Not Every Spirit: A Dogmatics of Christian Disbelief »

Since its initial release over a decade ago, Not Every Spirit has continued to serve as an important and unique contribution to the understanding of Christian dogmatics-not in terms of what the Christian faith does believe, but, in fact, what it does not believe. Updated for today's audience, Morse again reminds us that to believe in God is not to believe everything, but rather it is to test what truly is of God and what is not. To trust everything without awareness of what is untrustworthy is not genuine faith in God. The presence of faithful disbelief in the Church gives the Church's teaching and practice its timeliness in every cultural situation. In the contemporary climate, this message is as true as it was upon this volume's first publication. Students and scholars alike will find this volume to be a welcome, instructive, and challenging resource, useful for the careful consideration and discernment of what the Christian faith is not. Only then can we begin to understand that God's grace is truly God's being for us.

Pt. I Christian Faith as Disbelief

Ch. 1 The Call to Faithful Disbelief 3

Ch. 2 Theology as the Task of Faithful Disbelief 14

Ch. 3 Testing the Spirits Today 32

Ch. 4 Tests of Doctrinal Faithfulness 45

Pt. 2 Disbeliefs of the Christian Faith

Ch. 5 Exploring Doctrines: Preamble to Part 2 73

Ch. 6 The Word of God 86

Ch. 7 The Being of God 113

Ch. 8 Jesus Christ 139

Ch. 9 The Holy Spirit 171

Ch. 10 Creation 198

Ch. 11 Salvation 225

Ch. 12 Humanity 256

Ch. 13 The Church 288

Ch. 14 The Life to Come 318

Notes 347

App. A Guidelines for Utrum Papers 387

App. B Creeds 389

Index of Scriptural References 391

Index of Names 401

Index of Subjects 407