What do you think?
Rate this book
Very Short Introductions #009
Theology: A Very Short Introduction
This book offers a concise and original introduction to the whole of the theological discipline. Writing with a focus on Christianity, David Ford provides a trenchant and balanced discussion of the study of faith and religion. He describes the development of the field of theology, and explores such issues as knowledge, community, worship, salvation, God, prayer, and evil. Ford also weaves the idea of the quest for wisdom into the entire fabric of his discussion, and concludes with a look ahead to the theology of the next century. Theology: A Very Short Introduction tackles the questions raised by and about religion in a thought-provoking and engaging manner.
About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 1999
About the author
David F. Ford
49 books20 followersDavid Frank Ford (born 23 January 1948, Dublin) is an academic and public theologian. He has been the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991. His research interests include political theology, ecumenical theology, Christian theologians and theologies, theology and poetry, the shaping of universities and of the field of theology and religious studies within universities, hermeneutics, and inter-faith theology and relations. He is the founding director of the Cambridge Inter-Faith Programme and a co-founder of the Society for Scriptural Reasoning.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
April 4, 2010
Hey, did you hear about the dyslexic agnostic who didn't know if there was a dog or not? That's a DFW joke, I think.
I've not yet read the two Bad Cops of modern atheism Dawkins and Hitchins but if they do what it says on the tin and deny the existence of God then I think they're misdirecting their energy, that's just so time-consuming. I think a better approach would be to say of COURSE there's a God because we're HERE rather than NOT HERE so for argument's sake let's call the thing that made possible the HEREness of HERE God, I don't think that's important.
What is is that then people instantly JUMP into some truly strange assumptions. For instance that the God who caused this whole IS that we live in is interested in us - US! Little me and little you! (No offence intended.) I mean - cooee! We're over here in a very OBSCURE part of the galaxy, here we are, all 9 billion of us, and this is a photo of me with my cousin Jim, he's the one holding a large plastic dolphin, we tried to tell him not to buy it. Now, to think that GOD is interested in human beings, especially idiots like my cousin Jim (he drove the wrong way back and put at least another hour on the journey), is to me like saying GRAVITY is interested in my pen rolling off my desk and FALLING onto the floor, or that ELECTRICITY is interested in my bedroom light not working because I can't be bothered to replace the lightbulb.
TWO STARS? NOT REALLY
This book deserves 2 stars, which I would like to point out is a rating between one star (dreadful, author ought to have a hot poker thrust through their keyboard) and three stars (= hey, pretty good stuff, can't complain). That's a wide, wide territory. So the real rating is one and a half stars, and the half star is because it was short.
JUSTIFYING THE WAYS OF HORRIBLE CRAPNESS*
I'll give him his due, Professor David Ford like most other Christian writers has a go at the chapter that I always like to read first, the one about THEODICY aka justifying God in the face of evil. This is the big one. The problem was stated very early on by some sharp thinker like Epicurus, who said (I paraphrase):
Given the enormous suffering of humanity, given the various forms of evil which afflict us, God can be either ALL-POWERFUL (yay!) or GOOD (yay too!) but NOT BOTH (boo!).
The Christians seem to want God to be both. To explain evil they constantly play the FREE-WILL card, which says that life wouldn't be worth a damn, frankly, if you didn't give Ted Bundy the free will to rape and kill 60 or so women, or the Nazis the free will to organise the Holocaust. Was there ever a less convincing argument? But even then you have to grapple with the fact that this planet is extremely prone to natural disasters which can erupt at any moment and as in a Turkish earthquake from a few years ago can strike at just the moment when all the kids are in school, so a couple of thousand little kids died various deaths, from instant to slow and lingering under the rubble. It doesn't bear thinking about, does it. So God is either really crap at designing planets and didn't mean for any of those earthquakes to happen, and accidentally created the mosquito and the HIV virus, and he stands on the edge of the Milky Way wringing his hands about it all:
"Oh my Me, I really fucked that one up..."
or he turns away from human beings with a shudder ("I got in way over my head on that one") or - er – maybe this planet is exactly the way he wanted it to be and ALL these things are caused by human sin -
WHAT, HUMAN SIN CREATES EARTHQUAKES?
HUH?
WHAT?
huh?
I should be nicer to my mother...
Anyway, the best Prof Ford can come up with is this :
"Accidents and natural disasters can also be seen as part of a contingent universe, which is required if there is to be both a reliable natural order and human freedom."
Sorry, NO! We could have a reliable natural order and human freedom on a planet that had NO mosquitoes, NO tsunamis and NO earthquakes. In fact I've been reliably informed that there are at least 367 such planets just in our part of the galaxy. The people who live on them have a great time. Even their theologians whistle on the way to work.
* Milton, Paradise Lost
I've not yet read the two Bad Cops of modern atheism Dawkins and Hitchins but if they do what it says on the tin and deny the existence of God then I think they're misdirecting their energy, that's just so time-consuming. I think a better approach would be to say of COURSE there's a God because we're HERE rather than NOT HERE so for argument's sake let's call the thing that made possible the HEREness of HERE God, I don't think that's important.
