Story and Promise

The respected American theologian Robert Jenson here, in brief compass, presents his uncluttered understanding of the Christian message in a form ideal for beginning students, laypeople, and clergy. Professor Jenson sees the heart of the gospel as the unconditional promise of the ultimate triumph of the love of Jesus of Nazareth. This gospel is based on the story of Jesus and is worked out in the lives of men and of nations as the promise it brings moves towards fulfillment. Story and Promise--we dare to call it a ""one-volume dogmatics""--leaves no element of the Christian faith untouched: the classical doctrines concerning God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, man, the church; the clearly radical implications of these doctrines for personal and social transformation; the focus of Christian vision on the future as the time when God comes and man becomes what God intends. This book clarifies the traditional problems of faith, and also raises the revolutionary issues marking the end of this century. It is a thoughtful and satisfying piece of systematic theology in a time of shattered understandings of the faith. Robert W. Jenson has been a student of Barthian theology for many years, and his doctoral dissertation at the University of Heidelberg earned Barth's approval as an interpretation of his writings. Dr. Jenson attended Luther College in Iowa and the Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Paul, MN, before studying at Heidelberg, where he was awarded his Doctorate of Theology, summa cum laude. After completing graduate work at the University of Basel, he taught theology for many years at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, PA, and Oxford University. Dr. Jenson currently serves as Senior Scholar for Research at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, NJ. Dr. Jenson's most recent works included his two-volume Systematic Theology.