Systematics Critical and Constructive 1

This labor of love distills Dr. Ron Ray's lifetime reflections on the truth and meaning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Gathered in one volume is an abundant harvest from the best of twentieth-century systematic theology. Beginning students will find here an informative and clear introductory text. Working pastors will receive a refresher course to steady and strengthen a ministry of integrity and joy. Preachers will benefit from the author's recommendation of the "topical-biblical sermon," an approach that leads to contemporary topics for textually-based scriptural preaching, while reinvigorating topical preaching with scriptural sturdiness. With both conviction and transparency, Ray welcomes his readers into a thoughtful conversation about why and how the Christian message still matters today. In the process, we also see firsthand how and why systematic theology can still matter today for those entrusted with proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.-James F. Kay, Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Professor, Princeton Theological Seminary.

This critical and constructive perspective interacts with such fields as biblical studies, Old and New Testament theology, hermeneutics and other philosophy. Ray's synthesis arises out of a unique theological and pastoral pilgrimage as a minister in the United States and as a missionary theologian and Christian ethicist in Nigeria and Kenya. As one might expect from a scholar who did the first PhD dissertation on Jacques Ellul, Ray writes with a forthright, probing, honest style. He criticizes authors at highly specific points, but often demonstrates indebtedness to the same scholars. He is deeply informed by the New Testament, and secondarily by the Old Testament, yet insists that interpretive dishonesty is no Christian virtue.-Leicester R. Longden, Assoc. Professor of Evangelism and Discipleship Emeritus, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.