What is is that then people instantly JUMP into some truly strange assumptions. For instance that the God who caused this whole IS that we live in is interested in us - US! Little me and little you! (No offence intended.) I mean - cooee! We're over here in a very OBSCURE part of the galaxy, here we are, all 9 billion of us, and this is a photo of me with my cousin Jim, he's the one holding a large plastic dolphin, we tried to tell him not to buy it. Now, to think that GOD is interested in human beings, especially idiots like my cousin Jim (he drove the wrong way back and put at least another hour on the journey), is to me like saying GRAVITY is interested in my pen rolling off my desk and FALLING onto the floor, or that ELECTRICITY is interested in my bedroom light not working because I can't be bothered to replace the lightbulb.
TWO STARS? NOT REALLY
This book deserves 2 stars, which I would like to point out is a rating between one star (dreadful, author ought to have a hot poker thrust through their keyboard) and three stars (= hey, pretty good stuff, can't complain). That's a wide, wide territory. So the real rating is one and a half stars, and the half star is because it was short.
JUSTIFYING THE WAYS OF HORRIBLE CRAPNESS*
I'll give him his due, Professor David Ford like most other Christian writers has a go at the chapter that I always like to read first, the one about THEODICY aka justifying God in the face of evil. This is the big one. The problem was stated very early on by some sharp thinker like Epicurus, who said (I paraphrase):
Given the enormous suffering of humanity, given the various forms of evil which afflict us, God can be either ALL-POWERFUL (yay!) or GOOD (yay too!) but NOT BOTH (boo!).
The Christians seem to want God to be both. To explain evil they constantly play the FREE-WILL card, which says that life wouldn't be worth a damn, frankly, if you didn't give Ted Bundy the free will to rape and kill 60 or so women, or the Nazis the free will to organise the Holocaust. Was there ever a less convincing argument? But even then you have to grapple with the fact that this planet is extremely prone to natural disasters which can erupt at any moment and as in a Turkish earthquake from a few years ago can strike at just the moment when all the kids are in school, so a couple of thousand little kids died various deaths, from instant to slow and lingering under the rubble. It doesn't bear thinking about, does it. So God is either really crap at designing planets and didn't mean for any of those earthquakes to happen, and accidentally created the mosquito and the HIV virus, and he stands on the edge of the Milky Way wringing his hands about it all:
"Oh my Me, I really fucked that one up..."
or he turns away from human beings with a shudder ("I got in way over my head on that one") or - er – maybe this planet is exactly the way he wanted it to be and ALL these things are caused by human sin -
WHAT, HUMAN SIN CREATES EARTHQUAKES?
HUH?
WHAT?
huh?
I should be nicer to my mother...
Anyway, the best Prof Ford can come up with is this :
"Accidents and natural disasters can also be seen as part of a contingent universe, which is required if there is to be both a reliable natural order and human freedom."
Sorry, NO! We could have a reliable natural order and human freedom on a planet that had NO mosquitoes, NO tsunamis and NO earthquakes. In fact I've been reliably informed that there are at least 367 such planets just in our part of the galaxy. The people who live on them have a great time. Even their theologians whistle on the way to work.
* Milton, Paradise Lost
October 13, 2016
"Theology deals with questions of meaning, truth, beauty, and practice raised in relation to religions and pursued through a range of academic disciplines."
--David F. Ford, Theology: A Very Short Introduction
David Ford's Very Short Introduction (VSI #9) to Theology is my sixth selection of Oxford's Very Short Introduction series. I liked it enough. Not much new, but I enjoyed a couple highlights. I really enjoyed the discussion of religion's place in the modern age with our multiple overwhelming. The idea of God as an overwhelming wasn't exactly revelatory, but it also was new and expansive, so perhaps there was a bit of revelation going on.
As a theologian Ford seems like a collector. A categorizer. He would have been just as happy, I think to have worked in the Smithsonian labeling and putting caterpillar pupal casings into multiple, thin boxes, arranged from 1 to 5. His scaling of theology was certainly useful as an introduction, but it almost became predictable that in each chapter he would present a scale of 1 to 5, and ignore the edges and focus on 2-4, the center three. Always.
The basic framework of the book:
I. Describing the Field
II. Theological Explorations
III. Skills, Disciplines, and Methods
Anyway, as a short introduction the other critique was Ford's focus on Christian theology (especially dominant in Part II. I get that is a Western theologian teaching at Cambridge, so his perspective on theology was going to rely heavily on Christian beliefs given his background and his studies. However, the book would probably have been better titled 'Christian Theology: A Very Short Introduction Utilizing Scales from 1 to 5'.
--David F. Ford, Theology: A Very Short Introduction
David Ford's Very Short Introduction (VSI #9) to Theology is my sixth selection of Oxford's Very Short Introduction series. I liked it enough. Not much new, but I enjoyed a couple highlights. I really enjoyed the discussion of religion's place in the modern age with our multiple overwhelming. The idea of God as an overwhelming wasn't exactly revelatory, but it also was new and expansive, so perhaps there was a bit of revelation going on.
As a theologian Ford seems like a collector. A categorizer. He would have been just as happy, I think to have worked in the Smithsonian labeling and putting caterpillar pupal casings into multiple, thin boxes, arranged from 1 to 5. His scaling of theology was certainly useful as an introduction, but it almost became predictable that in each chapter he would present a scale of 1 to 5, and ignore the edges and focus on 2-4, the center three. Always.
The basic framework of the book:
I. Describing the Field
II. Theological Explorations
III. Skills, Disciplines, and Methods
Anyway, as a short introduction the other critique was Ford's focus on Christian theology (especially dominant in Part II. I get that is a Western theologian teaching at Cambridge, so his perspective on theology was going to rely heavily on Christian beliefs given his background and his studies. However, the book would probably have been better titled 'Christian Theology: A Very Short Introduction Utilizing Scales from 1 to 5'.
