andygoodliff

Book Review: Transformation Theology

Oliver Davies, Paul Janz and Clemens Sedmak, Transformation Theology: Church in the World (T & T Clark, 2007) 179pp (with thanks to T & T Clark for a review copy)

In 1998 Radical Orthodoxy was launched as a new way of doing theology (although its seeds can be traced back to 1990 and Milbank's Theology and Social Theory) and in 2007 with this book, we have Transformation Theology, another new way of doing theology. The last few years has witnessed a new era of theology at King's College London and this book is the first fruits. In a similar way to the fact that I find Radical Orthodoxy often incomprehensible, unfortunately having read this book, I'm not sure I'm completely the wiser what Transformation Theology is.  In the introduction they say 'Transformation Theology ... seeks to provide a groundwork for bridging the gulf that often exists between academic theology and the community of faith' (p.3).  On the basis of this book there is a long way to go. The book is divided into six chapters, with each author responsible for two (Davies on doctrine, Janz on philosophy and Sedmak on ethics).  The two chapters by Oliver Davies are by far the most readable and interesting.  Davies' concern is to ask if Jesus remains fully human where is he? He argues that we need to recover a sense of the ascended Christ and heaven as a place. Here it would have been interesting to see where Davies agrees or disagrees with Douglas Farrow's important work Ascension and Ecclesia.

It might be that in the future this book as the beginnings of Transformation Theology will be seen as important and groundbreaking, but to this reader at the moment I can't see what it is and what is trying to do or say. I still say one of the marks of good theology is that it is readable and on that score this book fails. Why theologians have recently seen the need to create new Theologies (with a capital 'T') I don't know. I'm happy to say that it seems I am not the only reader who struggled with this book - see Ben Myers here, although Ben seems to have grasped more of it than me and on the basis of his review, I would agree with some of what he liked.

New Books for 2008 | Coming Soon

I'm also hopeful that Under the Rule of Christ: Dimensions of Baptist Spirituality (ed. Paul Fiddes will finally appear [This book is a collection of papers first read at Baptists Doing Theology in Context consultation in August 2006 and was due for publication over a year ago, but have had problems with the front cover!].  The other book I'm keeping a regular eye out for is Douglas Campbell's big book The Deliverance of God.

Book Reviews

Apostolic Networks in Britain by William Kay (Paternoster, 2007)

The Barth Lectures by Colin Gunton, edited by Paul Brazier (T & T Clark, 2007)

Beginnings and Endings by Maggi Dawn (BRF, 2007)

Being in Action: The Theological Shape of Barth's Ethical Vision by Paul T. Nimmo (T & T Clark, 2007)

Christology and Scripture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives edited by Andrew Lincoln and Angus Paddison (T & T Clark, 2007)

Communion and Otherness: Further Studies in Personhood and Church by John Zizioulas (T & T Clark, 2006)

The Gospel According to St John by Andrew T. Lincoln (Continuum, 2005)

The Gospel of John and Christian Theology edited by Richard Bauckham and Carl Mosser (Eerdmans, 2008)

History and Hermeneutics by Murray A. Rae (T & T Clark, 2005)

Hospitality as Holiness: Christian Witness Amid Moral Diversity by Luke Bretherton (Ashgate, 2006)

An Introduction to Torrance Theology edited by Gerrit Scott Dawson (T & T Clark, 2007)

The Justifying Judgement of God: A Reassessment of the Place of Judgement in the Saving Work of Christ by Justyn Terry (Paternoster, 2007)

More Than A Symbol: The British Baptist Recovery of Baptismal Sacramentalism by Stanley Fowler (Wipf & Stock, 2002, 2006)

Paul and Hermeneutics of Faith by Francis Watson (T & T Clark, 2004)

Paul, Judaism and the Gentiles: Beyond the New Perspective by Francis Watson (Eerdmans, 2007)

Reinventing English Evangelicalism 1965-2000: A Theological and Sociological Study by Rob Warner (Paternoster, 2007) - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

The Rhythm of Doctrine: A Liturgical Sketch of Christian Faith and Faithfulness by John Colwell (Paternoster, 2007)

Shaping a Theological Mind edited by Darren C. Marks (Ashgate, 2002)

Singing the Ethos of God: On the Place of Christian Ethics in Scripture by Brian Brock (Eerdmans, 2007)

Testimony to Otherwise by Walter Brueggemann (Chalice Press, 2001)

The Theology of John Zizioulas: Personhood and Church edited by Douglas Knight (Ashgate, 2007)

Tolerance and Truth: The spirit of the Age or the Spirit of God? edited by Angus Morrison (Rutherford House, 2007)

Transformation Theology: Church in the World by Oliver Davies, Paul Janz and Clemens Sedmak (T & T Clark, 2007)

Untamed Hospitality by Elizabeth Newman (Brazos Press, 2007)

The Wondrous Cross: Atonement and Penal Substitution in the Bible and History by Stephen Holmes (Paternoster, 2007)

Whatever happened to the Baptist Assembly as an ecclesial body?

