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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.

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)

Book Review: The Wondrous Cross

Stephen R. Holmes, The Wondrous Cross: Atonement and Penal Substitution in the Bible and History, Paternoster, 2007, 130pp. £9.99.

In this book Steve Holmes shows that not only is he fast becoming, if not already, one of the leading (and busiest) British theologians in the UK (and a Baptist at that), but that he a is a theologian who can speak to the wider church. One of the great weakness for many theologians is their inability to write and communicate, beyond the academic circle (and sometimes within the academic circle). The best theologians are those who preach, who are forced to make their theology speak to the lives of real people. (Steve remarks elsewhere that Colin Gunton used to say to him, 'You can always tell when a theologian has stopped preaching; their work loses something vital').

Steve Holmes is also a theologian who doesn't shy away from the difficult theology - he has written on ghosts, divine simplicity and here he contributes to the discussion on atonement and penal substitution. As well as being a book on penal substitution,  the book works as a good introduction to the history of atonement theology. It shares in lots of ways the approach of Colin Gunton's The Actuality of Atonement.  Steve makes a lot of sense and helpfully shows why we shouldn't be too quick to throw penal substitution out the window, but also why penal substitution is only a partial way of viewing the cross - in this he speaks to both those who want to defend the doctrine and those who want to reject it.

I remain with those who find penal substiution more unhelpful and inadequate, but Steve makes the case for why many of criticisms that are made against it do not actually hold weight. I still find it troubling because it seems to have no need for the Holy Spirit or the resurrection and I think fundamentally Paul's language of atonement is participatory (with Douglas Campbell) - atonement is our sharing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ - and so Paul's constant use of 'in Christ' language (which is much more prevalent across his letters than justification language).  So I guess I remain unconvinced whether penal substitutionary is truly biblical.         

I got hold of a copy of Steve's book when it first came out last year, and apart from a quick skim read, this is the first time I've read it and I'm glad I have and would encourage others to put it on a wish list. 

Book Review: Shaping a Theological Mind

Darren C. Marks (ed.) Shaping a Theological Mind: Theological context and methodology (Ashgate, 2002) 144pp (with thanks to Ashgate for a review copy)

This is a fantastic short book of essays with the likes of Colin Gunton, John Webster, Jurgen Moltmann, John Milbank and Kathryn Tanner, charting how these (and others) approach the theological task with regards methodology. Some of the essays, and these are arguably the more interesting, trace the theological journey the author has made or is making. I think theological autobiography is an underused way of doing theology.

Gunton charts the influence of Jenson becoming his doctoral supervisor and pointing him towards Barth, meeting John Zizioulas as part of the British Council of Churches commission on the Trinity, Christoph Schwoebel joining the  theology department at King's and  starting the Research Institute in Systematic Theology, as some of the moments which shaped the way he did theology. The title of his chapter 'Theology in communion' reflects the central importance for Colin that theology was done in community, it was not an isolated activity.

John Webster charts his move towards dogmatics, Alister McGrath the relationship in his work between theology and science, Jurgen Moltmann's chapter is a short summary of his recently published autobiography.

I recommend this book if you like to understand the theological journey and contexts that shaped the work of these theologians. Theology is a lived activity that is shaped by life and through the places we visit and the people we meet. (Incidently Darren Marks has recently published another collection, titled Shaping a Global Theological Mind.)

Book Review: Apostolic Networks in Britain

William Kay, Apostolic Networks in Britain: New Ways of Being Church (Paternoster, 2007), 377pp (with thanks to Paternoster for review copy)

Apostolic Networks in Britain is a history of the different networks within Restorationist churches and develops in different ways Andrew Walker's earlier landmark study Restoring the Kingdom (1985, 1988, 1998).  The book is divided into five parts:

1. The Beginnings - the development of Restorationist churches  from the charismatic movement and the likes of Arthur Wallis and Martyn Lloyd-Jones
2.  The Networks - historical description of the different personalities and their networks, e.g. Bryn Jones and Harvest Time, Terry Virgo and New Frontiers, Gerald Coates and Pioneer, Colin Dye, Colin Urquhart, John Wimber and Roger Forster
3. The Crossflows - this analyzes the impacts of the cell movement, the Toronto Blessing and to a lesser extent Spring Harvest, Premier Radio, Alpha and others
4. The Qualitative Analysis - what can be said is happening among the Networks in terms of theology, missiology and sociology
5. The Quantitative Analysis

William Kay is a leading interpreter of Pentecostal and Charismatic history and theology. In 2000 he published Pentecostals in Britain and also in 2004 the reader Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies. The book is one of a number of recent studies on the charismatic evangelical movement. The strengths of this book is its historical descriptions in the first two parts. I enjoyed reading about the different leading figures, understanding their background and the shape of their networks. The weakness of the book is its lack of critical engagement - the analysis tends to be descriptive rather than critical. The book had the opportunity to be the first real assessment of the restorationist movement, but avoids asking these kind of questions, and so arguably lacks the balance of a critical study. You finish reading and feel its all been a bit one-sided. Kay concludes that he thinks the future might be more church networks and less institutional denominations. I am yet to be convinced and I think as the current 'founder' generation of network leaders reach the end of
their lives, we will see how strong these networks are. I think many will fragment.

