Confessing Evangelical

So, I got tagged by Al96 in the "contemporary theological works"/"best contemporary theology" meme. Well first off, let me reiterate that I don't do tag memes97. I also dislike the self-consciously "canonical" nature of the question posed:

Name three (or more) theological works from the last 25 years (1981-2006) that you consider important and worthy to be included on a list of the most important works of theology of that last 25 years (in no particular order).

A bit like all these lists by music journalists who feel unable just to say what records they like and have to dress it up as "the 100 greatest albums of all time as objectively and judiciously evaluated by us experts".

On the other hand, I couldn't resist having a crack at the question. Entirely voluntarily, you understand ;-).

Now, I am not a theologian in the academic/professional sense, and if I tried to give an objective and judicious assessment of the worthiest works of academic theology over the past quarter-century then I'd fall flat on my face. So I'm going here for books that have either been highly influential (for good) on the church at large, or are saying things that I personally believe the church needs to listen to more:

1. On Being a Theologian of the Cross, by Gerhard Forde (1997)

In an age in which, step by step, the theology of glory is moving forward, liddle by liddle it's taking ground, this book is a great reminder that a true theologian is one "who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross" rather than in "works as perceived by man"; that the cross of Christ is the great triumph over triumphalism; that the words "Jesus is Lord" don't just redefine who our Lord is, but redefine lordship itself. As Forde puts it, there are two stories that we can tell about ourselves: the "glory story" (which is the one we prefer) or the "cross story", which we find in the gospel.

But that's not why I've put Forde's book on this list. The most valuable part of Forde's book, for me, is his reminder that Luther did not talk about "the theology of glory" or "the theology of the cross" in his Heidelberg Disputation, but about "theologians of glory" and "theologians of the cross". "The theology of the cross" can easily become merely a slogan of crusading orthodoxy, something by which we congratulate and reassure ourselves that we are not like other people who have a theology of glory. Of course, the result of this is that "the theology of cross" becomes a means by which we ourselves operate as theologians of glory, assembling neat rows of theologically-correct propositions. But as Luther said, "The cross alone is our theology", and Forde calls us to take seriously what he meant by this.

On reconsidering all this while preparing this post, I realise how very far away from this ideal I am, and how far out of my depth I am even talking about this. So my true reason for including this book is because I think the whole church, myself as much as anybody, needs to take much more deeply to heart what Forde is saying in this marvellous little book. Though I suspect the Christian blogosphere, for starters, would become a much quieter place if we did. "Whereof we cannot speak...", and all that.


2. Gospel and Kingdom, by Graeme Goldsworthy (1981)

OK, onto slightly easier ground, here. Goldsworthy's 1981 book (another slim volume, like the Forde, at less than 120 pages) introduced "biblical theology" to the conservative evangelical world (that's "biblical theology" in the technical sense of "understanding the progressive history of God revealing himself to humankind through the whole Bible", not as in "theology that is in accordance with the Bible"). If you walk into an Anglican conservative evangelical church (whether in Sydney or the City of London) and hear the phrase, "God's people in God's place under God's rule" - and you will, sooner or later - then that is Goldsworthy's influence at work.

But Goldsworthy's book shouldn't just be for Sydney(esque) evangelicals. He is wonderfully clear in showing how to relate the Old Testament scriptures to Christ, providing tools to realise in practice the teaching that "Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, is the heart and center of the Scripture and therefore the key to its true meaning" (Explanation of the Small Catechism (PDF), q.4). Read Goldsworthy and you will never again treat the Old Testament as a random grab-bag of moralising object lessons (1 Samuel 17 as an example of "how to defeat your own personal Goliaths", that sort of thing). An illuminating and liberating book.

This article by Goldsworthy provides a useful summary of his argument in Gospel and Kingdom.


3. The Cross of Christ, by John Stott (1986)

OK, I'm now going to wildly contradict myself by mentioning a book that emphatically teaches a theology about the cross. Sue me.

But if we're talking about "important" theological books from the past 25 years, then Stott's magnum opus surely has to qualify. His lucid exposition of the cross of Christ as "divine self-satisfaction through divine self-substitution" has, I'm sure, been hugely influential in helping shore up the crumbling evangelical commitment to penal substitution as central to our understanding of the cross. Stott persuasively answers the main objections to this doctrine, rebutting the cruder exaggerations of this teaching ("cosmic child-abuse", as some who ought to know better have put it), and going on to show how the cross of Christ should be central not only to our theology, but to the whole life of the church.

My own view is that, while "penal substitution" may not be the whole story about the cross - being a theology about the cross, rather than the cross as our theology - but where it is denied or downplayed, there is a great danger that all the other aspects of the cross lose their meaning too. Why is the cross a triumph over sin and the devil? Because Christ bore our punishment in our place, robbing the devil of his hold over us. Why is the cross a supreme symbol of God's self-giving love? Because it wasn't just a futile gesture, but the means by which our loving God, in Christ, was reconciling the world to himself through this sacrifice for sin. If I throw myself under a bus, that demonstrates my love for you only if I do it to save your life, not if I do it simply as a dramatic symbolic demonstration.

But I digress. There you go, anyway, three books that I personally consider deserve to be called "important", and not an NT Wright among them. How's about that then, boys and girls?

Now, as I say, I don't "do" tag memes, so I'm not going to tag anybody now. However, if you also feel like participating voluntarily in this exercise, then please feel free to do so either on your own blog or in the comments here. The first three to let me know (in the comments or by email) that they've done so will get "retro-tagged" after the event...

Retrotags: Aardvark.

Labels: canonising, contemporary theological works, memes, retrotagging