With luxuriating readability and marvelous conciseness, Cardinal Dulles offers a splendid excursion through Christian Apologetics. From Paul and Augustine to men and women of the middle twentieth century, the reader becomes familiar with all the high points of religious and philosophic argumentation. For people interested in religious inquiry, this volume becomes the ultimate study guide from which to delve more deeply into the original texts. This is not "hardpan" reading, it is as smooth as silk.

This is the classic text on the broad sweep of apologetics. Dulles begins with apologetic motifs in the NT, then continues on to the patristic era, rich in apologetics classics.

Each section in ended with the author's concluding analysis. He then moves to the middle ages which focused primarily on Aquinas. Then to the Reformation era, 16-18th. Ends with a chapter each on the 19th and 20th centuries.

I appreciate his splitting his historical sweep beginning with the 16th C. forward into Catholic and Protestant. Lacking in my mind is the apologists of my era, the Craig's, Geisler's,Montgomery's, etc., but I didn't really buy nor use this to get a historical fix on them. What Dulles provides so succinctly in this work is so useful to gaining an overall timeframe on the apologetic topic.

Highly recommended.

It's no wonder that this unassuming gentle man has been rewarded by the RC church with the title of Cardinal. Right from it's very title this easy to read volume covers practically all of the nuances of the famous and infamous exegetes of history. His final chapter of what faith really is, is particularly inspired. For anyone who loves to read about or study theology, this book is indeed a treasure which you will keep and use for a long time to come.

Father Avery Dulles,S.J., has once again demonstrated his intellectual acuity and literary talent with the augmentation of his autobiographical account, "A Testimonial to Grace," which, in its updated form, with its 47 supplementary post-conversion account pages, has been subtitled "Reflections on a Theological Journey." Originally penned in 1946, Fr. Dulles's impressive autobiography,imbued with his trademark erudition, traces the evolution of his philosophy from his early days at Harvard University, where he encountered many thinkers to whose influence he acknowledges a debt, through his Jesuit training years and,ultimately, his work in fields such as ecclesiology and ecumenism in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.Interspersed throughout are unique anecdotes of episodes in Fr. Dulles's illustrious academic and professorial careers involving such luminaries as John Courtney Murray,S.J., and Gustave Weigel,S.J. Fr. Avery Dulles's autobiography will serve as an inspiration to Catholics and non-Catholics alike,interested in the reality of God's ineffable grace and its operation in the human soul by the will of God.It is to this mysterious reality that Dulles wisely attributes his conversion to Christ and His Church, reminding us once again that grace must be freely accepted by everyone who would come into union with God, be he extraordinarily learned or not. Fr. Dulles has indeed performed a great service to us laymen in reminding us of the eternally precious gift of grace, to which his life has indeed been a testimonial.

In this book, Dulles offers a simplistic yet useful overview of the way the church has been viewed throughout its history. He focuses primarily on the Catholic church. From Dulles' analysis, there are five basic ways to understand the church. He explores how these models have been used over time, as well as their particular strengths and weaknesses. In the rest of the book, Dulles explores some of the issues surrounding ecclesiology. He has also added a new model which is a synthesis of the other five. My only complaint about the book is that it makes divisions too simple and straightforward. Rarely is there a church that fits all of the descriptions of one model or does not somehow combine several models. The book is helpful, however, to pastors who seek to understand the thought patterns of the members of their church. It is also helpful to congregants who desire to understand more fully what it means to be the church. All things considered, this book is an asset to pastors, students, and anyone involved in ministry.

First copyrighted in 1974, this five-way look at the Church expanded the viewpoint of many Catholics beyond the institutional model. It is a pretty easy read, with very little in the way of intense or primary-source theology. I recommend it for teachers of secondary students to help them cope with the various questions adolescents ask about the Church.

Ecclesiology is the study and theory of what the Christian Church constitutes. Dulles presents several "models" which illustrate various aspects of the what Church is like. In one sense, it's an earthly institution, a formal organization of people with specific roles and responsibilities, lay and clergy. Complicating this picture is the reality that Christianity has fractured over the centuries into a variety of denominations, institutionally separate from each other.

In another sense, the Church is a mystical communion or fellowship of people with shared beliefs. In this model, the institution takes a secondary role, being formed to provide shape and support to this body of people. According to a third model, the Church is a sacrament, an instrument bridging the gap between earthly and divine, a conduit for divine grace to humanity. In a fourth model, the Church is a herald, charged with proclaiming the Christian message to the world, and reinforcing it among believers. In a fifth model, the Church is a servant, responsible for encouraging good works and helping those in need. Dulles says that many more models can be discussed, but he sees these as the most basic ones.

