Contents

Part I: Systematic Theology and Philosophy of Science

1. Logical Positivism -- pg.3

2. Theological Reaction to the Positivist Model of Science:
Karl Barth -- pg.11

3. Critical Rationalism: Karl Popper -- pg.24

4. Critical Rationalism and Theology: William W. Bartley -- pg.33

5. The Paradigm Theory and the Question of the Origins of
Theological Models: Thomas S. Kuhn -- pg.47

Part II: The Construction of Theories in Systematic Theology

6. Theology as the Science of God: Wolfhart Pannenberg -- pg.71

7. Theology as a Critical-Argumentative Science: Gerhard Sauter -- pg.101

Part III: Systematic Theology: A Critical-Realist Perspective

8. The Nature of Theological Statements -- pg.125

9. Criteria for a Critical-Realist Model of Rationality in
Systematic Theology -- pg.143

Bibliography -- pg.198

Index -- pg.204

WENTZEL VAN HUYSSTEEN is Professor of Systematic Theology and Head of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. The original edition of this book, published in South Africa in 1986, received two prestigious awards: the Andrew Murray Prize for Theological Literature and the Bill Venter Award for Academic Excellence. Van Huyssteen has authored numerous journal articles as well as a book on the theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg.