MORMONS AND EVANGELICALS: REASONS FOR FAITH – By David E. Smith

THE FUNDAMENTALIST MINDSET: PSYCHOLOGI-CAL PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION, VIOLENCE,AND HISTORY. Edited by Charles B. Strozier, David M.Terman, and James W. Jones, with Katherine A. Boyd.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. ix + 274. $19.95.

In this interdisciplinary work on the psychology of fun-damentalism, the editors have incorporated a wide variety ofauthors and disciplinary perspectives, each of which focuseson an issue such as blame, victimization, paranoia, andapocalyptic mentality. While it is striking that such a widevariety of authors would share so much agreement over theexistence and attributes of a fundamentalist mindset, a closereading of each is necessary to understand the strikingnuances in interpretation from author to author. This workwill have wide appeal to those engaged in work on religionand violence or in any area of the humanities or social sci-ences. The weakness of the book is the emphasis placed onthe potential dangers of the fundamentalist mindset, withbut a fleeting mention of its benefits. While the book suc-ceeds in incorporating disparate perspectives and disciplin-ary paradigms, all of the authors rightly share a kind oftrepidation over the potential dangers of the fundamentalistsymptoms in spite of the fact that these very symptoms arealso sparingly acknowledged by several authors and editorsto be central to the healthy development and sustenance of ademocratic world.

Joseph M. KrampDrew University

Philosophy of ReligionWANDERING IN DARKNESS: NARRATIVE ANDTHE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING. By Eleonore Stump.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2010. Pp. xx + 668. $99.00.

Stump’s book is original, insightful, and brilliant. Thismagnum opus is the product of measured thought andmature experience. In it, Stump mounts a strong, luciddefense of a traditional Christian (specifically Thomistic)understanding of the problem of suffering (limited in herinvestigation to the suffering of fully functional adultpersons). To do this, she uses both analytic philosophy andnarratives. She argues that narratives—especially second-person narratives in which another is encountered andan experience shared—are necessary for certain kinds ofknowledge that cannot be captured by analyticphilosophy—knowledge of others, for example. To make hercase, she first presents a Thomistic account of love, evil, andredemption. She then carefully and tenderly examines fourbiblical narratives about different kinds of suffering, includ-ing suffering from self-destruction, frustration of desire, andheartbrokenness. While Thomistic theodicy can explainmuch of this suffering as an expression of God’s love, Stumpgives special attention to the connection between the frus-tration of the desires of the heart and a Thomistic account ofsuffering. Although superficially at odds, she finds that theseare not ultimately incompatible. She counters potential criti-

cisms and argues that Thomistic theodicy is internally con-sistent and does not contravene any uncontested empiricalevidence. Thus, the defense is successful. The philosophy isexcellent, but those who share the Thomistic worldview willalso find Stump’s reflections to be deeply moving remindersof the excellence and wonder of God’s love. This book isrecommended for philosophers of religion, lay readers withphilosophical interest in the problem of evil, and universityand seminary libraries.

Glenn M. HardenBaker College

TheologyWHOSOEVER WILL: A BIBLICAL-THEOLOGICALCRITIQUE OF FIVE-POINT CALVINISM. Edited byDavid L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke. Nashville, TN: B & HAcademic, 2010. Pp. xiv + 306. $24.99.

The purpose of this book is to provide both a critique andfurther ongoing discussion within the Southern Baptist Con-vention (SBC) on the viability of the soteriology of Calvinism.Recently within the SBC, there has been a resurgence ofCalvinism that this book seeks to address. The six chaptersof Part 1 are edited versions of papers given at the John 3:16Conference held in November 2008. After an initial sermonon John 3:16 by J. Vines, each of the subsequent chapterscritiques one of the five points of Calvinism, starting withtotal depravity (P. Patterson), unconditional election (R.Land), limited atonement (Allen), irresistible grace (Lemke),and finishing with the perseverance of the saints (K. Keath-ley). Part 2, comprising five additional chapters, addressesissues related to Calvinism such as whether Calvin taughtlimited atonement (K. Kennedy), the impact of Calvinism onthe local Baptist church (M. Yarnell), and public invitations(A. Streett), concluding with chapters critiquing a Calvinistunderstanding of human freedom (J. Evans) and the problemof evil (B. Little). Overall, the book achieves its purpose, andcertainly within the SBC it is necessary reading for all par-ticipants in the Calvinist-Arminian debate. Yet as is often thecase in this polemic, the authors too often critique a carica-tured version of Calvinism and fail to address the problemsof their own system, thus reminding us how difficult it is toadvance the discussion on such a volatile issue.

Stephen J. WellumSouthern Baptist Theological Seminary

ANGELA OF FOLIGNO: PASSIONATE MYSTIC OFTHE DOUBLE ABYSS. By Angela of Foligno. Edited byPaul Lachance, O.F.M. Selected Spiritual Writings. HydePark, NY: New City Press, 2006. Pp. 122. $12.95.

Lachance translated Angela’s Book for the Classics ofWestern Spirituality series (Paulist Press), and in this slimvolume he offers selections of her mystical experiences andspiritual teachings. Angela (c.1248-1309) was a Franciscantertiary whose passionate and embodied spirituality focused

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on the crucified Christ and the apophatic darkness of God,whom she called the “All Good.” After an extraordinaryrapture while on pilgrimage to Assisi, she was compelled byher confessor (identified only as “Br. A.”) to reveal her innerexperiences. The resulting narration of a life increasinglyconformed to Christ forms the basis of her Memorial, writtenby Br. A., and the first half of her Book. The second half iscomposed of her Instructions, letters, and teachings for acommunity of Franciscan “sons.” In this accessible volume,Lachance has selected excerpts from both texts, based on hiscomplete translation. Here, he has omitted much of the nar-rative frame and comments of Br. A. so that the reader moredirectly encounters Angela’s extraordinary life and words.He organizes the material with his own subject headings,summarizes Angela’s life and Book in a clear introduction,and includes a chronology. For the most part, these redac-tions and additions benefit the material, making it easier forstudents and others to meet Angela directly, especially if forthe first time. Angela herself comes across as fiery and bril-liant as ever, the “passionate mystic of the double abyss,”that mysterious love affair between God and the soul.

Emily A. HolmesChristian Brothers University

CHRISTOLOGY: KEY READINGS IN CHRISTIANTHOUGHT. Edited by Jeff Astley, David Brown, and AnnLoades. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009.Pp. xii + 131. $25.00.

This collection of numerous short essays is designed toprovide accessible, easily understood essays for religiousstudies courses that are topic- or problem-based. In additionto the short essays, this thin book includes a brief introduc-tion, a glossary of Christological terms (three terms, to beexact), two indexes (of subjects and names), and an exten-sive bibliography for further reading organized by the samethemes that organize the book itself. Each chapter ends witha handful of discussion questions. While the book doesprovide an impressive set of short essays, many readers mayfind the organization and selection of essays puzzling. Whileatonement as a subject is omitted, essays revolving arounddebates about the historical Jesus abound. One will also findhere a preponderance of twentieth-century sources. Even thefirst chapter, “The Shape of the Debate,” which focuses onthe development of Christological doctrine, devotes only fivepages to primary sources from the early church. The otherchapters, which are revealingly titled by questions (“Jesus ofHistory or Christ of Faith?”, “The Human God?”, and “AChrist for All?”), contain almost no essays before the twen-tieth century. Of course, this is not a problem in itself, butgiven the subtitle of the book and the stated goal, expecta-tions might well be disappointed. Teachers should alsoevaluate the claim of easy comprehension, as many studentsmay find many of the essays quite difficult, if notimpenetrable.

J. Burton FulmerChristian Brothers University

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: RELIGIOUS PLURALISMAND ECONOMIC INJUSTICE. By Gregory Baum.Ottawa, ON: Novalis, 2007. Pp. 288. $24.95.

The essays comprised in this book were published invarious journals and edited collections between 1997 and2007. Because many of the essays originated as public talks,this very readable book is suitable for undergraduate collegestudents, both for its clear and concise writing style and forits thorough communication of the theological and socialtraditions of the church in light of contemporary experience.But it rarely descends into technicalities or advances newscholarship in the fields of religious pluralism or Catholicsocial teaching. In these essays, the author, a leading Cana-dian Roman Catholic theologian and peritus at Vatican II,paints with broad strokes the current issues at stake inCatholic engagements with “religious pluralism” and “eco-nomic justice.” For the former, of particular note is the essaydistinguishing the “relativism” about which Cardinal JosephRatzinger worried from the “pluralism” of committed Chris-tians such as D. Tracy and presumably Baum himself. Withrespect to “Economic Injustice”—a grouping that might betterhave given way to “Reflections on Catholic SocialTeaching”—the essay on resisting empire is to be noted for itsprophetic call to Christians to involve themselves in move-ments that counter the social, political, and economic trendsof the current “empire” (i.e., the US-led globalization Baumlikens to a new colonialism) that worry religious believersacross all traditions. One hopes that Baum’s future studieson these topics deepen the initial good work begun in thisvolume. One such study could involve concrete interreli-gious dialogues on the naming and resisting of “empire.”

