Pelikan begins Volume 5 with the crisis of orthodoxy that confronted all Christian denominations by the beginning of the 18th century and continues through the 20th century in its particular concerns with ecumenism. The modern period in the hisotry of Christian doctrine, Pelikan demonstrates, may be defined as the time when doctrines that had been assumed more than debated for most of Christian history were themselves called into question: the idea of revelation, the uniqueness of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the expectation of life after death, even the very transcendence of God. The last volume in the Christian Tradition series, Christian Doctrine and Modern Culture (since 1700) is designed for the academic scholar.