So an interesting book, well worth reading if you want the big picture of what has been happening and is happening amongst the restorationist churches, but ultimately disappointing that the book doesn't ask some more serious theological and sociological questions.

 

Book Review: Reinventing English Evangelicalism, part 4

Rob Warner, Reinventing English Evangelicalism, 1996-2001: A Theological and Sociological Study (Paternoster, 2007), 284pp (with thanks to Paternoster for a review copy)

Parts 1, 2, 3.

Warner's thesis is the first major attempt to build upon David Bebbington's analysis of evangelicalism
in light of what has taken place among evangelicals in the last twenty years.   It is an excellent read, interesting and informative, and offers a account of what is happening within the differing evangelical streams. In the conclusion he writes: 'we conclude that Bebbington's quadrilateral is best conceived not as a static commonality but rather as a confluence of priorities in tension, sometimes dynamic, sometimes conflictual' (235). This does seem to reflect the picture of evangelicalism today - although I wonder if it currently its more conlictual than dynamic.

Warner says three factors are inevitable in the continuing evolution of pan-evangelicalism:

entrepreneurs will continue to promise extravagant and immiment results; neo-conservatives will remain obdurately exclusivist, with overt or implicit fundamentalising tendencies; and the twin axes of pan-evangelicalism, biblicist-crucicentric and conversionist-activist, will continue to produce alternative and often conflictual formulations of evangelical convictions, priorities and subcultural identity. (243)

These are interesting times. Reinventing English Evangelicalism, 1966-2001 is a must read for any interested evangelical, it is challenging and sobering, but ultimately something that must be heard and hopefully responded to positively.

Book Review: Reinventing English Evangelicalism, part 3

Parts one and two can be found here and here.

Part two of Warner's book is a detailed discussion of the biblicist-crucicentric axis. Here Warner takes a close examination the different bases of faith within evangelicalism. The subtitle for this part of the book sumarises neatly Warner's argument: 'From pre-critical inclusivity to the self-attenuated calvinistic hegemony, and the subsequent emergence of post- and neo-conservatism, with bifurcatory prospects' (147). Some evangelicalism starts fairly inclusive and then through the first sixty years of the 20th century becomes increasingly exclusive - 'from the 1920s, fundamentalism appears to have had a magnetic influence upon evangelicalism, drawing each revision of a basis of faith rightwards' (207).  The late 60s and 70s (Keele, 1967 Lausanne, 1974 and Nottingham, 1977) saw a reversal of this conservative turn.  During the 1990s and early years of the 20o0s, this rightwards shift has been lessened - so the statement of faith adopted by the Evangelical Alliance in 2005 'exemplifies the pan-evangelical rejection of the fundamentalist undertow' (219). However, Warner claims that the 2005 statement 'represents a rather limited achievement' that 'fails to recover the pre-fundamentalist pan-evangelical inclusivity or sustain the late twentieth century post-conservative trajectory' (219).  Warner makes three conclusions from his analysis:

First, any attempt to characterise the entire evangelical movement as infallibist and centred upon penal substitution proves in light of the evident diversity among the bases of faith to be more of a caricature, or a misunderstanding of one trend within twentieth century evangelicalism, than a precise and historically justifiable conclusion. Second, the three evangelical eras we have been examining have had markedly different opponents: the primary mid-nineteenth century opponents were Popery and Puseyism; for the mid-twentieth century, it was liberalism; but in the post-liberal context of the late twentieth century, progressive and neo-conservative evangelicalism increasingly defined themselves over and against one another. Each to the other has become the enemy within, to be disputed if not disowned. Third, the breadth of the coalition is coming under growing strain, with an assertive, narrowing dogmatism on the Right and an increasingly rigorous questioning of conventional evangelical presuppositions on the Left. (228-229)

There is so hard reading here - not in the sense of it being difficult, but a little boring - as Warner compares and contrasts the different bases of faith. There was a tendency in this reader to jump to the conclusions, which like this whole book make for some interesting reading. My conclusions are that you see an evangelicalism that starts out with the positive intention of wanting to be faithful to the Bible, but has increasingly become stuck in the ways of modernity and prone to throwing stones at each other.  One of my favourite examples of this is Stanley Grenz's Renewing the Center: Evangelical Theology in a Post-Theological Era (2000) followed later by the conservative Reclaiming the Center: Confronting Evangelical Accomodation in Postmodern Times (2004) (See also Elaine Storkey's current attempt to define her evangelicalism as different to that now found in Wycliffe Hall). It leaves many thinking why bother with the label evangelical at all.  The future certainly doesn't look to any less divisive.

