Tracing The Lines (currents In Reformational Thought) [Hardcover]

Tracing the Lines takes on the project of what Christian scholarship is, and should be, today. It does so, however, with an eye to locating similarities in the rich tradition the last nearly two thousand years of Christian scholarship has given birth to. With humility and a sympathetic ear, Sweetman traces the way certain lines of thought have developed over time, showing their strengths, their weaknesses, and their motivation for shaping Christian scholarship in particular ways. Though he locates his own thought within a particular one of these streams, he shows how all of them have contributed in different ways to the formation of the work of Christian scholarship. Offering in the end an understanding of Christian scholarship as scholarship attuned to the shape of our Christian hearts, this book reaches across disciplines to connect Christians engaged in scholarship in all areas of the academy, whether at public or private institutions. This learned book reads like an exciting detective story.A 'Christian scholarship' Whodunit?Rather than give a traditional argumentative judgment, Sweetman ends by surprising us, and invites every scholar into the confessional: What is the shape of your heart aligned with the Scriptures?A genial, engaging, profound book. --Calvin Seerveld, Senior Member in Philosophical Aesthetics, Emeritus, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto What is Christian scholarship?Robert Sweetman's new book is a penetrating, synthetic reflection on this precise question.Sweetman provides an historically rich view of this question with illuminating meditations on patristic, medieval, and modern figures. This is a conversation Sweetman wants to move forward, and he does so down a new, imaginative, and speculative path. --John F. Boyle, Professor of Catholic Studies and Theology, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota A lovely, challenging book for all Christian scholars concerned with a real connection between their scholarship and their hearts. lÃ-