Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37 • NUMBER 3
points, but the book provides a helpful overview for readers
with some background on the subject.
Raymond J. VanArragon
Bethel University
Theology
SPIRITUALITY AND AGING. By Robert C. Atchley. Bal-
timore: The John Hopkins University Press, 2009. Pp. xiii +
199. $45.00.
Integrating his scholarship and personal experience of
over thirty years, Atchley, an established expert in the field
of aging and spirituality, makes a convincing case for
expanding our understanding of spirituality in order to
appreciate it as an important aspect of human development
and as a rich resource for people in the aging process. When
spirituality is tied exclusively to religion, the result is a
“conceptual narrowness” that obscures the fact that it is an
area of human experience. As such, spirituality relates to
everyone, independent of any religious affiliation or faith
tradition. His objective is to treat spirituality “as a subject in
its own right and to expand the view of spirituality to match
the richness and complexity that it has in the everyday
worlds of many middle-aged and older people.” As an emeri-
tus professor of gerontology, Atchley has the credentials to
argue that “our empirical, conceptual and analytical capaci-
ties must be augmented by humanistic capacities such as
contemplation, rumination, imagination, and intuition.” For
him, only a broad range of methods can encompass the pos-
sibilities of spirituality and aging. With clarity and insight,
he supplements a substantive, theoretical treatment of the
nature of spirituality and spiritual development with well-
detailed case histories and interviewee quotes. Understand-
ing Atchley’s spiritual perspective on aging will benefit
readers both inside and outside of academia.
Wilkie Au
Loyola Marymount University
RESHAPING ECUMENICAL THEOLOGY: THE
CHURCH MADE WHOLE? By Paul Avis. New York: T & T
Clark International, 2010. Pp. x + 209. $34.95.
Seasoned Anglican ecclesiologist and ecumenist Avis
explores the church’s future after a decade of participating in
efforts toward full visible church unity across different Chris-
tian traditions. Reshaping Ecumenical Theology collates
his recently delivered papers on why the Church remains
divided, and how rethinking ecumenical theology entails
following new paths in its method, and by means of “the
hermeneutics of unity.” He also discusses the issues of deep-
ening reception, maintaining confessions, following the epis-
copacy, administering the sacraments, and facing the new
challenge of human sexual ethics, concluding with a theologi-
cal treatment of a Johannine model of mystical, visible, and
missiological ecclesiology. Despite the eclectic nature of this
publication and (hence) its repetitiveness, the work contrib-
• SEPTEMBER 2011
utes to ecumenical rethinking in at least three respects. First,
it offers a simple and largely nontechnical review of suc-
cesses, failures, and pitfalls of ecumenical work. Technical
jargon such as “reconciled diversity,” “differentiated consen-
sus,” and “reception” is clearly explained. Avis shows knowl-
edge of a breadth of historic and contemporary ecumenical
documents and bilateral dialogue reports among different
traditions, thereby helping readers appreciate the ecumeni-
cal successes to date. Second, the author delineates how
ecumenical work is a “pneumatological process” of discern-
ing the Spirit in the spiritual, confessional, intellectual, and
relational aspects across the churches/traditions. Third,
practical wisdom is offered for ecumenists, which adds to
other important and existing work in the field.
Timothy Lin T. N.
Regent University School of Divinity
WHO IS THIS MAN? CHRIST IN THE RENEWAL OF
THE CHURCH. Edited by Jonathan Baker and William
Davage. London: Continuum, 2006. Pp. 130. $34.95.
This collection of essays and reflections on the theme of
the high priesthood of Christ was published by the Society of
the Holy Cross as a contribution to the revitalization of the
Catholic heritage of the Anglican Communion. Of particular
interest is R. Williams’s essay “To What End Are We Made?”
in which Williams’s meditation on Christ as the paradig-
matic worshipper of the Father is meant to draw ministers
into a more profound contemplation of their own role
as participants in Christ’s worship and performers of sacra-
mental work within the community. D. Brown and A. Load-
es’s lively essay “Learning from the Arts” explores how
contemporary artistic representations of the crucifixion and
the resurrection, in deviating from traditional didactic forms
of expression, can disclose dimensions of theological truth
to the church. Although all of the selections deal with the
titular christological theme in their own way, this volume is
fundamentally about ecclesiology. Its lasting relevance will
consist therefore less in its contribution to Christology than
it will as a record of the struggles of the Anglican Commun-
ion to articulate a coherent self-identity in the face of intrad-
enominational polarization. The more avowedly Catholic
voices in the volume constitute an eloquent and sensitive
account of a theological and theo-ethical perspective often
given short shrift within the academy. Readers interested in
engaging with the issues at stake will find this volume to be
a valuable contribution to the accounting of the continuing
formation of modern Anglican identity.
J.G. Gholson
Loyola University Chicago
RAZING HELL: RETHINKING EVERYTHING
YOU’VE BEEN TAUGHT ABOUT GOD’S WRATH
AND JUDGMENT. By Sharon L. Baker. Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Pp. xvi + 222. $17.00.
Make no mistake: while this is one of the most accessible
books many of us will ever read about a theology of hell,
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 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
divine wrath, and judgment, it will engage not only intelligent
lay people, but also students and even scholars. This text
could even be used in an undergraduate and seminary intro-
ductory theology course because it covers many of the major
doctrines—e.g., atonement, Christology, eschatology, and the-
ology proper, not to mention engaging with hermeneutics and
issues in theological method—and shows their cohesiveness
vis-à-vis traditional understandings of hell. Although Baker
writes from an evangelical context, her arguments will also
be relevant for mainline Protestant and Catholic audiences,
the latter in part because of her constructive engagement
with the idea of purgatory. In effect, the options boil down, in
light of Baker’s analysis, to unique renditions of either anni-
hilationism or universalism. However, since neither of these
two theological notions, at least as popularly (mis)under-
stood, do justice to the restorative view of hell she is advocat-
ing, the depth of her critical reflections on the classical view,
the care with which she reads and interprets scripture, and
the decisive clarity with which she sorts through the various
theological alternatives at hand, critics should read Razing
Hell carefully before deciding either that her proposals fit
these categories or even that there is really an “or” within the
scope of what is being offered for consideration. Even if
readers ultimately disagree with Baker, reading her book
cannot but be theologically edifying.
Amos Yong
Regent University School of Divinity
NEVER TO LEAVE US ALONE: THE PRAYER LIFE
OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. By Lewis V. Baldwin.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010. Pp. i + 159. $16.95.
Seeking to illuminate King’s prayer life, Baldwin ana-
lyzes King’s papers, interviews, and speeches, and examines
several of his pastoral and personal prayers. Baldwin con-
tends that King resolutely believed prayer to be a powerful
spiritual force for ethical and social transformation. King
unremittingly affirmed his roots in the prayer tradition of
the Black church, which conceived prayer to be communica-
tion with God and a quest for meaning in life amidst exigent
existential circumstances. His exposure to theological liber-
alism (Boston Personalism and the Social Gospel) further
bolstered his belief in prayer, influencing his theological-
anthropological convictions that God is “personal, intimate,
and immediate,” and that humans should work with God to
pursue the kingdom. King’s personal and pastoral prayers
indicate that he held prayer and protest to be intertwined
and that effective prayer must unite with action and vice
versa. He viewed Civil Rights prayer circles as significant to
the Civil Rights Movement as the demonstrations them-
selves. Baldwin deems that persons seeking a just society
today should learn from King’s prayer life and acknowledge
the importance of prayer in social transformation. While
Baldwin elucidates King’s prayer life remarkably well, his
work venerates King in an overly saintly fashion and does
not seriously challenge readers to grapple with tough,
thorny issues. Are there not any flaws potentially inherent in
189
• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
King’s conception of prayer? How and why might persons
from other African American Christian traditions disagree
with King’s conception of prayer?
Jonathan Chism
Rice University
REDEEMING MULATTO: A THEOLOGY OF RACE
AND CHRISTIAN HYBRIDITY. By Brian Bantum. Waco,
TX: Baylor University Press, 2010. Pp. viii + 233. $34.95.
This book uses the Chalcedonian definition of Jesus
Christ as fully human and fully divine, the two natures
united in Christ’s person, to address racial division between
blacks and whites and identity issues of mulattos. Bantum
argues that J. Cone’s black theology and J. Milbank’s radical
orthodoxy typify current theological trajectories. Cone errs
by enclosing “the image of God within the lives of the
oppressed.” Milbank reduces people’s bodies to their ideas.
Bantum moves beyond this by arguing that white racism is
religious in outlook, leaving no place for mulattos. But Christ
transgresses racial boundaries in assuming human nature.
The Chalcedonian definition defines Christ as uniquely
mulatto. Baptism draws believers into Christ’s “mulattic”
existence, making identity located in racial purity or self-
justification idolatrous. A Christian’s relationship to God
gives them a hybrid identity “of flesh and Spirit” that is lived
through transgressing boundaries of difference to include
the excluded, dwell with the marginalized, and so be trans-
formed themselves. This transformation is ongoing. As
people enter the body of Christ, their particularities trans-
form it, and they are themselves transformed. Diversity con-
tinues, but within a body in which racial purity is no longer
idolized. Bantum’s reading of Cone is reductive. Nonethe-
less, this book will be useful for theologians and upper-level
seminary courses dealing with racial issues. Seminary
libraries should have it.
Don Schweitzer
St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon
POLITICAL GRACE: THE REVOLUTIONARY THE-
OLOGY OF JOHN CALVIN. By Roland Boer. Louisville,
KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Pp. xxvii + 148.
$25.00.
Poaching Calvin back from archconservatives is no
small task, but in Political Grace, Boer makes an admirable
first step. The book is a thorough reconsideration of Calvin’s
thought from a decidedly leftist perspective. Boer’s aim is “to
free the radical potential from Calvin’s own hesitations and
qualifications, from his own innate conservatism.” Boer con-
tends that Calvin’s theology has “wide-ranging political
implications,” and has little reticence reading Calvin in con-
versation with the writings of V. I. Lenin and in the context
of Acts 4 and its call for “Christian Communism.” In Boer’s
reading, Calvin “clearly comes out against tyranny and
oppression.” This fresh approach to Calvin will no doubt
draw strong criticisms, but this reviewer found it refreshing,
if not altogether compelling. To his credit, Boer ends the
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
book with a gesture of open-ended conciliation rather than
heavy-handed pedantry and revolutionary slogans. This
gesture may well keep the skeptical reader from fully dis-
missing Boer’s claims and invite the sympathetic reader to
dig deeper. The most noteworthy chapter is Boer’s “Bible:
The Irrepressible Book,” which offers as clear a treatment of
Calvin’s approach to Scripture in fifteen pages as can be
desired. The one drawback throughout is Boer’s excessive
inclusion of Latin and his accompanying translations, which
becomes showy and distracting. Overall, this is a much-
needed corrective to ossified readings of Calvin and will
serve to scare a good many people who need, perhaps, to be
shaken from their comfortable assumptions.
David Dault
Christian Brothers University
TESTIMONY IN THE SPIRIT: RESCRIPTING ORDI-
NARY PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY. By Mark J. Cart-
ledge. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2010. Pp. v + 219.
$89.96.
Cartledge’s book is an “investigation into the contribu-
tion that ordinary discourse makes in the construction of a
practical-theological account of Pentecostal identity.” He
does a sociological study of British Assemblies of God and
Elim Fellowship churches (each in its own chapter), as well
as study their praxis related to common Pentecostal theo-
logical distinctives: worship, healing, conversion, baptism in
the Spirit, witness, mission, and the Second Coming. The
book’s first two chapters explain his methodology, which
attempts to examine the “ordinary theology” (cf. Jeff Astley,
Ordinary Theology [2003]) of people in various Pentecostal
fellowships near Birmingham, England. As Cartledge
describes the examination process for each of the Pentecos-
tal distinctives, he includes verbatim testimonies about
experiences unique to each distinctive. Then he analyzes
these experiences, using the latest in Pentecostal scholar-
ship. These Pentecostals have “rescripted” (by their testi-
mony) ordinary theology in their context. At the end, he
suggests ways his methodology might be used in other Pen-
tecostal contexts throughout the world. Cartledge’s reason-
ing through the resources he consults and his analyses of
what he has observed in these churches provide readers
windows into the mind of a theologian and social scientist.
He is an observer and interpreter, both of the practices he
observes and of the writings of the Pentecostal scholars with
which he interacts. His methodology would be beneficial to
practical theologians in the academy.
Steven M. Fettke
Southeastern University
THEOLOGISCHE REALENZYKLOPÄDIE, GESA-
MTREGISTER, STUDIENAUSGABE, BAND I: BIBEL-
STELLEN, ORTE UND SACHEN; BAND II: NAMEN.
Edited by Albrecht Döhnert, et al. New York: Walter de
Gruyter, 2010. Vol. I, Pp. xi + 693; vol. II, pp. xi + 772.
$120.00.
190
• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
These volumes signal the completion of a massive thirty-
six volume theological encyclopedia, thirty years in the
making. They are comprehensive indexes of one of the most
significant reference works of the last century. Four separate
indexes comprise the two volumes: place references, sub-
jects, biblical texts (including apocryphal and deuteron-
canonical literature), and personal names. The amount of
material contained in each index is staggering, giving readers
an indication of the encyclopedia’s depth and breadth.
Perusal of the volumes reveals a European orientation, both in
names and places, although the subjects also include plenti-
ful references to the global South. This compact study edition
is essential for optimum use of the encyclopedia itself. Every
theological library should have a copy.
David H. Jensen
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
NEW PERSPECTIVES FOR EVANGELICAL THEOL-
OGY: ENGAGING WITH GOD, SCRIPTURE, AND
THE WORLD. Edited by Tom Greggs. New York: Routledge,
2010. Pp. xv + 223. $35.95.
This collection of essays provides perspectives from
multiple contributors to outline the broad parameters of
engagement with contemporary evangelical theology. The
essays cover a range of key topics including scripture, sote-
riology, the atonement, pneumatology, the Lord’s Supper,
ecclesiology, eschatology, and engagement with both Islam
and Israel. The collection draws from younger, mostly
British, scholars with a few American scholars interspersed
throughout. The stated purpose of this collection is to offer a
fresh engagement with evangelical thinking that is deeply
rooted in the Bible and the evangelical heritage. In addition,
the authors claim a desire to respond creatively to current
challenges. There is emphasis on the language of conversa-
tion and a dialogical approach with church people, theolo-
gians, and members of other faith communities. At the same
time, the authors employ existing paradigms and core theo-
logical issues as defined by previous generations. The essays
simultaneously re-examine and reaffirm the central topics
for evangelical theology. For example, the centrality of Scrip-
ture is reaffirmed and the Bible is claimed as the unrivaled
and unsurpassable source of rich and lively theology. At the
same time, the importance of community is incorporated
into an evangelical theology of scripture. The major defi-
ciency of this collection is the lack of diversity offered by the
editors. While British evangelicalism has much to offer, a
book claiming to look toward the future trajectory of evan-
gelicalism cannot ignore the performance of non-Western
evangelicalism.
Soong-Chan Rah
North Park Theological Seminary
MEETING GOD ON THE CROSS: CHRIST, THE
CROSS, AND THE FEMINIST CRITIQUE. By Arnfriður
Guðmundsdóttir. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Pp. ix + 195. $65.00.
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
Feminist theologians often criticize theologies that
claim Christ’s crucifixion makes our suffering redemptive
because they claim that such a theology causes women to
endure unjust violence and suffering while ignoring
the Gospel’s depictions of Christ’s liberating and healing
work. Against theologians who argue that the cross is
beyond redemption, this book refuses to ignore the reality
of Christ’s cross, or abdicate its liberative potential.
Guðmundsdóttir draws on Martin Luther’s Heidelberg
Disputation and feminist Christology to argue for an under-
standing of the cross that is responsive to feminist
critiques but also maintains the cross’ ability to speak a
powerful, liberating message to the suffering and margin-
alized. She rightly notes the differences between volun-
tary suffering for a greater purpose, and involuntary
suffering based on dehumanizing treatment of another
human being. In the end, this book argues that Christ’s
cross is about God in the midst of human suffering, not
a command for humanity to suffer. As such, this book
represents an important and outstanding contribution to
constructive theology of the cross in the contemporary
context.
Aaron Klink
Duke University
SILENCE, SOLITUDE, AND SIMPLICITY: A HER-
MIT’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH A NOISY, CROWDED,
AND COMPLICATED WORLD. By Sister Jeremy Hall,
OSB. Foreword by Kathleen Norris. Collegeville, MN: Litur-
gical Press, 2007. Pp. v + 181. Paper, $14.95.
This small book is as illuminating as its title is invit-
ing. A Benedictine sister with a doctorate in theology,
Sister Jeremy, now in her nineties, defines spirituality as
“essentially our being-before-God and how this works out
in all aspects of our lives.” She gives readers a glimpse into
her own spiritual life as she interweaves profound insights
with quotations from scripture, the Benedictine Rule, and
wisdom figures, ancient and modern. Part I, “A Benedictine
Way to God,” opens with reflections on desire and gratitude
and introduces time-honored Benedictine practices. Part II,
“Desert Spirituality,” the centerpiece of the book, repre-
sents the fruit of Sister Jeremy’s twenty years as a hermit
and explores in depth the triad of silence, solitude, and
simplicity. Desert experiences, such as she describes, are
not a matter of geography but reflections of one’s inner
landscape. Part III, “God’s Questions,” is intriguing in that
it reverses the usual practice of questioning God and,
instead, considers questions that God asks in the Bible.
Written in response to requests for retreats, the book offers
numerous kernels for reflection and invites readers into
their own journey with the texts and practices that have
nourished Sister Jeremy.
Elizabeth Ford Friend
Graduate Theological Union
191
• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS: RE-IMAGING PRAC-
TICAL THEOLOGY FOR INDEPENDENT PENTE-
COSTAL CHURCHES. By Antipas L. Harris. The Study of
World Christian Revitalization Movements in Pentecostal/
Charismatic Studies, 1. Lexington, KY: Emeth Press, 2010.
Pp. i + 114. $29.64.
Fruitful conversation for renewal and practical theolo-
gians, this work argues that independent Pentecostal
churches can experience renewal by using liberation, a
central biblical motif, to critically and consistently maintain
the integrity and balance of the “trilateral,” the three tenets
that are authoritative to Pentecostals: Scripture, the experi-
ence of the Holy Spirit, and culture. Using two independent
Pentecostal churches as case studies, Harris demonstrates
how some independent Pentecostal churches’ uncritical,
contradictory uses of the trilateral have resulted in oppres-
sive church doctrines and practices. He particularly high-
lights teachings that restrict women from being ordained as
pastors, showing how the doctrines conflict with some Pen-
tecostal women’s experience of the Spirit, reflect a narrow
understanding of culture, and often signal an uncritical
interpretation of Scripture that is antithetical to liberation.
He proffers some practical ways in which independent
Pentecostal churches can address trilateral inconsistencies
and reshape church practices in line with liberation. For
example, he highlights T. Groome’s Christian education
“shared praxis” method of participation, partnership, and dia-
logue in which congregations and theologically trained
leaders decide upon church practices rather than leaving
them to one male senior leader, who is often not theologi-
cally trained. Yet, Harris does not realistically grapple with
whether his new wine (strategies) can enter into the old
wineskins of many traditional Pentecostal leaders who may
likely seek to maintain power (Luke 5:37). Nevertheless, his
trilateral paradigm insightfully exposes the roots of many
oppressive church practices.
Jonathan Chism
Rice University
NO ENEMY TO CONQUER: FORGIVENESS IN AN
UNFORGIVING WORLD. By Michael Henderson. Waco,
TX: Baylor University Press, 2009. Pp. xx + 214. $19.95.
The foreword by the Dalai Lama exemplifies Hender-
son’s approach to the topic of forgiveness. The work is not
an academic treatise but a collection of narratives, amassed
as “dramatic evidence validating the power of forgiveness
and personal reconciliation to affect national life”: a Nige-
rian Pentecostal pastor and an imam transition from enemy
combatants to allies via forgiveness; hotspot stories from
Northern Ireland and South Africa illustrate the power of
reconciliation; Indians and Rwandans graduate from vic-
timization to empowerment; and British and Japanese war-
riors take responsibility to engender new relations. An
illustration of a safe place, the Swiss project at Caux, and
examples of listening and apologizing conclude this trove
of collective wisdom. The lessons learned by those who
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
forged opinions in the fires of hate and turned their stories
into bridges to freedom are powerful narratives, which may
serve as catalysts for forgiveness and reconciliation.
Although most narratives focus more on reconciliation
than forgiveness and conflate the concepts such that it is
often unclear whether forgiveness or reconciliation is
meant, they offer qualitative evidence that a mixture of
courage and humility can infuse dialogic encounters with
hope that persons of diverse ethnic and cultural back-
grounds can forgive and reconcile rather than perpetuate
violence.
Geoffrey W. Sutton
Evangel University
EARLY PROTESTANT SPIRITUALITY. Edited by Scott
H. Hendrix. The Classics of Western Spirituality. Mahwah,
NJ: Paulist Press, 2009. Pp. XIX + 338. $29.95.
This useful scholarly resource consists of 46 writings
by 25 different Protestant authors from the period 1517-
1560. Hendrix’s thoughtful introduction describes and
interprets the historical, ecclesiastical, and theological con-
texts of these writings. He also defines spirituality as “the
way in which members of a religious community nurture
and practice their faith.” This broad definition informs and
justifies the inclusion of diverse documents. The selections
are organized into nine sections and include letters, bibli-
cal expositions, sermons, ethical exhortations, hymns,
prayers, sacramental treatises, and liturgical documents.
Not all of the writings are devotional in nature, but they all
provide helpful insights into the spirituality of first-
generation Protestants. The major Reformers, like Luther,
Calvin, and Zwingli are represented, but so are lesser-
known figures, including three women, A. von Grumbach,
K. Zell, and E. Cruciger. German, Swiss, and English
authors predominate. The volume calls attention to early
Protestant spirituality and provides helpful examples of the
diverse expressions of that spirituality in translation. It
also organizes these examples in a thoughtful manner.
While this collection of sources will be particularly useful
in university and seminary classrooms, it can also be used
effectively for adult education opportunities in the parish.
Hendrix and Paulist Press should be commended for
shedding further light on the Western church’s spiritual
heritage.
Kurt K. Hendel
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
THE GOSPEL IN HUMAN CONTEXTS: ANTHROPO-
LOGICAL EXPLORATIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY
MISSIONS. By Paul G. Hiebert. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2009. Pp. 217. $21.99.
Hiebert was one of the towering figures in missiology
of the late twentieth century, and this book is one of two
posthumous volumes that serve as a final compendium of
his most important teachings (the other having been Trans-
forming Worldviews, published in 2008). This volume is
192
• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
divided into three parts. The first part, “Theoretical Foun-
dations,” is a brief overview of some of Hiebert’s key
themes, notably that of critical contextualization and the
importance of missional theology as a key element, along
with systematic and biblical theology, of the task of doing
all theology. The second, longest section, “Exegeting
Humans,” is focused on introducing the reader to the
history and practice of anthropology from a Christian per-
spective. Among other important elements in this section
are his response to postmodern thought in the context of
anthropology and his advocacy of an integrated “systems
approach” to understanding social and cultural change. He
then moves into an introduction to some of the basic tools
of anthropology. In his final section, “Mission as Intercul-
tural Mediation,” Hiebert seeks to help the reader under-
stand the importance of becoming “intercultural people”
who can serve as bridges for witness in new cultural set-
tings, wrapping the discussion up in the importance of
such witness being motivated by Christian love. This book
serves as a wonderful introduction to Hiebert’s writings,
and underlines the crucial importance of doing theology in
a manner that is both faithful and relevant.
Matthew Friedman
Asbury Theological Seminary
THEOLOGY, DISABLITY, AND SPIRITUAL TRANS-
FORMATION: LEARNING FROM THE COMMUNI-
TIES OF L’ARCHE. By Michael Hryniuk. Amherst, NY:
Cambria Press, 2010. Pp. 322. $114.00.
At L’Arche communities, “able-bodied” assistants live
in communion with and care for individuals with physical
and learning difficulties. Hryniuk uses the insights of the-
ology and psychology to illuminate how experiences of
communion at L’Arche transform the lives of community
members. His own survey of contemporary writing on
spiritual development finds that it often ignores the pow-
erful impact of shame on human communion and develop-
ment. To remedy that gap, Hryniuk weaves together a
powerful tapestry of ethnography, theology, and his own
work at L’Arche to show the ways in which working with
individuals who have disabilities forces assistants and
those they care for to slowly heal their psychological
shame. In the same way, there are signs that being cared
for and loved heals shame that is evident in the lives of
disabled members, that healing allows individuals to
become less defended and, through the work of the spirit,
become transformed. The book’s final chapter places that
healing in the context of trinitarian theology with an
emphasis on the Eastern Orthodox notion of theosis. This is
an outstanding work of interest to scholars in the psychol-
ogy of religion, spirituality, and practical theology, as well
as an important contribution to the growing literature on
theology and disability.
Aaron Klink
Duke University
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
RESSOURCEMENT THOMISM: SACRED DOC-
TRINE, THE SACRAMENTS, AND THE MORAL
LIFE: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF ROMANUS CESSA-
RIO, O.P. Edited by Reinhard Huetter and Matthew Lever-
ing. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press,
2010. Pp. xviii + 409. $64.95.
As the subtitle indicates, the book is divided into three
sections: dogmatic theology, sacramental theology, and moral
theology. Each section discusses themes dear to Cessario,
explicating the paths of his Thomistic retrieval, and advising
what kind of Thomistic ressourcement we should pursue in
light of contemporary debates. Among so many noteworthy
contributions, several essays are particularly insightful. T. J.