Dulles does not claim to write for the lay (in the sense of non-academic, rather than non-clergy) reader, but this book actually is in clear, concise, non-technical prose that nearly anyone should grasp. While Dulles himself is a Roman Catholic, he gives the perspectives of Protestant and Orthodox Christians a full and fair hearing; this book definitely is not a defense of an "official" Roman Catholic viewpoint. In fact, he points out how Rome's "official" views became increasingly more nuanced, even in the years befor Vatican II.

Avery Dulles, by the way, is the son of former Secretary of State (under Eisenhower) John Foster Dulles, was raised a Presbyterian, became an agnostic by his teens, turned into a religious "seeker" while an undergrad at Harvard, then entered the Roman Catholic Church and later the Jesuit order after graduating. This personal journey clearly lends some perspective to his work. Dulles recently was named a cardinal, in recognition of his work as a theologian. This is a most unusual honor for someone who is neither a bishop nor a key leader in church government.

Avery Dulles defines "revelation" as "God's free action whereby he communicates saving truth to created minds, especially through Jesus Christ as accepted by the apostolic church and attested by the Bible and by the continuing community of believers." In Models of Revelation, Dulles identifies five models of revelation: Revelation as Doctrine, Revelation as History, Revelation as Inner Experience, Revelation as Dialectical Presence, and Revelation as New Awareness. He explains that the propositional view of revelation to which he links Conservative Evangelicalism and the propositional view of Catholic neo-Scholasticism both fit within his model of Revelation as Doctrine. Dulles' view, however, does not paint a complete picture of the "Conservative Evangelical" view of revelation.

Dulles traces his description of the Conservative Evangelical view of revelation to the views presented by B.B. Warfield, through the defenses of Gordon H. Clark, J.I. Packer, J.W. Montgomery, and Carl F.H. Henry, to the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy's "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy." Dulles concludes that this view holds that God makes himself known through nature (natural or general revelation), but that salvific truth requires supernatural (special) revelation. Natural revelation makes God "available always and everywhere." Special revelation provides for effective knowledge of salvific truth because God's tanscendence and the devastating effects of original sin prevent humans from attaining a sure and saving knowledge of God by natural revelation alone. God's revelation is deposited in the canonical scripture, so the Bible is the whole and final revelation of God, thereby allowing revelation without prophets, Jesus Christ, or apostles.

Dulles finds that the "propositional model stands up well in terms of its faithfulness to tradition, its internal coherence, and its practical advantages, but less well when judged by other standards." He also notes that it promotes unity through its doctrines, provides firm doctrinal standards, facilitates full commitment to biblical and ecclesiastical teaching. This model "safeguards the meaning and authority of revelation, which is seen as providing clear, firm answers to deep and persistent questions concerning God, humanity, and the universe, and thus as offering sure guidance through the confusions of life."

However, Dulles concludes that this model provides too narrow an approach, that it is authoritarian and extrinsicist. He criticizes its as implausible, inadequate to experience, and as valueless for dialogue. Dulles believes that this model requires submission to propositions in the Bible held to be revelation, regardless of whether they seem to apply to the believer, thereby ignoring the believer's own life and experience. Its apparent rigidity stemming from its acknowledgment of Holy Scripture as the complete deposit of revelation rejects "members of other groups as heretics or infidels." Because he doubts the authority of every passage of Holy Scripture as God's word, Dulles questions this model's treatment of the Bile as peremptory authority. Nevertheless, Dulles does not imply "that the clear teachings of Scripture and the creeds are without grounds in revelation."

Dulles clearly identifies the elements of God's revelation in his descriptions of five models. What he views as the weaknesses of the Evangelical's conservative model, presumes his bias that Holy Scripture, without the Church through the pope, is incomplete. He discounts that the conservative model actually accounts for the role of history, experience, and faith because of his desire to "compartmentalize" God's revelation. Nevertheless, Dulles' analysis does lead to the conclusion that God's revelation is important to the believer because it conveys God's nature and purposes to the community of believers.

Dulles takes the untrained reader through the most complicated and sophisticated thought process in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step manner. He sets up criteria and begins building five current philosophies or models of revelation theology that can be easily understood. It is a great eye-opening tool in the final compare-and-contrast, problem-solving stage of analysis. This book is a rare opportunity to peer into the mind of a great theologian. One can't help but be impressed.

"The Priestly Office" provides an honest, well thought, and even handed exploration into the priesthood today. Avery Dulles provides insight regarding the differing theological developments and understandings of the priesthood and thier contemporary implications.