Einschätzung des Wesens des Christentums reflektiert. [Focal Points in the History of Theology. Collected Essays, Vol. 2] In this work the focus is upon the history of theology itself. The concepts of different theologians working in different periods will be collected like beams of light passing through a magnifying glass and will be viewed together. A line emerges in the midst of all the change that can be designated as the classic tradition of Christian theology. This line appears through the very process of continually taking up new thoughts in new situations, a process that cannot be seen in advance. It will, however, also be shown that in the movement called, "Modernity," the synthetic and assimilitative achievement of Christian thinking turned into a centrifugal force of dissolution. A final essay reflects upon the meaning of the history of theology for the evaluation of the essence of Christendom.