BOOK REVIEWS

Ingemar Strand, Änglar-visst finns dom! (Örebro: Evangeliipress, 1993). 224 pp. ISBN 91-7038-660-9.

Reviewed by David Bundy, Christian Theological Seminary, Indi­anapolis, Indiana.

Ingemar Strand has long worked under the aegis of the Swedish Holi­ness Church, the Helgelseförbundet, as an evangelist and a professor in the G6tabro Missionsskola. Since the closure of that institution, he has been retired but continues to be in demand as a speaker at Bible confer­ences. He holds a licentiate in philosophy.

In this volume, Strand provides an extensive analysis of the biblical understanding of angels and the demonic, interpreting them as warrants for evangelism and mission and for the development of the church in con­trast to popular cultic understandings of the phenomena. The volume begins with a survey of Christian literature from the earliest New Testa­ment documents to the post-reformation period, demonstrating that angels have been a preoccupation of popular religious culture and have been dis­cussed by most of the formative theologians of the Christian tradition.

The remainder of the volume is a close textual analysis of the Bible, beginning with the Genesis narratives of the creation (pp. 20-53), and continuing through the text. It is insisted that angels and demons have boundaries (pp. 76-81). Here the effort is made to counter popular efforts to assign to angels and demons elements of divinity. It is insisted, congru­ent with the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition, that, while there is an element of divinity in all of God's creation, humans and angels cannot be ascribed all of the attributes of God. Particular attention is given to the issue of omnipresence, omniscience, power and salvation. It is interesting to note that, like the traditions of early Eastern Christian theology, for example the Alexandrian/Caesarean theologians and the Cappadocians, Strand insists that individuals can serve as angelic or demonic forces in the spir­itual development of individuals, but insists that individuals are restored to the image of God only through the grace of God.

The "angel of the Lord" is given attention (pp. 82-91), as are the groupings of angels mentioned in the Bible (pp. 92-117), Satan and the other (lower) spirit worlds (pp. 118-125), as well as gradations (levels) of angels (pp. 126-130) and demons (pp. 131-135). The analysis is straight­forwardly and appropriately, albeit unwittingly, Neo-Platonic.

Another issue with contemporary apologetic interest is that of demon possession (pp. 136-145). The argument is made that, while Christians and others can be tempted by demons and encouraged by angels, the response is the result of choices made through freedom of will. As the will of the individual comes to conform less and less to that of the Divine, one can become a habitual sinner. Those choices can be influenced, argues Strand, by the workings of the demonic (pp. 146-153). Signifi­cantly, the influences are understood to be social conditions related to the development of moral and ethical issues within the larger culture.

The model for spiritual victory over evil, insists Strand, is provided by the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels. The important narratives of Jesus' moral fortitude in the face of temptations, the accounts of the dogged conformity of Jesus to the will of God, and the references to Jesus' consistent life of prayer and devotion are, the author asserts, placed in the Bible for the instruction of the Christian.

Strand provides clear, concise exposition of the problem posed by the references to angels and demons in the Bible. The result is not a tradi­tional scholarly analysis; it was never intended to be such. However, because of the careful attention to the thought world of the composition of the New Testament, he has arrived at a presentation which takes into account the Hellenistic Middle/Neo Platonic context of the New Testa­ment. The sources cited in his reflections reflect a wide reading of Swedish Pentecostal and Charismatic writing and scholarship as well as forays into other literature. It is a courageous presentation about a diffi­cult and controversial subject, a subject which few scholars would dare to investigate!

Michel Weyer, hrsg. 1993. Gottes erklärte Wille. Festgabe zum 65. Geburtstag für Armin Härtel (Beitrage zur Geschichte der Evangelisch­methodistischen Kirche, 43; Stuttgart: Christliches Verlagshaus). 93 pp. No ISBN.

Reviewed by David Bundy, Christian Theological Seminary, Indi­anapolis, Indiana.

The development and influence of the Methodist churches outside North America and England have been the subject of remarkably little research. Weyer and his colleagues have made a significant contribution to the study of the Methodist tradition in Germany through the essays contained in this Festschrift for Armin Härtel , Bishop of the Evangelisch­methodistische Kirche in the DDR. The Festschrift is a thoughtful analy­sis of issues related to the development of the Methodist Church in the DDR as well as to theological and relational matters relevant for the Methodist Church in German-speaking Europe, primarily Germany. It was not intended to present an exhaustive analysis of the issues discussed; instead it poses the historiographical and current theological imperative for coming to terms with this aspect of German Methodist history. The method of this review is to discuss briefly each of the essays in the vol­ume and then offer an appraisal of the whole.

