VOL. 63 NO.

1 | FALL 2020
JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY

Theology Applied
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BOOK REVIEWS
Brahms’s A German Requiem: Reconsidering Its Biblical,
Historical, and Musical Contexts. By R. Allen Lott. Rochester:
University of Rochester Press, 2020, xvii+ 512pp., $117.28.

Despite almost universal modern assessments of Johannes Brahms’s

Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) as a deliberately sec-
ular choral treatment of death, R. Allen Lott, professor of music
history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, meticulously
demonstrates that “the Requiem is not theologically or doctrinally
inclusive but instead adroitly summarizes the unique Christian view
of death, grief, and an afterlife” (p. 2). Along with being one of the
most performed choral works from the nineteenth century, Brahms’s
Requiem is notable for the fact that unlike a standard Latin mass for
the dead, the composer used exclusively texts from Luther’s German
translation of the Bible. Yet Christ is not explicitly named, leading
most modern scholars to conclude that Brahms did not intend his
Requiem to be a Christian work but rather a humanist composition
inclusive of all creeds. In contrast to this recent consensus, Lott
presents his case through evaluating early writings about the work,
investigating how audiences understood it during the first fifteen
years of performance, and performing in-depth textual and musical
analysis, providing a definitive conclusion that a Christian under-
standing of this beloved nineteenth-century choral masterpiece “is
not only allowable but the most rational one to adopt” (p. 2).
Lott lays an interpretive foundation for his analysis in chapter
one, arguing for a “course correction to a path that has been focused
primarily on Brahms’s enigmatic objectives” (p. 13) since “intention
does not trump execution” (p. 14). Therefore, determining whether
the Requiem is a Christian work should be decided based on how
the original audiences would have understood the intertextuality of
the biblical texts Brahms chose and how he set them musically (p.
37). The broader contexts of those passages, along with that of the
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sacred music traditions within which Brahms composed his work,

strongly suggest Christian theological implications.
Lott introduces those implications with an exegesis of the bibli-
cal texts in chapter two, which he argues “embody unambiguous
Christian positions that are distinct from other religious traditions”
(p. 60). He demonstrates that, despite common claims, the Requiem
is certainly about Jesus Christ since Brahms quotes Jesus’ own words
(p. 61) and other texts that mention or allude to Christ without
naming him (p. 64). “These multiple references to Christ,” Lott
contends, “inherently make the Requiem a Christian work” since
“Christ’s identity as the Son of God and the Savior of the world are
the most distinguishing features of Christianity that separate it from
all other religions” (p. 67). Further, “Brahms’s text includes unambig-
uous references to Christian doctrines that are not commonly held”
(p. 72), including explicitly Christian understandings of creation,
redemption, resurrection, and the afterlife, each of which provides
uniquely Christian comfort and promise of joy in the face of death.
“Only simple ignorance of or willful disregard for the details of the
text,” Lott concludes, “can justify a universal interpretation of the
Requiem” (p. 93).
If Lott’s biblical exegesis were not enough to convince skeptics, he
demonstrates in chapter three that “the first commentators ... consis-
tently read and heard [the Requiem] as a piece upholding common
Christian beliefs” (p. 98). Based on the fact that “religion continued
to be a vital element in nineteenth-century German life” (p. 101), “it
should not be surprising that listeners experienced the Requiem with
its purely scriptural text as a Christian work” (p. 110). Lott provides
numerous statements by critics, musicologists, and theologians of the
time who clearly identified it as Christian, even Protestant (p. 120).
Its classification “as a specimen of church music, which could only
refer to settings of doctrinally orthodox texts, verify the recognition
and acceptance of the work’s Christian content” (p. 133).
In chapter four, Lott examines one of the most frequently cited
“proofs” of the Requiem’s supposed universal focus, a letter written
by conductor Karl Reinthaler prior to its 1868 premiere in Bremen,
wherein he stated, “For the Christian consciousness it lacks the point
around which everything revolves, namely, the redeeming death of
the Lord” (p. 171). Lott demonstrates that this one statement taken
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out of context does not account for the fact that Reinthaler made
other comments in his letter supporting a Christian interpretation
and repeatedly programmed the work for Good Friday performances
(p. 178). In fact, such explicitly Christian programming continued
for years by others; Lott demonstrates that “more than one-fourth
of the early performances of the Requiem occurred during Holy
Week, indicating a perceived resonance between the work and an
important Christian observance” (p. 184).
Lott presents what he considers “the most important hermeneutical
guide to the Requiem”—musical analysis—in chapter five, explaining
that “Brahms set his Requiem text sympathetically, convincingly,
dramatically, and, above all, with an earnest devotion to sacred music
traditions” (p. 230). In particular, Brahms alludes in the Requiem
to several well-known sacred works, most notably Handel’s Messiah.
Lott argues that “the general similarities between the Requiem and
Messiah as well as several areas of textual overlap and interrelatedness
encourage a Christian perspective on the Requiem” (p. 277), which
he explores at length. Finally, Lott meticulously traces Brahms’s
“musical devotion to scripture as a composer and his continuation
of longstanding practices,” leading listeners “to accept the revered,
traditional interpretation of the biblical text” (p. 319).
In the final analysis, Lott provides an overwhelmingly convinc-
ing, substantively documented case for a Christian interpretation
of Brahms’s Requiem. Indeed, as Lott notes, “modern scholars seem
to impose a set of guidelines for assessing the Requiem that are not
followed for any other musical work, not even the other choral works
of Brahms” (p. 327), in an attempt to substantiate a universalist claim.
Far from being a dry musicological monograph, Lott’s extensive
analysis is engaging and even devotional, and though his musical
analysis requires some competency in music literacy (especially in
chapter five), theologians and even lay Christians would find this
work fascinating. Perhaps Lott’s treatment will cause skeptics and
Christians alike to consider anew that “blessed are the dead who
die in the Lord.”

Scott Aniol
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Fort Worth, TX
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The Holy Spirit. By Gregg R. Allison and Andreas J. Köstenberger.

Theology for the People of God. Nashville: B&H, 2020,
xxiii+543pp., $44.99.

The first volume in a new series called “Theology for the People of
God” takes up the topic of the Holy Spirit in biblical and systematic
theology. Coauthored by a biblical studies scholar and a histori-
cal and systematic theologian, their treatment seeks to balance the
weight of both fields and offer a thoroughly integrated approach to
the doctrine. This partnership, as envisioned by the series, is meant
to serve a perspective that is “convictionally Baptist and warmly
evangelical.” The series editors articulate well their vision in this
way: “Careful theology is an integrative task, and to that end the
volumes in Theology for the People of God emphasize integration of
biblical and systematic theology in dialog with historical theology
and with application to church and life” (p. xxii). Professors Allison
and Köstenberger have more than answered that call with the series’
first volume by principally rooting their contribution in sustained and
rigorous exegetical work alongside thorough attention to theological
debates about the Spirit that have punctuated Christian history and
continue amidst the church’s witness today.
The Holy Spirit proceeds in two parts but in both halves the discus-
sion focuses on the driving questions: 1) Who is the Holy Spirit? 2)
What does the Holy Spirit do? Such a framing helps to organize the
detailed and nuanced survey given of biblical teaching on the Spirit
in the first half of the volume. Here, the authors move step by step
through mentions of the Spirit from the Old and New Testaments
giving accounts of how various biblical genres treat the Spirit as well
as the aggregate pictures from each testament. Their choice to review
so carefully the biblical record generates its particular benefit when
they arrive at “A Biblical-Theological Synthesis of the Holy Spirit in
Scripture,” which is their transition point for moving from biblical
to systematic theology. Thus, they reflect that, “the Spirit is not only
integrally involved in God’s work throughout salvation history; he
increasingly steps into the foreground” (p. 201). Here, their sum-
mative conclusions from the biblical witness reveal the trajectory of
their most significant answers to the theological questions around the
Spirit’s identity and activity. Such a leveraging of biblical theology
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for systematic foundations represents a prime example of the “helpful