December 31, 2018
This is a pretty good book, even if it gives you just the slightest skim on the subject (and if you want just that, great). Certainly it was a bit unclear to me what theology meant, just thought it would take only one religion, Christianity, as its study subject - not so. That said, this religion is used here as an example, for many reasons including that that's what the author's most familiar with.
So, theology is studying and making questions about religion(s), and some of the questions will be mentioned within, as well as how theology is studied, and what great variations and interpretations can occur while reading and studying it. The first part is an intro, then there's exploring some questions within the example-religion, in the third part we get to know some things about learning discussing etc. of theology, and in the final part we consider questions about theology's future.
I got a lot of things to ponder about further as I read. I have slightly been studying some outer realms of theology already, but this book gave me a better picture of theology's importance not only those who study or those who read them, but also to the outer world. There's no doubt I won't be learning all the languages useful for studying theology (like Greek, Hebrew, Latin, German, etc.; I have studied some French but not sufficiently to use in this area of learning). But I can enjoy the fruits (that is, writings) of those who have: read commentaries, studies and so on.
In the chapter about understanding and knowing in theology, the example of an apple and all the questions and the fields that can study it was quite mind-blowing - there was so much! It really helps to bring out the richness that can be there of studying a certain subject within theology, and finding all the things that can be there.
Some pictures are included, though they are all in black and white. Even then, some really fit certain chapters, and can be quite intense. At the end is a list of some further reading, though just in the example-religion's area (that is, Christianity). Some names there are familiar to me from elsewhere.
Even if you don't plan to go any further in exploring theology, this is still a quite clear-languaged, light surface-touch on the subject that leaves you a clearer picture on what a world theology can be. It can (already) give you some things to ponder, and you might think also about what there could've been if the example-religion had been another one (like Islam or Sikhism, for example). This was a good read to me, and quite cheering to read at the end of a reading year.
So, theology is studying and making questions about religion(s), and some of the questions will be mentioned within, as well as how theology is studied, and what great variations and interpretations can occur while reading and studying it. The first part is an intro, then there's exploring some questions within the example-religion, in the third part we get to know some things about learning discussing etc. of theology, and in the final part we consider questions about theology's future.
I got a lot of things to ponder about further as I read. I have slightly been studying some outer realms of theology already, but this book gave me a better picture of theology's importance not only those who study or those who read them, but also to the outer world. There's no doubt I won't be learning all the languages useful for studying theology (like Greek, Hebrew, Latin, German, etc.; I have studied some French but not sufficiently to use in this area of learning). But I can enjoy the fruits (that is, writings) of those who have: read commentaries, studies and so on.
In the chapter about understanding and knowing in theology, the example of an apple and all the questions and the fields that can study it was quite mind-blowing - there was so much! It really helps to bring out the richness that can be there of studying a certain subject within theology, and finding all the things that can be there.
Some pictures are included, though they are all in black and white. Even then, some really fit certain chapters, and can be quite intense. At the end is a list of some further reading, though just in the example-religion's area (that is, Christianity). Some names there are familiar to me from elsewhere.
Even if you don't plan to go any further in exploring theology, this is still a quite clear-languaged, light surface-touch on the subject that leaves you a clearer picture on what a world theology can be. It can (already) give you some things to ponder, and you might think also about what there could've been if the example-religion had been another one (like Islam or Sikhism, for example). This was a good read to me, and quite cheering to read at the end of a reading year.
October 11, 2021
Sissejuhatuse võiks täiesti vabalt lihtsalt vahele jätta, aga ülejäänud raamatut saab lugeda kahel viisil:
Ainete integratsiooni mõte ei ole oluline mitte ainult selleks, et tekitada terviklikku pilti, vaid ka selleks, et mitte kunagi rahulududa olemasolevaga. On tõenäoline, et midagi on David F. Fordi kirjutamisstiilis eneses, mis upitab inimest piiluma kaugemale, tähendagu see tutvumist teoloogiaga, või ükskõik mille muuga läbi tarkade teoloogisilmade.
a) Nii nagu on mõeldud. Järele proovitud lugemisviis aitab tekstist kätte saada autori poolt oluliseks peetud sõnumit. Selle konkreetse näite puhul hakkasid mulle silma järgnevad mõtted:
- Ihaldatud olemine ja ihaldamine on aluseks kristlikule eetikakäsitlusele.
- Iha olla täielikult autonoomne tähendab väära iha olla jumal.
- Ma olen vaba ainult suhestudes teistega.
- Iial ei või pidada endastmõistetavaks, et sa tead sõna jumal tähendust.
Nendest mõtteteradest on kerge välja võrsuma isiklik teoloogiline mõtisklus, mille tekitamine oli tõenäoliselt üks selle raamatu kirjutamise eesmärkidest ja on üleüldiselt põhjapanev osa teoloogilistest õpingutest. Isiklikus kontekstis võib selline mõtisklus kulmineeruda ka üleüldisesse jumala olemasolu küsimusse ja jõuda välja näiteks kristliku teoloogia nurgakivide vääramiseni: Kas tõesti olen mina valmis jumalasse uskuma ainult siis, kui see ei hooma endas kohustust uskuda, et jumal on hea?
b) Või siis lugedes kogu teksti intertekstuaalselt, otsides terve aeg tekstist seoseid vabalt valitud teemaga, nagu näiteks teater, inimsuhted, igatsus, maailm. Silma hakkavad kohe hoopis teistsugused ja autori poolt rõhutamata laused. Enam ei saagi aru, kes on sisulooja, sest lugemisinterpretatsioon moodustab poole sisust.
