BOOK REVIEWS

Noel F. Titus, The Development of Methodism in Barbados, 1823-­1883 (Bern, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994). 292 pps. ISBN 3­906752-08-9.

Reviewed by David Bundy, Associate Professor of Church History and Librarian, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN.

The modern history of Barbados was born of the slave trade and plantation system as an English Colony. Large numbers of Africans were imported as slaves and by the time of the arrival of Methodism, persons of African descent far outnumbered the Europeans and those of mixed racial identity. The churches, especially the Church of England, worked to support the goals of the planters and of the London-based financial inter­ests. Special care was taken to limit or severely sanction the work of mis­sion agencies, such as the Moravians and Quakers who were willing to engage in evangelistic activities among the slaves.

Methodists first indicated interest in the West Indies because of the conversion of Nathaniel Gilbert and two of his slaves from Antigua through contact with Wesley in London. Coke established a mission in Antigua in 1786 and visited Barbados in December, 1788. At that point he discovered a small Methodist congregation begun by Methodist Irish soldiers assigned to the island who met in facilities provided by a mer­chant. A missionary, William Pearce, was assigned to the island.

As the years passed, considerable persecution occurred. The expul­sion of a Methodist missionary actually raised the passion of the Methodist-connected anti-slavery groups in London. However, the later Methodist missionaries exercised extreme care not to offend the planter classes, even after slavery was abolished in the British Empire. When emancipation came, the Africans were receptive to the messages of the various groups not immediately identified with the slave system, but the former slaves had neither the educational formation nor the financial resources to maintain the chapels and clergy on the model of the English and American Methodists. Therefore, the Methodist Church in Barbados remained dependent upon the decisions and financial contributions of the English Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. Consequently, the Methodist Church in Barbados did not during this period develop indige­nous structures or significantly shape the design of the structures.

Other problems arose. The Methodists became involved in public education, but from a stance critical of the government, including their refusal to have their students sit for nationwide examinations. The Methodist clergy strongly resisted lay involvement in the administration and ministry of the church and therefore faced the anger of important seg­ments of the laity. The problem of non-English leadership was particu­larly difficult. Missionaries refused to see persons of non-English descent as equal in the ministry and refused to serve in the conference if persons of West Indian birth, whether of European and/or African descent, were recognized as leaders. Barbadians of European descent did not want to work with those of African descent. These crises led to the formation of the West Indian Conference in 1883.

These social and missiological compromises are clearly part of the story that follows. An examination of the membership and attendance sta­tistics from 1822-1883 (pps. 267-270) suggests several interesting trends. Firstly, membership reached 1,470 in 1842, reached a peak of 4,046 in 1854 and moved steadily downward to 1,939 in 1883. However, attend­ance in Barbados moved from 4,550 (1842) to 10,200 (1854) and then to 12,500 in 1882. It appears clear that, while the message of Methodism was attractive, the social, political, and ecclesiological policies kept the Methodist Church in Barbados a small church.

This story is told with passion and in detail by the Reverend Noel Titus, a native of Tobago, who after studies at the University of Durham and the University of the West Indies, is now the Rector and Lecturer in Church History at the University of the West Indies. It is a cautionary tale in which the missiological questions are starkly posed and in which the consequences of the decisions are clear. This story is an important case study in the history of Methodist missions.

The work depends on the archives of the Wesleyan Methodist Mis­sionary Society, public and private collections of unpublished resources, government records, Methodist Conference records and newspapers. The secondary literature with which Titus interacts is extensive. The sources are used in exemplary fashion. The only problem is the extremely meager index to the very detailed text.

The only part of the story that might have been developed more fully, and which I believe has more implications for later developments than Titus allows, is the mission theory and praxis of Thomas Coke. While the numbers for the pre-1823 period are small, patterns were estab­lished early. Among those was the refusal to recognize the status of local leadership which was always made secondary at the arrival of a Methodist clergyman missionary from London. This desire for more information is not intended to detract from the impressive work of Titus. It is merely a suggestion of more work to be done on the development of Methodism in the West Indies. Certainly any subsequent analysis will have to take this volume into account.