John N. ShevelandGonzaga University

PAUL RICOEUR BETWEEN THEOLOGY AND PHI-LOSOPHY: DETOUR AND RETURN. By Boyd Blundell.Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion. Bloomington:Indiana University Press, 2010. Pp. xi + 214. $24.95.

Emphasizing Ricoeur’s themes of detour and return,Blundell examines Ricoeur’s hermeneutics as a philosophi-cal dialogue partner for Christian theology. To accomplishthis, not only does Blundell provide a sustained and inter-esting reading of Ricoeur’s work, but he also puts it intoconversation with theologians D. Tracy, H. Frei, and Barth. Inthe first part of the book, he explains a “proxy war” that hasoccurred. In this war, Tracy and Frei have sought to showhow theology should be integrated with hermeneutics, but inso doing both sides fall short. What is needed is a balancethat allows theology to maintain its autonomy and unique-ness. At the same time, theology seeks broader relevance.Thus, it should partake in the fruits of hermeneutical reflec-tion. In the second section, Blundell offers Ricoeur as aresource in this regard. He provides an analysis of some ofthe germane aspects of Ricoeur’s hermeneutics, organizedaround prefiguration-configuration-refiguration. This in-cludes discussions of Ricoeur’s conversation partners, the


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idea of narrative, the self, and his “little ethics” in Oneself asAnother. The conclusive third section addresses a “Chalce-donian hermeneutics” found between Barth and Ricoeur;previously, both have been saddled with an inadequatephilosophy and theology, respectively. Boydell argues for amore nuanced, engaged relationship between philosophyand theology. This relationship importantly places theologyinto a new relationship with its role in the academy, whilealso remaining fully committed to its task in the church.Because he is concerned with Ricoeur, the discussion ofBarth warrants more conversation. In its clear, thoughtfulstyle, however, Boydell’s book is a valuable addition to theliterature on Ricoeur. It will be of interest to theologiansconcerned with the methods of theology, philosophicalhermeneutics, or the place of theology in the academy.

Forrest ClingermanOhio Northern University

FORTRESS INTRODUCTION TO SALVATION ANDTHE CROSS. By David A. Brondos. Minneapolis, MN: For-tress Press, 2007. Pp. xiv + 220. $21.00.

Brondos’s book provides a basic introduction to severalmajor themes, concepts, and figures in soteriology and stau-rology, from the Hebrew Scriptures to contemporary femi-nism. The fifteen chapters (including introduction andconclusion) survey biblical (Isaiah, Luke, and Paul), patristic(Irenaeus and Gregory of Nyssa), medieval (Anselm), Refor-mation (Luther and Calvin), liberal (Ritschl), twentieth-century (Barth and Bultmann), and liberationist (Sobrinoand Ruether) sources. Brondos includes a timeline, a glos-sary, and discussion questions that will be of assistance tothe beginning students for whom this volume is intended.The work will be especially helpful for seminary students.Each chapter focuses on the dominant themes in the work ofa single author or text, places them in a broader historicalcontext, and concludes with a brief evaluation. Despite Bron-dos’s stated preference for descriptive over prescriptiveanalysis, in the book he clearly takes aim at the traditionalsoteriological themes of substitutionary atonement, retribu-tive justice, and legal or metaphysical abstractions. He seesthe cross as “fitting” rather than necessary for redemption,and he views salvation as primarily a matter of establishingthe church. Though careful to find positive themes in eachthinker, Brondos’s analysis of each of these themes oftenneglects their subtleties, nuances, and ironies. In his treat-ment of Luke, for example, the cross appears as almost ancil-lary to the founding of the church. Brondos is more probingwhen dealing with the importance of the objective and sub-jective dimensions of redemption.

Joshua DavisChicago, IL

REDEEMING THE GOSPEL: THE CHRISTIANFAITH RECONSIDERED. By David A. Brondos. Minne-apolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011. Pp. viii + 250. $32.00.

Brondos takes up the challenge(s) of the gospel’sseeming irrelevancy today. He traces this state of crisis,even among Christians in general, to changes that have ren-dered the biblical story incomprehensible in the “modernscientific worldview” and to contemporary scripture inter-pretation that has, for example, called into question “Luth-er’s Paul” along with scores of other traditional Christianinterpretations. Brondos wants to see the gospel itselfredeemed, suggesting that some defenders have left it notonly irrelevant but also unhealthy. He sets out his work insix compact chapters that echo a number of Lutheran con-fessional loci. Central to his reconsideration is the new cov-enant community of the church in which the gospel isembodied. The being-saved-in-the-world community of faithis the locus of the gospel’s redemption. Brondos forwards aholistic understanding of redemption—forgiveness, humantransformation, and a relational ethic of righteousness andjustice. Whether his call for a radical transformation ofChristian tradition will allow this vision of wholeness andhealing to renew the gospel remains to be considered. Thisbook also takes its place within a growing conversationabout the renewal of Lutheran theology (e.g., the New Inter-pretation and several recent essays by V.-M. Kärkkäinen onthe Lutheran doctrine of justification in global context) andwill be appreciated by many already so engaged and by allwithin ecumenical dialogue.

Ronald OlsonLuther Seminary

ALMOST CHRISTIAN: WHAT THE FAITH OF OURTEENAGERS IS TELLING THE AMERICANCHURCH. By Kenda Dean. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 2010. Pp. x + 253. $24.95.

With the passion and insight that characterizes her pre-vious books, Dean explores what the National Survey onYouth and Religion, a large sociological study, says aboutcontemporary youth and ministry. She argues that youthreflect their parents’ religious values. She finds that main-line Protestants instill values necessary for economicsuccess in American society, such as niceness and self-discipline. Mormons, and more evangelical youth, seemmore willing to take risks in faith and articulate their rea-soning for doing so. Dean notes that these are importantvalues, but that they do not embody the radical self-givinglove of Christ as portrayed in the Gospels. The problem withthese values, Dean argues, is that churches have failed toconnect them to the radical life of Jesus and ways that thatfaith might unsettle contemporary American values and lifepaths. She offers practical suggestions to congregations onways their practices might help youth become more articu-late about how they connect their faith to their life andembody a more radical but ultimately more life-giving dis-cipleship.

Aaron KlinkDuke University


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ORIGINAL SIN AND EVERYDAY PROTESTANTS:THE THEOLOGY OF REINHOLD NIEBUHR, BILLYGRAHAM, AND PAUL TILLICH IN AN AGE OFANXIETY. By Andrew S. Finsteun. Chapel Hill: The Univer-sity of North Carolina Press, 2009. Pp. x + 255. $37.50.

This first book, originally written as a Boston CollegePhD dissertation (2006), tells the story of two revivals: thetheological revival of the postwar years that paralleled, butcould also be understood as a response to, the revival ofself-help religion. But whereas the signs of the latter revivalmanifested themselves in what has been called America’stherapeutic culture, the theological revival highlighted thedeep angst that gripped the life of the nation from about1946-65. Onto this stage emerged a prophet (Niebuhr), anevangelist (Graham), and a theologian (Tillich). Each ofwhom spoke meaningfully to the times, at times in “dia-logue” with one another, by emphasizing the original sinful-ness that marked human existence. Original Sin deftlyportrays not only how these three were men of their timesbut also how their neo-Orthodox, evangelical, and existentialversions of this doctrine literally shaped the American theo-logical self-understanding and imagination. This is reflectedin the reception of and interaction with the message of this“curious trinity” (the title of Chapter 2) as documented in thepopular media, newspapers, religious periodicals, letters (tothem), and other literary sources. Thus does Finsteun showhow even when the various segments of the Americanchurch disagreed with one or another of these public intel-lectuals, that itself provides a window into both the despairand the hopes of the soul of “everyday Protestants” duringthe middle decades of the twentieth century.

Amos YongRegent University School of Divinity

HE BECAME POOR: THE POVERTY OF CHRISTAND AQUINAS’S ECONOMIC TEACHING. By Chris-topher A. Franks. Ekklesia Series. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd-mans, 2009. Pp. viii + 207. $27.00.