- Tarkus käsitleda teiste tarkust ja nende moonutusi on üks suurimaid proovikive mistahes tarkusele.
- Me ei saa kunagi keelest väljuda.
- Esita küsimusi teksti žanri kohta. /.../ Esita kahtlustavaid küsimusi. /.../ Esita küsimusi iseenda kohta.
- Iial ei või pidada endastmõistetavaks, et sa tead sõna jumal tähendust.
Ainete integratsiooni mõte ei ole oluline mitte ainult selleks, et tekitada terviklikku pilti, vaid ka selleks, et mitte kunagi rahulududa olemasolevaga. On tõenäoline, et midagi on David F. Fordi kirjutamisstiilis eneses, mis upitab inimest piiluma kaugemale, tähendagu see tutvumist teoloogiaga, või ükskõik mille muuga läbi tarkade teoloogisilmade.
July 15, 2010
As far as Very Short Introductions go, this is a wonderfully humane and rich exemplar.
Ford allows for a relatively (and deceptively) simple definition of theology as thinking about the religions. Moreover, theology is that discipline which investigates meaning, truth, beauty and practice with respect to the religions. This is perhaps as succinct a definition as one could hope for.
Ford's engagements with questions of the existence and nature of God, ethics, evil, Jesus and salvation, are great little nuggets of inductive invitations to theology. That said, I think the real value of the essay is in his opening and closing thoughts. More specifically, Ford's negative evaluation of the dichotomy theology/religious studies is encouraging, and his broad notion of theology should be considered by those who are skiddish with theology in public educational institutions. In fact, theology has responsibilities to three communities: faith communities, the academy, and society at large. The proportion of the theologian's investment in each of these institutions will determine where his/her energies will lie, but it is incumbent on theology to address all three publics.
At any rate, the crowning jewel of Ford's little book is his suggestion (developed elsewhere) that theology is a mode of cultivating wisdom. Theology is not simply knowledge about religions, but also knowledge of them. There is a certain truth to Ford's implicit claim, for instance, that to truly understand a religion, one must live a religion. One can then become "multi-lingual" to use Ford's own metaphor, but one does need to start with a mother tongue. It seems to me that our world is in need not of secularists who can quell the monster of religion, but religious people who more nearly emulate the radical hospitality and improbable wisdom of the saints (of whatever faith) who have come before us. And for this, theology is a useful instrument.
Ford allows for a relatively (and deceptively) simple definition of theology as thinking about the religions. Moreover, theology is that discipline which investigates meaning, truth, beauty and practice with respect to the religions. This is perhaps as succinct a definition as one could hope for.
Ford's engagements with questions of the existence and nature of God, ethics, evil, Jesus and salvation, are great little nuggets of inductive invitations to theology. That said, I think the real value of the essay is in his opening and closing thoughts. More specifically, Ford's negative evaluation of the dichotomy theology/religious studies is encouraging, and his broad notion of theology should be considered by those who are skiddish with theology in public educational institutions. In fact, theology has responsibilities to three communities: faith communities, the academy, and society at large. The proportion of the theologian's investment in each of these institutions will determine where his/her energies will lie, but it is incumbent on theology to address all three publics.
At any rate, the crowning jewel of Ford's little book is his suggestion (developed elsewhere) that theology is a mode of cultivating wisdom. Theology is not simply knowledge about religions, but also knowledge of them. There is a certain truth to Ford's implicit claim, for instance, that to truly understand a religion, one must live a religion. One can then become "multi-lingual" to use Ford's own metaphor, but one does need to start with a mother tongue. It seems to me that our world is in need not of secularists who can quell the monster of religion, but religious people who more nearly emulate the radical hospitality and improbable wisdom of the saints (of whatever faith) who have come before us. And for this, theology is a useful instrument.
April 9, 2010
I came to this book largely because of polarised and dismissive statements of religion made by certain "celebrity atheists". Primarily, I wanted to understand the theologian's approach to knowing and how it differs or is consonant with scientific or other views.
There are a couple of useful models provided by the book. One provides a five stage model moving from the atheist view at one end, which denies any sort of "revelatory" knowledge - through to those that take the scrpiture as absolute and refuse to engage with any other field of knowledge. Stages two, three and four deal with relative degrees of trying to understand how scripture and other fields of knowledge do or don't correlate.
Another useful model was of the interrelationship between self, language and world, which of these various schools of philosophical thought endeavour to explain.
These two posititves were really quite brief respites from what was otherwise a fairly superficial analysis of religious thought. I was hoping for some statements from some of the great theologians. For example, what are the counter arguments to the claim that the world can only be known through sensory knowledge, as many believe? What about some analysis of whether the Genesis account of creation is to be taken as literal, allegorical etc? Or what about a summary of the approach to religion that characterised various ages in the past? I think taking a few such questions and probing them would have provided some penetrative insight rather than skimming the surface of the various academic theological fields.