The first essay (pp. 7-10) was contributed by Bishop Franz W Schafer of Zurich. It reflects on the role of the European Central Confer­ence in the development and juridical involvements of the East German Church. When it became essential, because of political realities, to divide the German Church into juridical units reflecting the political and military realities of the post WW II era, the European Central Conference worked with the East German Methodists to insure as much fellowship and assist­ance as possible.

The second essay (pp. 11-14), by Herbert Uhlmann, formerly Profes­sor in the Methodist Seminary at Bad Klosterlausnitz (DDR), now Pastor in Zwickau, reflects on the difficulties posed by the realities of the STASI dominated DDR regime.

The third contribution (pp. 15-32) is by Lothar Schieck, also a former instructor in the Bad Klosterlausnitz Seminary and now Docent at the The­ologisches Seminar Reutlingen. "Gods declared/revealed will" is proposed as the organizing hermeneutical principle of the book. The approach shares some common features with exegesis of both redaction critics and libera­tion theologians. At issue is not only a literary critical exercise but also a program for Christian life and mission. Schieck argues that the discerning of God's will and conformity of the human will to the divine will are essential for the development of the church in the DDR and in the future of the reunified Germany. Special attention is given to the Gethsemane peri­cope, the third clause of the "Lord's Prayer," and the "Sermon on the Mount," with reference to texts less central for the analysis.

The next essay is by Karl Zehner, also formerly on the faculty of the Bad Klosterlausnitz Seminary and now pastor in Oelsnitz, is perhaps the contribution with the widest interest. Explored for the first time is the relationship between the famed German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Methodist tradition. As noted in earlier works on Bonhoeffer, Bonhoeffer professed antagonism toward Methodism and to the disci­plines of the tradition. However, Zehner demonstrates that Bonhoeffer "protested too much" and that Bonhoeffer was well informed about the social ministries of American Methodism and the life of John Wesley. He suggests that Bonhoeffer betrays an approach both to social issues and to Christian discipleship that is congruent with the Wesleyan tradition.

Perhaps the most historiographically important contribution (pp. 57­93) is that of Michel Weyer, the editor of the volume and Professor Emer­itus of the Theologisches Seminar Reutlingen. This is the first scholarly attempt to trace the development of the self-understanding of the Evange­lisch-methodistische Kirche in the DDR. From the end of World War II until the present, each step in the political development of the then DDR required a response by the Methodist Church and positioning of itself within that reality so as to be most effective in mission. Weyer's treatment is careful, fully documented, and studiously reflects the complexities of the situations faced by Bishop Härtel  and the EmK-DDR churches. This essay has implications for mission theory within the Methodist tradition.

The resulting compilation of essays is an important book. Not only has it allowed more German Methodist historians and theologians to find a voice; it has also celebrated the life and ministry of the remarkable Bishop Härtel . Each of the essays broaches significant issues. Without doubt each subject treated here will receive further attention as the Ger­man Methodist church, and others, reflect on the period 1945-1993 and as the sources for our knowledge of the period are expanded. Hopefully Bishop Härtel  and the Seminary at Bad Klosterlausnitz will receive full monographic treatments. Other interesting areas remain to be examined: (1) relations between the Methodists and the other churches, especially the Lutheran Church, the Pentecostals, and the Baptists; (2) the process of education and clergy formation in the DDR; (3) religious education in the churches; (4) the relationship with the European Central Conference and with the Methodist Church in the USA; (5) the relationship with the Methodists in Estonia and Hungary; and (6) the EmK-DDR and EmK­GDR understandings of mission.

To note these as potentially significant subjects for research is not to detract from the significance of the present volume. All subsequent research on Methodism in "Eastern Europe" will of necessity begin with this volume. The work is a truly significant scholarly contribution to the intercultural structures of Methodist history and thought.

Randy L. Maddox. 1994. Responsible Grace: John Wesley's Practical Theology. Nashville: Kingswood Books, Abingdon Press. 416 pp. ISBN 0-687-00334-2.

Reviewed by Henry H. Knight III, Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri.

This is quite simply the best analysis and interpretation of the theol­ogy of John Wesley thus far. I can think of no other volume, current or past, which combines such thoroughness of research with depth of insight. It deservedly should replace Colin Williams' John Wesley's The­ology Today (1960) as the standard text on Wesley's theology.

