A New Handbook of Christian Theology

Commonweal, Nov 20, 1992 by Lawrence S. Cunningham

The Handbook of Christian Theology (1958) was a standard on the shelf of the theological tyro. In just over one hundred succinct essays, the basic Christian theological vocabulary was explicated. The editors of A New Handbook note that Roman Catholics, women, and a lot of other people did not appear in the 1950s' version; hence a freshly minted handbook begun from scratch.

The basic notion of the handbook goes something like this: pick a big topic and find the appropriate essay; that essay will lead one, in turn, to cognate essays which will provide a relatively broad sketch of a topic. Thus, for example, the two-page article on "Pentecostalism" refers the reader to Evangelicalism, fundamentalism, Holy Spirit, popular religion, and sanctification. Each article has a succinct bibliography and references, again, to other articles.

The entries I have read (honesty compels me to note that I am a contributor) are straightforward and nontechnical. Major articles (e.g., "Resurrection" or "systematic theology") run about five or six pages of text. Even on subjects as murky as "deconstructionism" or as formal as "theological hermeneutics" there is a genuine attempt to explain and clarify for the nonexpert. A volume like this is both a handy reference work for gaining a sense of the sweep of theological issues but could also be put to use as a kind of quick refresher course on contemporary theology. A volume of this sort is no substitute for reading original sources but as a handy tour of the theological horizon it is a useful and readable tool. I hope that it enjoys the same success as the original work.