The Genesis of Doctrine

What is doctrine? How may a doctrinal statement made in the past have any authority in the modern period? And how may doctrinal statements be evaluated and criticized? These questions are of central importance to Christian theology, and have important consequences for the Christian churches. In the course of its historical and theological analysis, this study presents an investigation of the conditions under which Christian doctrine came into existence, and the nature of doctrine itself. "The Genesis of Doctrine", based on the 1990 Bampton Lectures at Oxford University, explores a range of fundamental issues relating to the nature of doctrine, including the social functions of Christian doctrine, the relation between doctrine and scripture, the external referents of doctrine, and the impact of historicism and the sociology of knowledge for an understanding of doctrine. A major theme of this book is the influence of ideology upon Christian theology.
Exploring this theme with particular reference to the question of the theological authority of the past in the modern period, McGrath aims to provide an assessment of the relation between "liberal" and "conservative" approaches to theology which is certain to generate intense debate.