Another gripe was that the author assumes the reader will understand the use of certain Christian terminology. For example, I have no real idea who "pentecostals" are or what they really stand for, yet the author uses such terms without either explaining to the lay reader or probing what these different religious positions might mean - in relation to each other or in relation to truth.
I realise this is a Very Short Introduction (!) and I might be expecting too much of it. But if it has any function at all it should be to inspire the reader to pursue the study. Light the fire, as it were. In this, I am afraid it fails.
There are a couple of useful models provided by the book. One provides a five stage model moving from the atheist view at one end, which denies any sort of "revelatory" knowledge - through to those that take the scrpiture as absolute and refuse to engage with any other field of knowledge. Stages two, three and four deal with relative degrees of trying to understand how scripture and other fields of knowledge do or don't correlate.
Another useful model was of the interrelationship between self, language and world, which of these various schools of philosophical thought endeavour to explain.
These two posititves were really quite brief respites from what was otherwise a fairly superficial analysis of religious thought. I was hoping for some statements from some of the great theologians. For example, what are the counter arguments to the claim that the world can only be known through sensory knowledge, as many believe? What about some analysis of whether the Genesis account of creation is to be taken as literal, allegorical etc? Or what about a summary of the approach to religion that characterised various ages in the past? I think taking a few such questions and probing them would have provided some penetrative insight rather than skimming the surface of the various academic theological fields.
Another gripe was that the author assumes the reader will understand the use of certain Christian terminology. For example, I have no real idea who "pentecostals" are or what they really stand for, yet the author uses such terms without either explaining to the lay reader or probing what these different religious positions might mean - in relation to each other or in relation to truth.
I realise this is a Very Short Introduction (!) and I might be expecting too much of it. But if it has any function at all it should be to inspire the reader to pursue the study. Light the fire, as it were. In this, I am afraid it fails.
November 19, 2019
The book is not an introduction in theology in general but in christian theology. This was a bit disappointing in the beginning but I could understand the argument that you can use the insight of one religion for the other religions also. That is homework...
The book really helped me to understand what theology is all about. It studies religion in general. The book is academic and contemplative. On one hand more questions are posed than answered. One of my taka aways is that the secret of finding God is trust. Trust opens understanding. That implies once you give trust you open up for confirmation like you experience in interpersonal relations. But how do you start to trust. That can be a small token or experience. Coming to a conclusion intellectually that God exists is one but starting to experience him is the second other step.
This offers a dilemma to other religions if you trust one and experience God there you cannot have the samen experience in the other because each main religion asks for a liftetime committment. But from your perspective you can enter the dialogue with other religions and become ‘bilingual’. Nobody has a full overview from God’s perspective.
Questions of understanding and knowledge arise at every turn in theology. Wisdom is needed in this complex environment. Theology that claims some unquestionable certainty is imolausible and unwise. The obvious need is for wisdom on how to face differences.
A nice view for the future on the end of the book is who will do theology with the answer ‘God will’.
It took me some time to finish my review. In thinking this over I changed my judgment from 4 to 5 starts.
The book really helped me to understand what theology is all about. It studies religion in general. The book is academic and contemplative. On one hand more questions are posed than answered. One of my taka aways is that the secret of finding God is trust. Trust opens understanding. That implies once you give trust you open up for confirmation like you experience in interpersonal relations. But how do you start to trust. That can be a small token or experience. Coming to a conclusion intellectually that God exists is one but starting to experience him is the second other step.
This offers a dilemma to other religions if you trust one and experience God there you cannot have the samen experience in the other because each main religion asks for a liftetime committment. But from your perspective you can enter the dialogue with other religions and become ‘bilingual’. Nobody has a full overview from God’s perspective.
Questions of understanding and knowledge arise at every turn in theology. Wisdom is needed in this complex environment. Theology that claims some unquestionable certainty is imolausible and unwise. The obvious need is for wisdom on how to face differences.
A nice view for the future on the end of the book is who will do theology with the answer ‘God will’.
It took me some time to finish my review. In thinking this over I changed my judgment from 4 to 5 starts.
November 16, 2007
I found this "survey" to be rather superficial and it focused too specifically on Christianity. The chapters on the nature of experience, knowledge, and wisdom in theology were interesting.
Book Description (from Amazon.com)
This Very Short Introduction provides both believers and non-believers with a balanced survey of the central questions of contemporary theology. David Ford's interrogative approach draws the reader into considering the principles underlying religious belief, including the centrality of salvation to most major religions, the concept of God in ancient, modern, and postmodern contexts, the challenge posed to theology by prayer and worship, and the issue of sin and evil. He also proves the nature of experience, knowledge, and wisdom in theology, and discusses what is involved in interpreting theological texts today.
Book Description (from Amazon.com)
This Very Short Introduction provides both believers and non-believers with a balanced survey of the central questions of contemporary theology. David Ford's interrogative approach draws the reader into considering the principles underlying religious belief, including the centrality of salvation to most major religions, the concept of God in ancient, modern, and postmodern contexts, the challenge posed to theology by prayer and worship, and the issue of sin and evil. He also proves the nature of experience, knowledge, and wisdom in theology, and discusses what is involved in interpreting theological texts today.
October 13, 2014
It is truly amazing how this author can ramble on and on about absolutely nothing, dancing around the edges of theology without really digging into it. I am not sure why he continually avoided the topic, but became increasingly irritated as the book progressed and never seemed to turn the corner. Those of the Very Short Introductions I've read have been interesting and educational, with the exception of this one. If theft of one's time were a crime, this author would be listed by Interpol...
