Download or read book The Development of Doctrine in the Church written by Peter Toon and published by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. This book was released on 1979 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE CHRISTIAN FAITH is based ultimately on Scripture, and most denominations also base their system of doctrine on Scripture. This system is set forth in creeds, confessions of faith, and articles of religion. In this important book Peter Toon discusses the development of doctrine in the church--that is, the attempt to answer questions concerning the nature of doctrine and its relationship to the church. Toon examines the thought of those who have studied and written about the development of doctrine from the nineteenth century to the present. John Henry Newman, Robert Rainey, James Orr, and Karl Rahner are among those whose work is considered here. Toon concludes that we need a way of understanding development which does justice to the unique place of Scripture, to the reality of human society in which the Bible is studied, to the historical situation in which Christians form doctrine, and to the explication of doctrine in precise intellectual terms. -Publisher