret letting Saul become king"? That confused the fuck out of me. If God can see the future, and He regrets something, then why did He allow it to happen? I just don't get it

[Anonymous No.15854783]

>>15854722
False. You're parroting Muslim theology, and it's extremely heretical. God knows all possible timelines, but doesn't choose them for you. (Even though He could.)

[Anonymous No.15854803]

>>15854780
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-does-god-regret-and-repent-in-the-bible

[Anonymous No.15854804]

>>15842452
At first I thought this was going to be random prot books. Now I see it isnt. Bless you friend, may Christ and all His Saints pray for us

[Anonymous No.15854809]

>>15854757
do NOT seek the meaning of the revelations

[Anonymous No.15854858]

>>15854809
Why?

[Anonymous No.15854890]

>>15854858
just accept that they’re literal or that you can’t know what they mean until you die. I came across some convincing explanations of certain parts of the Bible and they distract from the main message in a way. It hasn’t been good for my faith. If these interpretations were true, then this man is giving away this information too hazardly. Make sure you read interpretations from men who would feel comfortable giving those interpretations in the average church setting

[Anonymous No.15854910]

>>15854890
Oh, ok, that makes sense

[Anonymous No.15854925]

>>15854803
I don't really understand that because it doesn't sound like regret to me, it sounds like God is unhappy with something that He ended up doing but had to do anyways, I don't think that's regret

[Anonymous No.15855197]

Institutes by John Calvin - I mean it.

[Anonymous No.15856658]

>>15847821
Damn Anon, Rick and Morty were right? I'm actually a nihilist now