In part the quality of this work is due to Maddox immersing himself in primary and secondary source material, including the critical edition of Wesley's Works and the enormously productive last thirty years of Wes­ley scholarship, both of which were unavailable to Williams. Much of this is evident in the over 100 pages of endnotes, many of which extend the discussion or offer additional information. There is likewise an extensive bibliography, including a comprehensive listing of dissertations and arti­cles as well as books.

This book is exceedingly well-written both in style and clarity. Mad­dox again and again demonstrates his gift for summarizing the heart of theological controversy between East and West, Catholic and Protestant, or Lutheran and Reformed, and then carefully examining Wesley's posi­tion by comparison. As so many of my students attest, it is a book that teaches as it goes about its primary purpose of interpreting Wesley's the­ology.

Maddox argues that Wesley was a "practical theologian" who under­stood the theological task as "neither developing an elaborate system of Christian truth-claims nor defending these claims" through apologetics, but instead as "nurturing and shaping the worldview that frames the tem­perament and practice of believers' lives in the world" (17). The Wes­leyan model of theology is not that of a detached, university-based acade­mic, but of a "pastor/theologian who was actively shepherding Christian disciples in the world" (17).

This means that the test of theological congruency cannot be that of a tight, logical system in which doctrines are derived from or subsumed under an "architectonic Idea" (18). Instead, a practical theology is given consistency through a central "orienting concern" from which the theolo­gian addresses changing situations. Christian orienting concerns, says Maddox, "will characteristically focus on the general issue of how God interacts with humanity" (18). Wesley's orienting concern - and the theme of this book-Maddox calls "responsible grace."

By this term Maddox seeks to draw attention to God's gracious initia­tive and to the absolute indispensability of grace for salvation in Wesley's thought. At the same time, salvation of necessity requires human partici­pation as well, which this grace "inspires and enables" (86) but does not coerce. Because salvation for Wesley involves a divine/human relation­ship, Maddox understands grace not as a created product but an uncreated presence of God through the Holy Spirit (86).

This understanding of grace is one of the many ways Wesley's theol­ogy has characteristics more typical of the Christian East than the West. Maddox argues that Wesley's concern for holiness leads him to empha­size therapeutic images of salvation rather than the juridical imagery of Western theology, incorporating the latter into the former. Likewise, Wes­ley sees the work of grace as both pardon and empowerment. Forgiveness is in service to the larger goal of holiness.

Maddox skillfully weaves his theme of responsible grace throughout the book. It is found not only in his sections on soteriology proper, but is used to interpret Wesley's understanding of a loving God, his relational anthropology, and the way in which he integrates theories of the atone­ment. Especially noteworthy, and a marked improvement from Williams, is Maddox's nuanced discussion of "holy tempers" and Christian affec­tions, and his extensive treatment of "means of grace" in terms of respon­sible grace. This orienting concern also enables Maddox to show the unity of Wesley's thought while at the same time tracing its development throughout his life.

While I find Maddox's thesis persuasive, there no doubt will be oth­ers that do not. But beyond this, any book which tries to do so much will naturally be criticized on more specific issues.

One certain to draw attention is Maddox's claim that the mature Wes­ley believed faith to be "lefting from its earliest degree" - that is, the "faith of a servant" is lefting faith (127). Maddox is quite careful to note that this "nascent faith" was not the "fullness of Christian faith" (127). It is also undeniable that Wesley did believe such persons were accepted by God. The problem is that Wesley still reserves the term "jus­tification" for those who have the faith of a child of God. While this may partly be a matter of what one means be the term "justification," there is also the question of why Wesley calls those who fear God and work right­eousness "acceptable" but not "justified."

Maddox's thorough and insightful discussion of Christian Perfection, while a carefully reasoned and helpful explanation of Wesley's position, also raises questions. When Maddox says Wesley insisted to perfection­ists Maxfield and Bell that "Christian Perfection is not a required qualifi­cation for salvation, only a desirable blessing that God makes available for Christians in this life" (186), he seems to be understating Wesley's position. More importantly, when Maddox argues that, while instanta­neous "entire sanctification may have been distinctive of Wesley," sancti­fication as a "progressive journey" was "most characteristic of Wesley" (190), some may feel he de-emphasizes the instantaneous element overly much. Furthermore, his lengthy discussion of the relation of the instanta­neous to the gradual may obscure the role of Christian Perfection as the orienting goal and ultimate content of the Christian life.

These are minor quibbles, however, given the excellence of this work. The book not only will be the standard text on Wesley's theology, but has also set a standard for future scholarship.

Editor's note: The Randy Maddox article "Reading Wesley As The­ologian" in the Wesleyan Theological Journal (30:1, Spring 1995) pro­vides a methodological introduction to his reading of John Wesley as theologian.