Franks has written a fine study that will be noteworthyfor all with interests in contemporary appropriations ofAquinas and the convergence of moral theology and econom-ics. The heart of the work is Franks’s trenchant account ofthe central importance of mendicancy and voluntary povertyto Thomas’s economic teaching and entire theological vision.Franks notes Thomas’s Aristotelian deference to an anteced-ent natural and social order, which, unlike contemporarymarket economics that begins with a “proprietary self,” cangive priority to the use value of goods over their exchangevalue. What Thomas sees that Aristotle cannot is that thehumility, insecurity, and vulnerability of the poor Christ arethe marks of nature’s perfection rather than destitution.Franks offers a convincing account of Thomas’s argumentsfor the priority of the counsels in the perfection of charityand his defense of mendicancy in support of this claim. Thesecond chapter, “Usury, Just Price, and Natural Order,” isalone worth the price of the book for the light it sheds on the

immoral structures of the lending industry that facilitatedour most recent economic crises. Ultimately, the use of “pro-prietary subject”—which is simply a euphemism for theliberal, rights-bearing subject—as a foil is a hackneyed tropethat deserves a closer and more nuanced interrogation thanFranks offers. As an interpretation and defense of Thomas’seconomic teaching, it is commended.


HEALING IN THE BIBLE: THEOLOGICAL INSIGHTFOR CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. By Frederick J. Gaiser.Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010. Pp. xii + 276.$24.99.

This respected Lutheran scholar selects sixteen biblicalaccounts (such as Exodus 15; Numbers 21; Isaiah 53; Psalms6, 77, and 88; Sirach 38; Mark 5 and 9; Luke 17; and Acts 3)on individual and collective health and healing. In so doing,Gaiser celebrates the diversity of these stories yet seeksrecurring themes. Concerning health, Gaiser establishes keydifferences between modern (specifically Western) andancient worldviews, the latter never separated from social,religious, and scientific ideologies. As to various illnesses,he identifies causes such as divine wrath, personal and com-munal fault, natural consequences, and spiritual forces. Inresponse, the ancients not only sought divine healing butalso made use of everyday healing methods and practice. ForGaiser, biblical health and healing results in wholeness(shalom) and thereby extends beyond individuals to commu-nities, nations, and creation. Similarly, the contemporarychurch must fulfill its God-given role to bring physical, emo-tional, social, and spiritual healing to individuals and cul-tures, to people with or without faith, through normal andextraordinary means (though Gaiser surprisingly choosesnot to produce a chapter on James 5:13-16, a passage filledwith pastoral implications). On the whole, Gaiser generateslively exegetical conversations by offering fresh insights ontough questions like the relation between sickness and sin,healing and prayer, God’s healing and medical science, andhealing under the sign of the cross. Given the current politi-cal tensions from health care to global suffering, Gaiser pro-duces a careful, balanced, and imaginative work for anyoneinterested in Christian views of healing.

Martin W. MittelstadtEvangel University

LANDMARK ESSAYS IN MISSION AND WORLDCHRISTIANITY. Edited by Robert L. Gallagher and PaulHertig. American Society of Missiology Series 43. Mary-knoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009. Pp. vii + 272. $35.00.

This volume is a collection of fifteen groundbreakingarticles on mission and world Christianity written over thepast seventy years. As an emerging field, world Christianityinvestigates and seeks to understand Christian communi-ties, faith, and practice as they are found on six continents,expressed in diverse ecclesial traditions, and informed by


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the multitude of historical and cultural experiences in aglobalizing world. The collection delves into major topicssuch as biblical theology of mission, contextualization andevangelism, missional anthropology, encounters with otherreligions, and history by highlighting the geographical shiftof global Christianity’s demographic center from Europe andNorth America to Africa, Asia, and Latin America as the mostimportant development in Christianity during the late twen-tieth and early twenty-first centuries. The editors’ attempt tobe inclusive/ecumenical and representative of different geo-graphical locations and Christian traditions is commend-able. It is, however, impossible to provide the “absolutelyessential articles” or landmarks in the field of world Chris-tianity in a short single volume. For example, three LatinAmerican evangelicals write about topics unrelated to thecontextual nature of the gospel in that region while theeditors ignored Gutiérrez’s essay on “Hacia una teología dela liberación” delivered at a religious meeting in Chimbote,Peru. Notwithstanding such inevitable limitations, this bookis a cornucopia of information for students of world Chris-tianity and mission studies.

Angel D. Santiago-VendrellColumbia Theological Seminary

THE WESTMINSTER HANDBOOK TO MEDIEVALTHEOLOGY. By James R. Ginther. The Westminster Hand-books to Christian Theology, Vol. 1. Louisville, KY: Westmin-ster John Knox Press, 2009. Pp. xxxi + 207. $29.95.

This “handbook” is an extremely helpful resource forthose studying medieval theology and for those who recog-nize the need to trace the sources of more recent theologyto this pivotal period. As the author (who amazingly wroteevery entry himself) notes, the book is “an introductorytool and not an exhaustive account of medieval theology.”While certainly not exhaustive (but no book could be), the385 “articles” form a thorough survey. The book also fea-tures an introduction, an extensive list of Latin termskeyed to particular entries, and a bibliography of about 200sources. Especially useful to students is a short sectionsuggesting resources for further study and offering tipsthat could well prove helpful in research on any subjectmatter. The entries are arranged alphabetically, making forextremely easy use. Each term is explicated in the contextof medieval theology. This contextual analysis is the mostsignificant feature of the book. General reference booksmay provide more detailed entries on a particular topic, butthey are unlikely to help readers grasp how the term wasemployed in any one place and time. Here, the readerlearns precisely when, how, and by whom the term wasdeveloped, used, and debated in the medieval period.Indeed, that is precisely why such a work as this isneeded—to avoid conflations of medieval terminology withcontemporary usage.


QUENCHING HELL: THE MYSTICAL THEOLOGYOF WILLIAM LAW. By Alan Gregory. New York: SeaburyBooks, 2008. Pp. xiv + 210. $30.00.

Gregory’s work is refreshingly difficult to categorize. Itis an introduction to Law’s life and work, an exposition of histeaching, and itself a work of spiritual theology. Gregoryargues that Law’s work is centered on participation in themystery of the grace of Jesus Christ. He contests the stan-dard reading of Law’s idea of the “Christ within” that says itneglects the person of Jesus and focuses on works instead ofgrace. (This charge was famously made by John Wesley.) Thestudy is thematic rather than biographical. Its nine chaptersfocus on Law’s practical call for devotion and holiness, hisopposition to Enlightenment Deism, and his transformationof the mythology of Boehme’s speculative theology. Gregoryinterprets Law’s rigorism not as a means to salvation but asa summons to share more deeply in the divine life that is apresent reality in Christ. In keeping with his practical ratherthan speculative emphases, Gregory’s style of analysis isperhaps best characterized as a form of spiritual theology,which disturbs the comfortable boundaries of pastoral, spiri-tual, and systematic theology in the truest sense of the adjec-tive “mystical.” This approach will not appeal to everyone,but it will be of great interest to a variety of Anglican schol-ars, especially those exploring the intersection of Wesley’sand Law’s conceptions of Christian perfection, and anyoneconcerned with the legacy of Boehme’s appropriation ofRhineland mysticism (as, for example, C. O’Regan has beentracing in his recent work on apocalyptic).


LUTHER AND THE BELOVED COMMUNITY: APATH FOR CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AFTER CHRIS-TENDOM. By Paul R. Hinlicky. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd-mans Press, 2010. Pp. xxiv + 405. $45.00.

Hinlicky, author of Paths Not Taken: Fates of Theologyfrom Luther to Leibniz (2009), presents an essay collectionapplying what he calls “his Luther” to contemporary theo-logical and ethical controversies. Some essays display theauthor’s well-known social conservatism, but his argumentsare always thoughtful and rigorous. Exploring core topics inLutheran theology, such as the theology of the cross,freedom of the will, and obstacles to the Roman Catholicreception of the Augsburg Confession, the author makesmany astute points and opens up new avenues for discus-sion. This collection will provoke, enlighten, and challengeLutheran theologians, even those who disagree with the por-trayal of Luther, whose vast corpus can be made to speak anumber of different positions. Still, this is an insightful bookthat shows how traditional theologies can be brought to bearon current issues and the continuing vitality of Lutherantheology.



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THE FRIENDS WE KEEP: UNLEASHING CHRIS-TIANITY’S COMPASSION FOR ANIMALS. By LauraHobgood-Oster. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010.Pp. xx + 222. $19.95.

The Friends We Keep addresses the dilemma of the cul-turally ambiguous relationship between the human creatureand animals as symbiotic. Hobgood-Oster critiques thepopularly implied belief in the subordination of animals toinsignificance as contrary to the biblical message. In fivechapters, she presents sound and compelling argumentsadvocating compassion for fellow living creature as a theo-logical mandate, while using laypersons’ language. Chris-tianity in the postindustrial age faces the challenge ofreassessing the high levels of unsustainable consumptionthat produce mass slaughtering of animals and the ecologi-cal destruction of their habitats. Ethically essential is adegree of collective guilt that leads to repentance and aradical form of compassion for animals. The book’s strengthlies in its use of abstract classical theological concepts suchas doctrines of creation, salvation, and eschatology topresent practical applications in relating to all fellow crea-tures. Throughout the text, the author makes an ethicalappeal for collective repentance from a partially church-sanctioned destructive lifestyle vis-a-vis animals, to animalsas cohabitants with humans, sharing a common ecosystem,and animals’ worthiness for a life free of exploitation. Con-trary to popular theological literature, the most distinctivefeature of the book lies in its refusal to ignore the roleanimals play in God’s self-disclosure.