methodological contribution” they are seeking to make (p. 7).
The second part begins by addressing both the historical neglect
and lingering suspicion of the Holy Spirit in some churches today.
Having named these problems, the authors seek to navigate between
two extremes in which the Spirit is seen as either a “last-minute
addition” to the traditional categories of doctrine or the opposite
error of giving the Spirit “first-order priority” in an undue, reactive
way. By way of corrective, then, they devote much attention to the
intratrinitarian relations within God as the grounds for their abid-
ing thematic—drawn from Augustine—that envisions the Spirit
as love and gift. Their account of the Trinitarian processions and
missions thus secures a stable foundation upon which to consider the
Spirit’s relation to each doctrinal loci, among which the chapters on
salvation and ecclesiology respectively are alone worth the volume’s
purchase. Along this tour of doctrinal connections, they provide illu-
minating diagrams, helpful applications for Christian practice, and
careful, extended engagement with theological issues such as Spirit
Christology, Spirit baptism, cessationism versus continuationism, and
the Spirit’s role in the exclusivism versus inclusivism debate, among
others. Creating their own question and answer format, the book
concludes with a final consideration of the most relevant questions on
the role of the Spirit in both the individual and corporate Christian
life (e.g. worship, illumination, discernment).
There is much to appreciate about Allison and Köstenberger’s
volume. In addition to being consistent, cohesive, and succinct,
many readers will find their treatment imminently accessible, readily
applicable, and free from unhelpful academic squabbles. While their
Baptist convictions are clearly evident, the volume maintains a genera-
tive conversation with theologians from the breadth of church history,
highlighting the likes of the Cappadocians, Augustine, Luther, and
Calvin. Best of all, the volume is thoroughly exegetical, continually
employing a “ground-up” approach that constructs its systematic
proposals from sound biblical interpretation. The clear aim was to
supply a resource for the church that would stand the test of time,
and in that light, any innovations for the field remain modest and
uncontroversial (e.g. the discussion of prolepsis on pp. 348-350).
Where the authors must supply a firm judgment, it comes only
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after careful consideration of the options. The charts, diagrams, and

other explanatory material will be a welcome find for students and
laypeople alike. Still, there are areas where the practical concerns of
their broader audience should dictate further discussion. Despite the
fact that they review the influence of Pentecostal and Charismatic
theologies on evangelicalism, their attention to the project’s impli-
cations for worship today seems unfortunately meager and brief
(perhaps only four pages in the whole volume). There are few areas
of concern regarding the Spirit that are riper for rehabilitation and
development than worship, and one wonders what help the authors
could bring if that discussion matched their commendable treatment
of the Spirit and individual discernment (pp. 398-400). Relatedly,
their discussion of how the Spirit fosters unity among Christians
develops in an awkwardly narrow and perhaps confusing way, espe-
cially given the enthusiasm with which they quote Miroslav Volf as
saying that, “the unity of the church is grounded in the interiority of
the Spirit” (emphasis original). Surely this insight runs counter to
the prior condition they have placed on biblical unity as understood
principally in terms of Calvin’s two marks for the church (p. 435).
Are we to see, then, the unity they envision as limited exclusively to
those who share the same ecclesiology? If so, this seems to digress
from the more conciliar tone employed throughout the work, evident
in places like their advocacy for a “spiritual presence” view of the
Lord’s Supper (pp. 453-455). Regardless of a few potentially missed
opportunities for further application, readers will discover here a
solid and trustworthy guide to a robustly evangelical doctrine of
the Spirit that promises to empower a more thoroughly Trinitarian
witness for the church. On a personal note, it should be observed
that these two Trinity alums have dedicated this excellent volume
to those who have served at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Taylor B. Worley
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Deerfield, IL
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Baptists and the Christian Tradition: Toward an Evangelical

Baptist Catholicity. Edited By Matthew Y. Emerson, and
Christopher W. Morgan and R. Lucas Stamps. Nashville: B&H,
2020, 400pp., $34.99.

As a rule, Baptists are not typically known for their catholic-

ity. More often, when other ecclesial traditions think of Baptists,
they think of sectarianism. Sometimes this an unfair characteriza-
tion rooted in centuries of theological debate and even rivalry. Too
often, the charge has merit. Whether because of an abundance of
kingdom-advancing resources, regrettable denominational pride, or
genuinely sectarian theological trajectories, the “default factory set-
ting” of many Baptists—including Southern Baptists—is insularity
rather than catholicity.
For the past generation or so, a growing number of theologians
with roots in Southern Baptist life have argued for grounding Baptist
faith and practice within the context of more catholic sensibilities
such as the value of tradition in doctrinal and ethical reflection, an
emphasis on a more formal liturgy, and the importance of historical
and theological continuity. In the second half of the twentieth cen-
tury, longtime Southwestern Seminary theologian James Leo Garrett
Jr. cultivated an evangelical Baptist catholicity while Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary church historian Glenn Hinson advanced a
version of Baptist catholicity informed more by mainline Protestant
sensibilities. In more recent years, Southern Baptist theologians
Timothy George and David Dockery have followed the Garrett tra-
jectory, infusing it with emphases from postwar evangelicalism, while
moderate theologians such as Steve Harmon and Curtis Freeman
have synthesized elements of the Garrett and Hinson approaches,
in dialogue with postliberal theology.
This is the context into which Baptists and the Christian Tradition
has been published and the conversation into which the contributors
have entered. The volume sets the agenda for how Baptist schol-
ars and ministers can embrace a Garrett-George-Dockery form of
evangelical Baptist catholicity, that is in constructive conversation
with Hinson-Harmon-Freeman trajectory, for the sake of renewing
contemporary Baptist faith and practice. Many of the book’s con-
tributors are identified with the Center for Baptist Renewal, which
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co-editors Matt Emerson and Luke Stamps lead as co-executive

directors. It is best to understand Baptists and the Christian Tradition
as a convictionally Baptist and explicitly evangelical form of retrieval
theology that is in the spirit of earlier efforts by the late Methodist
theologian Thomas Oden and ongoing efforts by the Presbyterian
scholars Scott Swain and Michael Allen.
The contributors to Baptists and the Christian Tradition reflect on
a number of themes that are important to framing an evangelical
Baptist catholicity. The result is a work that might be called “con-
structively conservative.” It is constructive in that so many of the
themes the book addresses are underdeveloped in evangelical Baptist
theology. Yet is also conservative in that the project is deeply rooted
in the supreme authority of Scripture and sensitive to the “Great
Tradition” represented in the ancient church’s creedal consensus
and the best theological and moral thinking of the medieval and
Reformation eras.
Some of the chapters put Baptist theology in greater dialog with
the Great Tradition. Examples include Chris Morgan and Kristen
Ferguson’s needed chapter on Christian unity; the fine essays by
Luke Stamps and Malcolm Yarnell on Christology and the Trinity,
respectively; Rhyne Putman’s excellent treatment of the relation-
ship between Scripture and tradition; and Patrick Schreiner’s call
for Baptists to give greater heed to classical approaches to biblical
interpretation. Other chapters focus on themes that are of perennial
import to Baptists, but that can benefit from a deeper engagement
with pre-Reformation thinkers. Examples include Madison Grace’s
discussion of Baptist ecclesiology in the context of the classical four
“marks” of the church; Matt Emerson’s chapter on the ancient and
Baptist practice of credobaptism; Michael Haykin’s retrieval of
earlier Baptist expressions of the real spiritual presence of Christ
in the Lord’s Supper; and Amy Whitfield’s work on how Baptist
denominational polity at times precluded Baptist participation in
ecumenical efforts.
Dustin Bruce’s chapter on spirituality and Taylor Worley’s chapter
on worship offer fruitful discussions on how contemporary Baptist
practices might be shaped with greater attention to the insights of
other traditions. Projects on catholicity can at times be insensitive
to matters of diversity, perhaps because so much of the Christian
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tradition overlaps with the history of so-called Western civiliza-