Mark A. Noll. 1994. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. Gran Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 256 pp. ISBN 0-8028-3715-8

Reviewed by Henry H. Knight III, Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City Missouri

"The scandal of the evangelical mind," writes Mark Noll, "is that' there is not much of an evangelical mind" (3). By an "evangelical mind" Noll means much more than theology. He is concerned that we no longer know how to think like Christians about the entire range of human life, including the physical world, art, politics, society, economics, and history. He describes the evangelical ethos as "activist, populist, pragmatic, and utilitarian" (12) and evangelical thinking as "bereft of self-criticism, intellectual subtlety, or an awareness of complexity" (14). The fact that during the Gulf War of 1991 the best-selling evangelical books concern­ing the Middle East were all on biblical prophecy is a case in point: "The best way of providing moral judgment about what was happening in the Middle East was not to study carefully what was going on," but to engage in a "Bible study that drew attention away from a careful analysis" of Middle East culture or history (13-14).

It is a powerful and persuasive indictment, though carefully limited to the life of the mind. Time and again Noll reminds the reader of the coura­geous sharing of the gospel and generous social ministry which has marked evangelicalism. He celebrates how a populist evangelicalism kept alive supernaturalism against the corrosive effects of modernity. Yet, the result was nonetheless a disaster for serious evangelical scholarship and thought.

It was not always so. Evangelicals have a rich intellectual tradition stretching from the Protestant Reformers through the Puritan divines, cul­minating in America in Jonathan Edwards. In Europe the tradition contin­ued into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but in the United States it is said to have stopped with Edwards. Noll's central task is to analyze why. The story is complex, but two elements seem especially significant. First is the evangelical embrace of revivalism in the late eighteenth cen­tury. Second is the Scottish enlightenment in the early nineteenth. With regard to the first element, ironically Edwards himself planted the seeds that would undermine the intellectual life. "Where Edwards' thinking had grown out of his theology, the revivalism that Edwards promoted (because of his theology) eventually led to a decline of theology" (80). Beginning with Whitefield, revivalism emphasized individualism and immediatism in place of the church, and direct, popular leadership in place of authorized clergy. The result was a populism which scorned tra­dition and traditional learning.

Unable to appeal convincingly to tradition, evangelicals sought an alternative way to left traditional values. This the Scottish "common sense" philosophy seemed to provide. In contrast to the French enlighten­ment, it enabled American evangelicals "to align faith in reason with faith in God" (91), and fit nicely with Baconian science as well. Evangelicals adopted an evidential approach, in which the "facts" of science and the "facts" of scripture were mutually reinforcing. Intuitive common sense was "considered the basis for reliable knowledge" (92). This in turn led to a method of scriptural interpretation in which the Bible is seen as a book of facts to be collected and "arranged by induction to yield the truth on any issue" (98).

However helpful this seemed in democratic, anti-traditional America, it was a major shift in evangelical thought. Where Edwards began his the­ological reflection with God, and then moved to philosophical issues, evangelicals were now adopting enlightenment assumptions as a basis for theology. While evangelicals traditionally had highlighted human inca­pacities due to sin, now there was a new confidence in the natural human capacity for reason.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries this shift culmi­nates in the "intellectual disaster of fundamentalism," especially, accord­ing to Noll, in the dispensational, holiness, and pentecostal movements. While these three theological traditions were never entirely aligned, they provided the impetus behind fundamentalist habits of mind which prevent a "doxological understanding of nature, society, and the arts" (126). The holiness and pentecostal movements reinforced the idea that growth in Christ requires the rejection of the world and its learning. Dispensational­ism encouraged populist teachers who practiced simplistic literalism rather than thoughtful, scholarly exegesis. They are said to have rein­forced intellectual habits from the nineteenth century which . . .

included a weakness for treating the verses of the Bible as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that needed only to be sorted and then fit together to possess a finished picture of divine truth; an over­whelming tendency to "essentialism," or the conviction that a specific formula could capture for all times and places the essence of any biblical truth for any specific issue... ; a corre­sponding neglect of forces in history that shape perceptions and help define the issues that loom as most important to any partic­ular age; and a self-confidence, bordering on hubris, manifested by an extreme antitraditionalism that casually discounted the possibility of wisdom from earlier generations (127).

Noll describes the consequences of this for the way evangelicals have engaged political and scientific thought.