Michael D. RoysterPrairie View A&M University

THEOLOGY, DISABILITY, AND SPIRITUAL TRANS-FORMATION: LEARNING FROM THE COMMUNI-TIES OF L’ARCHE. By Michael Hryniuk. Amherst, NY:Cambria Press, 2010. Pp. xii + 315. $114.99.

Hryniuk, who teaches theology at the University of St.Michael’s College in Toronto, here reflects theologically onspiritual transformation in light of his experiences (includ-ing as a former assistant director) of L’Arche communities inCanada. A historical and phenomenological portrait ofL’Arche unveils how caregivers (known also as “assistants”)come to experience healing from their shame in relationshipwith community core members—mostly people with severeand profound intellectual disabilities—so as to come intocommunion with Christ, by the Spirit, to the glory of theFather. In effect, what emerges is a trinitarian theology ofspiritual transformation that, when set within the context ofHryniuk’s Byzantine-Rite Catholicism, serves also to informa contemporary theology of theosis or deification. From adisability studies perspective, any concerns that people withintellectual disabilities are instrumentalized for the benefitof nondisabled people (caregivers, in this case, or theagendas of theologians, like the author) are quelled when itis realized how even the most profoundly disabled members“are agents of deification in their capacity to manifest more

authentic personhood as ecstatic, fecund, and trustingnatures capable of an elemental intimacy with others”(emphasis added). This book thus shows how disability per-spectives make an important difference in the theologicalenterprise, in this case, in theologies of the Christian life andof spiritual transformation. The ways we think about (fallen)human nature and its transformation into the image of thetriune God will never be the same.


LIVING HOPE: THE FUTURE AND CHRISTIANFAITH. By David H. Jensen. Louisville, KY: WestminsterJohn Knox Press, 2010. Pp. 139. Paper, $15.00.

This accessible and well-written book presents anengaging biblically based understanding of Christian escha-tology from a Reformed theological perspective. Part 1surveys eschatologies found in the Hebrew Bible and in theNT. An adequate understanding of Christian hope requiresattention to all of these and the ways they supplement eachother. Part 2 identifies four pervasive themes of Christianhope: the reign of God, the resurrection of the body, thesecond coming, and the new creation. Each is a source ofhope to be enacted now through solidarity with creation,love, and worship. Part 3 critically discusses popular notionsof the rapture, heaven and hell, Armageddon, and the Anti-christ, showing how scant the biblical basis is for most ofthese matters. Part 4 examines how Christian hope is cel-ebrated and lived out through the sacraments of baptism andthe Lord’s Supper. Christian eschatology emerges here as ahope for universal salvation that encompasses all aspects ofcreation, is prophetically and pastorally engaged in thepresent, and is open to those of other faith traditions. Thisbook will be very useful for seminary classes and to theolo-gians working in this area, and with good leadership couldbe used in lay discussion groups. Every seminary libraryshould have a copy.

Don SchweitzerSt. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon

FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST OUTSIDE THE CHURCHIN CHENNAI, INDIA. By Dasan Jeyaraj. Zoetermeer,Netherlands: Boekencentrum Academic, 2010. Pp. 511.€42.50.

This mostly quantitative study is in the tradition of J.Waskom Pickett’s influential 1933 Christian Mass Move-ments in India and D. McGavaran’s 1979 Ethnic Realities andthe Church: Lessons from India. Based on 12,166 interviewsof randomly selected individuals in Chennai, its main focusis to explore the extent and nature of the Christian faith ofindividuals who claimed Jesus Christ as their only Lord butare not members of a local Christian church. Jeyaraj wantedto provide a statistically more reliable database than H. E.Hoefer’s similar 1981 study, Churchless Christianity (rev. ed.,2001), in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu that included only726 interviews in Chennai. This work aims to convince


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Christians of all theological traditions that a sizable group ofbelievers must be recognized in any religious analysis oftoday’s India. Though two-thirds of the book will primarilyinterest missiologists, this book has a strong theologicalfocus in Chapter 2 that will interest Christian theologiansand church historians: it surveys seven Indian theologiansfrom the past 150 years who inform the current discussion ofhow Christianity works in a country where Hinduism pre-dominates the ethos and beliefs of the majority population.The major question is whether Hinduism can be lived outmerely as a social dimension of an Indian’s life or whether itis too tightly bound to religious beliefs to be merged withChristian faith in any significant way. Jeyaraj’s commitmentto the former position will add fuel to the fire of contempo-rary debate.

Malcolm R. BrubakerValley Forge Christian College

JOHN CALVIN: REFORMER FOR THE 21STCENTURY. By William Stacy Johnson. Louisville, KY: West-minster John Knox Press, 2009. Pp. ix + 142. $14.95.

Johnson has provided a brief and straightforward intro-duction to Calvin’s thought, interlacing the chief points ofthe Reformer’s theology with highlights from his life andtravels. Like S. Guthrie’s Always Being Reformed, a book ofsimilar length and tone, Johnson’s target audience is clearlyBible study groups that hold regular meetings, as eachchapter is phrased in introductory language and ends withan overview of how the chapter’s topic relates to a theology“Always Reforming,” as well as with a list of discussionquestions. By far the strongest moment is Johnson’s com-parative discussion of Calvin’s understanding of the Lord’sSupper against Luther, Zwingli, Bullinger, and RomanCatholic understandings in Chapter 10. Johnson’s treatmentof this subject offers a depth that is lacking in the rest of hischapters, though this lack is inevitable and excusable insuch a volume. What is not inevitable, however, are thelamentable swipes at Roman Catholicism that pepper thetext, such as the suggestion that it is a “corrupt church,” andhis misrepresentation of the councils of Nicaea and Chalce-don as specifically “Eastern Orthodox councils,” rather thanecumenical ones. Such historical glosses and errors mar anotherwise praiseworthy introduction to this indispensableReformer’s life and thought.

David DaultChristian Brothers University

RETHINKING ANTISEMITISM IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE. By Julie Kalman. Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press, 2010. Pp. xii + 234. $88.00.

J. Kalman takes issue with the view that the nineteenthcentury was one in which antisemitism in France was rela-tively quiescent. Her book explores the dynamics of Frenchdiscourse concerning Jews, with a particular focus on theearly part of the century. Her investigations center on epi-sodes where events brought Judaism, and particular Jews,

into the public eye. Among these episodes are discussions inthe wake of Jewish emancipation concerning whether, andunder what conditions, Jews might be suited to citizenship ina modern state; the betrayal of the Duchess de Berry, motherof the Bourbon Pretender, by Simon Deutz; the DamascusBlood Libel of 1840; and the public vilification of the BaronJames de Rothschild following a deadly accident on a railwayline owned by him. Kalman argues persuasively that Roths-child’s prominence was a catalyst for a shift from the stereo-type of the Jew as a culturally stagnant petty usurer to that ofthe “Rothschild-Jew,” all too worldly and secretly in controlof events. Kalman also discusses the fortunes of severalconverts from Judaism to Roman Catholicism (of whomDeutz was one) and ascriptions to Jewish women, in paint-ings and in prose, of an “oriental sensuality.” The book iswell structured, well argued, and well documented, and willbe useful to any students of the nineteenth century, anti-semitism, or French public and intellectual culture.

Andrew DoleAmherst College

MISSION AFTER CHRISTENDOM: EMERGENTTHEMES IN CONTEMPORARY MISSION. Edited byOgbu U. Kalu, Peter Vethanayagamony, and Edmund Kee-Fook Chia. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press,2009. Pp. xxv + 177. $24.95.

Written in preparation for the Edinburgh 2010 confer-ence on mission, this collaborative effort brings together theworks of a variety of Chicago-based scholars in discussion ofseveral of the challenges that face missiology today. One ofthe book’s major strengths is the diversity of its authorship,representing major Reformed, Roman Catholic, and Luth-eran scholars from a range of theological disciplines and avariety of cultural backgrounds. It is one of the small butnow a growing number of missiological works that not onlydiscusses the need for theological contributions that repre-sent “world Christianity” but also actually provides them.Themes addressed by this volume include many of today’scontextual challenges and opportunities, including global-ization, migration, short-term missions, and postcolonial-ism, in addition to some of the missiological and theologicalframeworks that form the foundation for mission work.Emphasized as important to include in the understandingand practice of mission are some of the issues noted as“transversal” topics by the Edinburgh 2010 planning com-mittee, including ecological themes, women in mission, thechallenge of racism, and mission as interfaith dialogue.Focusing more on contextual issues than primarily on theo-logical ones (though certainly drawing upon theologicalbases, including the missio Dei and the imago Dei), this bookwould serve well in seminary classes designed to introducestudents to today’s contemporary issues in mission. It wouldalso be beneficial in upper-level classes to prompt a deeperand reflective discussion.