White commends theology as sapientia for negotiating the
extremes of Chenu’s historical perspectivism and Garrigou-
Lagrange’s ahistorical propositionalism. Like Benedict
Ashley (surprisingly absent), White’s sapiential theology
offers an assimilative, synthetic perspective that unites ulti-
mate truth with historical truths derived from scientific
knowledge. White rightly contends that the human mind
possesses a natural capacity for God, whereby mutable truths
are oriented toward absolute, metaphysical truth. Further
rationale for this claim would require detailing what it means
for human beings to be situated transcendentally, the tran-
scendental structuring of the world, and the nature of divine
transcendence. Moreover, one wonders to what degree tran-
scendental and suprahistorical are as synonymous as White
presumes. The doctrine of the transcendentals comes up
again in S. Brock’s essay, which associates the practical,
common notion of the good from the Prima Secundae to the
speculative, transcendental notion of the good from the Prima
Pars. Another gem among the gems is J. Koterski’s “reading
guide for natural law ethics” that will nicely complement
introductory seminars on natural law. Lastly, MacIntyre’s
postscript commends Cessario’s oeuvre by showing how
fruitfully it speaks to questions that Cessario himself did not
explicitly consider. These brief highlights hopefully indicate
the fine quality of the articles compiled here.
Nathan R. Strunk
Boston University
THE CHRISTIAN IMAGINATION: THEOLOGY AND
THE ORIGINS OF RACE. By Willie James Jennings. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010. Pp. 384. $35.00.
Philosopher Michel Foucault characterized “genealo-
gies” as “histories of the present,” an idea that comes to
theological maturity in Jennings’s The Christian Imagination.
At the heart of this astounding book, Jennings asks, “How is
it possible for Christians and Christian communities to natu-
ralize cultural fragmentation and operationalize racial vision
from within the social logic and theological imagination of
Christianity itself?” However those possibilities are to be
pursued, Jennings shows they cannot be pursued “outside
Israel, outside the conversation between biblical Israel and
its God, outside the continuing conversations living Israel
has with the same God” without disastrous (not to mention
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• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
heretical) consequence. The Christian Imagination is largely
composed of historical studies of those consequences, which
reveal a death-dealing but unshakable universality threaten-
ing the best-intentioned Christian endeavors. While Jen-
nings’s genius carries through his much-involved
genealogies, the book’s most impressive quality is the way
its content constitutes the very form of its argument. Here is
a book that travels through voice, sight, place, and, most
significantly, suffering bodies to demonstrate what exactly
is at stake in the Christian imagination, its articulations,
visions, contexts, and embodiments. This quality results in a
highly textured instance of theology at its best, with the
subtle but clearly intentional effect of not only attending to
the awful violence bad Christian theology historically pro-
duced, but, perhaps as significantly, offering a clarion
warning to many of today’s self-declared orthodoxies.
Jonathan Tran
Baylor University
MAKING CONFESSION, HEARING CONFESSION: A
HISTORY OF THE CURE OF SOULS. By Annemarie S.
Kidder. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2010. Pp. xv +
349. $34.95.
The practice of confession, of a penitent Christian pri-
vately admitting sins to a cleric, has arguably been in decline
since the Reformation in Europe. However, as the author of
this new book on confession notes, the practice has steeply
deteriorated in the past fifty years. The author bemoans this
statistic as she cites anecdotal evidence that suggests that
the contemporary laity strongly desire some type of active
listening that auricular confession satisfied. Kidder has pro-
duced a work that explores the antecedents of the practice of
confession, describes its regression, and attempts to con-
struct ways to reappropriate confession in both Catholic and
Protestant traditions. The early chapters of the book summa-
rize the history of the rite of confession. These sections offer
a fairly superficial treatment of the development of confes-
sion. The material is noticeably weak on the role of public
penance in the early church and the transition to tariffed
penance in the early middle ages, and there is a conspicuous
oversight on the significant role of pilgrimage. Kidder is not
interested in writing church history, thus the strength of her
book is on the contemporary relevance of the practice of
confession. She provides theological support for the contem-
porary significance of confession and offers some persuasive
practical suggestions for the implementation of confession
today. She goes so far as to describe how a successful “con-
fession” would really appear, and why it matters in our
contemporary world. This book is written for the clergy and
interested lay people on the pastoral nature of confession. It
is not a recommended book for liturgical scholars or for
those searching for a deeper discussion of the roots of peni-
tential practice, but it certainly belongs on the shelf of those
involved in pastoral care.
Lee M. Jefferson
Centre College
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
BEYOND EVANGELICALISM: THE THEOLOGICAL
METHODOLOGY OF STANLEY GRENZ. By Steven
Knowles. Ashgate New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theol-
ogy and Biblical Studies. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2010.
Pp. x + 214. $99.95.
This volume, which is a revision of the author’s PhD
thesis, is the first book-length treatment of the work of
Stanley Grenz. The volume unfolds in five chapters: the first
three are devoted to various aspects of postmodern thought
that provide a backdrop for understanding the theological
method of Grenz; the fourth, and by far the longest, considers
Grenz’s methodology in detail; and the fifth draws on the
previous material to offer some constructive commentary on
the shape of a postmodern evangelical theology. The three
opening chapters are lucid but provide no new insights, while
the major concern of the book, Grenz’s theological method
and its relation to evangelicalism, suffers from a fairly limited
engagement with the Grenz corpus and a general failure to
establish the thesis that his method is beyond the boundaries
of evangelical theology. As one of the first evangelical theolo-
gians in North America to engage constructively with the
postmodern situation, Grenz’s work merits attention and will
undoubtedly be the subject of future studies. This work,
however, while providing a general overview of the major
issues and conversation points, will not be among the most
helpful in assisting others to understand or assess his contri-
bution to evangelical or postmodern theology.
John R. Franke
Biblical Seminary
LOVE, VIOLENCE, AND THE CROSS: HOW THE
NONVIOLENT GOD SAVES US THROUGH THE
CROSS OF CHRIST. By Gregory Anderson Love. Eugene,
OR: Cascade Publishers, 2010. Pp. x + 304. $35.00.
Taking cues from critiques of traditional understand-
ings of the cross by feminist, womanist, and other liberation
theologians, Love is aware of the theological problems of
other contemporary atonement theories and avoids their pit-
falls. For Love, “penal substitutionary models” of atonement,
holding that God required Christ to make a perfect sacrifice
to atone for human error, portrays a double-minded God
who, despite being named as loving, is so desirous of justice
that God allows God’s own son to be violently crucified. The
book’s theological anthropology roots sin in social and
political forces, blocking human flourishing and liberation,
allowing the development of a particular sort of Christologi-
cal salvation. This book’s account of salvation focuses on
Christ’s hospitality and reorienting grace. By drawing
examples from popular novels and films, Love makes his
argument vivid and accessible to Christians unschooled in
academic theological jargon. This is a creative, insightful,
and pastorally fruitful work of constructive theology for
those interested in finding a new way of understanding the
cross.
Aaron Klink
Duke University
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FIFTEEN DAYS OF PRAYER WITH SAINT FRANCIS
OF ASSISI. By Thaddée Matura. Hyde Park, NY: New City
Press, 2009. Pp. 171. Paper, $12.95.
A specialist in Franciscan spirituality, Matura has
written over a dozen books on St. Francis of Assisi’s spiritu-
ality. Composed for the novice, Matura encourages each par-
ticipant to be accompanied by a spiritual companion during
the fifteen-day prayer periods. Although written as a com-
mentary to the writings of St. Francis, the aim of the book is
not to forge a unique relationship with St. Francis but,
rather, to create a place of disciplined prayer in which the
innermost self recognizes God’s voice. The book is a compi-
lation of literary genres (poems, rules, letters, prayers), and
Matura is skillful in his organization of each prayer period to
include:1) a focus point; 2) writings of St. Francis; 3) inter-
action between Matura and the writings of Francis; and,
finally, 4) reflection questions. The selection of writings is
easily situated within a contemporary spirituality, address-
ing such central themes as the paradox of humanity as
simultaneously imago Dei yet sinner loved by God. Although
the text is structurally cohesive, the very traditional lan-
guage seems more appropriate for a pre-Vatican II audience.
Additionally, the use of hierarchical, exclusive language
may be a hindrance to readers as well. Nevertheless, this
text deftly introduces the important and meaningful writ-
ings and ideas of St. Francis to the modern spiritual voyager.
Cynthia Bond
Claremont Graduate University
THEOLOGY AS CONVERSATION: THE SIGNIFI-
CANCE OF DIALOGUE IN HISTORICAL AND
CONTEMPORARY THEOLOGY. Edited by Bruce L.
McCormack and Kimlyn Bender. Grand Rapids, MI: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009. Pp. xii + 362.
$50.00.
This Festschrift is a fitting tribute to Princeton theolo-
gian D. Migliore that addresses two key themes of his career:
dogmatics and politics. The essays conceive theology as dia-
logue and include contributions from some prominent con-
temporary theologians. Three broad conversations frame the
volume: dialogue with K. Barth, engagements with tradi-
tional theological loci, and theology in dialogue with society
and culture. Two essays stand as representatives of this fine
collection. The first, by C. Rigby, explores play in light of
Barth and Moltmann’s theology. Constructing an imagined
dialogue between these two Reformed voices, Rigby con-
ceives human work as “serious play” before the Creator that
frees us from tense work and allows us to imagine the
Kingdom that God ushers to fruition. God creates so that “we
are fully included” in God’s work as creative participants in
play that is beautiful, delightful, and liberating. D. Fergusson
offers an intriguing essay that critiques some of the assump-
tions of political liberalism, while it argues that theological
discourse can be helpful to democratic politics. He suggests
that the church “has the task of making a distinctive public
contribution without aspiring to a position of social control
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
or dominance,” and that the present pluralistic context
means that religious voices need to articulate their positions
in ways that are intelligible to others. Each essay in the
collection is worthy of further study. As a whole, they stand
as testament to the growing discourse of public theology.
