The Big 5: Systematic Theology

Blog Note: Please read the rules to each thread. These lists are most helpful when we all keep our lists "tight."

What are your big 5 systematic theology books?

Please, no debate on systematic or other theological methods. And limit it to systematic theology, not just any theology book you like. Obviously multi-volume systematics can be
listed as one book.  Go!

Comments

[PJ Tibayan]

1. Calvin's Institutes
2. Grudem's Systematic Theology
3. Erickson's Christian Theology
4. John Frame's Theology of Lordship (3 vols. thus far)
5. J.L. Dagg's Manual of Theology

[Darryl]

1. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology
2. Millard Erickson's Christian Theology
3. Bruce Milne's Know the Truth
4. Stan Grenz - Theology for the Community of God
5. Daniel Migliore - Faith Seeking Understanding

So hard to keep it to 5!

[Tim Etherington]

1. Grudem
2. Calvin's Institutes
3. Erickson
4. Milne's Know The Truth
5. A good Lutheran one. Seriously. I just don't remember which one I had to use in seminary but it was helpful to get a slightly different take on some questions beyond Calvinist/Arminian.

[Ron]

Just because I like to have a few "controversial" works thrown in:

1. Donald Bloesch's Christian Foundations
2. Wolfhart Pannenberg's Systematic Theology
3. Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology
and, ok, round it off with
4. Erickson
5. Calvin

[John Cheatham]

1. Daniel Akin's "A Theology for the Church"
4. J.I. Packer's "Knowing God"
2. Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology"
3. Millard Erickson's "Christian Theology"
5. Alister McGrath's "Christian Theology"

[matt]

1. Lewis and Demarest, "Integrative Theology"
2. Grudem
3. Erickson
4. Grenz
5. Frame

[Derek]

1) Calvin
2) Grudem
3) Frame
4) Grenz
5) Erickson

[Travis]

Calvin
Reymond
Frame
Bavinck
Berkhof

Pardon me, my presbyterian is showing...

[Steve Erickson]

1) John Calvin "The Institutes"
2) Herman Bavink "Reformed Dogmatics"
3) Robert Reymond "A New Systematic Theology"
4) Louis Berkhof "Systematic Theology"
5) Wayne Grudem "Systematic Theology"

[Joe Thorn]

Erickson? Really? I like it best to hold my office door open.

But in terms of what I think the best systematic theologies, there are a number, I'll try and mix it up with a few that have not been listed yet (I think).

1. Calvin's Institutes are a must. Systematic and devotional.

2. James M. Boice's "Foundations of the Christian Faith" is patterned after Calvin's Inst., and is a great intro to systematic theology - particularly for those who have no background in this discipline.

3. Berkhof's is one of the best one volume sys theos out there. Just awesome.

4. Shedd's Dogmatic Theology is also solid and interesting.

5. Robert L Dabney's "Lectures in Sys Theo" are fantastic. The format is different from the others, so if you are working through a few volumes on a given topic, save Dabney for last and his lectures are refreshing to read. Besides, we all need a little angry southern presbyterian sometimes.

[Joel Burdeaux]

1. Grudem
2. Calvin
3. John Gill - A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity
4. Lloyd-Jones - Great Doctrines of the Bible

I'm young - 4 is plenty

[DJ]

No one has listed Bavinck's yet?

[Joe Thorn]

Yeah. Bavinck is up. Great choice.

[David Reimer]

1. Calvin's Institutes
2. Donald Bloesch, Essentials of Evangelical Theology (2 vols)
3. G.C. Berkouwer, Studies in Dogmatics (14 vols)
4. Helmut Thielicke, The Evangelical Faith (3 vols)
5. Hendrikus Berkhof, The Christian Faith

[kevin]

Where is Barth?

[Chris Meirose]

Grudem - it's on my desert island book list
Erickson - I'm a Bethel Grad, I think I have to endorse this one!
McGrath - Christian Theology
Berkhof
Mark Driscoll's sermons on "Doctrine" - making systematic theology for the ears!

[Nate Friedrichsen]

1. John Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion
2. Thomas Watson: A Body of Divinity

[Scott Eaton]

Charles Ryrie - Basic Theology
J. Dwight Pentecost - Things to Come
Lewis Sperry Chafer - Systematic Theology
Paul Enns - Moody Handbook of Theology
Swindoll and Zuck - Christian Theology
Norman Geisler - Christian Theology

I'm really surprised that none of these made the Big 5 list.

[cavman]

1. Calvin (currently re-reading)
2. Bloesch
3. J.L Dagg
4. Francis Turretin Institutes of Elenctic Theology
5. Finney- only to show people what a heretic he really was.
My real #5 would be the Anthony Hoekema trilogy: Created in God's Image, Saved by Grace, The Bible and the Future

[Steve McCoy]

Enjoying everyone's lists, as usual. The Hoekema trilogy is a nice add cavman. Joe, well done with Dabney, Shedd AND the oft overlooked Boice (love this one).

Here's my big 5...

Calvin - Institutes
Grudem - Systematic Theology
Boice - Foundations of the Christian Faith
Berkhof - Systematic Theology
Milne - Know the Truth

[theologien]

What, no Barth?
1. Barth, Church Dogmatics
2. McClendon, Systematic Theology (3 vol)
3. Bloesch, Christian Foundations
4. Pannenberg
5. Grenz

[Joe Thorn]

LOL @ Scott Eaton. Man, It too me a while to get that you had to be kidding. We need to all get together soon.