November 7, 2012
Professor Ford writes an engaging defense of the existence of theology as a discipline, while neglecting to give his reader much by the way of information or a coherent argument. Very much worth reading all the same.
February 1, 2024
I had to read this for a class, but I got a Reading Challenge to complete, so I’m counting it. As the title says, this is a very short introduction to the field of theology for students who are considering studying in that field. As Ford notes early on, theology is essentially asking questions about God, with perhaps a key question being: “Which God?”, as theology can be about any deity, not just the Judeo-Christian God. That said, Ford focuses on that God partly to save space (this is, after all, meant to be a short intro), and partly because that’s his particular field of expertise. But many of the points he makes and questions he raises can also be applied to other religions.
Ford starts off by briefly explaining the current state of religious and academic theology, moves on to examples of theological thinking about select key issues (the nature of God, worship, ethics, evil, salvation and the role of Jesus in all this), and then looks at the types of texts and sources that can feed into those (to include traditions, historical accounts and experience) and the importance of prioritising wisdom over knowledge. He wraps up with some thoughts on what the big theological issues might be in the next millennium (this being first published in 1999).
Anyway, while I can’t say I plan to study theology any time soon, the book definitely gave me a clear understanding of what theology is, why it matters, the kinds of questions it asks, and the different approaches for attempting to answer them. Strangely, perhaps the most encouraging point I got from the book is that most if not all of those questions will never be answered definitively or quickly – as our understanding of the texts evolves, our thinking evolves with them, so that there are always new angles to dig out and new questions to ask. And there will always be disagreement on the answers. There's something liberating in that – it removes a lot of the pressure we often feel in these matters to have all the answers.
Ford starts off by briefly explaining the current state of religious and academic theology, moves on to examples of theological thinking about select key issues (the nature of God, worship, ethics, evil, salvation and the role of Jesus in all this), and then looks at the types of texts and sources that can feed into those (to include traditions, historical accounts and experience) and the importance of prioritising wisdom over knowledge. He wraps up with some thoughts on what the big theological issues might be in the next millennium (this being first published in 1999).
Anyway, while I can’t say I plan to study theology any time soon, the book definitely gave me a clear understanding of what theology is, why it matters, the kinds of questions it asks, and the different approaches for attempting to answer them. Strangely, perhaps the most encouraging point I got from the book is that most if not all of those questions will never be answered definitively or quickly – as our understanding of the texts evolves, our thinking evolves with them, so that there are always new angles to dig out and new questions to ask. And there will always be disagreement on the answers. There's something liberating in that – it removes a lot of the pressure we often feel in these matters to have all the answers.
April 5, 2022
I love reading these Very Short Introductions on pretty much any subject, but when it came to Theology I knew I'd have to grit my teeth through it. Let me tell you why: I have a PhD and have worked in the last 22 years in the field of the Study of Religion, but in a way that is pretty much opposed to Theology, which is kind of my nemesis approach to the study of religion.
The problem with Theology and a hurdle you have to jump over to enjoy this introduction is the fact that it is a committed way of studying religion, it is necessarily committed to a religious tradition and point of view and sees the world through that prism. Ford tells the reader right at the beginning that this is going to be a book all about Christian theology from a Christian perspective. So yeah, he lost me there. This is not a social science or part of the Humanities, it's a niche interest for fantasists, it has no place in a University.
Putting that aside, it's an interesting overview of Theology. Covering main subjects but not really going in depth into the big arguments or thinkers which would have been much more interesting than what you get here. Oh well, if you need a very short primer on the subject, I suppose it's ok, it's written clearly and so forth. I just find it contemptible.
The problem with Theology and a hurdle you have to jump over to enjoy this introduction is the fact that it is a committed way of studying religion, it is necessarily committed to a religious tradition and point of view and sees the world through that prism. Ford tells the reader right at the beginning that this is going to be a book all about Christian theology from a Christian perspective. So yeah, he lost me there. This is not a social science or part of the Humanities, it's a niche interest for fantasists, it has no place in a University.
Putting that aside, it's an interesting overview of Theology. Covering main subjects but not really going in depth into the big arguments or thinkers which would have been much more interesting than what you get here. Oh well, if you need a very short primer on the subject, I suppose it's ok, it's written clearly and so forth. I just find it contemptible.
March 2, 2026
I'll be honest, I was going into it expecting theological views from across the religious spectrum but all I got was theology from Christianity's perspective. I was disappointed but I thought I'd go ahead and read through it. I'll be frank, it was a tough read. It's all over the place and it's trying to do too much in such a small amount of pages.
July 8, 2020
First introductions into theology: fun, modern and fruitful. Thank you.
April 21, 2021
less an introduction (assumes a fair bit of foreknowledge) more an overview of what one author thinks of the current state of the subject.
May 3, 2022
A good introduction to Christian theology. Good enough to make me realize I am not interested in Christian theology.
April 7, 2025
3.75 For a theology book, it's fairly straightforward and easy to understand--for the most part.
November 12, 2019
Just to be clear; for people who are interested in the christian faith, this is a good introduction.
(If it would have been advertised as a christian theology book I would gave given it 4 stars)
Theology: Thinking about questions raised by and about religions.
This is not a general book about theology. As explained below, this book is really about christian religion viewed thru theological glasses. It’s not an impartial explanation how theology works as a science. Since clearly, once belief is involved, science goes out the window.