David H. Jensen
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
RE-IMAGING ELECTION: DIVINE ELECTION AS
REPRESENTING GOD TO OTHERS AND OTHERS
TO GOD. By Suzanne McDonald. Grand Rapids, MI: William
B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010. Pp. xx + 213.
$26.00.
McDonald’s point of entry into the Reformed doctrine of
election is to note how Puritan theologian J. Owen’s pneuma-
tological soteriology led inexorably toward the doctrine of
double predestination and how while the early Barth charted
a similar pneumatological course, the later Barth’s resolutely
christocentric doctrine of election left little room for the
Spirit’s saving work and tended toward universalism.
McDonald’s response is to affirm that Christ is the elected one
(following Barth), and the Spirit is the electing one (pace
Owen), and to consider election’s purposes away from its
traditionally other-worldly and individualistic focus toward a
more historically oriented perspective that sees Israel and the
church as elected in Christ by the Spirit to image and repre-
sent God to others and others to God. This representationalist
ontology and theology, developed in dialogue with a wide
range of biblical scholars from C. Seitz to N. T. Wright, means
that election is about the fulfillment of God’s intentions to
bless and redeem the world, and to restore the full image and
likeness of God to a sinful humanity, through the believing
community, even as the believing community’s representing
work holds provisionally those who are outside that commu-
nity within the sphere of divine blessing and redemption. The
result is a book that should be of interest not only to Reformed
theologians but also to ecclesiologists, missiologists, and
pneumatological and trinitarian theologians, among others.
Re-Imaging Election suggests that we will be hearing much
from this young theologian at Calvin College in the future.
Amos Yong
Regent University School of Divinity
THE ANALOGY OF GRACE: KARL BARTH’S
MORAL THEOLOGY. By Gerald McKenny. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2009. Pp. xii + 301. $120.00.
Karl Barth’s massive theological corpus challenges even
skilled readers’ attempts to trace themes and contractions
running through his work. Through careful readings of
Barth’s Church Dogmatics, commentaries on Romans, and
other lectures, McKenny identifies and traces both chrono-
logically and thematically Barth’s major emphases, arguing
for what he sees as Barth’s central moral teaching, which in
highly abbreviated form can be stated as seeing human
action as an “analogy of grace” where humans act out of and
in concert with God’s decision in Christ for human agents.
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• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
McKenny contextualizes Barth’s use of sources, exploring
Barth’s appropriation and critique of contemporary and his-
torical, philosophical, and theological traditions. Specialists
and linguistically adept readers should be thankful that the
author gives the German for certain key terms, making
crucial passages clearer. This book will quickly become stan-
dard reading for those interested in Barth’s theology and for
those who seek a careful presentation of key themes and
threads, as well as unresolved tensions, running through
Barth’s influential works.
Aaron Klink
Duke University
SHALOM CHURCH: THE BODY OF CHRIST AS
MINISTERING COMMUNITY. By Craig L. Nessan. Min-
neapolis: Fortress Press, 2010. Pp. viii + 232. $18.00.
“The church of Jesus Christ is simultaneously a shalom
church or no church at all.” Nessan takes his cue from the
Nicene Creed concerning “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic
church” and builds a solid case for convergence of these
attributes with a social/peace ethic. Structurally smooth and
systematic, Nessan uses the four attributes of the church to
identify twenty virtues of the shalom church (five per
attribute), twelve respective representatives (three per
attribute), and twenty core practices (five per attribute). The
“one” church must declare the original vision of Jesus by
way of her unity and thus value God’s mission to all human
beings, creatures, and the world. The “holy” church as recipi-
ent of Christ’s saving work proclaims and models forgive-
ness and reconciliation for a broken world. The church
“Catholic” situates local congregations in continuity with a
two thousand-year history and a global community. Finally,
the “apostolic church” must utilize God-given spiritual gifts
for the common good. It follows that ecclesial communities
must prepare followers for vocational practices in the family,
the workplace, nonprofit organizations, and for service
as citizens. Shalom Church should prove an excellent text
for courses on ecclesiology, contemporary Christianity, or
social justice/ethics. Nessan provides engaging narratives of
numerous exemplars (such as King, Day, St. Francis, Berry,
Tutu, Romero) and concludes with an easy-access appendix
and study guide for personal reflection and/or confessional
group discussion. Anyone interested in the state and pur-
poses of the church would do well to consult this work.
Martin W. Mittelstadt
Evangel University
JOHN OF THE CROSS’S LIVING FLAME OF LOVE:
FOR EVERYONE. By Elizabeth Ruth Obbard. Classics for
Everyone Series. Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2007.
Pp. 72. $8.95.
THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING: FOR EVERYONE. By
Elizabeth Ruth Obbard. Classics for Everyone Series. Hyde
Park, NY: New City Press, 2008. Pp. 64. $8.95.
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
Rather than evaluate these classics themselves, which
may be unnecessary for many readers and would be pre-
sumptuous as well, this review focuses on distinctive quali-
ties of Obbard’s work. The books are part of a series that
aims to make spiritual classics more accessible. Written in a
simple, conversational style, these volumes achieve that
goal. Excluding front matter and blank pages, each book is
composed of a seven-page introduction and about forty pages
of the classic’s retelling. The introductions are helpful and
engaging. The first provides information about John’s life
and theology. The second focuses on religious and historical
context. Although the retellings achieve the goal of readabil-
ity, this effort perhaps goes too far. Something is lost by
“translating” the advice given in The Cloud of Unknowing to
suggestions like: “don’t get all uptight about making
progress;” judging others is “very dicey;” or “enjoy a little
hide-and-seek with God.” This certainly sounds conversa-
tional, but it is probably not a conversation appealing to
college students. Perhaps, they are better suited for older
Christians interested in learning about these mystics but not
interested enough to struggle with the full texts. Hopefully,
these concise texts will inspire some to read the classics
themselves. The greatest problem here is that the language
of these classic works conveys something of the spiritual
richness of the theologians that their ideas alone cannot, and
that is lost in retelling. Indeed, the reading of such works can
themselves sometimes inspire a kind of mystical experience
that a summary cannot.
J. Burton Fulmer
Christian Brothers University
CREATION MADE FREE: OPEN THEOLOGY
ENGAGING SCIENCE. Edited by Thomas Jay Oord.
Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009. Pp. 272. $31.00.
Oord should be no stranger to readers of Religious
Studies Review. A professor of theology at Northwest Naza-
rene University, he has here collected and edited thirteen
essays that address Open Theology’s budding interaction
with the natural and human sciences, which is a heretofore
neglected area. No more is that the case. In contradistinc-
tion to classic, conventional, theology/ies, Open Theology
has its basis in the theology of John Wesley, highlighting
God’s love and the genuine contingency of the future. Prob-
ably the most important critique of classical theology, high-
lighted by this volume, concerns the doctrine of God:
principally, it rethinks divine presence and activity in
world processes. It rejects interventionism, offering instead
a panentheistic analogy for God’s relation to the world. It
affirms Peacocke’s insight that God is “in, with, and under”
all creative processes, accompanying the perpetually
endowed creativity of the world in its advance into higher
levels of complexity. As such, God is necessarily going
before the creation, leading it, luring it, and persuading it.
Also highlighted is the effect(s) of Darwin upon evangelical
theology, noting that a general theory of evolution poses no
threat to it. There are many other important insights from
196
• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
this title, and each chapter is a profitable read. One would
do well in contemplating its entailments.
Bradford McCall
Regent University
DEFINING LOVE: A PHILOSOPHICAL, SCIENTIFIC,
AND THEOLOGICAL ENGAGEMENT. By Thomas Jay
Oord. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010. Pp. xiii + 240.
$29.99.
Oord sets out to define human love by integrating
science, theology, and philosophy. He states, “To love is to
act intentionally, in sympathetic response to others (includ-
ing God), to promote overall well-being.” Each chapter of the
book then sets out to unpack that definition through the lens
of the various disciplines. On one level, Oord succeeds in
demonstrating that this articulation holds together through
an engagement with current trends in various disciplines. In
fact, this book provides a helpful resource for cataloguing
recent studies researching the existence of altruism in
humans. Thus, his view of love is simultaneously testable
and nonreductionistic. On another level, the author’s defini-
tion may, for some at least, be overly skewed toward the
cognitive/rational facet of human nature. While Oord
certainly does not ignore the role of emotion in love, his
formulation tends toward a description of love that is
utilitarian in nature since he describes love’s primary
goal as the promotion of overall well-being. He situates love
in God’s unlimited perspective communicated to and dis-
played through limited creatures. The author is convinced,
however, that this transference is possible and has found
some evidence in the aforementioned studies. There is much
to commend in Oord’s work. He demonstrates that theology
and science are compatible dialogue partners. He also dem-
onstrates that finding satisfactory language for both sides is
a challenging task.
