Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine

Since I am an OT guy, most of my reading is in biblical studies and not theology, and the theology that I do read tends to be written by evangelicas. This book was an eye opener for me and not quite what I expected. Since the book covers Christianity in very broad strokes, I was expecting a not very helpful work with which I would disagree on every page. While there were some points that this was true, there was much good material in the book. I've included an extended review below, but here are a few of the essays.

Vanhoozer's chapter on human beings was my favorite in the book (Vanhoozer is quickly becoming one of my favorite theologians). He focuses upon humans as communicative beings, as a way to avoid being focuses too much upon either essence or action. This communication is based upon the Trinity.

Colin Gunton has an excellent chapter on creation. While I would not pick creation to be one of the top eight doctrines, he does a great job showing its importance. He makes the startling claim that the current ecological crisis is not the fault of Christianity, but of atheism, since they do not view the world as being created by God.

One chapter began arguing for the continuing relevance of the OT promises to the Jews, a conclusion with which I was very surprised. Did a dispenstationalist sneak in? Well, it turned out not to be the case, becuase the chapter ends with a call to stop evangelizing Jews becuase they are all saved anyway.  

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine

Edited by Colin Gunton

This book is designed as an introductory text for those interested in Christian doctrine during this time of changing cultural moods. But it is not only for introductory students, it is also for the advanced students who wonder how these changes have affected theology. The stated purpose of the book is to “develop the promise inherent in the changed intellectual situation, while at the same time introducing some of the central topics of theology” (ii). The purpose for these two themes is two different audiences.

New readers and non-specialists will find this an accessible and stimulating introduction to the content of the main themes of Christian doctrine, while advanced students and specialists will find a useful summary of recent developments which demonstrates the variety, coherence and intellectual vitality of contemporary Christian thought. (ii)

In the big picture, the methodology of the book is divided into two major sections, “with the first six chapters examining Christian theology in its current setting, and the second eight treating major topics among those traditional in Christian doctrine” (ii). The methodology varies greatly throughout the book since each chapter is by a different author. One common characteristic is that almost all of the authors spend time discussing historical aspects of doctrine. For most of the authors, more time is spent in this category than in developing a doctrine from the Bible. Some of the essays, such as the Christology essay by Kathryn Tanner are more theoretical, while others develop more of a biblical base, such as the essay on the Holy Spirit by Geoffrey Wainwright.

One of the strengths of the book is the historical tone to the theology presented. Most of the authors discuss the progression of the doctrines throughout and the interaction with the surrounding cultures of the time. This background helps to understand the relationship between theology and contemporary culture. A particularly good example of this is the essay by Colin Gunton on the relationship between historical and systematic theology. The two branches cannot be separated, but to understand either one the other must be studied as well.

The strong connection between ethics and theology drawn by Stanley Hauerwas is a helpful reminder of the importance of theology for everyday life. The story told by Hauerwas about how ethics and theology became separated is a fascinating tale and very applicable to the church today. For many evangelicals, doctrine is purely something to be believed and affirmed, but their connection to real life is difficult to ascertain. “If, for example, Christians are no longer distinguishable from the world by how they use their possessions, questions concerning the two natures of Christ may assume quite a different character, as questions of ‘belief’ now becoming the defining mark of the Christian rather than our willingness to share our possessions as part of our discipleship” (24). The result is that pastors preach “practical” sermons which relate to real life but do not contain any theology. What is needed in the church is a stronger connection between the theology and the ethics of the church.

The critique by Francis Watson of bad habits in the guild of modern scholars is appropriate. The “division of labour” (72) between the various fields of study in the guild keep the fields from interacting and relating, which is a serious problem for issues like the Old Testament in the New Testament. The integration of the disciplines is one of the features about the program at Wheaton which I appreciate. Watson also notes the deleterious effects of looking behind the final form of the text and supplementing the text (75-78).  This is a good reminder that reading the text is not about archaeology of the text or about providing tomes of supplements; while they are helpful, they are servants to understanding the text, not the other way around. 

 The chapter on the Jewish people and Christian theology by Bruce Marshall was one of the most interesting in the book for me. I heartily agree with his main thesis in the beginning of the chapter that God must keep his promises to Israel (not surprisingly, I come from premillennial background). This was not the kind of claim I was expecting from a book on Christian theology that was intended for a broad audience. However, the direction he takes is an unfortunate turn, in my opinion, as is seen below.

The contribution by Colin Gunton on creation was a fascinating addition. If the average Christian was asked to name the eight most important doctrines, I would guess that creation would not be one of them. But Gunton shows clearly how it is important and relevant for life today. The history of the doctrine and its relation to science was worthy of note, since the books on history of doctrine seem to not discuss creation as a general rule. His development of the connection between the Trinity and creation, such as that the world was created for a purpose out of the love of God and that God is in loving immanence with creation through the Son, show the relevance of the doctrine of creation to other areas of doctrine. Especially fascinating is the following claim at the close of the chapter about the relationship of the ecological crisis to theology:

As Pannenberg and others have pointed out, the crisis has developed as a result of the modern abandonment of a religious view of the world. If we cease to see the world as God’s creation, we shall treat it not as a project in which we are invited to share but as an absolute possession to be exploited as we will. (155)