He ends the book on a note of hope. There is a renaissance of sorts in evangelical thought, largely due to the influence of Dutch Reformed and Mennonite scholarship and the appropriation of patterns of thought from other traditions. Moreover, evangelicals have the opportunity to develop their own intellectual tradition if they can abandon such debilitating habits as confusing what is distinctive about American evangelicalism with Chris­tian essentials, making false disjunctions between such things as activism and scholarship, and an intuitionism which blinds to complexity and pre­vents self-criticism. Noll believes the global nature of contemporary evan­gelicalism. promises a rich cross-cultural theological harvest. He envisions the traditional evangelical focus on the cross of Christ with its emphasis on an incarnate Savior who dies for the world in order to redeem the world - as an appropriate foundation for a renewal of the evangelical mind.

This book is the product of a superb historian who communicates his insights with clarity and style. It is a joy to read! There is much to applaud in Noll's exposition. His call to think Christianly and for reflec­tion that is both self-critical and aware of complexity is needed. The dis­astrous consequences of the uncritical embrace of culture is shown in convincing detail. I agree with Noll that Jonathan Edwards represents an excellent model for a recovery of the evangelical mind, though I would point also to John Wesley.

In spite of my enthusiasm for this book, I have a number of reserva­tions. NOR warns against a disjunction between activism and study, but I wonder if he isn't presupposing a disjunction between the heart and the mind. While rightly concerned with intuitionism and individualistic immediatism, he does not provide a way to speak of the integration of heart and mind in the whole person. Here, Wesley and Edwards have much to teach us through their discussion of religious affections.

The remainder of my concerns revolve around the issue of populism. The root of the American evangelical mind, as Noll tells it, is revivalism and disestablishment. Revivalism undercut the authority of the churches with its own popular leadership and mass appeal - "With its scorn for tra­dition, its concentration on individual competence, its distrust of mediated knowledge-American revivalism did much to hamstring the life of the mind" (64). Disestablishment likewise made church success dependent on popular appeal. Together, these two elements led evangelicals, "to maize most questions of truth into questions of practicality" (67), focusing more on what people want to hear than what they really need to hear.

There are three issues I would raise in response. The first is that it was not just the revivalists but the scholars who rejected Edwards' theological anthropology for one based on the Scottish Enlightenment. I certainly agree with Noll that this was a fateful turn for evangelicalism, but, as he notes, it was an unlikely one for revivalism. Could it be that it was the adoption of "common sense" realism as a defense against Humean skepticism by the scholarly elite that is the central element in the move away from Reforma­tion Protestantism? It is at least fair to say that such philosophic egalitarian­ism was not limited to revivalism; it is possible that revivalism was more the recipient than the initial promoter of the new philosophy.

This is not to say that revivalism lacked an egalitarian impulse. It cer­tainly did, and its chief target was often the educated elites, among whom were the established clergy conversant with the Christian tradition, But what must be recognized, as Nathan Hatch has shown so well in The Democratization of American Christianity, is that the revivalist attack on tradition was part of a class conflict. The keepers of traditional orthodoxy despised the lower class preachers of the Baptists and Methodists, both white and black, and they in turn combined evangelical and Enlightenment language in opposition to the upperclass, educated clergy. How different would revivalism have been had the scholars maintained the faithfulness to tradition while at the same time providing encouragement and educational opportunities to those persons called into ministry from the lower classes. Isn't this what John Wesley at least tried to do with his lay preachers?

Revivalism in and of itself may not be as culpable in the scandal of the evangelical mind as Noll contends. It can be argued that the populist movements, for all their intellectual difficulties, made important contribu­tions to evangelical thought. This may not be right on Noll's point, because the contributions may not have had to do with science or the arts-after all, the marginalized people of the holiness, pentecostal, and African-American traditions did not have the luxury of thinking about such things. Yet I believe they attempted to think Christianly about their world, often doing so in an oral rather than a literary form of discourse and thought. The key to examining if they engaged in critical reflection is not their writings but their hymns, testimonies, and practices. As James Cone and others have shown for African-American Christianity and Steven Land for Pentecostals, these forms of thinking and being yield rich and surprising insights. For example, in all these movements there is something like a vision of the kingdom of God which impacts their evalu­ation and hope concerning this present life. On some matters it is fair to say that the African-American slave preacher was a more perceptive interpreter of scripture and its meaning for our society than the intellectu­als at Princeton.

Perhaps the one distinguishing feature of all three of these traditions is that they were not interested in truth that simply informs, but in truth that transforms. While much of the focus has been on personal transfor­mation, it was often aimed at the social order as well. The radical implications of the gospel for society was especially evident in such persons as Charles Finney, Orange Scott, and B. T. Roberts, all of whom linked holi­ness with social reform. It was also the holiness movement of their day which produced a significant body of writings in addition to fostering an oral tradition.

