Living Belief
A Short Introduction to Christian Faith
Author Douglas F. Ottati ISBN 9780802875372 Binding Trade Paper Publisher WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Publication Date June 07, 2022 Size 152 x 229 mmA leading theologian’s concise guide to the beliefs, commitments, and practices of Christianity.
What do Christians believe? But also, what do they do? And feel?
With decades of experience teaching the essentials of Christian faith, Douglas Ottati still finds these questions—and more like them—dynamic and compelling. In Living Belief, he moves beyond trite answers, drawing from the deep well of tradition to offer up wisdom from the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord’s Prayer. In so doing, Ottati explores key Christian themes, such as creation, redemption, and love—of neighbor, enemy, and the weak and dependent.
Concise and approachable, Living Belief makes no claims to be a definitive account of Christianity but rather attempts “to introduce a faith that remains a source of meaning and direction, that orients, that encourages and assures, that supplies moral standards and calls for contrition, and that furnishes grounds for perseverance and hope.” In connection with each chapter, Ottati includes questions for discussion, so that readers—those revisiting the core components of their Christian faith and those learning about it for the first time—can together continue the work, begun here, of understanding the multifaceted life of devotion that is Christianity.
“This is a useful summary of church teachings.”
D. Mark Davis in Interpretation
“Offers rich resources for a variety of readers. . . . I highly recommend this volume as a marvelous resource for inquirers, teachers, and preachers.”
“This book deserves the attention of believers as well as nonbelievers; of advanced scholars as well as beginning students. In it, believers will see that true faith leads to further questions and does not cancel doubt, and nonbelievers will see that there is reason in the answers of faith; scholars will see clear proof that when one truly understands something one can explain it clearly, and beginners will learn that faith is worth exploring.”
— Justo L. González
author of The Story of Christianity and A History of Christian Thought
“Though it has its origins in the college classroom, this volume will appeal to anyone interested in probing the basic questions of life in conversation with Christian wisdom. Who is ‘God,’ and what does such Holy Mystery have to do with this world, including us? The genius of Ottati’s work is this: he illuminates how theology is a source (rather than an obstacle) for piety and practical living. With story, song, and wry narrative style, he lures his readers into theological reflection that attends at once to the ordinary details of human life and to expansive wonder at the glory of God.”
— Martha L. Moore-Keish
J. B. Green Professor of Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary
“Living Belief is a deep but accessible introduction to Christian piety, which Douglas Ottati insists is not so much about subscription to a list of propositional truths as about asking good questions—about who God is, who we are (at our best and our worst), and what it means to find direction and hope in the God disclosed in Jesus Christ. Drawing on ancient creeds and biblical texts, Ottati demonstrates how Christianity seldom offers only one answer to our questions, and in doing so he invites us to discover richness, diversity, and vitality in theological tradition. Living Belief is a wonderful primer on Christian faith from one of this generation’s most important theologians.”
— James Calvin Davis
author of American Liturgy: Finding Theological Meaning in the Holy Days of US Culture
“Readers of Ottati’s recent A Theology for the Twenty-First Century know he is a brilliant interpreter of Christian faith for our time. Living Belief provides a brief and reliable compendium of that larger theological work that is approachable for a larger audience of non-specialists. Ottati outlines his basic theological vision in conversation with the classic texts studied in the great Reformation-era catechisms: the Apostles’ Creed, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer. In the spirit of lively inquiry, he explores basic Christian affirmations with attention both to their historical roots and to their meaning in our contemporary context. This is an excellent text for beginning students of Christian theology and would also serve well in church educational settings. Highly recommended.”
— Dawn DeVries
J. N. Thomas Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Virginia
“In this volume, Douglas Ottati, one of today’s leading theologians—and one of the most learned—offers a down-to-earth and remarkably lucid primer of the Christian faith and its core sources. He shows that Christianity enacts a living faith and, in his explication, provides readers a platform for examining their faith and life. The book’s artful treatment of topics will fruitfully guide those who are interested in thinking religiously: from Sunday school classes and church discussion groups, to introductory college courses, to the nightstands of believers who want to ponder their faith more deeply in order to live it more earnestly.”
— Stephen Healey
provost and vice president for academic affairs at Cambridge College, Massachusetts
“Douglas Ottati has done it again! Fresh off the heels of authoring a systematic theology for an ecological age, he has written a profound introduction to Christianity. Writing as a theologian, he has threaded the pedagogical needle to produce a religious studies textbook that is equally learned and accessible. In a field that can easily overwhelm and bore students, Living Belief is a nuanced account that draws on and illuminates Christian classics and contemporary faith. In Ottati’s hands,
Douglas F. Ottati is the Craig Family Distinguished Professor of Reformed Theology and Justice at Davidson College in North Carolina. He taught for many years at what is now Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and is a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics. He is also a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Among his other books are A Theology for the Twenty-First Century and Hopeful Realism: Reclaiming the Poetry of Theology.
Table of Contents
Getting Started
Part One: The Apostles’ Creed
1. The Text, History, and General Theology of the Apostles’ Creed
2. An Overview of the First Article
3. The Good Creation and the Human Creature
4. God-Talk
5. An Overview of the Second Article
6. The Comma
7. An Alternative Leader
8. An Overview of the Third Article
9. The Spirit and the Church
Part Two: The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount
10. The Commandments
11. Jesus’s Great Sermons
Part Three: The Lord’s Prayer
12. The Lord’s Prayer and the Practice of Praying
Postscript: An Examined Faith
Study Questions