The following is from the 1994 report on The Nature of the Assembly and the Council of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (chaired by Paul Fiddes)

a national assembly must by nature be 'deliberative', seeking the to find the mind and purpose of Christ for the servant church (p.11) ... While it is right that the Assembly should be a time for inspiration and celebration as well as for deliberation, the balance seems to have swung too much away from the latter (p.25) ... [T]he concept of a 'Baptist Assembly' which incorporates the 'Annual Meetings of the Baptist Union and the Baptist Missionary Society' cannot be the same kind of meeting as an 'Assembly of the Baptist Union.' The result may be a loss of understanding among the churches as to what an ecclesial Assembly is ... (p.26) ... A major part of Assembly should be deliberative consideration of the work of Council, and discussion of large matters of policy, strategy and priorities.' (p.28)

Sadly the Assembly does little or no real deliberative work and is made up of 'set piece presentations' as one Baptist theologian recently described it.  Is this another example of a pragmatic Union that doesn't listen to its theologians? The Assembly is part of our Baptist eccleisology, but like the Church Meeting it seems to have waned in importance.  How can we recover it is a proper ecclesial body that gathers to seek the mind of Christ for the life and mission of the Union as well as being a prophetic voice to the nation?

New Books for 2008 | Colin Gunton on Revelation and Reason

Revelation and Reason: Prolegomena to Systematic Theology (T & T Clark, October 2008) - Colin Gunton, edited by Paul Brazier, foreword by Stephen Holmes and introduction by Christoph Schwoebel

"Revelation and Reason" brings together a collection of Colin Gunton's lectures, in a volume that highlights the creative thought of a widely read theologian and philosopher.Colin Gunton was a world renowned scholar, systematic theologian and Reformed Church minister. "Revelation and Reason" is an in-depth analysis, derived from the annual lecture/seminar course he gave to MA students at King's College London. Approximately one-third of the work is a direct transcript, and analysis of the three two-hour lectures Colin Gunton gave at a break-neck speed: 'From Reason and Revelation to Revelation And Reason'; 'The Modern Problem in an Historical Context'; and, 'Aspects of Karl Barth on Faith And Reason'. These lectures were a history, analysis and critique of Revelation and Reason in Systematic Theology and Philosophy, culminating with Karl Barth. The remainder is a transcript of the unrehearsed, unscripted, extemporary responses Colin Gunton gave to MA student's papers on set topics in the "Revelation and Reason" course, seamlessly integrated, where relevant, with detail from the main three lectures.Colin was a creative lecturer and widely read theologian and philosopher.
These extemporary responses show the breadth of his learning, and his genius spontaneously to bring to mind relevant ideas from a wealth of theologians and philosophers, whilst incisively and piercingly exposing the flaws as well as the strengths under consideration. From this wealth of reading, Colin gave space to the free rein of his mind particularly when fielding questions or trying to analyze a particular strand of a theologian's thought."Revelation and Reason" is a complementary volume to Colin Gunton's posthumously published "The Barth Lectures" (Continuum 2007) and to the first volume of his unfinished "Systematic Theology", also forthcoming from T&T Clark.

New Books for 2008 | Chris Ellis on Approaching God

Approaching God: A Guide to Leading Worship (Canterbury Press, September 2008)

Worship in the evangelical tradition is a blend of prepared and extempore contributions. It generally follows a set pattern, but openness to spontaneity is an essential ingredient. As in other traditions, ministers and worship leaders receive very little training in how to lead worship and this book meets a pressing need. It considers many aspects of worship including: Why do we worship? Who is worship for? Patterns and shapes in worship, types of prayer, singing, preaching, The Lord's Supper, details of leading, the spirituality of leading worship, connections to the whole of life, Worship as encounter, Worship as pastoral care, Worship as evangelism, and Worship as celebration. A directory of resources and online worship is also provided.

Chris Ellis is author of Gathering: Spirituality and Worship in Free Church Tradition (2004) and co-editor of Gathering for Worship (2005)

Catholicity and Confessionalism

John Colwell's lecture was the fourth in a series of (at least ten according to Nigel Wright) annual George Beasley-Murray Memorial Lectures.  In the latter half of the twentieth century, the contribution of George Beasley-Murray towers over Baptist theology and this set of lectures is designed to reflect on different aspects of his thought. Colwell's lecture on Sunday was a response to Beasley-Murray's writings on unity. It will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Baptist Quarterly.

