Lectures in Systematic Theology

Our Price $ 22.88   Retail Value $ 26.00   You Save $ 3.12  (12%)   Item Number 50313

Buy New Item Quantity: 1              2              3              4 ABOUT TRUST ONLINE

Thiessen addresses a wide rage of substantive issues in sections on theism, bibliology, theology, angelology, anthropology, soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Particularly helpful to students are two specialized indexes: an Index of Subjects, and an Index of Scriptural References that includes more than 4,000 entries.

This revised edition remains completely faithful to the substance and character of the original. Reflected here, however, are the advances that have occurred since the date of it's original publication: older references frequently have given way to citations from more current biblical and theological works, and a section on personal eschatology has been incorporated for the first time. Also included in the revised edition are a completely new chapter on the Holy Spirit and a full bibliography to aid in further study.

I owned/managed a Christian bookstore. I have become quite familar, and in some cases intimately so, with theological writings. Most of the time I was disappointed with the treatment concerning salvation and associated doctrines as they were written primarily from a Calvinist/Reformed viewpoint. I had been looking for a work that dealt with the issues in a strictly Biblical manner, and HCT's work came to my attention.

While researching it I discovered that the original work had been 'edited', and the editing actually changed what HCT had stated originally. I purchased a used copy of the original, borrowed a copy of the edited version and did a comparison, particularly concerning the issues I already mentioned. To my dismay I discovered that HCT's stand and teaching on the matter had been markedly changed.

In reading the original work I was impressed with the similarity of my conclusions from my Biblical understanding to those of HCT. It immediately became my preferred theological work.

In the edited work this statement is made: "Extensive revisions mark the sections on inspiration, election, demons, and pretribulationism." The fact is that what HCT believed was the Biblical position and taught in his work was changed-up to make certain of his positions unrecognizable.

Apart from the theological disposition of the reader, it is, in my view, unethical to add, remove, and change a person's work to the extent that what they originally stated is perverted, that is, is no longer recognizable as the author's position. The upshot of that is that when a post 1979 edition is purchased with HCT's name on the cover, the reader is assuming that the content is the position of the original author. In this case, they are tragically misled.

I searched for and purchased several used coped of the original and sold them in the bookstore, recommending it above all others. I still do recommend it as the best introductory level theology I know of.

If you choose to buy it, search for a pre-1979 edition and get HCT's statements on the issues. They are invaluable.

As for the revised version changing from election based on God's foreknowledge (Arminian view) to election based on God's sovereignty (Calvinist view), I believe it was a mistake. To change the position of the original author is to take away from the book. One doesn't have to agree with everything he says to benefit from his writings. And besides, Dispensationalists are divided on this view, as are many evangelicals, so why not just leave Theissen's view in Theissen's book? My 5 star rating is for the original work.