tion, so I was encouraged to read Soojin Chung’s chapter on global
Christianity and Walter Strickland’s chapter on racial tensions.
The church has always been bigger and more diverse than overly
euro-centric accounts of Christian history have made it out to be,
and the same should be true of our pursuit of evangelical Baptist
catholicity. David Dockery reflects on the intersection of Baptists
and evangelicalism, which has been a significant theme throughout
his career, while Jason Duesing offers a helpful summary of Baptist
contributions to the wider Christian tradition.
There is much herein to both challenge and benefit readers. Some
will be challenged by the call to take classical Christology and
Trinitarianism seriously, especially as it pushes back against sloppy
or even troubling contemporary theologies put forward by some
Southern Baptists and other evangelicals. Others will be challenged
by the call to engage with non-Baptist and even non-Protestant voices
when it comes to spiritual formation and worship, albeit always from
a starting point of Baptist and evangelical convictions, or to heed
greater attention to the biblical theme of unity with other believ-
ers who may not share our convictions on secondary and tertiary
matters. The benefits for many readers will include greater exposure
to Christian history (especially pre-Reformation history), engage-
ment with lesser-known Baptist voices (especially from the British
Isles), and reminders that the Baptist story, like the wider Christian
story, has never been (and should never be) a predominantly white
story recounted mostly in English. Herein lies much of the cure to
Baptist insularity.
In the interest of full disclosure, I need to lay my own cards on the
table. I am a fellow of the Center for Baptist Renewal and close friend
of the co-editors. I was also involved in the planning stages of this
book and dialogued with some of the contributors as they wrote their
chapters. I am not a neutral reviewer and do not pretend to be such.
I am a vocal proponent of evangelical Baptist catholicity. For that
reason, I could hardly be more excited for the publication of Baptists
and the Christian Tradition. It deserves a wide and reflective reading
by Southern Baptist pastors and scholars. I would recommend reading
it conjunction with Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We
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Need Our Past to Have a Future (Crossway, 2019), an excellent recent

work in the same vein by Baptist pastor-theologian Gavin Ortlund.

Nathan A. Finn
North Greenville University
Tigerville, SC

Early Reformation Covenant Theology: Early Reception of Swiss

Reformed Thought, 1520-1555. By Robert J. D. Wainwright.
Reformed Academic Dissertation. Phillipsburg: P&R, 2020,
xvii+416pp., $59.99.

While the concept of “covenant” has been fundamental to

Reformed theology since the early days of the Reformation, the story
of its origins and development has been contested by scholars for gen-
erations. In Early Reformation Covenant Theology, Robert Wainwright,
a chaplain and fellow at Oriel College, Oxford University, mines
the primary sources of both the Swiss and early English Reformers
in an effort to reconstruct the story of the rise of covenant theology
in the early Reformation (1520s-1550s). The book is an outstanding
example of historical theology done well, where readers watch the
emergence of a theological concept develop in the context of real-
world circumstances without the interference of some predetermined
consensus of a later period guiding the storyline.
Wainwright’s book, which is a revision of his Oxford disserta-
tion, has a complex thesis, one that can be divided into three main
concerns. First, he argues that we can discern a coherent tradition
of covenant theology in three early Swiss theologians: Huldrych
Zwingli, Heinrich Bullinger, and John Calvin. While each affirmed
justification by faith (solafideism), they generally articulated the
concept of covenant in a bilateral manner, meaning that both par-
ties within the covenant are bound by mutual responsibilities: God
graciously and freely provides for salvation in Christ to those who
believe, and the redeemed are under the reciprocal obligation to keep
the covenant by walking with him and keeping his law. This concept
of “reciprocal” obligation on behalf of the Christian, Wainwright
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maintains, is a central feature of Swiss covenant theology, and was

responsible for the robust ethical approach to ecclesiastical reform
carried out in Zurich and Geneva (pp. 331-32).
A second part of Wainwright’s thesis concerns how Swiss covenant
theology took root in England. Wainwright meticulously analyzes the
writings of four early English Reformers—William Tyndale, Miles
Coverdale, John Hooper, and John Bradford—to demonstrate that
they heavily drew upon the covenantal concepts pioneered by their
continental counterparts. A complicated picture emerges from these
investigations. For Tyndale, Coverdale, and Hooper, Wainwright
argues that we see the unmistakable evidence of Swiss covenantal
themes appearing in their writings. This is demonstrated by the way
these theologians closely coordinated Christian faith (i.e. justification)
with moral responsibility (i.e. sanctification) within the context of
covenant (p. 220). Hooper, for instance, believed “human works [are]
worthless for salvation,” yet he strongly maintained that the redeemed
are obliged to keep the divine law and strive for godliness if they
are to demonstrate that they are truly covenant children (p. 200).
Interestingly, John Bradford’s theology took a different turn.
Following Martin Bucer, the Strasbourg Reformer who rejected the
conditionality associated with a bilateral understanding of covenant
(p. 221), Bradford prominently featured the theme of divine election
in his writings. Wainwright observes that this emphasis essentially
prevented Bradford’s thought from becoming overly saturated with
covenantal and moral themes. Bradford was deeply concerned with
Christian morality, but for him sanctification emerges from the
gratitude and awe that arises from an awareness of divine election,
not from the conditionality entailed in the bilateral understanding of
covenant we find in Swiss theology (pp. 213-16). Bradford’s theology
reveals that different approaches to Reformed thought were present
in these early years of the English Reformation.
In the third part of his thesis, Wainwright devotes two chapters
to the sacramental theology of the Swiss and English Reformers.
There he notes how Swiss covenantal themes appear in the sac-
ramental writings of the early English Reformers, a point which
further demonstrates how a specifically Swiss formulation of covenant
was central to the systematic development of Reformed thought
in England. “Where Swiss concepts of covenant were adopted by
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Englishmen,” Wainwright observes, “their sacramental theologies

evidence this reception” (p. 329).
One of the great values of the book is the way it restructures our
understanding of how covenant theology emerged in the English
Reformed tradition. While it is true that Luther’s solafideism was
prominent among English Protestants during the 1520s, Wainwright
notes how there was an identifiable pivot toward Swiss views after
1530, especially by Tyndale, Coverdale, and Hooper. Furthermore,
Wainwright suggests that this early English approach to the cove-
nant is a coherent tradition in the history of covenant theology—a
school if you will—one which must be distinguished from the later
federal theology of the Puritan tradition (pp. 347-48). The Puritans
were moral precisianists who extensively elaborated the way the law
of Christ is to guide every aspect of Christian behavior and national
life. By contrast, the early English Reformed highlighted in this book
were not as “precise” in their application of the bilateral covenant (p.
348). They were, Wainwright suggests in the title of his final chapter,
“imprecisely Reformed.”
Early Reformation Covenant Theology is an outstanding example of
a study in historical theology. Wainwright is thoroughly immersed
in the primary and secondary sources, and he successfully draws
readers into the nexus of two intellectual worlds: the Swiss and
English Reformers. The vast apparatus of footnotes throughout its
pages constantly reminds readers that the book is a dissertation, a
work of meticulous scholarship aimed at a highly-trained academic
audience. Yet this observation should not dissuade non-specialists
from reading it. Wainwright’s clear writing renders the study acces-
sible to laypersons who are fascinated with covenant theology and
the Reformation, and who want to take the effort to work through
this rich and rewarding study. I highly recommend it!

Robert W. Caldwell III

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Fort Worth, TX
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Crawford Howell Toy: The Man, the Scholar, the Teacher. By

Mikeal C. Parsons. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2019,
384pp., $35.00.

