Basic Beliefs: An Introductory Guide to Christian Theology

Although this book is several decades old now, it is still a useful guide to Christian life. The author does a good job of discussing several specific issues the church and the Christian need to address; while he does not go into detail about any of these issues, he does say enough to cover each topic pretty well. As the subtitle says, this is an introductory guide to Christian theology (not "introduction guide" as this listing shows); it has the feel of a primer or textbook. In fact, each chapter ends with a set of questions drawn from the material just covered--I myself don't feel these questions are that useful, and I imagine most readers will just skip right over them. Early on, DeMaray tries to prove that God exists; while I do not argue with his conclusion, I did find the kinds of logical arguments he uses to make his case pretty weak (i.e., if the world exists, God exists; if sin exists, God exists, etc.). Since faith in God is a prerequisite for Christianity, I feel he could have just skipped over the philosophically impossible task of proving God exists. I was particularly interested in reading the author's opinion concerning several key sacraments and other issues, particularly baptism. As a Southern Baptist who believes in believer's baptism by immersion, I thought the author might present this belief in a negative light. However, I found that the author does a very good job of addressing the differing beliefs among all Christian denominations on this and every other topic (with the exception of the Catholic belief in purgatory, which he does criticize to some degree). Moreover, he goes out of his way to express the thought that faith is much more important than the form in which that faith is expressed.