- Introduces readers to the biblical foundations and key methodological questions for theology: faith and reason, the nature of religious authority, the place of experience, revelation, Scripture and tradition, orthodoxy and heresy, and the importance of context (both historical and geographical)
- Provides a comprehensive overview of all the major doctrinal topics (loci) of the Christian faith (the Trinity, Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology, etc.), with emphasis on their coherence and interdependence
- Highlights the most important issues currently being debated within each topic (including perspectives from black, feminist, postcolonial, queer and other theologies)
- Profiles the major theologians who have contributed to each topic, offering a broader perspective on the angles taken by distinct figures in the history of theology
- Encourages readers to think theologically in connection with contemporary questions, e.g. the local vs. the global, issues of gender, race, ecology and the theology of religions
- Adopts a balanced, ecumenical approach, looking at the contributions of all the major branches of the Church to the inheritance of theology today, and demonstrating the breadth and richness of Christian tradition