Scholars have largely ignored Crawford H. Toy (1836-1919), who

was one of the most important figures in Southern Baptist history.
He was the first professor dismissed from an American theological
faculty for holding liberal theology. His dismissal in 1879, along
with those of two missionary appointees in 1881, provoked exten-
sive controversy over the doctrine of inspiration. James Boyce and
John Broadus, professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
led Southern Baptists through this controversy and established a
precedent that Southern Baptists have summoned repeatedly in
denominational controversies ever since.
Mikeal C. Parsons, who holds the Macon Chair in Religion at
Baylor University, has published the first scholarly biography of
Crawford Toy. It is well researched and contributes significantly to
Southern Baptist history and to American religious history generally.
Parsons tells the story of Toy’s life well. Toy attended the
University of Virginia where he was converted in 1854 and joined
the Charlottesville Baptist Church, where John Broadus was pastor.
Through Broadus’s preaching, Toy felt a call to serve as a preacher of
the gospel on the mission field and was appointed to Japan, but the
Civil War wrecked his plans. Toy served in the Confederate army
and after the war studied in Germany for two years. He taught
Old Testament and Hebrew at The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary from 1869 until his dismissal in 1879. He taught at
Harvard University from 1880 until his retirement in 1909.
Parsons also includes chapters on Toy’s wife, Nancy Saunders Toy,
and Toy’s student and colleague, David Gordon Lyon, as well as an
appendix disentangling the conflicting accounts of Toy’s courtship
of Lottie Moon. Parsons’s extensive research uncovered details and
facts that add to our knowledge of Toy’s life and correct some mis-
takes in the historiography.
The account of Toy’s dismissal and its causes will attract the most
interest. When students and a few newspapers raised questions about
Toy’s orthodoxy in the late 1870s, Boyce and Broadus began ques-
tioning and remonstrating with him. By late 1878 they supported
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his resignation. Toy defended his view of inspiration before semi-

nary trustees in 1879, but after examining him, they voted 16-2 to
dismiss him.
Parsons argues that Boyce and Broadus conspired discreditably
to oust Toy. He contends that Boyce became jealous and hostile
toward Toy, and that Broadus became fearful of his own position
and so turned against Toy. The two then engaged in “character
assassination” (p. 57) to get him fired, under the pretense that Toy’s
continuation would provoke a public controversy that would destroy
the seminary (pp. 55-7, 68-87).
Parsons suggests also that Toy’s views were sufficiently conservative
to be acceptable at Southern Seminary. He bases this on the fact
that trustees did not charge Toy with heresy, and on the insinuation
that Toy’s colleagues Broadus and William H. Whitsitt shared Toy’s
view of inspiration. Broadus, however, most certainly did not hold
Toy’s view. Whitsitt, who joined the faculty in 1872 and who shared
an apartment with Toy from 1877 to 1879, apparently did, but he
kept it a secret hidden in his diary until 2009, when his diaries were
opened to researchers.
Whitsitt claimed in diary entries in 1886 that Boyce and Broadus
schemed maliciously and deceitfully to force Toy out. He claimed
that Boyce was motivated by jealousy of Toy’s growing fame and
suggested that Broadus was “led around by the nose” by Toy until
Broadus became afraid of opposition and fell in with Boyce. It was
their “animosity” that drove them to lay a trap into which Toy
unwittingly fell.
In the diaries, Whitsitt regularly described his colleagues, Boyce,
Broadus, and even Toy, in terms filled with contempt and patron-
izing pity. He secretly despised them. Whitsitt boasted that he was
too intelligent to be trapped and destroyed the same way that Toy
was, and so he disingenuously convinced Broadus that he rejected
Toy’s views.
In his resignation letter and in articles through 1881, Toy defended
his views as orthodox. He claimed that he still believed in the fact
of inspiration in the Bible, but he redefined inspiration to involve
the subjective element only. The Bible’s value, Toy held, was not
in its uninformed and often erroneous literal teaching, but rather
in the fact that its authors sensed spiritual reality and were able
 189

to communicate this spiritual sense through unreliable outward

forms. The Bible was inspired, Toy held, because it inspired inward
religious consciousness.
Parsons portrays Toy as holding broadly traditional views.
Although Parsons discusses Toy’s 1874-75 Old Testament lectures,
which are mostly traditional, he omits discussion of his 1877-78
lectures, which were thoroughly liberal. In these later lectures Toy
taught that the Old Testament’s history was often false and that
many prophecies were never fulfilled. The Old Testament’s portrayal
of Israel’s history and of the origins of their religion, Toy said, was
a fictional invention, for its ritual and ideas evolved slowly and did
not coalesce until the era of the exile, when Ezra and his colleagues
composed most of the Old Testament corpus from various pre-ex-
isting materials and imposed their ideas on the whole history as if
God had given it all through Moses at Mount Sinai in the wilderness.
The Old Testament passages interpreted as Messianic in the New
Testament did not in fact teach anything about Jesus. Jesus could
nevertheless be construed, Toy explained, as a spiritual fulfillment of
the all the Old Testament teachings that God would bless the nation
of Israel outwardly [H. C. Smith, Lecture Notes 1877-78, SBTS].
Toy’s views had changed dramatically. These were the conclu-
sions of the antisupernaturalist historical criticism of the Bible. Toy
embraced naturalism and rejected the objective truth of the Bible’s
accounts of miracles, creation, and God’s activity generally. He held
that Moses probably provided the germinal principles that evolved
into monotheistic Judaism, just as Jesus provided the germinal prin-
ciples that developed into Christianity.
Toy’s teaching of the historical-critical evolutionary reconstruc-
tion of the history of Israel showed that his new view of inspiration
represented a substantial departure from orthodox interpretation of
the Bible. Toy’s defection from traditional views had matured well
before Boyce and Broadus asked him to resign. Toy himself agreed in
1893 with Broadus’s contention that Toy’s diverging views required
his dismissal: “You are quite right in describing my withdrawal as a
necessary result of important differences of opinion” (Toy to Broadus,
20 May 1893).
Parsons suggests also that Toy’s views remained rather conserva-
tive for over a decade at Harvard, and it was only in the late 1890s
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that he “evolved beyond traditional Christian doctrine” (p. 283).

He appeals to the fact that Toy joined the Old Cambridge Baptist
Church and attended there regularly until his marriage in 1888,
after which the couple attended but did not join the Cambridge
First Parish Unitarian Church. He argues that they gathered with
the Unitarians chiefly to build their social network. Parsons suggests
that this is evidence that Toy was not so radical. From any remotely
evangelical or Baptist viewpoint, however, abandoning a Trinitarian
communion for Unitarian worship would constitute apostasy.
Parsons seems to place little importance on Toy’s more radical
views. Parsons gives no notice to such matters as Toy’s belief, pub-
lished in 1891, that the Gospel of John was thoroughly unreliable,
but that the other gospels show enough of the “spirit of his [Jesus’]
instruction” to demonstrate that Christianity evolved from the “ger-
minal principles” of Jesus’ teaching, or that Jesus claimed to be
human only and in no sense divine, or that Jesus rejected any notion
of being a sacrifice for sin, or that he was opposed to any notion
of justification by faith, or that salvation was by obedience—“it is
individual conduct that determines men’s destinies” [“The Relation
of Jesus to Christianity,” 1891].
Parsons defends at some length Toy’s 1907 letter in which he
affirmed William James’s pragmatic philosophy, and confessed that
“I find myself ready to accept the doctrine that ‘truth’ is not a static
and stagnant thing, but a thing that we are constantly creating for
ourselves” (pp. 280-2).
And, in defense of Toy’s more radical views, Parsons argues that to
the extent that Toy became radical, it wasn’t his fault. “Those most
responsible for his ‘heresies,’” Parsons says, were Boyce and Broadus,
for they are the ones who expelled him from the conservative milieu
of Southern Seminary and forced him to take up residence and work
amid Harvard’s rationalistic culture (pp. 275-6).
Whether or not readers agree with Parsons’s interpretations of Toy’s
career, all will appreciate the significance of this scholarly biography
of this influential figure.

Gregory A. Wills
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Fort Worth, TX
 191

Imagining Theology: Encounters with God in Scripture,

Interpretation, and Aesthetics. By Garrett Green. Grand Rapids:
Baker, 2020, 288pp., $63.00.

