Scope
the English Reformation aims for a middle way between Reformed theology
and Catholicism.Part III begins by tracing the course of Protestant theology through the
modern period. Modernity means a gradual secularization of Western
Christendom, as can be seen in the theology of Baptists and Quakers,
both of which offer an alternative to state churches and advocate religious
liberty for all. True religion comes to be seen increasingly as a private inner
experience rather than outward conformity to an institutional church, as can
be seen in the Puritan emphasis on conversion, which leads to the Pietist
emphasis on true Christianity as well as to the tradition of revivalism that is
so strong in America, including the Methodist emphasis on holiness and its
offshoot, Pentecostalism. On the other hand, the increasing secularization of
modern culture and especially of historical scholarship on the Bible poses
new problems for Christian theology, to which deism, liberal theology, neo-
Orthodoxy, evangelicalism, and Fundamentalism are responses.The course concludes by treating the history of Roman Catholic theology
in modernity, beginning with the doctrine of grace formulated by the 16th-
century Council of Trent in response to Protestant challenges, proceeding
to the high point of mystical and devotional theology in early modern Spain
and France, and concluding with the ¿ rst and second Vatican councils, the
doctrine of papal infallibility, and questions about how the church’s teaching
may legitimately change. A ¿ nal lecture examines the ecumenical theology
that opens up after Vatican II, drawing Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants
into ongoing conversation about the boundaries of the tradition of Christian
theology and its center in Jesus Christ. Ŷ