I'll follow this post with one more, assessing the conclusions that Warner makes.

Book Review: Reinventing English Evangelicalism, part 2

Part one can be found here.

In Warner's discussion of (what he calls) the conversionist-activist axis of evangelicalism, what struck me most was the attempt in the 1980s and 90s to brand evangelical Christianity. Spring Harvest, although undoubtedly in its early years an attempt to encourage and assemble evangelical Christians together, increasingly becomes focused on giving a particular experience - 'building customer loyalty and repeat business' (74). I remember hearing a venue leader from Spring Harvest mention how you were not allowed to talk about week 1 during week 2, just in case people thought they're week wasn't as good! Alpha likewise is the same - wherever a Alpha takes place - the faces, the books and other associated merchandise is present. Related to this is how the evangelical leaders of Evangelical Alliance, Spring Harvest and Alpha were (and are) always claiming that their organisation has this many members/attendees/converts as to suggest we matter; and the reality being something different. The projected or desire growth of the Evangelical Alliance and Spring Harvest declined towards the end of the 90s and more recently so has Alpha. This due in part to the increase in competition from other festivals (New Wine, Stoneleigh, Easter People, Keswick, Greenbelt, etc), other Evangelical groups (Reform, Fulcrum), other introduction to Christianity courses (Y-course, Christianity Explored, Emmaus, Essence).

Throughout Warner's study of the conversionist-activist axis you sense his disillusionment and suggestion that it could have been different. He concludes this section of his book by saying

The entrepreneurial reconfiguartion of evangelical identity colonised the pan-evangelical terrain made available following the fragmentation of conservatism [Steve Holmes has questioned this part of Warner's argument here]. Nonetheless, their advance has proved volatile, transient and self-limiting, promising levels of success that proved untenable. By relativising traditional evangelical convictions, theological and ethical, through pragmatic experimentation and a persistent emphasis upon contemporaneity and cultural engagement, the entrepreneurs opened the door, however unintentionally, for the subsequent emergence of progressive reconfigurations of evangelical identity, when the biblicist-crucicentric axis begn to return to prominence (144-145).

This section of Warner's book is the most enjoyable, much more than the next section which discusses all the different statements of faith (but more on that later). We have an insider's view and critical reflections on what was happening behind the scenes as we all went to Spring Harvest and attended an Alpha course. Some of the criticisms Warner makes here are not new or unique (Martyn Percy and Stephen Hunt have both outlined serious shortcomings with Alpha; while Percy again, James Steven, Robin Parry have lamented the
theology of charismatic worship). What is different with Warner is he has set it in the wider context of the reinvention of evangelicalism by Clive Calver, Pete Meadows, Nicky Gumbel and others. The entrepreneurial spirit that was introduced is in by no means lost, the argument could be made that consumerist tendency has increased with the likes of the Purpose-Driven Church and Life. We've produced an evangelical Christianity
that is forever looking for the next book, song, speaker, conference, for that spiritual pick-me-up. Paul Goodliff, in his book With Unveiled Face (DLT, 2005) writes

Evangelicalism too often wants its heroes and trophies in a way that panders too much to the spirit of the age. It creates its 'well-known public speakers' who ply the pathetically small world of Evangelical conferences and holidays, the organisers of which use the fame of the speaker or musician to attract the (fee-paying) delegate or holidaymaker, and make the event financially viable. I wonder what Jesus Christ would make of it all? (129)

Jim Gordon continues his reflections here and here. Steve Holmes makes a contribution here. I'll post some further thoughts soon ...

Book Review: Reinventing English Evangelicalism 1966-2001

Rob Warner, Revinventing English Evangelicalism 1966-2001: A Theological and Sociological Study (Paternoster, 2007), 284pp. (with thanks to Paternoster for a review copy)

Professor Andrew Walker and the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture at King's College London have been responsible for some important research into the charismatic / evangelical movement(s) in recent years. What is slowly emerging is a theological and sociological critique of what was happening amongst charismatics and evangelicals in 1980s and 1990s. This new book by Rob Warner is a welcome addition. (See also Worship in the Spirit by James Steven, Pete Ward's Growing Up Evangelical and Selling Worship and also Apostolic Networks in Britain by William Kay, along with Andrew Walker's own contribution Restoring the Kingdom).