Stephen Mills
Regent University School of Divinity
THE FAITHFUL: A HISTORY OF CATHOLICS IN
AMERICA. By James M. O’Toole. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 2008. Pp. viii + 376. Paper, $17.95.
Well-balanced, thoroughly researched, and engagingly
written, O’Toole’s book is an important contribution to the
scholarship on American Catholics, especially as it high-
lights the “people in the pews” rather than the church
leaders. Each of the its six chapters has a particular histori-
cal focus: 1) The Priestless Church; 2) The Church in the
Democratic Republic; 3) The Immigrant Church; 4) The
Church of Catholic Action; 5) The Church of Vatican II; and
6) The Church in the Twenty-first Century. For each era,
O’Toole describes the size and structure of the US Catholic
population, its religious and devotional practices, its rela-
tionship with the papacy, its role in public life, and percep-
tions of the church and its faithful by the broader American
citizenry. Particularly astute is his ability to make connec-
tions between trends and tensions evidenced within the first
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
five eras and events within the present church. Demonstrat-
ing that religious change is inevitable, O’Toole contends that
paying attention to these connections is helpful for providing
some sense of “the range of possibilities for the future.”
Thus, this book is not only a welcome addition to under-
graduate and graduate courses in Church History, Sociology
of Religion, and Religious Studies; it also merits a wider
readership among those—both laity and clergy alike—most
concerned about how this future will unfold.
Jerome P. Baggett
Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
GLOBALIZATION AND THEOLOGY. By Joerg Rieger.
Horizons in Theology. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2010.
Pp. i + 70. $11.00.
This clear and concise work underlines the most press-
ing issues facing Christian theology in terms of the socioeco-
nomic globalization of the planet. The basic premise is that
theology does not fully understand how it is affected by
globalization. Furthermore, it is posited, in order to truly
comprehend globalization, we must be aware of the influ-
ence theology has on its conception of power. Globalization
is not a uniform phenomenon, albeit presently dominated by
a system that works from the top down. Alternative forms of
globalization tend to move from the bottom up. Although the
book gives the adumbrated versions of dominant forms of
globalization, it is the marginal movements—those which
resist domination—that are of greatest interest in the book. It
must be noted that Rieger does not gloss over the hegemonic
history of theology and globalization. Rather, he understands
that in order to truly apprehend the strategies of those on the
underside of history, the narrative of the powerful must be
grasped. If theologians can take into account the effect the-
ology has on the way power is used by globalization, it can
change “human well-being and the well-being of the world.”
While this book does not go into as much detail as Rieger’s
other works, it is a great way for seminarians and graduate
students to introduce themselves to his ideas. It will also be
of interest to anyone concerned with the connection between
theology and power.
Andrew Eubanks
Drew University
GOD’S ADVOCATES: CHRISTIAN THINKERS IN
CONVERSATION. By Rupert Shortt. Grand Rapids, MI:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005. Pp. xii +
284. $20.00.
This book resurrects a genre that has fallen into com-
parative disuse in public discourse: the intellectual inter-
view. By asking provocative questions of some of the most
prominent theologians in the Anglophone world, journalist
Shortt introduces major contemporary schools of theology
to a broad audience. The book thus can serve as an intro-
ductory text for courses in modern theology or a reference
work for theological libraries. Because the theologians
discuss their work in their own voices, readers glimpse
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• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
their thought processes, intellectual influences, engage-
ment of social issues, and critiques of other theological
movements. Because each interview covers approximately
twenty pages, readers also get a distillation of essential
themes in each theologian’s work. R. Williams begins the
collection by offering an overview of modern theology and
the emergence of post-liberal voices. The remaining thir-
teen chapters cover a staggering array of movements,
including radical orthodoxy, feminist theology, and philoso-
phies of religion. The interview with J. Kameron Carter is
particularly illuminating, as it offers a vision of black the-
ology that avoids nationalism, supercessionism, and essen-
tialist discussions of race. One avenue in this direction,
Carter claims, is for theology to remember its link to Israel
and its calling as “a non-nationalistic nation.” Shortt’s inter-
views neglect some prominent theological movements, such
as Latin American liberation theology and neoliberal theol-
ogy, but the figures he covers give the introductory reader
a sense of the vitality and diversity of theology in North
America and Great Britain.
David H. Jensen
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
PENTECOSTAL POWER: EXPRESSIONS, IMPACT
AND FAITH OF LATIN AMERICAN PENTECOSTAL-
ISM. Edited by Calvin L. Smith. Global Pentecostal and
Charismatic Studies Series 6. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Pp. vii +
284. $146.00.
The ten contributions to this volume are from an inter-
national and interdisciplinary group of interpreters, some
of whom are themselves Pentecostal or Charismatic.
Although the essays are thematically arranged according to
history, theoretical analysis, social and political impact,
and theology, their range is wide: from J. Sepulveda’s argu-
ment that Latin American Pentecostalism owes as much to
Chilean origins as it does to the Azusa street revival, to M.
Lindhardt’s probing analysis of the function of demonology
in Pentecostal world views, to E. Wilson’s discussion of the
grass roots nature of Pentecostal development and conse-
quent social impact. Especially important is B. Martin’s
two-chapter history of the ideological conflicts that have
played out in interpretations of Latin American Pentecos-
talism. Taken together, these essays reinforce the emergent
scholarly conclusion that despite “family resemblances,”
Pentecostalism in Latin America remains a paradoxical and
mutating religious hybrid. It is inherently individualistic
and at times, even paternalistic. Nevertheless, it is also
infused with values that lead to gender equality, stronger
families, care for neighbors, and democratic civic notions.
It has tendencies that recapture primitive Christianity’s
world negation in expectation of the return of Christ, but as
a large, transnational religious network, it is also increas-
ingly engaged with the world. Despite a failure to include
an essay that highlights the Catholic Charismatic move-
ment, this anthology admirably portrays a movement well
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
suited to the postmodern plurality that characterizes Latin
America.
Timothy Wadkins
Canisius College
THINKING IN TONGUES: PENTECOSTAL CONTRI-
BUTIONS TO CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. By James K.
A. Smith. Pentecostal Manifestos. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerd-
mans, 2010. Pp. xxv + 155. $19.00.
In the first volume of the Pentecostal Manifestos series,
Smith proposes a distinctly pentecostal contribution to
Christian philosophy (especially in the areas of epistemol-
ogy, ontology, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of
language), engaging Clayton, Marcuse, Husserl, Heidegger,
and other prominent philosophers as interlocutors. In order
to account for the diverse contexts of charismatic spiritual-
ity, Smith defines “pentecostal” inclusively and elaborates
its central features in terms of a “worldview” rather than a
collection of doctrines. This pentecostal worldview is driven
by a hermeneutical boldness that offers a “counter interpre-
tation” of the world, challenging the assumptions of academy
and culture. Smith’s focus on holistic/embodied spirituality,
narrative theology, openness to the Spirit, and eschatological
hope leads to several surprising observations, such as his
argument for the affinity between pentecostal spirituality
and filmmaking, both of which strive to “imagine the world
otherwise” (and one might compare this with Cox’s claim for
the affinity between Pentecostal worship and jazz improvi-
sation). Rather than eschewing the subject of glossolalia,
Smith deftly places tongues-speech in fruitful conversation
(pun unintentional) with philosophy of language. Glossolalia
is depicted as a dialect of the eschatological imagination, a
“language of the dispossessed,” empowering the community
to challenge the social and economic injustice that pervades
a world driven by capitalist logic. Smith’s style and argu-
mentation are bold and engaging (as always) and this latest
book will be of interest to those engaged not only in
Pentecostal-Charismatic studies but also in philosophy of
religion, religion and science, and theology of culture.
Jessica DeCou
University of Chicago
TAKING YOUR SOUL TO WORK: OVERCOMING
THE NINE DEADLY SINS OF THE WORKPLACE. By
R. Paul Stevens and Alvin Ung. Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010. Pp. x + 200. $14.99.
Stevens, renowned for his scholarship on theology of
vocation, teams up with Ung, a Malaysian investment agent,
to identify nine deadly workplace sins (namely, the “seven
deadly sins” along with restlessness and boredom, two preva-
lent symptoms for contemporary workers). They counter with
a ninefold response for vocational transformation based upon
fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). In order to combat these
deadly “soul sapping struggles at work,” Christians must
cultivate the Spirit, thereby replacing lust with love, gluttony
with self control, anger with gentleness, restlessness with
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• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
patience, and boredom with peace. After eighteen chapters on
deadly causes and respective counteractive fruits, the
authors suggest nine daily practices such as prayer, grati-
tude, and life-giving rhythms in order to posture workers for
spiritual and vocational transformation. Given ongoing proc-
lamation within certain ecclesial (even academic) contexts to
relegate “ministry” to professional religion-related vocations,
this volume provides a vital alternative as an egalitarian
worldview for the equality of the call. Work serves as more
than a “mere” means of paying the bills or “just” doing time,
but a place for spiritual formation and witness; when market-
place Christians recognize God as the consummate worker,
they find themselves working on his behalf. This piece should
prove valuable not only as an undergraduate textbook for
confessionally affiliated liberal arts courses in spiritual for-
mation, business, and ethics, but also as a practical resource
for church-based studies. Finally, in either context, educators
and ministers should mine this work for a course or study of
Galatians.
