New Book Release
Dear friends,
After years of research, writing, revising, and more rounds of editing than I care to count, I'm delighted to share that my newest book is finally available on Amazon.
The Craft of Systematic Theology: An Exegetical and Sequential Blueprint for Building a Doctrinal System
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This has been one of the most ambitious projects I've ever undertaken. At roughly 600 pages and nearly 190,000 words, it is the book I wish someone had handed me years ago.
Most books on theological method explain what systematic theology is or why it matters. Those are important questions, but they leave another question largely unanswered: How do you actually do systematic theology? Not in broad strokes or general principles, but as a disciplined, repeatable process that moves from biblical text to doctrinal formulation.
That gap has been noted before. Stanley Porter and Steven Studebaker observed that most discussions of theological method provide orientations rather than procedures. They tell us what to bring to the task, but very little about what to do once we begin. This book was written to address that need.
At its center is a four-step exegetical procedure: identify the relevant biblical data across the canon, analyze each passage through careful exegesis, deduce theological principles inductively from the evidence, and then construct a doctrinal model that remains accountable to the whole witness of Scripture. Each stage is unpacked in detail with worked examples, diagnostic checklists, and practical guidance designed to make the method teachable and repeatable.
The book also lays the necessary foundation for that process. It explores the nature and history of systematic theology, the epistemological commitments that govern responsible theological work, the authority of Scripture as the norma normans, the relationship between biblical and systematic theology, doctrinal taxonomy, and the exegetical, logical, and historical fallacies that routinely derail good theology. I also spend time addressing something every serious student eventually encounters: what to do when careful study forces you to abandon a position you've long believed or even taught. That's never comfortable, but intellectual honesty demands it.
One thing this book is not is a systematic theology. It isn't arguing for Calvinism, Arminianism, dispensationalism, covenant theology, or any other theological system. Those appear only as illustrations when necessary. My goal is much more basic and, I hope, more enduring: to provide a clear methodology that can be applied regardless of where one's conclusions ultimately land, provided those conclusions remain accountable to Scripture.
If you're a pastor, seminarian, theology student, teacher, or simply someone who wants to think more carefully about how Christian doctrine should be constructed, I hope you'll find it useful.
Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me throughout this journey, read drafts, offered criticism, prayed for me, or simply kept asking, "So... when is the book coming out?" Your encouragement mattered more than you probably realized.
Grace and peace,
J. Neil Daniels
(Jeremy)
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