Christian Doctrine: A Guide for the Perplexed

Guides for the Perplexed

by Geoff Thompson

Geoff Thompson addresses multiple questions concerning Christian doctrine in an engaging narrative, beginning with an in-depth discussion of the origins of doctrine in the various catechetical, polemical and apologetic pressures that the church encountered as it sought to articulate and teach its confession of faith in Jesus Christ. In providing an overview of some of the classic and historically influential doctrinal projects, Thompson employs ten case studies that illustrate the overlapping influences of tradition and contexts-both ecclesial and cultural-on doctrinal discourse.

Thompson takes the reader from those historical and paradigmatic case studies into some of the great contemporary debates about doctrine, including those which have been shaped by the critique of doctrine associated with the European Enlightenment as well as the challenges and contributions of theologians of the majority world. He pays particular attention to the influence that these diverse cultural, ecclesial, and academic contexts have had upon the shape and content of particular doctrines. This leads into an engagement with George Lindbeck's seminal The Nature of Doctrine , as well as the more recent proposals of Kevin Vanhoozer and Christine Helmer. This guide concludes by developing the idea of a Christian social imaginary as the framework for holding together doctrine, practice, truth, diversity, and context.

200 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2020

About the author

Geoff Thompson is a BAFTA-winning writer, filmmaker, spiritual teacher, and martial artist with a prolific career spanning multiple disciplines. He has authored books on self-help, spirituality, self-defense, and martial arts, while also writing for film and stage.
Beginning as a martial artist, Thompson specialized in reality-based self-defense, drawing from his experiences as a nightclub doorman. He co-founded the British Combat Association and taught seminars internationally, including for Chuck Norris. His self-defense innovations include "The Wall" and "The Fence," practical techniques for real-world confrontations.
His transition into filmmaking brought critical acclaim. His short film Bouncer (2002), starring Ray Winstone, earned a BAFTA nomination, and Brown Paper Bag (2003), inspired by his brother’s struggles with alcoholism, won the BAFTA for Best Short Film. He later wrote the feature Clubbed (2008), based on his autobiography Watch My Back, as well as The Pyramid Texts (2015) and Romans (2017), starring Orlando Bloom.
Beyond martial arts and filmmaking, Thompson has established himself as a spiritual teacher and self-help author. His works, including The Divine CEO and Live Your Dreams, focus on personal transformation and overcoming fear. He has delivered a TED Talk on conquering fear and hosted a popular podcast on spiritual growth.
In 2020, he released his autobiography Notes from a Factory Floor, chronicling his journey from factory worker to internationally recognized author and teacher. Through his writing, coaching, and filmmaking, Thompson continues to inspire others in the pursuit of self-improvement and personal mastery.

Reviews

[Avril · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about doctrine that is a pleasure to read. Thompson does not talk much about the content of particular doctrines; instead he talks about the ways in which theologians and the Christian community as a whole understand what doctrine is. He examines the history of the church and the works of various theologians from the entirety of Christian history to create increasingly nuanced definitions of doctrine starting from the working definition “Christian doctrine is communally recognised and authoritative teaching of the Christian community about Christianity’s beliefs and practices”.

So: “Doctrine has always existed in production, negotiated in discussion and debates.” “Doctrine is a product of various intellectual, cultural, political and Spiritual realities.” “Doctrine is conceptually innovative, thus often enabling the Christian community to address questions that reliance on biblical idiom alone might limit or even prevent.” “Doctrine teaches the faith; it does so by recalling old teachings and articulating new insights, by unsettling and consolidating piety, and by offering a big-picture vision of Christianity.” “Christian doctrine is a human work of witness to the gospel.” “Doctrine is a use of language and ideas, embedded as they are in the complexities of power and the ambiguities of life, to speak truthfully of God, the world, Christ and salvation.”

I very much appreciated the breadth of Thompson’s sources. Most are men, of course, but his sources do include women, feminist theologians, theologians from Global Christianity, a theologian who works on intersex questions. This book definitely gives a sense of the depth of Christianity.

I also appreciated his suggestion of a new metaphor for the relationship between doctrine and the Scriptures; with doctrine being a map and the Scriptures being a compass: “Few terrains could be navigated with a century-old map. But a century-old compass could still perform its role with a new map. By analogy, doctrine is the contingent revisable map and the Bible is the reliable and transferable compass.”

Maybe the best part of this book for me was that it introduced me to theologians I hadn’t previously met, and whose writings I’ll now seek out.