The Theology of the Cross in Historical Perspective: 1 (Distinguished Dissertations in Christian Theology)

The theology of the cross is indisputably a trendy concept today. Numerous seminars books and dissertations tackle the topic. But The Theology of the Cross in Historical Perspective demonstrates that theology of the cross is no passing fancy. Theologies of the cross appear at the beginnings of the church in the sixteenth-century reformations of the church and in the more contemporary modernization of the church. Without theologies of the cross what the church is called to be and to preach becomes unclear. So then what is the theology of the cross? Anna Madsen surveys the theology of the cross in the thinking of Paul and Luther. She also outlines several important twentieth-century contributions to the subject. On the basis of her analysis Madsen suggests that the theology of the cross reveals God to be found even in death. In death after all boundaries disappear. The theology of the cross assures Christians that God is present in the death of sin and in the realities of suffering and uncertainty. Given that it announces Gods presence the theology of the cross is ultimately a theology of grace freedom and trust. Anna Madsen is Assistant Professor of Religion at Augustana College Sioux Falls South Dakota. She is an ordained ELCA pastor who completed her DPhil at the University of Regensburg Germany.