Building upon a career of reigniting interest in the role of imagi-

nation in theology, Garrett Green, professor emeritus at Connecticut
College, explores in his most recent work the implications for the-
ology of a Christian imagination paradigmatically revealed in
Scripture. Imagination in Green’s thinking “functions throughout
human experience, enabling us to envision the whole of things, to
focus our minds to perceive how things are ordered and organized”
(p. 10). Understanding the imaginative potency of Scripture combats
a modern scientific approach to theology characteristic of theological
liberalism with a normative Christian imagination, “the employment
of the human imagination in ways that remain faithful to the biblical
paradigm” (p. 22).
Green opens by presenting guidelines for discerning such a nor-
mative use of imagination and then develops a hermeneutic that he
applies in a series of essays on various theological issues. His guide-
lines include the following:
1. The Bible embodies the concrete paradigm on which all
genuine Christian theology is based, enabling the faithful
to rightly imagine God (p. 12).
2. Right imagination of God is a movement not only of the
head—our mind or intellect—but also of the heart, our
feelings and affective responses (p. 14).
3. The theological use of imagination must always remain
open to the Mystery of God, resisting every temptation to
rationalize, demystify, or control the divine (p. 15).
4. In accordance with its biblical paradigm, theological imag-
ination always remains open to novelty, eschewing every
attempt at metanarrative or systematic closure (p. 16).
5. Because theological imagination is dependent on the Holy
Spirit, it is an enterprise of faith, appearing uncertain and
circular from a worldly perspective, depending on the cer-
tainty of God’s revelation for its claim to truth (p. 19).
6. Theological imagination belongs to the present age, the
regnum gratiae, the era of our earthly pilgrimage, when we
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“see through a glass, darkly.” We will no longer need to

imagine God in the world to come, when we shall see him
“face to face” (p. 21).
These rules provide a hermeneutical framework that resists “de-my-
thologizing” Scripture, instead insisting that in Scripture “the form
is the content: that is, the meaning of a religious world is precisely its
shape, the concrete web of ideas, social interactions, symbolic forms,
and so on, that give it the peculiar qualities that make it what it is
and not something else” (p. 30). Form and content, Green argues,
is a false distinction employed by both those rejecting the historicity
of Scripture and often those defending it. A better way would be to
see the unity of Scripture as an expression of imagination that then
shapes our imagination. On this basis, Green suggests, theology that
recognizes “the fundamentally imaginative nature of religious belief
and practice” (p. 58) is no threat to Christianity; rather, “the believer
can affirm the truth of revelation, without shame or embarrassment,
in spite of its imaginative character” (p. 61), and in fact “the church
is a school of the imagination, the place where we learn to think,
feel, see, and hear as followers of the crucified and risen Messiah”
(p. 72). This, he suggests, was the project of his former Yale professor
Hans Frei, who describes Scripture as a “realistic story” in which
its truth is inherently embodied in the literary narrative (p. 84). A
biblically-formed imagination, then, provides a lens that “allows us
to make sense of what we perceive” in the world (p. 100), considers
man-made art to be a doxological tool that “points aesthetically
toward the God of the Bible” (p. 120), suggests that the metaphors
Scripture uses “say what cannot be said in any other way” (p. 129),
and helps Christians “apprehend another world” (p. 193) that forms
an eschatological hope in the midst of a secular, pluralistic age.
Green’s argument provides a refreshing corrective for the frequently
anti-aesthetic, overly-rationalistic emphasis of much of modern evan-
gelical theologians. He is right: the Spirit-inspired word is a work of
literature employing a vast variety of aesthetic devices to communi-
cate what could not be otherwise. Since God is a spirit and does not
have a body like man, since he is infinite, eternal, and total other than
us, God chose to use particular aesthetic expressions that renew our
minds (Rom. 12:2) and thus form our imagination of who God is.
Yet Green sometimes swings the pendulum too far into a
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neo-orthodox ambivalence regarding the historical veracity of bib-

lical narratives (p. 86). He criticizes Barth’s distinction between
Geschichte and Historie (p. 31), while at the same time asserting his
own distinction between “our scientific understanding of the origin
of species” and “our theological apprehension of the origin of the
world. Relativism no longer threatens to undo our grasp on reality
because we no longer imagine that we need universal principles to link
all human knowledge systematically or to ground it in incorrigible
truth” (p. 38). In my opinion, recent work by evangelical authors
like Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine among others, carves
out a more conservative position that does not fall into the traps
of higher critical cultural-linguistic philosophy on the one hand
or what Vanhoozer calls the “dedramatized propositionalism” that
characterizes many forms of the historical-grammatical philosophy.
Nevertheless, Green’s articulation of a Scripture-formed imag-
ination, particularly in the early chapters, contains many helpful
principles that would aid a conservative evangelical in recovering
from Scripture a “normative way to imagine God” (p. 14).

Scott Aniol
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
Fort Worth, TX

T&T Clark Handbook of Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics.

Edited by Uriah Y. Kim and Seung Ai Yang. New York: T&T
Clark, 2019, 544pp., $176.

This volume is a collection of articles from a wide range of Asian

voices in their American contexts among Filipino, Vietnamese,
Japanese, Indian, Korean, and Chinese populations. The biblical
scholars represented here voice their views that have been shaped
by their sociocultural contexts. The articles are divided into three
sections—contexts, methods, and texts—the parts that play a role
in the process of interpretation. Altogether, thirty-seven biblical
scholars of Asian descent have taken part to produce this collection of
essays that bring to light the way Asian Americans have understood
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biblical hermeneutics.
The first section of seven articles on contexts starts with Tamara
Ho’s discussion on the complex heterogeneity of the Asian American
identity with a religious experience shaped by the numerous world
religions which are found in Asian countries. Russell Jeung’s article
looks at Chinese Americans, their history of immigration, and their
“dizzying array of beliefs and traditions” that formed through their
differences in income, generation, and familial roots. Lester Ruiz
portrays the Filipinos in their multiculturalism in the aftermath
of colonialism as they worked through estrangement and hospital-
ity, which are also found in the biblical tradition. Jaisy Joseph and
Khyati Joshi examine how Indians have stepped into an interreligious
consciousness for interfaith dialogue among the various religious
groups in the Indian community. Mai-Anh Le Tran speaks of the
turbulent times in Vietnamese history and how their life in America
has afforded greater freedom and much religious hybridization. Jung
Ha Kim gives an account of Korean American hermeneutics with
an overview of the prevalent Korean Christian church culture in the
United States. Joanne Doi provides a glimpse into the Japanese mind-
set that moved from its horrific past of unjust wartime incarceration
toward solidarity and remembrance in the present moment: just as
wounds remain on the risen body of Christ, the Japanese hold to
their past and look ahead toward reconciliation and progress. These
experiences of Asians in America situate the reading of the biblical
text from their challenges and struggles toward a redemptive future
found in the shared Christian hope.
The next section on methods offers some needed reflection on the
current methods of interpretation. Here, traditional approaches like
historical criticism (Mary Foskett), social criticism (D. N. Premnath),
literary criticism (Jin Young Choi), and theological reflection (Bo
Lim) are brought into light in connection with the various Asian
American experiences. Other non-traditional approaches are also
included in the survey. Each of these articles demonstrates an under-
standing of the field by tracing the history of these methods while
also combining the Asian American experience and the effects it
has had on the discipline. Theological wisdom is needed to navigate
one’s path through these discussions.
The third and final section on texts is the largest constituent of
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the volume. The twenty-two articles provide insights through the