Kevin Vanhoozer’s article on anthropology was my favorite section of the book. He does an excellent job balancing an historical overview of the subject, contemporary debates, the biblical data, and a coherent viewpoint that is distinctly his own but is true to all the data. His noting of the fundamental division in humans being not body and soul but what we were created to be and what we are helps to connect anthropology with soteriology (162). His connection with trinitarianism is also very helpful. “A trinitarian view, on the other hand, affirms that persons are what they are by virtue of their relation to others” (174). Finally, his speech-act model draws a nice compromise between focusing on what a human is and how a human relates to others (175-178). “What matters is not merely outward behavior nor, on the other hand, merely the dispositions of one’s heart, but rather one’s whole-person response to the Word of God and the total pattern of ones’ historical existence” (179). The model also balances nicely the individual and the community. “A person is a centre of communication in a social context” (180).   

The metaphors of redemption (itself a metaphor) are dealt with in a beneficial manner by Trevor Hart. The survey of the range of relevant biblical metaphors lays the foundation for his discussion of several attempts throughout church history to give the definition to redemption. He notes that some of the metaphors communicate better in some cultures than others, but also notes that this does not mean that the metaphors are interchangeable. The variety of metaphors is needed to communicate redemption, and focusing upon just one of them reduces the brilliance of the doctrine (190-191). Further, a particular metaphor might be needed when it does not fit the culture precisely in order to fight against the felt need which makes the metaphor uncomfortable (191).

The placing of eschatology third from the end instead of at the end was an interesting choice. There does not seem to be any reason given for the placement, but it does make the reader take note when they finish the eschatology chapter and the book is not over yet! I enjoyed reading a chapter on eschatology that was not about a debate over the millennial positions. The emphasis on the importance of eschatology does not result in a neglect of the current times, as he shows that the kingdom of God is not “a release from our present mode of physical existence, but … a transformation of the entire created order” (237) and that the “eschatological chapters toward the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel are fraught with warnings about neglecting the service of God in the present” (239).  

One of the drawbacks of the book is that the format made it difficult to read. This is clearly a problem for any book that is written by a collection of authors, but this book seemed worse than many because the styles of the various authors were so different from each other. While there were some consistent themes, overall the differences made this a very choppy read.

Another drawback was that it did not seem to perform well as an introductory text. There were helpful elements to it in this direction, such as the glossary at the beginning, but if someone with little knowledge of theology read this book they would be very lost, a lostness only compounded by the uneven quality of the book and the range of methodologies used by the authors. It seems that the book tries to do too much: it should have focused either upon the introductory purpose or the scholarly purpose.

Several of the chapters were less helpful than other chapters. For example, Loughlin’s continual reference to the Immaculate conception as an interrelated doctrine with the other parts of theology does not help me as a Protestant to follow or be convinced by his argument (52-53). Since the book is directed at a wide ecumenical audience, it would have been more helpful to use an example that would have communicated in a better fashion to his readers. But this is only a minor critique: I agree with what he is saying, except for his choice of example.

The conclusions of Marshall in relation to the Jewish people are disastrous. He claims that the “salvation of the Jews is in the bag” (89). “This suggests that Christians may engage in a non-proselytising conversation with Jews; since we do not have to assume that we are talking to the damned, we do not have to feel responsible for converting and thus saving them” (89). While this belief does raise a fascinating challenge for premillennialists (In what way does the coming of Christ affect Israel?), Marshall dismisses much of the biblical evidence. There is a large number of stories of Jews being evangelized in the New Testament: was the early church mistaken in doing so? And where is the place of belief? There are so many problems with Marshall’s conclusions that it is difficult to take seriously if one also holds to a high view of Scripture.

The chapter on the church and the sacraments by Robert Jenson was difficult to follow, although I think the problem lay more with my skill as a reader than with the presentation. Since I come from a baptistic background, the entire framework of thinking on the part of the Catholic author was out of my intellectual comfort zone and the author did not seem to help his non-Catholic readers very much. The one fascinating comment he made was that the church “is to be a communion within the communion that is the life of the triune God” (216), connecting the Trinity with the life of the church by using the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3:13-17.

The methodology of Kathryn Tanner in the chapter on Jesus Christ is unbalanced in my opinion. Her point about the problems in modern Christological formulations is well taken. The modernist assumptions made by many theologians are clearly laid out in her chapter. The problems with making Jesus overly human (and therefore less human in the process, as she points out with Schleiermacher’s theology) ruins Christology. Her critique of Schleiermacher is wonderfully well put.

The very historical independence that is to solve the problem brings, however, its own difficulties: one cannot, according to Schleiermacher, be dependent on a historical person in the way one is dependent on God. The result is then an unresolved dilemma: absolute dependence expressed in an idiom that seems to contradict it. (263)

            As excellent as her critique is, the reason that this chapter is unbalanced is that the entire chapter is devoted to this critique of modernist theology. There is very little discussion of constructive theology. If we are not to follow the modernists, what should be believe? Further, she herself notes that her specific critique may no longer be needed. “The advent of postmodernism might, however, render moot the need to reflect critically on the use of modern assumptions in christology” (269). There would be a better way to fill this chapter to make it helpful for her readers.

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