Colwell's argument was that Baptist distinctives are in jeopardy and that in Beasley-Murray we find someone who was committed to ecumenism and to the distinctive shape of Baptist ecclesiology.  Beasley-Murray was the chairman of the Baptist Union report 'Baptists and Unity' (1967) which argued for six Baptist distinctives:

1. baptism
2. authority of the local church
3. Lord's supper
4. episcopacy
5. use of creeds and confessions
6. relationship of church and state - baptists are dissenters

Colwell argued that the post-denominational context was muting Baptist identity, where youth work or worship style becomes the most important reason for belong to a church.  In the recent joint Baptist and Anglican report Pushing the Boundaries of Unity there was no mention of of Baptists being dissenters as a problem in unity with the Church of England.  The impact of Restorationism has seen many Baptists flirting with Presbyterian style church government, which alongside has seen a loss of confidence in the church meeting and perhaps council and assembly as ecclesial bodies. So in Assembly we find set-piece presentations, rather than any real discerning of the mind of Christ. 

Colwell argued for a visible unity which celebrated distinctives and not their impoverishment or suppression.

He ended the paper by calling for review of the Declaration of Principle (which denies catholicity) and that instead of needing to write a confession, he asked how can Baptists confess differently? To which he suggested we don't need a distinctive confession, but a distinctive manner or practice of confessing. 

Underlying this paper was Colwell's concern (shared by others) that the Baptist Union is lacking a strong enough theology and that the agenda (?) is being pushed by good people, but practical people, who are arguably more interested in practical responses than theological ones.

This was an excellent paper (and this summary doesn't do it justice) and one in which I hope people engage and respond to.  Along with Paul Fiddes, John Colwell is our most important theological voice in the Baptist Union. I'm concerned that they don't get listened to enough. We sorely need good theologians (and also historians) to help us shape and articulate our life and witness.

Baptist Assembly 2008

This year's Assembly was in Blackpool.  It was, as expected, a mixed-bag. Craig Gardiner's Whitley Lecture was excellent, as was John Colwell's George Beasley-Murray Lecture (I'll blog some more on these later).  It was good meeting new people and catching up with old friends - this seems to be the best reason for going to Assembly. I made it to the Regent's Park College reunion.

My main issues with Assembly are the main sessions. There are the special moments where we recognise new ministers and we remember those who have died. The worship is largely untrinitarian - what the theologian Sallie McFague has called 'jesusoltary' - and has no real space for confession, intercession or lament and more concerning no reading of scripture (this, which seems the common practice today, was tacked onto the beginning of the talk, rather than, being able to stand alone). You come away thinking as Baptists surely we can do better! We have see Gathering for Worship - which I think was only used during communion.  Extemporary prayer is important part of Baptist spirituality and worship, but there is also a need for the crafted and thought about prayer. Perhaps the most shocking moment was when we say 'These are the Days of Elijah' despite John Weaver raising some questions about the song during his talk. (Others who hoped we wouldn't sing it, must have been happy!!)   

I had a fair number of comments that went along the lines 'Andy Goodliff, I read your blog', which makes me wonder, if they read the paragraph above. what their feelings are with regards the state of Baptist worship at Assembly. I'm probably too harsh. I'm looking forward to hearing the thoughts of other bloggers.

Catriona has posted here and here, Geoff here.

Until next year, which will be in Bournemouth.

SJT, May 2008

Who is Isaiah's Servant? Narrative identity and theological potentiality - Mark Gignilliat

The shape of soteriology and the pistis Christou debate - David L. Stubbs

Aesthetic christology and medical ethics: the status of Christ's gaze in care for the suffering - David C.

The soul and the reading of scripture:  a note on Henri De Lubac - Lewis Ayres

Holy love and divine aseity in the theology of John Zizioulas - Tom McCall

The theological function of the doctrine of the divine attributes and the divine glory, with special reference to Karl Barth and his reading of the Protestant Orthodox - Christopher R. Holmes

Why gift? Gift, gendeer and trinitarian relations in Milbank and Tanner - Sarah Coakley

Reviews include Ian McFarland on Mike Higton's Christ, Providence and History, Lindsey Hall on Jurgen Moltmann's In the End - Beginning and Thomas Bremer on John Inge's A Christian Theology of Place.

Baptist Hermeneutics Colloquium

This looks an excellent line-up of Baptists to think around how Baptists approach scripture. Before you get too excited, its invitation only, so we will have to wait for the book that will follow ... I wish there were more baptist theological gatherings like this. Although I shouldn't forget the next Baptists doing theology in context consultation taking place at the end of August at Northern College, which I'm looking forward too, not sure what my paper will be on ...