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Introduction:
The Bible and Contemporary Society
Derek Poole
A
Moving Experience
Ruth Hutchinson
From
the Director
David Porter
Letting
the Bible Speak
Graham Redding
Hagar
and the God Who Sees
Fran Porter
Faith
and Practice...David McClurg
Ruth Hutchinson
Wilson
on Suffering
Alan Wilson
God's
Prejudice Reduction Training
David Porter
How
Will We Vote?
Stephen Cave
Book
Reviews
Alwyn Thomson
Stanley J Grenz Renewing the Centre: Evangelical Theology in a Post Theological Era (Grand Rapids: BridgePoint Books, 2000) £12.00
John G Stackhouse Jr. (ed.) Evangelical Futures: A Conversation on Theological Method (Leicester: IVP, 2000) £12.99Not another bout of evangelical navel gazing? Is there no end in view to the stream, the flood, of books analysing the past, the future, the hopes, the fears, the triumphs – and the compromises – of evangelicalism. Well, no – there isn’t. However, amidst the dross there are some good books out there. And these are two of them. Stanley Grenz is nothing if not prolific. However, what is significant about Grenz’s work is that the different volumes hold together as a project. This volume is in Grenz’s own words, ‘a distillation of my work in recent years in several areas of theological reflection’. The initial chapters chart the development of ‘classical evangelicalism’ with its roots in the reformation, Puritanism and Pietism. This form of evangelicalism, associated with the revivals of the eighteenth century, was marked by convertive piety’. Alongside this emphasis was an emphasis on Scripture. This emphasis, however, had its origins in the Protestant scholasticism ‘which transformed the doctrine of Scripture from an article of faith into the foundation for systematic theology’. It is the interplay of these two that sets the framework for understanding the shape of nineteenth century evangelicalism, fundamentalism and neo-evangelicalism. Grenz traces the fifty-year history of the neo-evangelical movement through three sets of thinkers representing differing perspectives on the theology and history of the movement. Recognising the concerns of some contemporary theologians that evangelicalism is in crisis, Grenz argues that ‘the emerging task of evangelical theology is that of coming to grips with the postmodern condition’. Grenz identifies the two key challenges of postmodernism to theology as being the move away from realist ideas of knowledge and truth and a corresponding emphasis on the social construction of these, and the move away from metanarratives with an increasing focus on local stories. Having elucidated the framework, Grenz’s constructive proposals follow. In these he addresses the question of theological method, bringing into relationship Scripture, tradition and culture; the question of the relationship between theology and science; and the question of the relationship between Christian truth claims and pluralism. Following this Grenz focuses on the need for a strong evangelical ecclesiology in order to create the context in which the evangelical traditions claims and convictions can be made operative as worship and witness. The work concludes with a call for the renewal of the evangelical centre, marked by ‘generous orthodoxy’. This is a major theological work by a creative and gifted evangelical theologian. His own convictions are clearly expressed but, where he differs, those differences are generally expressed in an irenic way. The book raises as many questions as it answers. Some will find it a breath of fresh air; others will see in it evidence of their concerns for evangelicalism. I confess that I belong to the former group. Particularly welcome is Grenz’s strong emphasis on the church. Evangelicalism’s greatest failing has always been its inability to construct a coherent doctrine of the church. Instead, we have formed para-church movements that have functioned for too many of us as our alternative to the church. This is the evangelical heresy. Grenz wants evangelicals to rediscover the body of Christ in all its ontological and local reality in order to do better theology, to worship and to witness to our world. Some knowledge of evangelical history and theology is necessary to get the best from this book. But for those who have that, the book is worth serious attention. Grenz also contributes to Evangelical Futures – a series of essays which address the question of theological method for doing evangelical theology in a postmodern world. An initial paper from Alister McGrath sets out some of the issues and some of the contemporary debates within evangelicalism. McGrath appears again later locating evangelical theology in the context of the great tradition of Christian theology. An excellent essay by John Stackhouse identifies the characteristics of good evangelical theology and warns against some of the temptations to abandon the tradition, ending with a robust appeal to evangelical theologians ‘to engage unapologetically in theology from this perspective and to maintain this historic balancing of evangelical convictions as they do’. Other contributors include Grenz, Stephen Williams, Kevin Vanhoozer, JI Packer, Roger Olson and Trevor Hart. Again, for those interested in the future of evangelical theology this is a good collection to have. The article by Grenz might provide a taster to encourage a fuller engagement with his more substantial works such as Renewing the Centre.
Alwyn Thomson - Research Officer
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