Literary Discussions

I recommend the five volumes (in paperback) by Jaroslav Pelikan "The History and Development of Christian Doctrine" (or some title like that I am doing this from memory) http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/decemberweb-only/12-27-42.0.html  Pelikan was raised as a Lutheran I think. His five volume history is scholarly yet very readable for someone with no formal training. Pelikan is unbiased and without agenda. It is known that over the years Pelikan began to favor Eastern Orthodoxy in his personal spiritual life.  The other book I would recommend is Hans Kung's "Religion for the Third Millennium." Pelikan quotes Paul's verse (which follows) but give a very clever spin to it by understanding "faith" as "doctrine" or "dogma" 1 Corinthians 13: Faith, Hope, Love

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. ---  For me one of the most important things Paul said is "God places his treasures of gold in earthen vessels."  Those earthen vessels are human beings with all their strengths and weaknesses. I personally like to say that "Paul was not the sock-puppet of the Holy Spirit" and by that I mean perhaps what Karl Barth meant when he wrote that the scriptures are individuals giving an account of their personal experiences of the holy, but the scriptures themselves are not to be conflated with that holiness. If 1,000 people witnessed some event they would give 1,000 different accounts which would share a lot in common but would not be identical. In the 2nd Epistle of Peter (ch. 3:16 I think) Peter said (paraphrasing from memory) "Paul has said some things which are difficult to understand and those who lack the foundation of a proper understand twist and distort such passages to their own destruction (as they do with many other scriptural passages.)  When the apostle asked  the Ethiopian eunuch seated in a chariot reading Isaiah "do you understand what you are reading" the eunuch answered "how may I understand unless I have someone to guide me."