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Domesticated Glory critically examines the marriage between Evangelicalism and American politics. The study begins by engaging popular political pundits who wish to transform Christianity into an arm of the state. It then moves to examine some of the theological foundations proposed as support for the church's propping up of American political ideology. Finally, the study provides a more robust politics of the church by outlining how the church might act as a politics in itself. Thus, the church may gain a political voice as church in such a way as to make the world know it stands in need of redemption. This is a far cry from the liberal attempt of the Social Gospel and many modern evangelicals to transform the world into a pseudo-church by cultural or social control. Unlike attempts to engage culture on its own terms in the political arena or to escape politics by avoiding any public testimony to the Gospel, this study lays out a way for the church to act as church in the public square, witnessing to a Gospel concerned primarily about the universe's King and His future Kingdom.

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System and Story is intended to develop a means for bridging the gap between critics of system and those who may find value in doing systematics from a Biblically oriented context. Narrative theologians have rightly identified and critiqued the development of system in academic theology. Unfortunately, they have not identified the ways in which systematic elements have always played a role in theological knowledge. This study demonstrates the inherent systematic tendencies that still exist in narrative approaches to theology, while at the same time acknowledging the appropriateness of aspects of the narrative critique of system. The reaction against Enlightenment modernism is examined from the perspective of the heightened role of system in religious epistemology. The work of Stanley Hauerwas serves to carry much of the conversation regarding the critique of system and a narrative alternative as it is discovered in communal formation. After «summarizing» Hauerwas' theology, if such a thing is possible, the final chapters explore the ecclesiological concerns of narrative theologians according to a more systematic rendering of pneumatology. A Biblical rendering of pneumatology from the perspective of the Spirit's role in ecclesiology allows for a modest (i.e., pre-modern) systematic presentation commensurate with narrative communal formation. Thus, the narrative attempt to once again «do» theology for the church is seen as compatible with a Scriptural (i.e., modestly systematic) theology of the Spirit.

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"What is the purpose of theology for the church?" Systematic theology provides an inroad into this question by offering both a method for doing theology and an explanation for the purpose of that method. However, «system» is itself the product of a specific understanding of knowledge grounded in rational demonstration of facts. This study attempts to address the historical debate over when systematic theology began. Much of the debate is centered on the definition of system and revolves around the use, or lack thereof, of external philosophical categories or language. Specific historical figures have been selected to serve as illustrations of how theological prolegomena functioned in works prior to and following the influence of Enlightenment thought. In the early chapters it will be seen that theology was neither totally saturated with, nor totally devoid of, external philosophical reference points or programmatic intentions. On the contrary, both external points of reference and programmatic intentions have played a role in theology since the church's inception. In other words, certain elements of system (e.g., logic, non-contradiction, organization) have played a role in theological investigation and construction since, at least, the second century. The last two chapters of this study demonstrate that these may not be the same influences that have marked post-Enlightenment systematics. One of the primary characteristics of pre-Enlightenment theology is its intentional focus on the life of the church. Theology, like the Scriptures, was often written for specific circumstances. Enlightenment influences significantly changed the intentions of much of theology in that theological knowledge was studied and displayed for the sake of knowledge itself. The church no longer mattered, or was at best an afterthought, in the realm of what is now seen as the domain of academic theology.

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