There has been a kind of Reformed critique which finds Arminianism as the culprit behind the intellectual decline of evangelicalism. Mark Noll, to his credit, does not claim this, but he does place a major part of the blame on revivalism. I have tried to suggest otherwise-it certainly wasn't Arminians or revivalists who replaced the Calvinist Edwards with Scottish Enlightenment philosophy at Princeton. Instead, I believe Wesley and Edwards - an Arminian and a Calvinist - were right to embrace revival and to try to shape it in ways faithful to their Protestant heritages. The significant turn in evangelical history may not be the move from Reformation Protestantism to revivalism, or Calvinism to Arminianism, but from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. That is, while I find much to applaud in the holiness movement's linkage of sanctification and social reform, I believe the crucial divide is not Wesley versus Edwards or Finney versus Hodge; it is Wesley and Edwards versus Finney and Hodge. It is this change in both scholarship and popular revivalism that has so strongly impacted the contemporary evangelical mind.

While it is necessary to understand the reasons for the scandal of the evangelical mind, even more important is the way forward. Mark Noll offers us helpful pointers to a recovery of evangelical intellectual life. The point of Christian scholarship, he notes, is not to win recognition in the wider culture, but "to praise God with the mind" (248). Thus the key will not be found in new institutions, periodicals, funding, and academic respect, as important as these all are. Instead, it is this: "If evangelicals are ever to have a mind, they must begin with the heart" (249). This is an affirmation Wesley and many of his theological descendants would read­ily endorse.

Clark Pinnock and others, The Openness of God: A Biblical Chal­lenge to the Traditional Understanding of God. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1994. 202 pp. ISBN 0-8308-1852-9.

Reviewed by Jeffrey S. Lamp, Spiro, Oklahoma

Occasionally a book appears that has the potential of reshaping the dialogical paradigms of a branch of theological scholarship. Exemplary of this phenomenon are Schweitzer's Quest for the Historical Jesus, Barth's commentary on Romans, and E. P. Sanders' Paul and Palestinian Judaism. If early reaction is a reliable indicator, The Openness of God may soon join this select company of works.

The focus of this volume, a collection of five thematic essays by con­tributors Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger, is stated in its subtitle. The authors seek to challenge the traditional view of God advanced in nearly two thousand years of classi­cal Christian theistic reflection, the substance of which is found in various treatments of the "attributes of God." They replace this construct with a view of God that they argue is more consonant with the whole of Scrip­ture and Christian experience. This view, labeled "the openness of God," depicts a God who, "in grace, grants humans significant freedom to coop­erate with or work against God's will for their lives, and [who] enters into dynamic, give-and-take relationships with us" (p. 7).

In the first chapter, "Biblical Support for a New Perspective," Rice highlights numerous biblical passages that depict God as displaying emo­tions, voicing contingent intentionality, and even expressing regret over previous decisions (e.g., at creating humankind, Gen. 6:6). Rice argues that such examples should be understood literally. He challenges the tra­ditional practice of identifying such depictions as anthropomorphisms. The ultimate example is Jesus Christ, in whom God entered intimately into relationship with humankind. Rice concludes his discussion by examining some passages that would appear to contradict the open view of God. Passages asserting immutability (e.g., Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17) are restricted to describing God's character and existence, affirming God's reliability in relationship.

Those passages describing God's unilateral will in prophetic fulfill­ment are shown to depict only a small portion of the complex phenomena of prophetic prediction (cf. Isa 46:10-11; Jer 3:7; 32:4; 52:12-14). Those describing predestination and foreknowledge (e.g., Rom. 8:29-30) are explained in largely Arminian fashion in light of other biblical testimony (e.g., 1 Tim. 2:4). In short, the difficult passages can be accommodated by the biblical portrait of a God who enters into dynamic relationship with finite creatures.

The second chapter, "Historical Considerations," is perhaps the most significant in the volume. Sanders attempts to show how the traditional s view of God gained theological ascendancy despite the clear testimony of Scripture. Sanders argues that divine predicates such as immutability, impassability, eternality, incomprehensibility, noncorporeality, and anonymity entered Christian thought through contact with Hellenistic cul­ture. Analogous to Philo's attempt to make the Torah compatible with Hellenistic philosophy, early Christian apologists borrowed Hellenistic terminology, especially that of Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, to frame their presentation of the gospel. The Arian controversy and the neo-Pla­tonist tendencies of Augustine granted these formulations the dogmatic status that ensured their prominence in Christian theology. What was originally intended to serve as a contextual expression of the gospel became the substance of the Christian view of God.