I'll start with the only major shortcoming of this book, which is the copious amount of footnotes and in places too much sociology jargon. The introduction especially is very dense and doesn't work fantastically as an introduction to what follows. This is a PhD turned into a book and could in places be tidied up. However, this is a minor problem to an excellent and important study. Warner was a major 'player' in the recent period he writes about, being involved at a high-level in both the Evangelical Alliance and Spring Harvest. He remarks that he began this research as an 'observing participant', but during it transitioned to that of a 'participating observer' (32). This suggests that the Warner at the end of his research is much more critical - theologically and sociologically - than the one who began and suggests we should be too (if not already!).

Warner's thesis 'seeks to build upon Bebbington's Evangelicalism in Modern Britain', but identifies a rather more dynamic model of 'twin and rival axes within pan-evangelicalism that energise the dynamic of evangelical rivalries, experiments and evolution' (20).  There are two things happening, firstly there are the group of active-orientated entrepreneurs, who make up  the conversionist-activist axis - those who are engaged in Spring Harvest, March for Jesus, Alpha, and what was in the 1980s and 90s a growing worship industry. Secondly, there are the more theologically-orientated group, who make up the biblicist-crucicentric axis - those  who are concerned with doctrine and often the 'formulating and guarding the doctrinal core of evangelical convictions' (20). The book is thus divided into two parts, exploring historically and theologically these two axes.

More to follow ... see also Jim Gordon's first part of his review of the same book here.

Book Review: Paul, Judaism and the Gentiles

Francis Watson, Paul, Judaism and the Gentiles: Beyond the New Perspective (Eerdmans, new revised and expanded edition, 2007), 400pp (with thanks to Eerdmans for review copy)

In 1986 Francis Watson published his first book Paul, Judaism and the Gentiles: A Sociological Approach. Since then he has become a renowned New Testament scholar, publishing in the areas of biblical theology (Text, Church and World, 1994 and Text and Truth, 1997) and Pauline theology (Agape, Eros and Gender, 2000 and Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith, 2004). This new book brings him back to his first book and gives us a mature reading of how Watson understands Paul's relationship to Judaism and Gentiles. Watson suggests that the book should 'serve to complement the argument of my Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith' (p. xxi).

The book is in places radically re-written. Starting most clearly with the book's new subtitle 'Beyond the New Perspective,' which signals Watson's intention to offer a different direction to the 'New Perspective movement'. The most fascinating part of this book is the twenty-six introduction to this revised and expanded edition. It begins by tracing the history and circumstances that led to the publication of the first edition. Watson completed his doctoral thesis at Oxford in 1983, and it was accepted for publication in 1984. However, in the end very little of the thesis made its way into the book, which was vastly rewritten in 1985. Watson's sees his argument as a different response to Sanders than that found in Dunn, Wright and others. So although he uses the language like 'covenantal nomism' and 'works of law', he is not using them in the way the New Perspective scholars have done.

The main argument of the book is to say that there are sociological reasons behind Paul's letters, especially with regard to those passages that discuss Judaism, the law and Gentiles. Too much Pauline scholarship has treated and still treats Paul's letters 'as papers delivered to a seminar in systematic theology' (26) and as a result 'are often characterized by a total lack of social realism' (26), that is, why does Paul write to his congregations of the themes he does. According to Watson, Paul argues for the Christian congregations to move away from Judaism (which he identifies with Pharisaism) and become a sect and so 'the problem for Paul was that other Christians did not accept his solution to the problem of Jewish unbelief, maintaining that the church should continue to exist as a reform movement with the Jewish community and to adhere to its way of life' (344).

This book, together with Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith, we have mature Watson, giving us his reading of Paul's theology.  It offers a critique of the Lutheran Paul found in twentieth-century scholars and also of the 'New Perspective', which Watson finds wanting with regards to its exegesis and conclusions. Watson offers us a different perspective, to go along side Dunn's 'New Perspective' and Wright's 'Fresh Perspective'. With Douglas Campbell's forthcoming book on Paul, the next few years set to offer some great debate on Paul's theology. Even if you've read this first edition of Paul, Judaism and the Gentiles, this second edition is worth engaging with, because it is a major revision - offering a fantastic introduction, Watson's views on the pistis christou debate (he tries to find a middle way), and also as an appendix, a paper he gave at a 1993 King's conference on 'God and Freedom', which offers a response to the questions he concluded with at the end of the first edition.