[Richard Cowles]

1. John Calvin's Institutes
2. Francis Turrentin's Institutes of Elenctic Theology
3. Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology
4. J.I. Packer's Concise Theology

5. Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology

[Ross Strader]

1. Grudem
2. Bloesch, Christian Foundations
3. Frame (Logos collection)
4. Erickson
5. Shedd, Dogmatic

amazing that these are all available electronically...

[Scott Eaton]

Hey Joe:

I'm glad you got the joke. I was beginning to fear that I would be forever associated with those books.

[Travis Prinzi]

1. Thomas Oden, Systematic Theology (The Living Word, The Word of Life, Life in the Spirit
2. Alister E. McGrath, Historical Theology (I know, that's kinda cheating...)
3. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology
4. Packer,
5. Calvin, Institutes

[Boaly]

1-Grudem
2-Chafer
3-Hodge

[Im going to stop at 3]

[random fan of site]

completely unrelated (sorry), but i just wanted to let you know that one of the keller links are broken: it's the link marked "(Streamload)" to the site http://www.mediamax.com/rpcsermons/

ok, carry on. love the site, btw! =)

[Timmy Brister]

1. Calvin Institutes (the gold standard)
2. Boyce Abstract of Systematic Theology (because Boyce exhibits the best of Baptist scholarship)
3. Turretin Institutes(also because it was so influential among other systematicians)
4. Grudem Systematic (best contemporary systematic, solid and pastoral)
5. Demarest and Lewis Integrative (altogether different but very helpful approach)

[Scott Eaton]

My serious list:

1. Wayne Grudem - Pastoral, devotional and accessible. Nice mix of reformed, baptist and a touch of charismatic (sounds like a mixed drink).

2. Calvin's Institutes - whether refomred or not, this is the standard and always will be.

3. Robert Reymond - although I disagree with his view of Romans 7

4. Louis Berkhof - the first sys theo I owned and it is still great.

5. R.C. Sproul - The Essential Truths of the Christian Faith - a basic primer that is accessible for the novice. I find it helpful too (although I do have points of disagreement).

Not a systematic per se, but I must add that The Bible and the Future by Anthony Hoekema changed my life.

[Micah+]

1. Theo-Drama by von Balthasar
2. Theo-Logic by von Balthasar
3. Systematic Theology by Francis J. Hall
4. Systematic Thrology by ThomasOden (surprised to only see this in one other list)
5. On the Incarnation by Athanasius

[Richard A. Bailey]

Church Dogmatics, Karl Barth
God, Revelation & Authority, Carl F. H. Henry (maybe not strictly a full systematic, but hard to beat)
Dogmatic Theology, W. G. T. Shedd
Institutes, John Calvin
Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Frances Turretin

[Timmy Brister]

Oooh, Richard, glad you mentioned Henry. GRA has to be one of the most important works in recent history. I think that many of the most recent theologians will say that Henry's work is near the top (e.g. Dockery and Mohler).

[Terry J]

Another shout out for "A Theology for the Church" (edited by Daniel Akin) which hasn't gotten much love here. I suppose it's too new to make an impact on Top 5 list right now. In fact, I haven't read it all yet, but what I have read is very good; and it proves that Baptists can hang with the pourers and sprinklers when it come to talking theology.

[Clay Jackson]

There are the big two for me:

1. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics

2. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

When someone asks me who are the most important contemporary theologians, I say these two. Why? Because almost all decent modern theology--Protestant and Catholic--is influenced by and reacts to these two thinkers.

The rest of the list. These aren't necessarily the best, but they're ones I turn to a lot.

3. John Calvin, Institutes

4. Robert Jenson, Systematic Theology

5. Daniel Migliore, Faith Seeking Understanding (one of the few intro to theology textbooks that actually stands on its own as a systematic theology)

[Rob]

Calvin
Barth
Berkouwer
Grenz
Hoekema/Gustaf Aulen, The Faith of the Christian Church

[Reid]

Not wanting to repeat the above...

On a popular level, John Frame's recent Salvation Belongs to the Lord is a good work.

For those who like Philosophy, Geisler's Prolegomena in Vol 1 is good. I don't like the rest of his as much as he is highly old school dispensational.

[Brian Hedges]

1. John Calvin's Institutes
2. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics
3. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology
4. John Murray, Collected Writings (One of the volumes has his Lectures on Systematic Theology)
5. Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology
6. Okay, I'm cheating - but G. C. Berkhouwer's Studies in Dogmatics deserves a mention

[Bird]

I'm impressed with anyone here who's actually taken the massive amounts of time necessary to read through Barth's Dogmatics. I've dipped my toe into those waters with an abridged version.

About Grudem, his Systematic Theology is choice. The fact that he's conquered the Systematic Theology world in a few short years says a lot.

[Carlos Eduardo]

1. Francis Turretin's Institutes
2. Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics
3. à Brakel's The Christian Reasonable Service
4. Calvin's Institutes
5. Berkhof's

William Cunningham's Historical Theology deserves a mention as well.