Rob HughesAsbury Theological Seminary


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SALVATION AND SOVEREIGNTY: A MOLINISTAPPROACH. By Kenneth Keathley. Nashville, TN: B & HAcademic, 2010. Pp. xiv + 232. $24.99.

Keathley opens this book with the following question:“What shall a Christian do who is convinced of certaincentral tenets of Calvinism, but not its corollaries?” In par-ticular, Keathley finds biblical support for the concept of theelection of individuals to salvation but little if any biblicalsupport for the doctrines of irresistible grace and limitedatonement. His proposal is built upon the insights of L. deMolina, a Spanish Jesuit who developed a robust picture ofdivine providence that remained compatible with a robustpicture of human freedom. Keathley opens with a biblicalcase for Molinism followed by a sustained argument for thenotion that God died for all. He then offers a Molinist pictureof salvation in terms of the acrostic ROSES: Radical Deprav-ity, Overcoming Grace, Sovereign Election, Eternal Life, andSingular Redemption. While this is a genuinely useful andengaging conversation, those looking for a sustained defenseof the concept of Middle Knowledge should look elsewhere.Keathley assumes the philosophical viability of the Molinistframework and then applies it to various debates over thenature of salvation. In short, Keathley (wisely) does not try toreplicate the work of W. Lane Craig and T. Flint in thisvolume. This is an excellent and helpful book forundergraduate- and graduate-level classes on soteriology.

James BeilbyBethel University

ANATHEISM: RETURNING TO GOD AFTER GOD. ByRichard Kearney. Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion,Politics, and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press,2010. Pp. xxii + 247. Cloth, $29.50; paper, $22.50.

This book of philosophical theology is inspired byhermeneutics, especially in light of Ricoeur’s sense offinding the self through the other. Kearney passionatelyargues for an “anatheism,” which he describes as a mediat-ing stance between faith and doubt and between traditionaltheism and atheism. Anatheism is a “wager” and a “risk”that comes when we return to God after we have movedbeyond God (a “postreligious theism”). This option thatcomes after atheism is built upon three elements: protest,prophecy, and sacrament. To develop this, he begins with anexploration into the connection between the stranger andthe divine; anatheism must navigate between hospitality andhostility when confronted with the stranger. The secondchapter offers five interrelated movements of such anathe-ism: imagination, humor, commitment, discernment, andhospitality. Kearney then discusses the name of God, in lightof recent authors who model a “post-theism” that places thesacred in the midst of the secular (e.g., Derrida and Bonho-effer). Moving to the second section of the book, chaptersfour and five reflect on sacramentality as suggested by phi-losophers (Merleau-Ponty and Kristeva) and novelists (Joyce,Proust, and Woolf). The final section of the work offers areflection on ethics in light of the other. The conclusion

places Kearney’s work into context, showing how anatheismresponds to recent atheist critiques, as well as showing howit engages the multiplicity of religious traditions in a mean-ingful way. As always, Kearney’s work is poetic and thought-ful. It would be interesting to see how he would respond tomovements such as recent writings in theological humanismand radical theology, works that appear to have a similartone of reflexive mediation, as well as a desire to welcomethe other.

Forrest ClingermanOhio Northern University

ECCENTRIC EXISTENCE: A THEOLOGICALANTHROPOLOGY. By David Kelsey. Louisville, KY: West-minster John Knox Press, 2009. Pp. 1496. $80.00.

Breathtaking in scope and execution, Kelsey’s long-awaited magnum opus does not disappoint. Like Europeandogmatic theology, he moves systematically through topicstraditionally associated with theological anthropology suchas creation and sin. While the book is developed in engage-ment with a wide range of theological and philosophicalpositions, Kelsey relies especially on deep engagement ofthe scriptural depiction of the relationship between God andhumanity. In an ingenious move, each of the book’s chaptersis divided into parts: the first intended to be accessible to allreaders, and the second engaged in showing how his pro-posal fits within the contemporary theological landscape.This work will certainly be profitable and a required readingfor all serious theological students for a generation, if notbeyond.


THE BEAUTY OF BALANCE: A THEOLOGICALINQUIRY INTO PARADOX. By Young Woon Ko.Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2010. Pp. iii +105. $23.00.

This work examines an organic model of God within thecontext of a creative rather than antagonistic relationshipbetween opposites such as subject/object, good/evil, andtrue/false. Ko’s constructive aim views such oppositions aselements of ongoing divine creativity as they reveal God asthe basis for harmonious order and the ultimate principle ofcreation. God and creation are interdependent, with a para-doxical balance existing between oppositions that expandhuman thinking about God and creation. Ko uses Whiteheadto establish this model of God, while critically engagingthinkers such as Aristotle and Hegel. The work is strongestin its engagement of several East Asian traditions, especiallythe Yijing understanding of the self and the world. Ko help-fully uses these traditions to critique Western ideas thatemphasize overcoming paradox and God’s transcendencerather than oppositions as a divine creative principle. Thetext ends with a brief examination of environmental issuesand interreligious dialogue as practical examples of God’sparadoxical ordering. Where the text struggles is in fully


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defining the contours of this organic model. As a result, thisbook functions best as a companion to inquiring into processtheology and East Asian thought, especially useful for gradu-ate students.

Peder JothenSt. Olaf College

BETWEEN ALLAH AND JESUS: WHAT CHRIS-TIANS CAN LEARN FROM MUSLIMS. By Peter Kreeft.Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010. Pp. 188.$16.00.

This book is framed as an ongoing conversation amongBoston College undergraduate students (an earnest, deeplycommitted Muslim man, a black feminist woman, and astraight-laced Dutch Calvinist), their matronly landlord, anda pair of Boston College professors (one is clearly Kreeft’salter ego, and the other is a “freethinker”). As art, the bookfails; the characters are caricatures, and the dialogue is flatand stilted. As an introduction to the salient issues ofChristian-Muslim dialogue, Kreeft’s book fares better.Through conversations among his characters, Kreeftaddresses such topics as jihad, evolution, abortion, Jesus andMuhammad, feminism, who goes to heaven, pacifism, andprayer. Perhaps the most effective chapter explores the doc-trine of the Trinity (following the social analogy) alongsideIslam’s confession of the absolute oneness of God. WhatChristians can learn from Muslims is a much more aggres-sive, full-bodied, and even militant struggle (jihad) againstthe forces of ungodliness in contemporary Western society.Despite the attempt to personify a variety of theological andethical stances, the book lacks nuance. The heavy-handednature of these caricatured conversations—particularly inthe author’s polarizing dismissal of any “liberal” position aseither “wimpy” or simply providing a cover for sexualimmorality—is more alienating than persuasive.

Michael LodahlPoint Loma Nazarene University

LOVE, VIOLENCE AND THE CROSS: HOW THENONVIOLENT GOD SAVES US THROUGH THECROSS OF CHRIST. By Gregory Anderson Love. Eugene,OR: Cascade Books, 2010. Pp. x + 306. Paper, $35.00.

This first book by Love, a Presbyterian pastor and asso-ciate professor of systematic theology at San FranciscoTheological Seminary, has been a long time in coming—the1998 Princeton Theological Seminary PhD dissertationon Barth’s pneumatology has remained heretoforeunpublished—but it certainly has been worth the wait.Whereas during the last thirty years there has been a cre-scendo of voices rejecting the penal substitutionary theoryof the atonement at least in part because of its sanctioningof divine violence in the cross, many if not most of thesehave had to skirt around the numerous NT passages thatdiscuss the centrality of Christ’s sacrificial death for theworld’s salvation. The strength of Love’s book, as encapsu-lated in its subtitle, is both its strident rejection of violence

and its explicit embrace of the cross as essential to God’ssalvific work. The first part of the book explicates theunderstanding of penal substitution popular in Christianpiety, elaborates on the recent criticisms leveled againstthis view, and describes and assesses alternatives as devel-oped by feminist and other theologians. The second half ofthe book unfolds five models of the saving death of Christeffected by a nonviolent God, with the cross related to res-urrection, representation, rehabilitation/retribution, redi-rection, and restoration/redemption. Each model thusincludes the full life of Christ and also involves humanresponse, while also being made accessible through the useof real-life vignettes. The result is a theology that not onlyinforms but also preaches.


JUSTIFIED IN THE SPIRIT: CREATION, REDEMP-TION, AND THE TRIUNE GOD. By Frank D. Macchia.Pentecostal Manifestos. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010.Pp. x + 345. $32.00.