Martin William Mittelstadt
Evangel University
WHY JESUS MATTERS. By George Stroup. Louisville,
KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011. Pp. viii + 152.
$15.00.
This book attempts to explain to lay readers the impor-
tance of Jesus Christ and why theologians continue to write
about him. Concisely and accessibly written from an Ameri-
can Reformed perspective, it succeeds admirably. Chapter 1
outlines the centrality of Jesus Christ for Christian faith.
Chapter 2 discusses how the identity of Jesus Christ is pre-
sented in the NT. Chapter 3 discusses Jesus’ saving signifi-
cance under the organizing rubrics of Calvin’s threefold
typology of prophet, priest, and king; G. Aulén’s typology of
Christus Victor; and satisfaction and moral-influence theo-
ries of atonement. Chapter 4 examines the developments
leading to the creedal statements of Nicaea and Chalcedon
and their relevance for the present. Chapter 5 outlines five
types of modern Christology, beginning with Schleiermacher
and liberal theology, moving through liberation, eschatologi-
cal, African American and feminist Christologies, and ending
with the approach of narrative Christologies, which Stroup
favors and employs in the preceding chapters. Chapter 6
examines the challenges of religious and cultural pluralism to
Christology. Through it all, Stroup presents succinct discus-
sions of different Christologies and his own understanding of
Jesus Christ, which seeks to be faithful to the biblical witness
and engaged with the present. This book will be useful for lay
study groups and introductory courses in Christology. Con-
gregational and seminary libraries should have a copy.
Don Schweitzer
St. Andrew’s College, Saskatoon
LITERARY THEOLOGY BY WOMEN WRITERS OF
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By Rebecca Styler. The
Nineteenth Century, 4. Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2010.
Pp. ix + 180; illustrations. $99.95.
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
This innovative book examines different literary genres
utilized by mainly British women writers within Anglican,
Methodist, and Unitarian churches to construct Christian
theology that more adequately addressed salient issues of
ethics, sociopolitical analysis and activism, and gender iden-
tity in the latter nineteenth century. Styler explores novels,
poetry, biographies, essays, and speeches through which
women developed trailblazing theological views about the
divine, divine-human relations, sin and salvation, and other
topics at the crossroads of inherited Christian traditions and
existential human realities. After an introductory chapter
that elaborates the sociocultural, intellectual, and historical
contexts of nineteenth-century women’s theological writ-
ings, Styler devotes subsequent chapters to the novels and
biographies of E. Worboise that focused on religion, gender,
and public life to deprivatize both women and religion; the
poetry of A. Brontë that reflected modern debates between
rationality, existentialism, and affectivity in (re)articulating
claims about God; the collective biographies of biblical
women by multiple writers that paralleled twentieth-century
feminist hermeneutics; and the religio-political writings of
H. Martineau and J. Butler that forged a theological basis for
an enlightened, responsible, and politically engaged citi-
zenry and thus presaged, in Styler’s balanced (and not at all
anachronistic) view, twentieth-century liberation theologies.
Resembling contemporary feminist theologians who circum-
vent exclusion from ecclesiastical structures to do theology,
these women wrote as a religious vocation, as an alternative
means to shape Christian theological discourse and practice.
This book will fit well within graduate-level courses regard-
ing nineteenth-century European theology and literature,
comparative theological method, and theology and genre.
Rosemary P. Carbine
Whittier College
FIELD NOTES FROM ELSEWHERE: REFLECTIONS
ON DYING AND LIVING. By Mark C. Taylor. New York:
Columbia University Press, 2009. Pp. i + 292. $26.95.
In this fascinating book, the reader is taken on a journey
through the life of the author. What prompted Taylor to write
this book was a near-death experience. This event compelled
him to begin the work, which he had contemplated doing for
some time, but the right moment continued to elude him.
After coming back from the border of life, he decided that the
moment had arrived to share the experiences, the people,
and philosophical and theological thoughts that have made
him who he is. The book is comprised of short chapters
dealing with all aspects of his life. As the book begins with
his feelings and those of others around him concerning his
possible life-ending ordeal, the reader is immediately
absorbed into the story. The following chapters begin to
resemble how time comes to a standstill as the subject expe-
riences the highlights and lowlights of his life in an instan-
taneous flash—which seems to last a lifetime—while in the
throes of physical or psychological shock. The chapters
being divided in A.M and P.M. only add to this feeling. Along
199
• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
the way, we come to a deeper appreciation not only of the
author but his philosophical and theological insights as well.
This is an accessible book, and anyone interested in Taylor’s
work will appreciate the novel way it sheds light on the life
experiences that led him to develop his “field notes from
elsewhere.”
Andrew Eubanks
Drew University
THE THEOLOGICAL AND THE POLITICAL: ON THE
WEIGHT OF THE WORLD. By Mark Lewis Taylor. Min-
neapolis: Fortress Press, 2011. Pp. ix + 236. $29.99.
Taylor’s latest book is an engaging, impassioned argu-
ment for a reimagining of “the theological” as an instru-
ment for political liberation. Taylor draws a line between
“Theology” and “the theological.” The former is the study of
doctrinal systems that reference a transcendent Other,
whereas the latter is “liminal state of dread, fear, ecstasy
and hope” that expresses itself in creative and artistic
expression. Taylor believes that Theology, with its empha-
sis on a higher, transcendent power is no longer a useful
instrument for political liberation (indeed, Theology more
often capitulates and endorses political atrocity than cri-
tiques it). Rather than Theology’s “higher power,” Taylor
invokes “the greater power” of “the theological”—the reflec-
tive, existential knowledge (what he labels the “transimma-
nental”) of one’s particular life situation. The theological is
the motivating power of an art that is truly existential (or,
as Taylor says, “ek-sistant”) and may therefore be subver-
sive of oppressive political regimes. The art of the Guan-
tanamo poets, he claims, is nourished by the theological
(that is, the existential import of one’s “ultimate concern”)
and therefore becomes a subversive critique of the politics
of imprisonment and torture. Thus, the heart of Taylor’s
project is to develop a theoretical account of the way the
theological arises from and critiques, through artistic
expression, the agonistic politics of our world. Taylor’s book
is rigorous and impassioned. His argument is clear and well
organized. His task and his critique are important. But the
problem of Taylor’s book is that the political functions as an
ontological totality. Everything, including the theological, is
an aspect of the political. If there can be no disruption of the
agonistic political from outside of its realm, indeed, there
can be no eschaton. Given this lack of an eschaton, Taylor
assumes the eternality of agonistic politics and the perpe-
tuity of oppression. This leaves theological discourse in the
unhappy situation of an endless cycle of subversive cri-
tique. Yet for all of Taylor’s talk of subversion, there is
nothing that the cycle of political violence is being sub-
verted for. There is nothing beyond agonistic politics: one
regime is subverted and replaced by another oppressive
regime. In the end, Taylor simply leaves his readers with an
unending cycle of subversion with no hope of a true and
lasting eschatological peace.
Matt Moser
Baylor University
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
LIVING HOLINESS: STANLEY HAUERWAS AND
THE CHURCH. By John B. Thompson. Peterborough, UK:
Epworth, 2009. Pp. 250. £13.99.
This short, accessible book by priest and scholar Thomp-
son does two important things. First, it gives a helpful and
accessible overview of the themes running through the work
of influential theologian Stanley Hauerwas. How these
various themes work together might elude readers not famil-
iar with wide portions of Hauerwas’s vast but episodic
corpus. Secondly, the book explores how Hauerwas’s themes
and demands might inform and challenge congregational
practices and programs for “congregational growth” that
borrow nontheological methods and techniques. Then the
book takes a practical turn, narrating the story of Thomp-
son’s experience of bringing an urban Anglican congrega-
tion in Sheffield back to life. Church groups and adult
education classes would find this book useful for thinking
about “how to be church,” something Hauerwas’s friends
and critics agree is a topic about which he has much pro-
vocative and fruitful to say.
Aaron Klink
Duke University
CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY. By Ross Thompson with
Gareth Williams. London: SCM Press, 2008. Pp. v + 253.
$29.99.
