Welcome to Beginning Theology! We are looking forward to having you on the course.

This is your module page for Theology Talk and the perfect course companion. This page will have any handouts, PowerPoints or audio from each session for you to catch up on.

If you have any questions, please email us at beginningtheology@stmellitus.ac.uk

In this module, we will explore key elements of Christian thought and theology and figures that have influenced the church in profound ways. We will spend the first half of the term unpacking the Trinity and the second half looking at key ‘influencers’ over the last 2000 years.

This session will introduce the discipline of theology and discuss what Theology is, why we do it, how we do it and who the Theologian is.

Suggested Reading:

• David Ford, Theology: A Very Short Introduction, 1999
• Anna Hutchinson, The Influence of the Doctrine of Scripture: How Beliefs about the Bible Affect the Way It Is Read, 2023

In this session, we will begin a three-week series exploring the Trinity by considering what it means within the Greatest Commandment to speak of the Lord our God as ONE (Mk 12). As well as this, we will explore what we mean when we affirm belief in the Trinity and how this aspect of Christian doctrine is foundational rather than an optional add-on.

Click here for the handout

Suggested Reading:

• Dan Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding, 4th Edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2023), chapter 4.
• Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline, (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1947) chapter 6.

In this session, we will be thinking about God the Son incarnate, Jesus Christ. First, we will explore how the Bible speaks about Jesus in terms that are both human and divine. In doing this, we will focus particularly on the titles used for Jesus in the Gospels and also two pivotal passages from Paul (1 Corinthians 8.4-6 and Philippians 2.5-11).

Second, we will learn how the early Church responded to the biblical witness to Jesus and how its thought was given authoritative statement in the Creed of Nicaea (325) and also in the Chalcedonian Definition (451). Together, these statements speak about Jesus as God the Son who is God as the Father is God who became a human through taking human nature as his own without ceasing to be God. The theological term for this is 'incarnation'.

Finally, we will reflect on why this is significant for us as followers of Jesus today. The person doing the action of the life of Jesus is God the Son incarnate. This is not humanity lifting itself up to God or cooperating with God's saving help; it is grace all the way down! In Jesus, God acts towards us with saving love. Also, in Jesus, God takes our human side and responds with faith and love.

Suggested Reading:

• Alister McGrath, An Introduction to Christian Theology, chapter 10
• T.F. Torrance, The Mediation of Christ.
• Frances Young, The Making of the Creeds

In this session, we will conclude a three-week series exploring the Trinity by exploring the person of the Holy Spirit both in relation to the nature of God and also the lived experience of faith. As well as this, we will begin to consider the agency of the Spirit in relation to the Church.

Suggested Reading:

• Simeon Zahl, The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020)
• Daniel Castelo, ‘Holy Spirit’, in The New Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine, ed Michael Allen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023).

A rollick through twenty one centuries of Christianity. See how the church grew from a small, frightened gaggle in an upper room to a global movement of hundreds of denominations, via Roman emperors, barbarian hordes, knights and castles, burnings at the stake and more. Unpack the grizzly human story of the church, and ponder what it tells us about the God who became human to love us humans.

Suggested Reading:

• Dairmaid MacCulloch, History of Christianity
• Henry Chadwick, The Early Church
• Tom Holland, Dominion

This session will introduce you to the study of the doctrine of the church, encouraging you to consider why we must ask what the church is before asking what the church does.

Suggested Reading:

• Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical & Global Perspectives, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2021).
• David Emerton, Types of Ecclesiology: Five Theological Approaches (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2024).

In this session we will look at what it is to say that Christianity is a ‘creedal’ faith, and what creeds are (and what they are not). This year, 2025, marks the 1700 anniversary of the Nicene Creed. We will look at the particular need for a Creedal summary of Christian faith at this time, and see how God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit is described by the Creed, and why that still matters.

Suggested Reading:

• Alex Irving, We Believe: Exploring the Nicene Faith (IVP, 2021)
• Michael Leyden, Faithful Living: Discipleship, Creed and Ethics (SCM, 2019)
• Also look out for Jane Williams’ forthcoming book on the Holy Spirit in the Creed: Giver of Life (SPCK, 2025)

This session will aim to offer an analysis of contemporary culture from a theological perspective. It aims to help us understand the nature of the cultural context in which we bear witness today, looking in particular at how our culture understands who we are as human beings in the world, and how Christian faith offers an alternative framework.

Suggested Reading:

• Taylor, Charles. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge, Mass. ; London: Harvard University Press, 1991.
• Tomlin, Graham. Why Being Yourself Is a Bad Idea and Other Countercultural Notions. London: SPCK, 2020.