Asian American lens. The general pattern of exegesis is generally in
the following steps: observations of the text, an account of the tra-
ditional readings of the text, and the perspective of the text through
the contributor’s history and personal experience. Some memorable,
meaningful, and creative connections are presented in this section.
For example, the exile of Cain and God’s continued protection in
Genesis are compared to the flourishing of Asian immigrants with
opportunities in the new land (Hemchand Gossai). Zelophehad’s
daughters in Numbers 27 and 36 uphold family honor as exemplary
women in line with the filial piety of Confucianism (Sonia Wong).
The book of Job undergirds the voice of the marginalized in the
Chinese diaspora experience (Chloe Sun). Daniel in his Babylonian
exile shows how Korean Americans face the challenges of cultural
adaptation and assimilation (John Ahn). Jesus’s call to discipleship
in Matthew strongly points to filial piety and radical discipleship
among Chinese Christians (Diane Chen). The parable of the great
banquet in Luke 15 offers insight into the privileged status of certain
South Asian immigrants, moving them toward greater empathy for
the disadvantaged in society (Raj Nadella). Readers will need to
exercise careful discernment as they work through these articles.
The final product of this volume is a considerable achieve-
ment in bringing together the minority voices of biblical
studies as their stories and struggles are heard along with their
interpretation. The people, their approach, and their inter-
pretation of the biblical text pull together a rich chorus of
witnesses that gives the biblical texts significance in their respective
Asian, yet still American, contexts. With the theological spectrum
being so wide among the contributors, the handbook does not sug-
gest that there exists any collective uniformity among them nor does
it show that Asians conform to any singular dogma or tradition,
but the collection does allow for these different voices of different
backgrounds to be heard and appreciated. Any reader of biblical
texts will naturally bring their background and training to their
understanding of the biblical text. Missiologists have long iden-
tified the contextualized reception of Jesus’s message throughout
church history. While this handbook has done a great service to show
that the biblical text and its redemptive story have affected Asian
196

Americans in ways profoundly contextualized in their cultural space

and varying ecclesial traditions, it must also be noted that some of
the contributions found in this volume fall outside the consensus
of Christian orthodoxy.

Donald Kim
Scarborough College
Fort Worth, TX

A Survey of World Missions. By Robin Hadaway. Nashville:

B&H, 2020, 352pp., $29.99.

Robin Hadaway’s survey of world missions issues a fresh study

on the range of ideas in missiology. He argues for renewed attention
to the subject because while “all evangelical Christians understand
the world desperately needs Christ and the task of proclaiming the
gospel is great,” agreement on approaching the missionary task is
markedly different among Christ-followers (p. 16). The author enters
the genre with fresh perspectives on mission philosophies, strategies,
and methods. Hadaway, missionary scholar and practitioner, engages
the reader with both densities of research and examples from his own
missionary experiences. Drawing from his Baptist context, readers
interested in the various nuances of missions among the Southern
Baptist denomination will find a concentrated sampling of missiolog-
ical insights from its primary international sending support structure,
the International Mission Board. As suggested in the title, Hadaway
surveys the missiological research and application around broader
categories “not to limit one’s thinking, but to help the missiologist
and practitioner process where they fit along the mission spectrum”
(p. 16). The author builds his study on biblical premises and leads
the reader to consider the various missiological studies addressed
both historically and in contemporary perspective (p. 17).
After an introduction highlighting the present realities in mis-
siological studies, Hadaway leads the reader through the biblical,
theological, and historical foundations in evangelical missions.
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Setting the Bible as the “foundation and basis for missions” (p. 17),
the author sets missions within the Genesis to Revelation storyline of
Scripture consisting “of the activities of God and his representative
to bring Adam’s race back into fellowship with him through his Son,
Jesus Christ” (p. 18). Hadaway’s treatment of the biblical-theological
framework for missions or specific texts is broad but not deep as
he surveys the foundational landscape of the field. The theological
foundation for missions focuses primarily on soteriology and its
relationship to evangelism as well as the role of the church in car-
rying out the missionary task. Hadaway devotes space to surveying
the various views on salvation, including everything from pluralism
to Calvinism. The author further argues that the responsibility of
proclaiming the gospel in mission lies within every church (p. 50).
The historical foundation of Hadaway’s survey includes major epochs
of mission history as well as unique biographical sketches of some
who shaped the philosophies and methodologies of missions today.
In chapters five through seven, the author offers an array of con-
texts for missions. Hadaway’s overview of world religions defines
major (and minor) world religions with the focus on the need for
contextualizing the gospel to communicate effectively in the various
worldviews around the world. Although contextualizing is a focus
and encouragement to the reader, the author concludes by asserting,
“At the end of the day, each person from other faiths must be asked
to turn from that belief system and follow Christ” (p. 131). Thus,
his sections on worldview and contextualization (chapters six and
seven) delve deeper into an analysis of what that entails. Hadaway’s
survey of contextual approaches in gospel proclamation specifies
current realities in seeking to address the need for further studies.
The author writes, “Currently, contextualization is probably the most
important, yet controversial concept in missions ... and challenges
the missionary to his core” (p. 189). This sentiment builds his case
for understanding mission philosophies, strategies, and methods.
Hadaway’s survey of the various philosophies, strategies, and meth-
ods guides the reader in considering how one should think about
the approach to mission, specifically how the missionary evangelizes
toward church planting. Helpful to this section are unique strategies
implemented currently on the mission field. Although the author
does not offer critiques of the various approaches, he postulates
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enough information to inform the reader of current mission praxis.

Hadaway’s final two chapters briefly examine the role of the mission
agency in the life of a missionary as well as the author’s perspective
on missions in the twenty-first century.
The author does not shy from illuminating the reader to a wide
range of beliefs and approaches to mission that deserves further
study. Therefore, educators, students, church leaders, and mission-
ary practitioners will appreciate the array of issues and ideas that
offers context in grappling with the church’s role in the mission of
God. Furthermore, the author’s experience on the mission field and
familiarity with leadership in mission agencies bolsters his sections
on mission strategy and method, having tried or viewed first-hand
their strengths, weaknesses, and need for inclusion of further study.
Since this is a survey, the challenge for the reader is the lack of
clarity on the author’s missiological positions. The basis of analysis
lends more toward a researched overview of topics and not a formal
stance on missiological principles. Hadaway is clear on the biblical
basis for mission and his articulation of the gospel. However, on
the topics presented, readers will find minimal subjective assertions
throughout the book.
In sum, A Survey of World Missions is a gift to the church and
academia in helping think through the essential categories for evan-
gelical missions, especially as it updates the field of study with fresh
missiological considerations. Although all evangelical Christians will
benefit from thinking through this survey, the book will enlighten
and inspire those who claim Southern Baptist roots. Classrooms
will want to utilize this resource as a springboard for thinking more
deeply about the church on mission. Hadaway’s final words offer great
encouragement in recognizing that “although Christian missions
may seem to the observer as haphazardly planned, . . God takes the
long view and sees a greater purpose for the ages” (p. 288). Hadaway
writes with God’s perspective in view, and for that reason, this book
will serve the church and her mission well.

Andy Pettigrew
International Mission Board
Richmond, VA
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Christian Theology: The Biblical Story and Our Faith. By

Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson. Nashville:
B&H, 2020, 624pp., $49.99.

Chris Morgan, dean of the School of Christian Studies at California

Baptist University, has provided Christ’s church with a gift in his
Christian Theology: The Biblical Story and Our Faith. Written with
Robert Peterson, Morgan’s one-volume systematic theology should
be the go-to introduction for evangelical Christians, and especially
for Baptists and other credobaptists, to the discipline. While other
popular one-volume systematic theologies will surely continue to be
read and used profitably, Morgan’s new text can be considered the
gold standard for evangelical, credobaptist, single-volume introduc-
tions to Christian theology.
Several unique features of Morgan’s book catapult it to the top of
the list, but most significant is its incorporation of biblical theology
to the task of systematic theology. Morgan, with contributions from
Peterson, discusses each major Christian doctrine in the context of
“the biblical story line of creation, fall, redemption, and new creation”
(p. 1). While other recent systematic texts give credence to the grand
narrative of Scripture and its importance for theology, Morgan and
Peterson’s is among the first, especially within a Baptist context, to
do so considering each doctrine rather than merely as prolegomena.
In addition to this thoroughgoing biblical-theological approach,
Morgan and Peterson also make sure to discuss each doctrine’s exe-
getical basis from select passages of Scripture, each doctrine’s impact
on the life of the individual believer and on the whole church, and
each doctrine’s place in the Christian tradition and its relation to
classic Christian confessions of faith. Fundamentally, Morgan and
Peterson describe their work as “evangelical, written with a high
view of Scripture and consistent with historic confessions of faith”
(p. 1). In other words, in Christian Theology we have a single-volume,
single-author (by which I mean, not an edited, multi-authored text)
introduction to systematic theology that is grounded in an inerrant
and fully authoritative view of Scripture, rooted in and faithful to
the best of the Christian tradition, shaped by the biblical story, and
aimed at the life of the believer and the health of the church. And,
to top it off, this book is imminently readable and accessible.
200