Thompson presents a compact, comprehensive, and
accessible introduction to Christian spirituality in this
carefully constructed study guide. The book is organized
into two sections: the first takes a historical approach,
while the second adopts a thematic approach. In the his-
torical section, Thompson traces shifts over time from the
biblical through postenlightenment periods, introducing
seminal figures and anchoring each chapter in a discussion
of how changes and challenges shaped spirituality. Themes
explored in the second section include experience, science,
body, ethics, and “human difference,” with particularly
insightful discussions of experience and science. The
author concedes that space does not allow him to delve into
other topics, such as spirituality and the arts, a regrettable
omission. Even so, the text synthesizes an impressive array
of movements, models, historical and contemporary think-
ers, and interdisciplinary approaches, engaging current
debates and providing a broad framework for studying
Christian spirituality. Chapters conclude with questions for
reflection and discussion, and resources for further study.
These resources will provide context for the novice as some
references are overly succinct and call for elaboration.
Intended as an introductory study guide, this volume is a
valuable resource for those seeking a structure within
which to frame the study of spirituality and an orientation
to key concepts and figures.
Elizabeth Ford Friend
Graduate Theological Union
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AGAINST THE TIDE: LOVE IN A TIME OF PETTY
DREAMS AND PERSISTING ENMITIES. By Miroslav
Volf. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2010. Pp. vii + 211. $18.00.
In this moving and readable collection, Yale theologian
Volf offers a series of brief meditations on both divine and
human love. These meditations, none longer than a few
pages, reclaim the central, indeed transformative, role that
love plays in the theology and ethics of Christianity. This is
the project of the book: to meditate on the nature of God as
love and to draw out the implications of this belief for
Christian practice in the world. To this end, Volf meditates
on a variety of topics: the relationship between God and
self, the reality of evil, and the role of love in the family,
the church and politics. Most centrally, Volf meditates on
the way in which practicing Christian love creates a
culture of forgiveness and reconciliation. His meditations
do not hide in the shadows of abstraction, but directly con-
front the difficulties of love with particular cases: forgiving
terrorists, loving rebellious children, and engaging in ecu-
menical dialogue. Volf covers a host of topics precisely in
order to show that the confession “God is love” addresses
each and every aspect of our lives. Volf’s book is thoughtful
and engaging, and is full of thought-provoking and moving
essays. What it lacks, however, is a clear audience. The
meditations are not academic essays by any means, but
their references to Kantian philosophy and German
mystical writings may alienate those readers without
formal theological training. But for educated and thoughtful
readers who are looking for spiritual and ethical
meditations on Christian love, Volf’s text comes highly
recommended.
Matthew A. Moser
Baylor University
BEYOND PENTECOSTALISM: THE CRISIS OF
GLOBAL CRISTIANITY AND THE RENEWAL OF
THE THEOLOGICAL AGENDA. By Wolfgang Vondey.
Pentecostal Manifestos 3. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eer-
dmans Publishing Company, 2010. Pp xiii + 267. $32.00.
A “playful” interdisciplinary invitation toward the
renewal of the present theological configuration, this book
is an in-depth analysis of the various crises faced by global
Christianity: imagination, revelation, creeds, liturgy,
ecclesiology, and orthodoxy, which manifest themselves
even in the classical Pentecostal movement. It outlines a
programmatic rubric for addressing the present crises and
proposes play as key theological metaphor for revisioning
“established social, cultural, and religious forms of thought
and praxis.” The author resituates Pentecostalism within
the Christian theological tradition, dispels commonly held
ideas of sectarianism, and demonstrates that global Chris-
tianity no longer can ignore the contributions of the
Pentecostal tradition. The author envisions the future
articulation of theology opened to the Pentecostal elements
of prophecies, sermons, visions, testimonies, songs, poems,
 Religious Studies Review • VOLUME 37
prayers, and charismatic speech. These go beyond “scripted
performance” and into a pneumatological reimagining of
the place of divine disclosure, the nature of Scripture, and
the role of community. His proposed paradigmatic shift
revisits dominant parameters of theology and begins to
open the door for the incorporation of ethnocultural voices
from the theological global South. This means also to
reframe “Pentecostalism” as encompassing multiple
cultural forms and expressions centered on the idea of
renewal by the Holy Spirit. His operating assumption
that present European and Anglo–US crises of modernity
and postmodernity are global in nature is left unchal-
lenged. His primary interlocutors are European and
Anglo–US theologians displaying a Eurocentric intellectual
orientation and undermining his intended multiethnic
renewal of theology. These colonizing implications deserve
greater attention.
Nestor Medina
Toronto School of Theology
WHY JESUS? By William H. Willimon. Nashville, TN:
Abingdon Press, 2010. Pp. xiv + 138. $13.00.
Why Jesus? With this question, Willimon insinuates a
double entendre, suggesting both an apologetic aim and a
search for understanding. He is quick to admit the diffi-
culty in answering his posed question, noting that his
efforts do not follow the standard fare of evidentiary apolo-
getics but take shape in the form of stories. After all, Willi-
mon says, “I’ve never been told a life-changing truth except
by poets, novelists, and preachers.” So his renditions of
Jesus are not empirically verifiable but are verifiable his-
torically through the testimonies of his followers found in
the Gospels. His vivid anecdotes in twelve chapters provide
the reader with a variety of vistas, rendering unexpected
and often captivating portraits. For example, in the chapter
entitled “Home Wrecker,” Willimon contrasts Jesus’
ambivalence toward human sexuality with contemporary
culture’s insatiable desire for it, emphatically stating, “We
simply cannot imagine any fully human being who is not
driven by genitalia.” Such striking word pictures drive us
to Willimon’s point: Jesus is working with a completely dif-
ferent understanding of human being. These word pictures
are the hallmark of his writing. It is interesting, though,
that Willimon calls attention, in varying ways throughout
the book, to the word aspect of these pictures, stating that
Christianity is an “auditory phenomenon.” Such emphasis
on the auditory, though, seems overly reductionistic to the
esthetic elements of vision. Perhaps, these elements are the
most captivating and convincing aspects of the Christian
faith that draw people to be “discombobulated, comman-
deered, and befriended by the most interesting person in
the world.”
Stephen M. Garrett
Vilnius Pedagogical University, Lithuania
201
• NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2011
PNEUMATOLOGY AND THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS
IN THE PREACHING OF CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH
BLUMHARDT: THE HOLY SPIRIT BETWEEN WIT-
TENBERG AND AZUSA STREET. By Simeon Zahl. T & T
Clark Studies in Systematic Theology. London and New
York: T & T Clark, 2010. Pp. x + 206. $120.00.
Zahl’s University of Cambridge dissertation asks if there
is any dialogue possible between Luther’s subordination
(because of his concerns about the Schwärmerei) of the Spirit
to the Word and contemporary Pentecostalism’s emphasis
on the experience of the Spirit. His answer is that the pessi-
mistic anthropology that was nevertheless open to unmedi-
ated charismatic encounters with the Spirit proffered by the
younger Blumhardt provides just such a bridge. On the one
hand, Blumhardt’s low view of human nature contests Pen-
tecostalism’s theology of glory, but it also cautions, against
the Reformation’s sola Scriptura principle, that fallen human
beings can be sure of their biblical understandings; on the
other hand, while anticipating Pentecostalism’s emphasis on
the in-breaking of the Spirit into history, Blumhardt insisted
on an underrealized view of the Spirit’s presence so that
the more reliable signs of the Spirit were the negative
experiences of the Christian life—of suffering, judgment,
weakness, powerlessness, etc.—rather than the miraculous
wonders often emphasized by the global renewal movement.
Besides this attempt to mediate a conversation between two
otherwise disparate strands of the Reformation tradition,
this volume also makes a contribution to Blumhardt studies
by focusing (over the three chapters that are at the heart of
the argument) on the emergence of the theology of the cross
in Blumhardt’s thinking during the years 1888-1896. Blum-
hardt scholars will continue to debate interpretations of the
Württemberg pietists, while those on either side of the
Lutheran–Pentecostal dialogue will want to expand on the
helpful but yet preliminary reflections here.
Amos Yong
Regent University School of Divinity
Arts, Literature, Culture,
and Religion
SHOUTS AND WHISPERS: TWENTY-ONE WRITERS
SPEAK ABOUT THEIR WRITING AND THEIR
FAITH. Edited by Jennifer L. Holdberg. Grand Rapids,
MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006.
Pp. vii + 257. $16.00.
An associate professor of English at Calvin College,
where these published reflections first originated as talks or
interviews given at the college’s annual Festival of Faith and
Writing, Holdberg has assembled an informative as well as
diverse anthology, one that explores what happens at the
intersections of literature and faith. Featured writers include
D. Betts, F. Beuchner, W. Campbell, B. S. Carter, E. Dew-
berry, D. J. Duncan, R. Hansen, S, House, J. Karon, J. Kogawa,
A, Lamott, M. L’Engle, B. Lott, T. Lynch, K. Norris, K.