The third chapter, "Systematic Theology" by Pinnock, and the fourth chapter, "A Philosophical Perspective" by Hasker, serve to correct the situa­tion described by Sanders in light of the biblical data presented by Rice. The focus of these chapters is to present theological and philosophical sup­port for an open view of God, with special attention given to comparison of the traditional views (Calvinist, Arminian, and Molinist) of divine omnipo­tence and omniscience and the open view of a God who relates dynamically to genuine]y free persons. This study gives rise to the book's most contro­versial proposition: God cannot know for certain the future actions of crea­tures endowed with true freedom. Rather, God willingly accepts the risk of rebuff in order to interact personally with human beings. At the same Pinnock and Hasker are careful to distinguish between the open view of God and the view of process theologians who see God as interdependent with creation. The open view, which draws on the strengths of traditional and process positions, produces "a picture of God as majestic yet intimate, as powerful and yet responsive, as holy and loving and caring, as desiring for humans to decide freely for or against [God's] will for them, yet end­lessly resourceful in achieving [God's] ultimate purposes" (p. 154).

In the final chapter, "Practical Implications," Basinger explains how the foregoing discussion impacts the daily experience of Christians. He describes how the divine-human relationship, viewed from the perspective of the open view of God, injects vibrancy and urgency into petitionary prayer, the search for divine guidance, the alleviation of human suffering, social responsibility, and evangelism. The open view of God is not simply a theoretical construct; it is of vital concern for Christian living.

In assessing this book, it must be conceded that objective appraisal may be beyond reasonable expectation. Challenges to "orthodox" views of God have been frequent throughout history, but those originating from parties within the bounds of orthodoxy often elicit the sharpest responses. In the case of the present volume, two features make this certain. The first is the brevity of the book. The body of the argument is presented in 170 pages, hardly enough space to define this controversial thesis adequately. The sympathetic reader can only hope that this volume is but the intro­duction to future work of more comprehensive scope.

The second feature is the choice of language used to portray the lim­its of divine sovereignty in light of genuine human freedom. The use of "cannot," for example, especially with respect to foreknowledge, will affront those who accept the premise that nothing lies beyond God's abil­ity. Perhaps the authors could have considered an option that sees God as possessing the ability of complete foreknowledge, but choosing to sus­pend it in dealings with human beings. They should at least reconsider word choice if they wish their thesis to attract popular consideration.

Nevertheless, this book provides a substantive framework for those who wish to maintain the integrity of human freedom while affirming the sovereignty of God. Its lucid style presents the argument in a form easily digestible by the nonspecialist while providing documentation in end­notes for those wishing to pursue further study. This should make it an attractive resource for the local church. It provides ample fodder for dis­cussion of the problem of human suffering and the church's response to it, the need for both social action and evangelism, and the importance and benefit of personal devotional discipline.

For Wesleyans, the book provides opportunity for reflection on sev­eral doctrinal distinctives. How is the open view of God compatible with our form of Arminianism? How might this conception of intimate divine­human relationship inform our understanding of Christian perfection? Can we integrate this perspective into our joint emphasis on personal holiness and social involvement? The possibilities are myriad. Moreover, while it may not have been foremost in the minds of the authors, this book stands as a masterful example of how the Wesleyan quadrilateral can be applied to difficult theological issues. This fact alone should rec­ommend the book to pastors and teachers.

Those who would dismiss The Openness of God would do well to recall what the Protestant Reformation taught us about ideas that have enjoyed longstanding acceptance in the church. Pinnock and company have started us down the road of examining again what we have long taken for granted as true.

Howard A. Snyder. 1995. EarthCurrents: The Struggle for the World's Soul. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 334 pp. ISBN 0-687-11449-7.

Reviewed by Merle D. Strege, Anderson University, Anderson, Indi­ana

Does there exist a language or discourse by which humans may inte pret their existence amid the converging and diverging forces whichsk shape the earth and beyond as we approach the first decades of the twenty-first century? If such a language exists, what conditions must it'' necessarily satisfy in order to qualify for such a grand assignment? Are there any present candidates for this role?