These characteristics, and particularly their combination, sets

Morgan and Peterson’s text apart from other one-volume systematic
theologies currently used by evangelicals, and particularly by evangel-
ical credobaptists. On the one hand, the fact that this volume is not
an edited, multi-authored text gives it a coherence that is not always
evident in volumes with multiple contributors from various theologi-
cal backgrounds and with various theological commitments. On the
other hand, among single-authored systematics popular in evangelical
circles, Morgan and Peterson are unique in their combined emphasis
on exegetical rationale, context in the biblical story, and relation to
the Christian tradition for each doctrine. Other single-authored
systematics, and especially those used by credobaptists, often lack
significant engagement with one or more of these important aspects
of the task of systematic theology, whereas Morgan and Peterson
consistently emphasize the necessity of all three.
Although Christian Theology is, in my estimation, the gold standard
for evangelical, credobaptist, single-volume systematic theologies, I
should also note that this is an introduction to the discipline. There
are aspects of the discussion of each doctrine that could be expanded,
especially as it relates to exegetical basis, historical context, and
dogmatic location. Regarding the first two, this is simply a matter
of proliferating the foundational work that Morgan and Peterson
already provide in their chapters. In other words, there is always
more to say about the biblical basis for a doctrine and its place in
Christian history and thought.
However, regarding the third – dogmatic location – readers should
be aware that Christian Theology only engages in basic dogmatic
questions when it comes to most doctrines. For instance, regarding
the doctrine of the Trinity, the authors are clear that God is one
God who exists in three Persons, and they even refer to the eternal
relations of origin (pp. 102–103). When it comes to explaining the
latter concept and its biblical basis, however, there is little discussion.
The emphasis, as Morgan and Peterson state in the introduction,
is on the most basic affirmations of the Christian faith. The same
could be said, for example, of mentions of the doctrine of simplic-
ity (p. 102) and of the heresy of Apollinarianism. With respect to
the former, there is only passing reference, while with the latter the
authors define the heresy’s meaning but without mention of the
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doctrine of dyothelitism or its relation to the doctrine of the Trinity.

I want to emphasize that these observations are not criticisms, but
only intended to highlight the introductory nature of the text. For
those who taste and see the beauty of the discipline of systematic
theology after reading Christian Theology, more work will be required
to plumb the dogmatic depths of the doctrines discussed. Again,
this aspect of the book is noted by the authors, and each chapter
contains a list of resources for further reading to aid those who wish
to explore further.
In summary, Christian Theology is a highly accessible, readable
introduction to the Christian faith that is at once academically stim-
ulating and devotionally engaging, a rare single-volume systematic
that gives proper attention to exegesis, biblical theology, historical
theology, and ecclesial application. It should be used in churches and
classrooms alike. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Matthew Y. Emerson
Oklahoma Baptist University
Shawnee, OK

A Concise Dictionary of Theological Terms. By Christopher W.

Morgan and Robert A. Peterson. Nashville: B&H, 2020, 192pp.,
$19.99.

This succinct reference book contains over 700 entries from, “the
Bible, theology, church history (people, movements, councils, and
documents), philosophy, church practice, and more” (p. x). Entries
include topics such as: aseity of God, authority of Scripture, biblical
theology, Christ’s names and titles, homiletics, inerrancy, simplicity
of God, and sola scriptura. A Concise Dictionary of Theological Terms
serves as the companion piece to Morgan’s Christian Theology: The
Biblical Story and Our Faith textbook.
Each entry is cleanly defined from a Baptist framework built upon
an evangelical foundation. Most of the terms contain further refer-
ences so that the reader can locate and connect terms to their larger
theological conversations. For instance, “Council of Chalcedon” is
202

summarized and then sends the reader to “Deity and Humanity of

Christ.” Many of the terms also contain helpful biblical references
so that those seeking further Bible study can easily locate applicable
passages. The single-column format helps the user to utilize the
reference work more like a book rather than a typical two-column
dictionary.
This volume meets two major needs. First, it will be effective as a
textbook in theology classes. It is a fitting companion to a theology
textbook, particularly Morgan’s, but it would also work well with
others. Second, if scholars, pastors, students, and church leaders
download the Kindle version, this volume could effectively replace
any tendency to search Wikipedia or Theopedia for such terms.
Solid theology clearly and concisely written could be as close as our
phones. Morgan and Peterson’s Dictionary will serve as a valuable
resource for scholars, pastors, students, denominational leaders, and
church leaders.

Benjamin Michael Skaug

Immanuel Baptist Church
Highland, CA

How the Spirit Became God: The Mosaic of Early Christian

Pneumatology. By Kyle R. Hughes. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books,
2020, vii+162pp., $23.00.

This volume by Kyle R. Hughes, History Department chair at

Whitefield Academy in Atlanta, carries on his project that started
with The Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit: Prosopological Exegesis
and the Development of Pre-Nicene Pneumatology (Brill, 2018). In that
work, he primarily focused on the development of early Christian
pneumatology in Justin, Irenaeus, and Tertullian. In this present
work, Hughes surveys the development of pneumatology from
Pentecost to the Council of Constantinople using the illustration
of a mosaic that was built tile by tile into a full divine pneumatology.
In the first chapter, Hughes tackles “The Problem of the Holy
Spirit.” Here, he introduces the issue by noting the difficulty artists
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and iconographers face with respect to the Holy Spirit. For the Father
and Son, there is a type of personification in biblical portrayals
that artists can draw (for example, the Father as an old man with
a white beard or a depiction of the Son incarnate). However, aside
from a dove, the Spirit is often portrayed inanimately as one who is
“poured out” or “fills.” Given that these depictions might lend one
toward seeing the Spirit as some sort of force rather than person,
Hughes notes that interpreters had a less difficult task in talking
about the Father and Son as personal beings. Nonetheless, the early
church eventually settled on the Trinitarian formula of one God in
three persons.
In chapter two, Hughes asserts that the Gospel of John in par-
ticular offers the clearest biblical portrait of the Spirit’s distinct
personhood. In particular, “The Johannine presentation of the
Paraclete sets up an enormously important idea that will be of great
significance for later Christian writers’ theology of the Holy Spirit”
(p. 22), namely the Spirit’s prosopological speech in divine revelation.
Chapter three focuses principally on the Epistle of Barnabas and the
work of Justin Martyr, showing the Old Testament’s testimony to
the Spirit as the linchpin for developing a specific Christian identity
over and against Judaism.
Chapter four is in many ways a condensed argument from The
Trinitarian Testimony of the Spirit, in which Hughes lays out the
development of the Spirit as a divine person in the theologies of Justin
Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian. Hughes shows that these early
Christian theologians made important contributions to second- and
third-century pneumatological development by making “use of an
ancient person-centered reading strategy that scholars have termed
prosopological exegesis” that personified the Spirit in particular bib-
lical texts in which he seemed to be speaking in a distinct, volitional
manner (p. 74). In chapter five, Hughes furthers the discussion by
giving attention to the divine economy “tile” Irenaeus, Tertullian,
and Origen contribute to the development of a pneumatological
mosaic. Origen’s conclusions about the Spirit’s role in divine revela-
tion, Hughes asserts, especially laid the foundation for later Christians
to describe the Spirit as an eternally present person with the Godhead.
Chapter six pulls the pneumatological development together,
noting chiefly how Athanasius, Didymus the Blind, and Basil of
204

