Summary Of Philip Clayton's Transforming Christian Theology

In Philip Clayton’s book Transforming Christian Theology, Clayton creates bold statements that challenge the church to move away from recreating the same battles that have been fought so long in the church. One of the most significant battles being conservatism versus liberalism. Instead, he asks the church to address humanity as a whole in view of the gospel. In other words, how do humans relate to God instead of how does God relate to humans. He makes the option to move away from the same theologies that seem to be incompatible with postmodernism.
In part one of his book, Clayton suggests that theology must be modified to fit the age of transition. According to Clayton, this is the age of postmodernism. Anything that people want to be truth is counted as truth in this age. The only way to reveal the actual truth with this generation is by action. By personal testimonies and experiences, the postmodernists are more willing to accept someone else’s truth as real truth. He also mentions that society is constantly changing and …show more content…
It is a society that is constantly changing. So in order to work with that society, Clayton suggests that Christians turn theology into a way that can be applied practically to the lives of believers. Not only this, but Clayton encourages the church to do theology for themselves. This is a good thing. Christians should not be afraid to study the Word of God and to apply it to their lives.
In Clayton’s eyes, it is not the society that needs to change, but the issue is the theology. He says that the church must rethink their theology rather than delivering the same theology in a new style. The best thing that Clayton makes a point of is to unite social action with zeal for the gospel. Clayton wishes that the church would step from their academia, even just a little bit, and begin to put into action the things spoken, not just engage hearts and