Ford starts with some interesting statements:
In many conflicts in the world there are religious dimensions.
Why is religion so controversial? Because it is about the whole shape of living. Religion becomes fundamental in who people are and how they act. Often hardly conscious. The answers to big questions are shaped by it.
In this book only the christian theology is discussed. Why? Discussing all religions would be too complex, it is the largest of the world religions and because this is the authors own academic speciality.
So what follows is an explanation how the christian faith evolved and what it encompasses.
He discusses the meaning of God, the Trinity concept. Inevitably we then come to the realm of believing what one studies. Read what Ford says about that: “The only way to find God is trust. God has already found you, who longs to be found by you, who already communicates via nature, history, scripture and ones own experience.”
Some topics that he discusses:
Is God real?
Here of course we concentrate on the theological impact of worship.
The answer to questions about desire and ethics is always based upon the christian view.
Theology tries to guide through all these questions. Ford keeps on stipulating how much controversies there are.
The question about good and evil is not answered. He states that good as well as evil are mysteries. And they converge in Jezus and salvation. Luckily Ford does not come up with
the usual explanations, about free will, or God suffers with us, etc. He clearly rejects those concepts.
The final part goes more back to what I had expected of theology. How to understand a belief (in this case the christian belief) by studying texts and history. He emphesises here that one should be aware of ones biases.
We are dealing here with Epistemology: the nature of knowing. All influences our understanding of the bible and hence our christian believes.
World, self and language.
The book is nicely summarized as Ford gives his nine lessons in knowing God.
Beginning with questions if a God really exist.
The methods used, the social context (testimony of others, interpreters of scripture in short what other people have found out), the temporal aspect (history: it took centuries to develop the trinity concept), interconnected knowing (for instance how to relate faith with reason), belief that language can adequately describe God, subjectivity, fallibility (for the ones who believe: see the many debates over history; not all sides can be right) and docta ignorantia, be aware what you don’t know and all the above finally results in decision and action.
All this comes together with wisdom, which is not just concerned about information and knowledge.
(If it would have been advertised as a christian theology book I would gave given it 4 stars)
Theology: Thinking about questions raised by and about religions.
This is not a general book about theology. As explained below, this book is really about christian religion viewed thru theological glasses. It’s not an impartial explanation how theology works as a science. Since clearly, once belief is involved, science goes out the window.
Ford starts with some interesting statements:
In many conflicts in the world there are religious dimensions.
Why is religion so controversial? Because it is about the whole shape of living. Religion becomes fundamental in who people are and how they act. Often hardly conscious. The answers to big questions are shaped by it.
In this book only the christian theology is discussed. Why? Discussing all religions would be too complex, it is the largest of the world religions and because this is the authors own academic speciality.
So what follows is an explanation how the christian faith evolved and what it encompasses.
He discusses the meaning of God, the Trinity concept. Inevitably we then come to the realm of believing what one studies. Read what Ford says about that: “The only way to find God is trust. God has already found you, who longs to be found by you, who already communicates via nature, history, scripture and ones own experience.”
Some topics that he discusses:
Is God real?
Here of course we concentrate on the theological impact of worship.
The answer to questions about desire and ethics is always based upon the christian view.
Theology tries to guide through all these questions. Ford keeps on stipulating how much controversies there are.
The question about good and evil is not answered. He states that good as well as evil are mysteries. And they converge in Jezus and salvation. Luckily Ford does not come up with
the usual explanations, about free will, or God suffers with us, etc. He clearly rejects those concepts.
The final part goes more back to what I had expected of theology. How to understand a belief (in this case the christian belief) by studying texts and history. He emphesises here that one should be aware of ones biases.
We are dealing here with Epistemology: the nature of knowing. All influences our understanding of the bible and hence our christian believes.
World, self and language.
The book is nicely summarized as Ford gives his nine lessons in knowing God.
Beginning with questions if a God really exist.
The methods used, the social context (testimony of others, interpreters of scripture in short what other people have found out), the temporal aspect (history: it took centuries to develop the trinity concept), interconnected knowing (for instance how to relate faith with reason), belief that language can adequately describe God, subjectivity, fallibility (for the ones who believe: see the many debates over history; not all sides can be right) and docta ignorantia, be aware what you don’t know and all the above finally results in decision and action.
All this comes together with wisdom, which is not just concerned about information and knowledge.
July 25, 2011
I did not enjoy this book as much as the others that I have read in the Very Short Introduction series, but it was still an informative read nonetheless. I found the text tended to be preaching Christianity rather than just explaining the background to theology.
October 9, 2018
Don't think I was in the right headspace for this. Covered a big area in a small book and without a lot of application I got a bit lost and found myself skim reading at times. I found ch 2 and section on Frei's 5 types of theology most interesting and helpful.
'Type 1 cut off dialogue because it was convinced of its own external framework; Type 5 cuts off dialogue because it is convinced that some internal Christian framework is sufficient.'
'Type 4 acknowledges a basic commitment in faith, but also the need continually to test itand relate it to other positions.'
'One of the differences between being known by a human and knowing the Christian God is that God is conceived to have the complete initiative in how God is known. And knowing God always includes knowing that one is comprehensiveley known by God.'
'Type 1 cut off dialogue because it was convinced of its own external framework; Type 5 cuts off dialogue because it is convinced that some internal Christian framework is sufficient.'