It has become a commonplace of much contemporary scholarship to' assert that such questions as these can no longer be posited. Thomas,, Aquinas might legitimately have attempted this project in the thirteenth century, or even Karl Barth earlier in our own. However, the knowledge&! that humans either discover or produce, depending on one's point of view,;', have become far too complex and diverse to permit a rational mind any I longer to attempt such a grand enterprise. Despite this conventional scholarly wisdom, Howard Snyder has attempted answers to these questions in,+ this engaging and thought-provoking book.

Rising out of impressions stimulated by his world-wide tour in 1993, Snyder's book is the product of his search for answers to such questions as: What are the connections between apparently diverse cultural move­ments? "How can one get behind the [news] headlines to understand what is really going on? What do today's changes mean for the future of Plant' Earth, and for being human?" Snyder's search is couched in decidedly', global terms, "an exercise in cultural analysis, viewed globally."

Focusing on the decades 1990-2030, he conducts his search on the thesis that "eight global trends are shaping what and how the world's peoples believe, and thus are touching all our lives." In Snyder's words, these trends are (1) the coming of on-line, instant access culture, (2) the rise of a global economy, (3) the rapidly expanding influence of and new roles for women, (4) increasing environmental vulnerability and awareness, (5) scientific breakthroughs in understanding matter itself, (6) the rise of a computer culture, (7) a startling decline in Western society, and (8) a basic power shift in global politics.

Readers concluding that Snyder has written a theologian's version of Megatrends would be incorrect, for Snyder is interested in far more than cataloging trends; he is pursuing answers to the questions of meaning which he believes underlay these cultural currents. They share important characteristics of long-range influence and cultural rootedness, but it is their fundamentally spiritual basis which Snyder believes to be crucial: EarthCurrents "are not simply opinion, not just fleeting currents expressed in popular culture or counterculture. Something deeper is at work. Something of the nature of metaphor and worldview-the lenses through which we look. Something at the level of fundamental paradigms and values. EarthCurrents have a power that prods the spirit, not just the mind."

Rather than argue the merits of his selections, Snyder accepts these currents as givens in order to pursue their implications for answers to the larger questions of worldview and meaning. It is his contention that these eight trends have the capacity to shape, indeed already do shape, the worldviews of people around the world. He provides informative, rele­vant, chapter-length discussions on each of the eight global trends and convincingly displays the ways in which they construct our social reality.

In the book's second major section Snyder considers six potential candidates for a worldview which might hold together the implications which global trends raise. They are global economics, quantum physics, the ecological vision of the Gaia hypothesis, the universe's divine design, determinism, and postmodernism. Each of these Snyder finds lacking in its answers to one or more aspect of the global currents. For instance, quantum physics and the Gaia hypothesis fail to satisfy larger human questions of meaning which insist that their answers must transcend the natural processes of the physical universe. Postmodernism's sense of life's fragmentation fails to address our growing perception of the inter­connectedness of things. Perhaps surprising for a theologian, even tradi­tional theism comes under Snyder's criticism for its lack of specificity: "Yet in light of global trends, we may sense that it is not wholly adequate. Something is missing."

Any worldview which can tie together the manifold strings of the eight earthcurrents must satisfy conditions arising from them. These con­ditions are: a respect for and embrace of ecology in is broadest applica­tions; an appreciation for the coherence of meaning and things under the aspects of order, surprise, and beauty; and the narrative structure of expe­rience. Snyder's case for the last of these three is, perhaps, the only ques­tion mark in an otherwise able and convincing argument. Snyder dis­cusses the narrative quality of human experience on the basis of an apparent supposition of a universally shared linear view of history. The structure of narrative depends on such a view. But there are cultures which take a cyclical view of time. How do such cultures impinge on Snyder's argument?

Snyder's search for the answers to his opening questions concludes in Christian theism. He contends in his final section that the story of Jesus of Nazareth addresses the questions and implications which earthcurrents raise. Moreover, Snyder argues that the story of Jesus adequately satisfies the conditions which any worldview must meet. In developing this argu­ment Snyder has not attempted a systematic theology or a metaphysics. What he has done is define a problem and then set about answering the questions it raises. Simply stated, that problem is the human quest for meaning. However, the complexity of life in the last days of the twentieth century render its potential solutions very difficult achieve.

Snyder is to be heartily thanked for considering such questions in frank recognition of the manifold and diverse forces which affect people across the face of the globe. Theologians bold enough to attempt a sys­tematic theology would do well to begin with Howard Snyder's questions and proposals. On a smaller scale, people concerned to reflect on the issues by which to frame the meaning of their own individual lives would do just as well.

Edited by Michael Mattei for the
Wesley Center for Applied Theology
at Northwest Nazarene University
© Copyright 2003 by the Wesley Center for Applied Theology

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