Macchia offers a provocative alternative to traditionalProtestant and Catholic understandings of justification. Jus-tification is to be understood neither in purely forensic termsas the “imputation of Christ’s righteousness” nor in purelytransformational terms as a created and habitual grace. It israther to be understood as God’s favor granted in the gift ofthe Spirit, by which God indwells us. The study begins witha conspectus of Protestant, Catholic, and Pentecostal under-standings of justification that includes analysis of currenttrends and critical questions on “Spirit baptism” for thePentecostal tradition. Macchia then moves to an overview ofwhat the Scripture says and concludes by elaborating hisproposal in relation to creation, redemption, and the Trinity.Justification is to be understood as effective, as Macchiaargues. Yet that understanding goes back to Luther, as hefails to appreciate fully. Here, the old question arises: Is theSpirit bound to God’s word of promise fulfilled in Jesus’sresurrection? God’s justification is not merely his covenantfaithfulness but his triumph over the lie of idolatry and itsviolence. The Spirit comes to us as a polemicist. Justice isnecessarily retributive, as the psalmists know. The healingof creation entails the vengeance of oppression, of which weare not merely victims but also perpetrators. Macchia’s pro-posal is basically Osiandrian. For that reason, the contours ofjustice are blurred, and communication between the Godwho saves and the idolatrous human being becomes nearlyinaudible.

Mark A. SeifridThe Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

SECRET FAITH IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE: ANARGUMENT FOR THE CONCEALMENT OF CHRIS-TIAN IDENTITY. By Jonathan Malesic. Grand Rapids, MI:Brazos Press, 2009. Pp. 248. $28.00.


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Malesic advocates the uncommon thesis that Christiansmust keep their religious identity secret while in the publicrealm, to avoid using it as social capital by which to advancetheir public status, thereby leading to a loss of the distinc-tiveness of the Christian message and ethics. Malesic urgesChristians to do good works in public while concealing theirChristian identities, an argument he makes with the help ofCyril of Jerusalem, Kierkegaard, and Bonhoeffer. The book’sstrength is in the interesting discussion of these thinkersand in how it brings to our attention the serious problemsconsequent to blurring the distinction between what itmeans to be a good Christian and what it means to be a goodcitizen. Malesic is not, however, ultimately convincing in hisargument that secrecy is the right solution. He seems not toconsider that Christians could use Christian identity toadvance their status within the church itself, and althoughhe sometimes appeals to the Bible to advocate secrecy, theseappeals lead the reader to want discussion of other passagesthat Malesic neglects. In spite of these weaknesses, thoseinterested in the ongoing discussion of the relation of Chris-tianity and culture will want to read this book, as will anytheologian interested in what it means to preserve the dis-tinctiveness of Christianity in contemporary America.

Bill ReddingerRegent University

THE BIBLE AND ZIONISM: INVENTED TRADI-TIONS, ARCHAEOLOGY AND POST-COLONIALISMIN ISRAEL-PALESTINE. By Nur Masalha. London: ZedBooks, 2007. Pp. viii + 384. Cloth, $126.00; paper, $36.00.

The Bible and Zionism offers a stinging critique of themisuse of the Bible as an ideological text in political andreligious Zionism. Its scope is multifaceted, covering thehistory of Zionism and Israeli occupation, the religiousunderpinnings of settler Judaism, and the rise of minimalistarcheology and postcolonial historiography in Israel-Palestine. Masalha is the director of the Holy Land ResearchProject at the University of Surrey in the UK. His thesis isthat the Palestinian Disaster of 1948 was the product of apreconceived strategy based on a reading of the Bible thatprivileged Zionist claims to the Holy Land. He contends thatminimalist archeology and critical biblical scholarship provethat the conquest narrative in the OT is a fabrication of laterwriters with a postexilic nationalistic agenda, hence aninvented tradition. Following Edward Said, Masalha calls fora one-state solution in Israel-Palestine, with the formation ofa secular democracy in which Jews, Christians, and Muslimshave equal political rights and religious freedom. The Bibleand Zionism belongs on the reading lists of classes in MiddleEast history and politics. Based on archival evidence,Masalha persuasively argues that the new historians inIsrael downplayed the premeditation of the Zionist expul-sion of Palestinians from their land. His contention of agrowing affinity between religious and political Zionists iswell documented. Although the threads of his argument do

not produce a seamless garment, Masalha makes good on histhesis that the Bible has been used to justify politicalZionism in Israel.

Eric N. NewbergRegent University

TESTAMENT: MEMOIR OF THE THOUGHTS ANDSENTIMENTS OF JEAN MESLIER. By Jean Meslier.Translated by Michael Shreve. Amherst, NY: PrometheusBooks, 2009. Pp. 595. $32.00.

The last few years have been marked by a significantincrease in the discussion of the legitimacy and appropri-ateness of religious belief. Few contributions to this debateare more worthy of consideration than Meslier’s Memoir.Unavailable until now in a complete English translation,the Memoir reminds us that questions about religious beliefhave existential and political dimensions that are far toooften missing from the more naturalistic treatments cur-rently filling bookstore shelves. Taking the form of a seriesof “proofs” critiquing traditional theism and its theologicaland scriptural underpinnings, supported by polemicsranging broadly across the social, cultural and historicalmilieu of its creation, the Memoir is that rare work that isclearly of its time but transcends it to our own. Indeed, astriking feature of the series of arguments offered byMeslier is how prescient they seem retrospectively, antici-pating a startling range of the arguments offered by criticsof religion and religious belief from the eighteenth centuryto the present. Adding to the already significant value ofthe work, M. Onfray’s preface helps readers appreciate thehistorical significance of the Memoir and highlights its con-temporary significance. One reservation is that the presenttranslation is completely lacking in the scholarly apparatuspresent in the French editions from which the translationis made. Given the length of the work, this lack is under-standable, but makes it less useful for scholars. Despitethis, Shreve and Prometheus Books are to be congratulatedfor finally bringing this powerful work to readers ofEnglish.

Phillip J. (Max) MaloneyChristian Brothers University

EPISTLES OF INCLUSION: ST. PAUL’S INSPIREDATTITUDES. By W. Graham Monteith. Guildford, UK:Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd., 2010. Pp. ix + 147. $15.99.

In the preface to his new book, Monteith notes withtouching academic honesty and personal integrity, “I havespent much of my life belittling the work of St. Paul.” It istrue that, in responding to contemporary issues that chal-lenge scriptural currents of thought and Christianapproaches to doctrine, theologians are often swift tocondemn authors and documents of antiquity. Defensiverationalization and polemical justification are equally inap-propriate. Before sweepingly dismissing Judeo-Christianattitudes, however, it is sometimes more beneficial toexplore the historical context and fundamental reason that


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determined a particular reaction or defined a particularresponse, even if the final result is a rejection thereof.Here, then, is an important publication by a Scottishtheologian-sociologist, who examines the inspired attitudesand inspirational letters of St. Paul on the crucial, albeitcontroversial issue of inclusion. He endeavors, intellectu-ally and ecclesiastically, to address prejudices and toreduce barriers in church and society from an individualand communal—indeed, even political—perspective. WhileMonteith’s emphasis is on Christian Protestant approachesor aberrations, his account of the understanding of disabil-ity and healing in the life and writings of Paul, as well asin the experience and practice of the early Christian com-munity, is enlightening and encouraging for all churchesas the Body of Christ and for all communities struggling forsocial justice in their journey toward greater integrationand fuller inclusion.

John ChryssavgisBrunswick, Maine

KIRCHLICHES LEBEN IN METHODISTISCHERTRADITION: PERSPEKTIVEN AUS DREI KONTI-NENTEN. Edited by Michael Nausner. Göttingen: EditionRuprecht, 2010. Pp. 300. €23.90.

Nausner has assembled fourteen diverse essays onUnited Methodist ecclesiology in a single very usefulvolume. He identifies four foci in Methodist ecclesiologyemerging in the last fifty years rather than any unity oftheme or approach: pragmatism, the tension between evan-gelism and social action, the relationship to the widerchurch, and its global nature and aspiration in tension withactual regionalization. Virtually, all of the essays reflect thetension observed by A. Outler between Methodism as amovement within the church and Methodism as a churchin its own right. This tension is played out in their treat-ment of ecumenical engagements, its constantly shiftinghierarchical structures, its global identity, and the relationof its congregations to evangelism and social engagement.What most unifies the essays is their almost precipitousoutward turning from the sacramental life of the church tothe church in engagement with the world, an exceptionbeing M. Marquart’s essay on the sacraments. The book isdivided into four parts: the first is historical; the secondrelates to the church as a means of grace; the thirdincludes three diverse essays on theological conceptualiza-tions of ecclesiology; and the fourth focuses on the relation-ship between ecclesiology and specific contexts. In this lastsection are glimpses of the directions in which global Meth-odism may move in the future, given the rapid demo-graphic shift among Methodists toward the global south.One would thus wish for Anglophone Methodists, particu-larly in the United States, that this volume would quicklybecome available in English.