'Type 4 acknowledges a basic commitment in faith, but also the need continually to test itand relate it to other positions.'
'One of the differences between being known by a human and knowing the Christian God is that God is conceived to have the complete initiative in how God is known. And knowing God always includes knowing that one is comprehensiveley known by God.'
November 30, 2018
I read this for EfM. I have loved the readings in the prior years of EfM, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, church history (although I didn't like the format of the book). I am not a fan of theology, as it just seems like people talking about talking about God, but I tried to be open minded about this. I like what he said about theology, that "theology deals with questions of meaning, truth, beauty, and practice raised in relation to religions and pursued through a range of academic disciplines." I think the book could have been structured better, with some of the direction contained in the second to last chapter about theological thinking contained in the front. I realized when reading it that I would much rather be reading the Gospels or a more uplifting account of God's role in one's life than a theology book like this.
June 21, 2020
I found the writing style very dense and academic--I struggled to motivate myself to finish. I was hoping for a more approachable introduction to theology. That said, I'm sure it is very hard to describe the field in a "very short" way. Towards the end the author gives advice for reading texts that I found useful though and perhaps would have preferred to read as an earlier chapter. I also found the chapter which addressed translation of religious texts really interesting. So certainly reading this gave me the chance to reflect on theology in a dedicated manner, but a lot of the book was a challenge to sift through.
August 4, 2020
Some good information. As much as I love theology, I found Ford's introduction to it pretty dry. Summarising sentences and generalisations that I don't think need to be there. I understand he is working from a Christian perspective but things taken for granted without proper analysis and little objectivity. It was a book I had to trawl through and was glad when it ended. It made me worried that I wasn't as committed to Theology as I believed, but not liking a book about the subject is not the same as not liking the subject at all. He broaches some serious subjects but doesn't seem to make a point about anything. I know it's an introduction but it didn't do much for me, I'm afraid.
May 10, 2021
Though I disagreed with much in this little work, he introduced theology in some novel ways. E.g., the problem of evil, rather than giving a typical freewill theodicy proffered an idolatry theodicy. It was still unconvincing, but novel nonetheless. I liked what he had to say about doing theology in a community. While one brings one's own insights to bear on the discipline, one gains more by discussion with others, particularly of dissenting views. He highlighted the importance of original and research languages, hermeneutics, and history to doing theology, a helpful corrective to masturbatory opining of most theology I'm used to.
October 11, 2022
Theology used to at least be a use-mention error, ie a lot of hot air about the word 'god' (and its variants); now it's just a lot of hot air about earlier hot air and about topics that some poor brains might be fooled into thinking have real relevance to the supposed thing behind the word 'god' (and its variants). Even proclaiming an unashamed, muscular "definition" of the word is just too risky for this lot.
These pathetic whimperings are what theology sounds like in its death-throes. Unfortunately, what with the obstinacy of theologians and the ignorance of believers, those death-throes are going to last a while. I wonder just how bad theology will become?
These pathetic whimperings are what theology sounds like in its death-throes. Unfortunately, what with the obstinacy of theologians and the ignorance of believers, those death-throes are going to last a while. I wonder just how bad theology will become?
October 25, 2025
The book is deeply informed and excels at including influences from modern and even opposing philosophies. However, it lacks sufficient space to develop certain topics.
Pivotal themes, such as the existence of God or the problem of evil, are treated superficially. Furthermore, the text omits the distinction between theology universally applicable to various religions and that which is specific to each, as well as the implication this has for their credibility.
While the collection aims for brevity, other volumes in the same series manage to achieve greater depth in their respective analyses.
Pivotal themes, such as the existence of God or the problem of evil, are treated superficially. Furthermore, the text omits the distinction between theology universally applicable to various religions and that which is specific to each, as well as the implication this has for their credibility.
While the collection aims for brevity, other volumes in the same series manage to achieve greater depth in their respective analyses.
January 3, 2018
A disappointing introduction to the practice of theology. Ford uses a lot of words to convey precious few theological concepts - I can't help but think that, because of the requirements of this "Very Short Introduction" series, he tried to cover far too much ground and ended up not really covering anything at all. You can read my full review and chapter-by-chapter summary (with discussion questions for each chapter) in this Google Doc.
February 18, 2023
Only made it seven pages in where the author said explicitly that he's only going to concentrate on Christian theology and that Christian theologians are the largest number of theologians (which he might be right were it not for him causally dismissing Jewish theologians in the same sentence). If you're writing about theology, talking about multiple religions, and then only contrate on Christian theology wouldn't it have been helpful to title a book "A Very Short Introduction to Christian theology." So frustrated right now.
April 23, 2020
Well, it took me five months to read this 170-page book, if that tells you anything. Given that the book's goal is to introduce the reader to the entire topic of theology in that little space, though, there really shouldn't be a wasted word, and despite being extremely dense, I still found this engaging and easily readable. However, I will likely need to re-read this one at least once, since there's no way I retained even half of what I took in.
December 20, 2020
This is a very good introduction to theology. However, should you take on this little gem, have a dictionary and thesaurus handy, as well as a pen and highlighter. I had to mark it up, highlight, look up and re-read throughout the entire book. I certainly leave this book with a greater understanding and appreciation for the sacraments and beliefs of my faith. The four rating is probably more for my own struggles at comprehension... but it is a worthwhile read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews