CS/TS 650
Theological Foundations of Christian Spirituality
Spirituality Types (Martha Ainsworth)
Theology Types
Developed by Justo Gonzalez
Justo Gonzalez’s Theology Types
• Bevans and Schroeder’s work is based on the prior thesis of
Justo Gonzalez (in Christian Thought Revisited, 1999), where
he outlines three theology types:
• Type A – Key Word: “Law”
• Type B – Key Word: “Truth”
• Type C – Key Word: “History”
Constants in Context
A Theology of Mission for Today
Stephen B. Bevans
Roger P. Schroeder
The Six Constants of Mission (Constants
in Context, Chapter 2)
Gonzalez’s Theology Types
Type A – “Law”
Type B – “Truth”
Type C – “History”
Type D – “Holiness” (not
in Gonzalez)
Constants of Mission
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Christology
Ecclesiology
Eschatology
Salvation
Anthropology
Culture
Characterizations of Each Type
Origin – Not where a particular type necessarily originated,
but rather the cultural center or locale in which the earliest
identifiable articulation of a specific type is expressed
Culture – The milieu or setting which helped to shape or form
the characteristic language of a type
Characterizations of Each Type
Key Figure – The historical figure (theologian)
who most aptly exemplifies a particular type in
its earliest expression
Key Word – The term that best summarizes or
encapsulates the character of a particular
theological type
Trajectory – A discernable line of
intellectual/missional descent inspired by a
particular theological type in history
Type A Theology
Mission as Saving Souls and Extending the Church (Constants in
Context, pp. 36-49)
Type A Theology
Origin – Carthage
Culture – Roman
Key Figure – Tertullian
Key Word – “Law”
Trajectory – Western orthodox traditions including Medieval
scholasticism, Reformation thought, and Fundamentalism.
Origin and Culture
Roman Carthage
Tertullian (AD 170-215)
Tertullian
•
•
•
•
First major Christian theologian to write in Latin
Probably educated as a lawyer
Credited for coining the term “Trinity”
Exemplifies the understanding of Christian life that became
dominant in the Western church
Type A Key Word: Law
“In Tertullian’s writings, God is described as a lawgiver and
judge, creation is conceived as wholly complete and ordered,
and sin is described as going against this order and breaking
divine law. Human beings are born into this world as sinners,
having inherited sinfulness from first parents who originally
broke God’s law and disrupted the world’s order…
Key Word: Law
“Jesus is depicted as the new Moses and the gospel a new law,
which is a new law of repentance. If men and women submit
to that law in baptism, they will be saved, and so avoid God’s
punishment, provided they obey the laws of God’s church and
the prescriptions of Holy Scripture” (Constants in Context, p.
38).
Type A Trajectory
Augustine
Anselm
Aquinas
Luther
Calvin
Conservative Theology (including Fundamentalism as an
extreme)
Type B Theology
Mission as Discovery of Truth (Constants in Context, pp. 49-61)
Type B Theology
Origin – Alexandria (Egypt)
Culture – Hellenistic (Greek)
Key Figure – Origen
Key Word – Truth
Trajectory – Eastern Orthodox theology; the liberal theological
traditions in the West.
Origin and Culture
Alexandria, Egypt
Alexander the Great (4th century BC)
Origen of Alexandria (AD 185254)
Origen
• Student of Clement and his successor as the head of the
famous catechetical school in Alexandria
• Prolific writer who wrote commentaries on nearly every
biblical book. His most famous work was On First Principles.
• Steeped in Neo-Platonic thought.
Type B Key Word: Truth
“What is central to the perspective of Type B theology…is…the
conviction that human reason can indeed come into contact –
in partial but nevertheless authentic ways – with ineffable
Truth” (Constants in Context, p. 50).
Key Word: Truth
“For Type B theology, human experience – particularly as
enhanced through the power of philosophical reason – can
serve ‘as a basic hermeneutical tool to understand the
meaning of Scripture and the nature of Christianity’”
(Constants in Context, p. 51).
Type B Trajectory
Peter Abelard (scholastic)
Julian of Norwich (mystic)
Soren Kierkegaard (existentialist)
Friedrich Schleiermacher (Protestant liberalism)
Paul Tillich (20th century)
Type C Theology
Mission as Commitment to Liberation and Transformation
(Constants in Context, pp. 61-72)
Type C Theology
Origin – Antioch
Culture – Near Eastern
Key Figure – Irenaeus
Key Word – History
Trajectory – Popular movements; mendicant orders
(Medieval); early Reformation; modern liberation theologies
in the west
Origin and Culture
Antioch of Syria
The School of Antioch
• Less Romanized than Carthage; less Hellenized than
Alexandria
• Theology less legalistic and less abstract; more concrete,
based on events of history
• Emphasized literal approach to Scripture; and human nature
of Christ
Irenaeus (AD 130-202)
Irenaeus
• Early representative of Near Eastern theology
• Heir to rich sub-apostolic approach that was based neither on
law or philosophy, but on actually witnessed events
• Developed a theological tradition rooted in the notion that all
things take place within time and are guided towards God’s
future
Type C Key Word: History
“…history in Type C theology was part of God’s plan from the
beginning and not a result of a fall from some eternal state of
perfection or contemplation. God created men and women in
the image of God but with the task of growing into God’s full
likeness. As such, they were created imperfect but were
perfectible…
Key Word: History
“Adam and Eve had made a mistake in the Garden of Eden. By
disobeying God they had, as it were, exceeded their grasp, and
so fell into the servitude of the devil. But, despite sin, God as
Father and Shepherd continues mercifully to lead and guide
humanity throughout history…
Key Word: History
“God sent Jesus to free humanity from Satan’s clutches and so
to make possible continued growth, until at the End all will be
recapitulated in him” (Constants in Context, p. 62).
Type C Trajectory
Missionary work of Nestorian Church in China and India
St. Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Order)
Early Luther
Karl Barth / Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Liberation theologies
Type D Theology – A Proposal
• Not one of Gonzalez’s three types:
• Type A – Law
• Type B – Truth
• Type C – History
Type D Theology
Origin – Western European (England)
Culture – Pietistic Protestant (English)
Key Figure – John Wesley
Key Word – Holiness
Trajectory – Methodism, Evangelicalism, Quietism (Quakers),
First & Second Great Awakenings, Revivalism, Holiness
Movement, Pentecostalism, Charismatic Movement
NOTE: Other starting points and key figures could have been
chosen for this theology type, most notably Gerard Groote
and the Brethren of the Common Life (14th century) and Count
Nicolas Zinzendorf and the Moravians (18th century)
Type D Key Word: Holiness
• Holiness as “mission” is concerned with a Christian faith that is
personal, practical, and revivalistic
• Moral renovation
• “Personal relationship with Jesus”
• Concerned with the “salvation of souls,” not merely in the sense
of a “saving set of beliefs,” but a heartfelt faith that changes or
transforms one’s character – a true sanctification.
John Wesley (1703-1791)
Aldersgate Experience
“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate
Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to
the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was
describing the change which God works in the heart through
faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust
in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me
that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from
the law of sin and death.”
Wesley’s Journal entry (May 24, 1738)
Spirituality Types (Martha Ainsworth)
Theology & Spirituality
Our Theological Loci
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Scripture
The Trinity
Christology (Doctrine of Christ)
Pneumatology (Doctrine of the Spirit)
Sacraments
Ecclesiology (Doctrine of the Church)
Eschatology (The Kingdom of God)
The Theology Types & our
Theological Loci: Scripture
Type A - Law
Type B- Truth
Type C - History
Type D - Holiness
Canon- fixed,
cannot add or
subtract
Canon-closed as a
matter of
historical
contingency
Canon-closed as a
matter of
historical
contingency
Canon-fixed,
cannot add or
subtract
Allegorical
(originally)
Literal
Allegorical/
Figurative
Literal/
Typological
Literal
Regulative
Mythopoeic/
Legend
Narrative/
Evocation
Renovative
Salvation through
“right belief”
Salvation through
“finding truth”
Salvation “in” and
“of” history
Salvation through
personal change
The Theology Types & our
Theological Loci: Trinity
Type A - Law
Type B - Truth
Type C - History
Type D - Holiness
Economic Trinity
Ontological Trinity Both
Economic Trinity
Soteriological
roles of each
Person
(Atonement)
Ontological
relation of each
Person of the
Divine Mystery
Roles of each
Person in
Salvation History
(Kingdom)
Soteriological
roles of each
Person
(Atonement)
Salvation
considered in
terms of the
execution of the
Divine decree of
election
Salvation
considered in
terms of a
participation in
the Divine
mystery
Salvation
considered in
terms of the
realization of the
Kingdom of God
Salvation
considered in
terms of a
personal
relationship
(saving decision)
Heterodoxy:
Sabellianism,
Filioquism
Heterodoxy:
Subordinationism
Heterodoxy:
Subordinationism
Heterodoxy:
Sabellianism,
Filioquism
The Theology Types & our
Theological Loci: Christology
Type A - Law
Type B - Truth
Type C - History
Type D - Holiness
High Christology – High or Low
emphasis on
divinity
Low Christology –
emphasis on
humanity
High Christology –
emphasis on
divinity
Redemption –
Satisfaction
Theory
Redemption –
Exemplar Theory
(Moral)
Redemption –
Ransom Theory
(Liberation)
Redemption –
Satisfaction (for
sins), Moral (for
sanctification)
Salvation –
Exclusive
Salvation –
Inclusive/Pluralist
Salvation –
Salvation –
Inclusive/
Exclusive
moderate Pluralist
Heterodoxy –
Docetic
Heterodoxy –
Monophysite,
Arian
Heterodoxy –
Nestorian
Heterodoxy –
Docetic
High or Low Christology?
High – Focus on Christ
as Divine Son of God.
Descriptive term:
Lordship
(Types A, B, D)
Low – Focus on Christ
as Son of Man.
Descriptive term:
Incarnational
(Types B and C)
Models of Redemption
 Satisfaction – Christ’s death satisfies God’s Justice (Type A, D)
 Exemplar – Christ’s death demonstrates the extent of God’s
love (Type B, D)
 Liberation (Ransom) – Christ’s death frees God’s Image-bearer
(humanity) from slavery to Satan (Type C)
Models of Salvation
Exclusive – A Christology that confesses Jesus
alone as Savior (Type A, D)
Inclusive – A Christology that holds out the
possibility that God’s grace in Christ may be
implicitly present or offered in other ways (Types
B or C)
Pluralist – A Christology which holds that Jesus is
merely one of many ways to salvation (Types B
or C)
The Theology Types and our
Theological Loci: Holy Spirit
Type A – Law
Type B – Truth
Economic Trinity
Ontological Trinity Both
Filioque – Spirit
Reject Filioque –
proceeds from the Spirit proceeds
Father & the Son from Father only
Type C – History
Spirit proceeds
from the Father
through the Son
Type D – Holiness
Economic Trinity
Filioque – Spirit
proceeds from the
Father & the Son
Concern: coequality of the
Father & Son
Concern: maintain Concern: maintain Concern: coproper monarchy proper roles of
equality of the
of the Father
the Three Persons Father & Son
Unity of Godhead
Full Deity of Three Full disclosure of
Persons
the Divine in
history
Unity of Godhead
Holy Spirit –
principle of Love;
rationale for
elective grace
(monergistic)
Holy Spirit –
movement/
activity communicates
energies of God
(synergistic)
Holy Spirit –
principle of Love;
rationale for
moral renovation;
charismata
(synergistic)
Holy Spirit –
movement/
activity defines
the kingdom of
God (monergistic
or synergistic)
Spirituality Types (Martha Ainsworth)