Robert HuntSouthern Methodist University

WOMEN AND THE LANDSCAPE OF AMERICANHIGHER EDUCATION: WESLEYAN HOLINESS ANDPENTECOSTAL FOUNDERS. By Abraham Ruelas.Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publishers, 2010. Pp. xx + 166.$21.00.

This book presents biographical sketches of more thanthirty Wesleyan Holiness and Pentecostal women leaders inhigher education. Each sketch covers childhood, religiousupbringing, ecclesial affiliation, family, educational work,and later years. Some women are familiar—L. Rider Meyer, C.Judd Montgomery, and A. Semple McPherson—as are someeducational institutions—Westmont College, Azusa PacificUniversity, and Lee University. These are balanced bylesser-known women and schools only open a short time, forexample Rochester Bible Training School, founded by E.Baker and sisters. The book is a suitable reference resourcefor a brief introduction to women leaders and their schools inthese two American religious movements; in this respect,there is none other like it. At the same time, two significantweaknesses diminish its contribution as a monograph. First,the treatment of educational institutions is uneven. Forsome, there are several paragraphs of detailed information,while for others, like McPherson’s Lighthouse of Inter-national Foursquare Evangelism (LIFE) Bible College andAlma White’s four higher educational institutions, the datais scant. For instance, more attention is given to White’sdifficult marriage than to her schools. This omission of mate-rial is glaring given that recently published monographsprovide thorough background and analysis of McPherson’sand White’s schools. Second, neither the significance of edu-cational institutions to these movements nor their contribu-tion to American higher education, despite the latter claim inthe book’s title, is explicated or defended. The seven-pageintroduction falls far short of this task.

Priscilla Pope-LevisonSeattle Pacific University

CONTEXTUAL THEOLOGY AND REVOLUTIONARYTRANSFORMATION IN LATIN AMERICA: THEMISSIOLOGY OF M. RICHARD SHAULL. By Angel D.Santiago-Vendrell. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications,2010. Pp. 198. $23.00.

Santiago-Vendrell offers students of missiology, theol-ogy, and ecumenics a theological biography of R. Shaull, oneof the most important Protestant influences in the establish-ment of the contextual theology movement in general, andliberation theology in Latin America in particular. Theauthor ably demonstrates the link between Shaull’s personaland ministerial contexts and the development of his uniquemissiology. In particular, his experience as a missionaryamong the poor masses in Colombia and Brazil led to theelucidation of his missiological methodology: the active par-ticipation of the theologian in the struggles of the poor andmarginalized, the primacy of praxis over church doctrines,and the establishment of small radical faith communities.Shaull’s conviction concerning the activity of God in history


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within his missionary context also provided the ground forhis exposition of the religious nature of politics; the forma-tion of a new society through radical, revolutionary pro-cesses was necessary in order to bring about a more humanesocial and personal existence. The only criticism is thatalthough the author demonstrates that Shaull was a forerun-ner of the Latin American liberation theology movement, thelink between Shaull and that movement is not explored. Thebook is enhanced by a bibliography of sources in bothSpanish and Portuguese and, in addition, an index of namesand subjects. This book is highly recommended for thoseinterested in understanding Latin American liberation the-ology and its Protestant sources.

John GallegosRegent University

LET THE BONES DANCE: EMBODIMENT AND THEBODY OF CHRIST. By Marcia W. Mount Shoop. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox, 2010. Pp. xviii + 189. $30.00.

This book focuses on how Reformed traditions might beborne into the realities of bodily life. It opens mainline Chris-tian practices from their potentially limiting intellectualisminto cross-denominational, sensual experience. By extend-ing Whitehead’s and Schleiermacher’s concepts of “feeling,”Mount Shoop reclaims the feminist theological category of“women’s experience,” but in a practically grounded mode ofparticularity. She employs experiences of rape, pregnancy,and motherhood to ground theologies of tragedy, relational-ity, and ambiguity in bodily stories of subjectivity as con-torted, entangled, and fragmented. In so doing, she createsvisions of redeemed life as compassionate, interdependent,and adventurous. Around this multiply-trinitarian structure,she shares narratives—many from her own experiences—thatengage the reader in the rich emotionality of the text. State-ments of fact about pregnancy and motherhood in particular,however, are often offered without either citation or explicitreference that they are Mount Shoop’s personal experiences.Therefore, especially with the inclusion of excerpts from herjournal, the distinction between personal narrative andsociological fieldnotes becomes blurred into some method-ological confusion. Nevertheless, paired with the use ofnumerous poetic forms, this confusion actually adds to theexperimental writing style. The book furthers importanttheological conversations around embodiment, women’sexperience, religious practice, feminism, Reformed theologyand, indeed, the task of theological writing itself. Because ofits multilayered complexity, it could be used at every level ofundergraduate and graduate education. More significant, itis an absolute pleasure to read.

Natalie Wigg-StevensonVanderbilt Divinity School

MORMONS AND EVANGELICALS: REASONS FORFAITH. By David E. Smith. Piscataway, NJ: Tigris, 2009.Pp. 141. $57.00.

Smith is an “orthodox Anglican” who says he is notengaged in apologetics or polemics. This reader agrees. Heaims instead to show why people believe what they do andaims to induce greater respect for and tolerance of personswho believe things that seem unfounded. He finds that soci-ologist C. Smith was right: people generally believe whatthey were raised to believe. He also finds that Mormons areless interested than evangelicals in the rationality of faith,but that evangelicals put greater stock in Scripture than inarguments from reason. He suggests “classical apologetics”that puts primary emphasis on the work of the Spirit in faithand secondary weight on reason. The last section containsintriguing conversion testimonies going both ways: evan-gelicals to Mormonism and vice versa. This volume is rec-ommended as an irenic tool for dialogue between Mormonsand evangelicals.

Gerald R. McDermottRoanoke College

JESUS: A BRIEF HISTORY. By W. Barnes Tatum. Black-well Brief Histories of Religion Series. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Pp. xviii + 263. $29.95.

This outstanding book is not another attempt to unearththe “real” Jesus but an engrossing and amazingly succincthistory of the reception of the enigmatic figure. The authorhimself says, “I envision this relatively small book to providea readable account of how Jesus and his story have beenreceived over the past two millennia—especially by thosewho confess him to be the Christ.” Amazingly, it does justthat. The book even provides a helpful prologue that brieflysituates Jesus within his Jewish and Roman context. Thechapters proceed chronologically from there, covering thebeginnings of Christianity, the early Christological debates,“medieval orthodoxy,” challenges to orthodoxy, the searchfor the historical Jesus, “Christological diversity,” and Jesusand world religions. A brief epilogue analyzes Jesus as “aGlobal Christ,” followed by a select bibliography arranged bybroad topics and a thorough index. The book perhaps fails tolive up to the claim of addressing its subject matter “throughart, literature, and culture as well as theology.” It does so butprimarily through short sections at the end of every chapteranalyzing either “material culture” or “dramatic arts.” Thesesections are quite edifying, but the organization and brevitycall into question the thoroughness of the interdisciplinaryclaim. This minor objection aside, Tatum has done a master-ful job. Anyone teaching a course on Christology or thehistory of Christianity should carefully consider this book.Anyone interested in learning more about the developmentof the reception of Jesus should carefully consider this bookas well.


BERLINER VORLESUNGEN I (1919-1920). By PaulTillich. Edited by Erdmann Sturm. Erganzungs-undNachlassbande zu den Gesammelten Werken, 12. Berlin:Walter de Gruyter, 2001. Pp. xxi + 667. $246.00.


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Tillich always admired his first essay entitled “On theIdea of a Theology of Culture.” Berliner Vorlesungen I (1919-20) holds special importance because it belongs to the sametime in which he developed his ideas on theology of culture.Because Tillich relies on such distinctions as form andcontent to drive his theology of culture, these lectures willallow readers of Tillich to consider alternate versions of histheology of culture, dead ends, and other experiments thathe did not develop further in his later work. Although theselectures also do not engage political theology in the sensegiven by C. Schmitt or later liberation traditions, the firstlecture included in the volume extends the essay’s analysisto forms of government, contemporary events, and socialtheory in a way not often present in Tillich’s writings. Tillichalso provides extensive reflections on natural law in theo-logical ethics. E. Sturm has provided an exacting account ofTillich’s academic circumstances and his efforts to find aprofessorial position. This volume is valuable for theologiansof culture and Tillich specialists.

Gregory WalterSt. Olaf College

BERLINER VORLESUNGEN II (1920-1924). By PaulTillich. Edited by Erdmann Sturm. Erganzungs-undNachlassbande zu den Gesammelten Werken, 13. Berlin:Walter de Gruyter, 2003. Pp. lii + 861. $293.00.