Caesarea helped codify the pro-Nicene articulation of the Spirit’s

full divinity. Hughes notes that Athanasius “broke a long tradition
of subordinationism in affirming the coequality of the Spirit with the
Father and the Son, emphasizing the unity of action and identity in
the Trinity” (p. 128). That said, Hughes asserts that Didymus and
Basil helped clarify that which Athanasius left “somewhat under-
developed” through reflections on the Spirit’s role in sanctification
and liturgy. The seventh chapter acts as a conclusion, encouraging
Christians to receive “the invitation of the Spirit: to make space in
our lives for the Spirit’s life-giving breath to create in us the very
character of Christ, by which we may behold God face-to-face” (p.
139).
The strengths of this book are legion—from its succinctness to
its clarity to its theological precision—but its greatest contribution
is its avoidance of generalizing early pneumatological development.
While nominalism can die the death of a thousand qualifications,
Hughes finds the balance between surveying the development,
while also deftly noting the nuances in the articulations of certain
theologians and time periods in the first five centuries of Christian
pneumatological reflection. This type of careful work is difficult in
such a brief space of under 150 pages, and yet Hughes accomplishes
this task exceptionally well. The only major critique worth noting
is the lack of attention to the two Gregories. Of the Cappadocians,
Basil is an obvious forerunner to Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory
of Nyssa; however, in a chapter in which Hughes seeks to show the
final major development of a fully divine pneumatology, he under-
emphasizes the two men—Nazianzus earns two citations and Nyssa
earns zero—who fleshed out Basil’s theology with the most rigor. If
one were seeking to put a bow on the development of fully divine
pneumatology, Nazianzus and/or Nyssa would have been more apt
as the final tiles to the mosaic.
Hughes notes that his audience is broad, aiming at scholars, pas-
tors, students, and laypersons (p. 13). He accomplished this task
wonderfully, balancing scholarly rigor with accessible and clear prose
and storytelling. This book is recommended for anyone seeking
to understand how and why Christians confess the Holy Spirit’s
full divinity.
 205

Brandon D. Smith
Cedarville University
Cedarville, OH

Resilient Faith: How the Early Christian “Third Way” Changed

the World. By Gerald L. Sittser. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press,
2019, xv+222pp., $19.99.

Gerald L. Sittser serves as professor of theology and as senior fellow

and researcher in the Office of Church Engagement at Whitworth
University in Spokane. He has taught at Whitworth since 1989.
Resilient Faith: How the Early Christian “Third Way” Changed the
World is Sittser’s ninth book. Previous works by Sittser recognized
for their excellence include: When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer
(Zondervan, 2003), which received the 2005 Gold Medallion Award
in the Christian Living category from the Evangelical Christian
Publishers Association, and Water from a Deep Well: Christian
Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries (IVP, 2007),
which won the Logos Book Award.
The origin of Resilient Faith may be traced to Sittser’s study of a
second-century document, “The So-Called Letter to Diognetus,”
many years ago. In this writing, an unknown author references the
Christian movement as the “third race” (which Sittser renders as
the “third way”) to distinguish it from the Roman (“first race”) and
Jewish ways of life (“second race”). This classification of Christianity
intrigued Sittser and led him to ask, “What made early Christianity
so unique that ancient people regarded it as a ‘third way,’ a set of
beliefs and practices different from the Roman and Jewish ways?”
Furthermore, “Why did Christianity’s distinctiveness attract some
to the faith and repel others?” His desire to understand the rise of
Christianity within its historical and cultural context is similar to
portions of Fox’s Pagans and Christians (pp. 263-335) and Green’s
Evangelism in the Early Church (pp. 29-75).
Sittser’s exploration of these questions is motivated by a greater
concern than merely tracing the rise of Christianity, however. His
larger goal is to provide guidance to modern Christians who desire
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to see a resurgence of Christianity. He argues that early Christianity

supplies the beliefs, practices, and approach needed for renewal. In
regard to approach, Sittser posits that the earliest believers neither
accommodated nor isolated themselves from the culture. Instead,
they “immersed themselves in the culture as followers of Jesus and
agents of the kingdom, influencing it from within both as individuals
and as a community” (p. 174). While this is true, at times Christians
did separate themselves from certain professions (e.g., actor) and
cultural spheres (e.g., gladiatorial events).
Sittser begins by contrasting the context of the modern church
with that of the ancient church (Chapter one: “Then and Now”).
Noting that modern Christianity no longer dominates over the cul-
ture as it did in the past, he argues that many in the West today
question Christianity’s relevance due to the fact that Christians have
failed to demonstrate the uniqueness of their beliefs and practices.
Stated differently, modern believers have compromised Christianity’s
identity and the gospel message (p. 12). In contrast, the ancient
church displayed a distinctive identity and articulated a unique mes-
sage that centered on Jesus (p. 16). They regarded him as the new
way and sought to live as citizens of God’s divine kingdom within
the context of the Roman Empire. Also, the ancient church took
spiritual formation seriously, giving a great deal of time and effort
to shaping Christian disciples (p. 17).
In Chapters two through eight, which comprises the bulk of the
writing, Sittser explores selected topics related to his two key ques-
tions of concern. This review will comment on several chapters.
In the “Old World and New World” (Chapter two), Sittser con-
trasts the “old world” of the Romans with the “new world” brought
by Christianity. In the new world of Christianity, Jesus stood as the
distinguishing feature (p. 19). Christians, unlike their polytheistic
neighbors, worshipped him exclusively (p. 24), viewing him as the
Son of God and Savior of the world (p. 34). In addition, Christians
refrained from participating in the imperial cult (p. 21). At times,
their behavior incurred pagan criticism as seen in the writings of
Pliny (pp. 19-22) and Porphyry (pp. 34-35).
In Chapter five (“Authority”), Sittser examines three sources of
authority that not only distinguished the church but also kept it
strong and stable: belief, book, and bishop. Belief refers to the “rule
 207

of faith” (p. 89) or “orthodoxy” (p. 91). The church’s beliefs con-
flicted sharply with Gnostic teaching (pp. 85-88), which presented
a completely different worldview. Sittser also suggests that Christian
beliefs arose independently on a grassroots level as opposed to “top
down” (p. 91).
The second source of authority, the Bible, also played an important
role in the life of the church. Believers read it personally, listened to
others read it, memorized it, copied it, distributed it, and gathered
weekly (sometimes even daily) to learn from it (pp. 91-93).
Another source of authority was the office of the bishop. The
earliest believers regarded bishops as leaders who continued the apos-
tles’ ministry (p. 93). Bishops exercised authority over the churches
through their teaching, shepherding, and care. They also bore witness
to the life and teachings of Jesus (p. 96).
In the final chapter (“Crossing to Safety”), Sittser discusses the
catechumenate, the early church’s three-year process for bringing
pagans into the church. The gulf was so wide that prospective con-
verts needed a bridge to assist them in crossing over to a position of
functional discipleship. For Sittser, this type of intense discipleship
is absolutely necessary for a resurgence of the church today (pp.
177-178).
The author concludes with a helpful annotated bibliography of
early Christian literature (pp. 179-196). This section includes a catego-
rized list of primary (e.g., martyrdom accounts, church manuals) and
secondary sources (e.g., early Christian theology, worship, Christian
life in the world). It contains a wealth of information.
Sittser’s Resilient Faith makes a much-needed contribution to the
modern church. He successfully identifies the beliefs, practices, and
approach that distinguished the ancient church and contributed to
its growth, including: a firm commitment to Jesus as the center of
a believer’s life and existence, a strong personal ethic, service to the
“least of these” motivated by a desire to follow Christ’s example; and
a dedication to worship which in turn prepared believers to live in
the world, avoiding both the path of accommodation and isolation
and practicing a rigorous program of discipleship.
Those who wish to see the church experience a resurgence today
should study Sittser’s book carefully. While recognizing that the early
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centuries were not a golden age of Christianity, he calls his readers to

follow the ancient church’s example at its best. Highly recommended.

Michael Bryant
Charleston Southern University
Charleston, SC