This volume collects detailed accounts of the history ofphilosophy from antiquity to the late German Enlightenmentas well as a lecture focused on early Christian philosophicaltheology through late nominalism. Tillich did not excludeattempts at historical accuracy, but he organized these lec-tures to develop a constructive philosophical position. WhileTillich referred to other authors less in his late writings, inthese volumes we find extensive engagement with the worksof German Idealism and Romanticism. We of course findSchelling in prominence but also Novalis and Schlegel. AsSturm notes in his rich preface, Tillich often referred little tohistorical precedent and buried his partners and foesbeneath his constructive theological and philosophical work.Tillich’s intensive discussion of Nicholas of Cusa and DunsScotus as well as Spinoza and Leibniz provides grounds tothink further about the metaphysic or ontology Tillich wasdeveloping as well as his unique contribution in reflectingon God and God’s being.


DOGMATIK (DRESDEN 1925-1927). By Paul Tillich.Edited by Werner Schussler and Erdmann Sturm.Erganzungs- und Nachlassbande zu den GesammeltenWerken, 14. Berlin: Walter de Grutyer, 2005. Pp. xliv + 456.$252.00.

Of the many volumes of Tillich’s posthumous works, fewhave importance that requires the attention of theologians orphilosophers of religion in general. The important exceptionto this is Tillich’s Dogmatik lectures. That collection should

have a wider audience in theological circles. For many theo-logians, their only access to Tillich as a theologian has beenthe later three-volume Systematic Theology or perhaps themore focused and programmatic works such as The Courageto Be or Dynamics of Faith. With the Dogmatik lectures, wefind an earlier version of his system, a version to whichTillich refers in the preface to the first volume of SystematicTheology. Nearly every theological topic is treated here, in away that merits comparison with the later Systematic Theol-ogy as well as the Glaubenslehre tradition stemming fromSchleiermacher. The Dogmatik lectures had been previouslyedited by W. Schüssler and have received much scholarlytreatment, even resulting in a French translation of thework. But further manuscripts have emerged, and soSchüssler and E. Sturm have gathered more manuscriptmaterial and reedited the work, providing a much more sig-nificant window into Tillich’s theological world and hisreconstruction of the tradition. This edition of the Dogmatikreplaces the previous one and should be taken up by theolo-gians, historians of thoughts, and philosophers of religion ofall disciplines.


VORLESUNGEN UBER GESCHICHTSPHILOSOPHIEUND SOZIALPADAGOGIK (FRANKFURT 1929/30).By Paul Tillich. Edited by Erdmann Sturm. Erganzungs- undNachlassbande zu den Gesammelten Werken, 15. Berlin:Walter de Gruyter, 2007. Pp. lix + 379. $252.00.

Tillich offered lectures on the theology of history andsocial pedagogy at the newly founded Frankfurt Universityin 1929 and 1930. These lectures reflect interests thatachieved more permanent form in the third volume of Tilli-ch’s Systematic Theology. Tillich examines the idea of theemergence of the new in history as well as the character ofutopia. The pedagogy lectures discuss social theory as wellas significant questions of education as the formation ofcharacter. Tillich gave both lecture series as the result of hisnew appointment in philosophy and the assignment to teachsocial pedagogy. The volume offers a clear and meticulousaccount of the various professorial positions Tillich consid-ered as well as the conditions under which he took theposition at Frankfurt. One will search in vain for connectionsto the Frankfurt school of critical theory as well as a moreproper account of education. Nevertheless, Tillich thoughtthat this philosophy of engagement deserved further explo-ration. Certainly he is right because these lectures representsome alternate courses in thinking about temporality, life,existentialism, and culture. Ideas and arguments character-istic to Tillich are present but are put to novel uses. Theselectures will be of special interest to theologians and philoso-phers of religion who busy themselves with the questionof an event, a commonplace topic among continentalphilosophers.



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BERLINER VORLESUNGEN III (1951-1958). By PaulTillich. Edited by Erdmann Sturm. Erganzungs- undNachlassbande zu den Gesammelten Werken, 16. Berlin:Walter de Gruyter, 2009. Pp. lxvii + 422. $235.00.

Tillich made reflection on being an integral part of hiswork from his early years to the final days. This criticaledited volume of his lectures in Germany from 1951 to 1958shows a lively mind at work. These lecture manuscripts,particularly the first one entitled “Ontologie,” will rewardinterested theological readers beyond those of the Tillichspecialist. The latter lectures focus on being, existence, andlife. These lectures show Tillich exploring angles and dimen-sions in being and existence in a much more direct way thanhe often did in his published work. Bergson and Whiteheadare given critical pride of place. Strum has written an exten-sive preface that puts these lectures in the historical contextof Tillich’s sometimes painful return to Germany followinghis emigration in 1938. This volume is necessary for Tillichspecialists owing to its intermediary position among thevarious smaller late works such and his Systematic Theology.


THE LEFT BEHIND FANTASY: THE THEOLOGYBEHIND THE LEFT BEHIND TALES. By William PowellTuck. Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2010. Pp. ix + 151.$19.00.

Tuck’s book engages the wildly popular Left Behindseries. Illustrating the influence of these books and furtherprobing the ideological and theological underpinnings thatserve to structure these fictional tales, Tuck ultimately findsthe theological basis of the novels, often tacitly equated withbiblical “truth” itself, untenable. The approach Tuck offers isboth accessible and pastorally tinged. Tuck delineates thehistory, in brief, of the rise of Western evangelical eschatol-ogy, with special attention to the development of dispensa-tional hermeneutics and theology. Tuck helpfully identifiesthe central theological constructs espoused in the fictionaltales: the rapture, the glorious appearing, the seven-yeartribulation, “literal” hermeneutic, and other central con-cepts. He adequately demonstrates dispensationalism’s risein the early nineteenth century, its essential eschatologicalmotifs, all the while demonstrating the inconsistency inher-ent in several hermeneutical and theological premises. Hethen offers several alternative proposals toward understand-ing the Book of Revelation, the chief biblical book behind theLeft Behind theology. Subsequently, Tuck advances the argu-ment that to the bulk of Christian history and interpretersthe theological categories and scheme promulgated by dis-pensational theology is absent, which should give one pausein dispelling other viewpoints. Ultimately, Tuck’s case isclear: the Left Behind novels, predicated upon dispensationaltheology, present a theological hope built on sand. Ulti-mately, Tuck is reticent to propose a single alternative;rather, for him, almost any historical Christian alternative is

preferable to dispensationalism’s interpretation of the bibli-cal text and sensational claims.

Robert G. ReidBrite Divinity School, Texas Christian University

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT EVANGELI-CALS IS WRONG (WELL, ALMOST EVERYTHING):AN INSIDER’S LOOK AT MYTHS AND REALITIES.By Steve Wilkens and Don Thorsen. Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks, 2010. Pp. 224. $16.99.

The authors of this book address their observationsabout evangelicalism to two readerships. Externally, they tryto respond to some of the common caricatures of evangeli-cals. In their opening chapter, for example, they insist thatnot all evangelicals are mean, stupid, or dogmatic (thoughthey admit that enough are to bolster the stereotype). Inter-nally, they emphasize that not all evangelicals are dispensa-tionalists, antievolutionists, inerrantists, or Calvinists,among other things. Overall, the book attempts to discreditthe agenda of those whose definition of evangelicalism dis-enfranchises what has been called the “Evangelical Left.” Tosustain a broader definition of evangelicalism, the authorsdraw a distinction between orthodoxy (right doctrine), ortho-praxy (right conduct), and orthopathy (right feeling). Theybelieve that orthopathy is the most important for under-standing who is an evangelical. Many on the left possessorthopathy, so they are included in the evangelical fold. Fun-damentalists, however, lack orthopathy, so they areexcluded. The overall discussion becomes a bit one-sided attimes, and the authors do not always seem to understand thepositions that they are critiquing. Nevertheless, the volumeserves as a helpful introduction to one perspective on theperennial debate over who should be recognized as evangeli-cal. Highly readable, the book should be useful to pastorsand students as well as scholars.

Kevin T. BauderCentral Baptist Theological Seminary

Arts, Literature, Culture, andReligionFILM AND RELIGION: AN INTRODUCTION. By PaulV. M. Flesher and Robert Torry. Nashville, TN: AbingdonPress, 2007. Pp. xiii + 303. $27.00.

Flesher, a professor of religious studies, and Torry, aprofessor of English and American studies, offer a valuablestudy of the intersection of religion with American historyand popular culture. The book, which began as an upper-level college course, asks how film uses religion to conveymessages. The films range from How the Grinch Stole Christ-mas!, not ostensibly a religious film, to The Greatest StoryEver Told, which emphatically is. When a film uses Biblestories, the authors assume the audience’s interest in accu-racy and, in a fascinating move, introduce the ancient trans-lators’ practice of targum or visibly weaving in extra,


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Documents

MORMONS AND EVANGELICALS: REASONS FOR FAITH – By David E. Smith