Michel Weyer, Editor, Vorwort von der Bischof Dr. W. Klaiber, Eine offene Flanke zur Welt. Die Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche in der DDR: Documente and Erfahrungen. Gremium zur Darstellung der Geschichte der Ostdeutschen Jahrlichen Konferenz (Beitrage zur Geschichte der Evangelisch-methodistischen Kirche, 46; Stuttgart: Christliches Verlaghaus, 1997). 348 pps. ISBN 3-7675-9546-X.

Reviewed by David Bundy, Associate Professor of Church History and Librarian, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN.

It was in the Bishop's message in 1972 that Bishop Armin Hartel of the Evangelical Methodist Church in the Deutsche Demokratische Repub­lik (DDR=GDR) wrote the words which frame the title of this book: "The Church of Jesus Christ must have `an open flank to the world.'" This analysis reflected the delicate place of the Evangelical Methodist Church in Germany which necessarily had a different stance toward its culture and government than is the experience of most churches in other soci­eties. It was not to be "over" the world, "against" the world, or "like" the world. It was vulnerable to the world. This was a much more difficult role to play. It was a part for which there were few models, and one in which compromises were made to survive and sometimes to profit.

Now, in the new reality of central Europe and Germany, an effort is being made by German Methodist archivists and historians to understand and analyze the past half-century of German Methodist history. Central to the questions which brought this project from the floor of the 1993 Con­ference of the German Methodist Church was the nature of the relation­ship of individuals and the church to the DDR Swatsicherheitsdienst, the feared and renowned Stassi. What compromises had been made and at what cost? Because rumors are often more devastating than fact, and where fact and unreality are difficult to distinguish, it was decided to compile a dossier documenting the period.

The present volume is a major contribution to that effort. It provides a wealth of oral history, testimonies, and documents. The 126 items include extracts from the quadrennial bishop's addresses, private letters, and materials from the Stassi archives. The documents were selected to illumine the development of the German Methodist Church in the DDR and to provide a factual basis for ongoing discussions about a very com­plicated period when global political realities bore down heavily upon the small East German Evangelical Methodist Church. These documents are perhaps our best window yet into the realities of that context.

In presenting the documents from the extensive collections on Free Churches assembled by the Stassi, efforts were made, within German law, for the publication of texts without names or locations when the privacy of individuals could be illegally compromised. Sometimes the texts are shortened. Therefore, the reader will find "X's" in the addresses and sometimes within the texts. The texts, even in edited form, provide a breathtaking view of a church under pressure from the government to prove its loyalty and innocence, to represent the nation in a positive light, and to serve as an instrument of foreign policy even when assisting fellow Methodists in other countries. There was no doubt that some pastors and laity were forced or chose to cooperate with the Stassi. These documents are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are clearly more stories to tell! But along with the compromises there is evidence of a remarkable faith and self-sacrifice for the gospel of the Christ, of loyalty to church and nation, and of good people doing good things.

The value of this book is more than a window into earlier troubled decades. It provides a model for the relationship between church and cul­ture that is different from the prevailing models, most of which were developed during periods when the churches were either officially or unofficially established parts of the dominant culture. This model of active vulnerability deserves additional time and reflection. It may be appropriate in other contexts throughout the world where churches have no access to power. It is an important alternative to the passive, non­active approach counseled by most missionaries and leaders of small churches.

Perhaps the long-term value of this book will be to raise questions about the relationship of churches to secular power. It is easy to see the issues which were starkly raised in the DDR experience. It is more diffi­cult to see the efforts through which Free Churches in the former West Germany were molded to fit the needs of the regime, and, ironically, those files are still closed! Throughout the world, there is more activity and greater visibility on the part of Free Churches than ever before in his­tory. The record to this point suggests that, without access to power, reli­gions do not prosper. How will the Free Churches of the world deal with the issue of political and social power? What compromises will need to be made and what will be the criteria for making those decisions?

Weyer and the German Methodist Annual Conference are to be thanked for providing a witness to a church struggling with these issues in a high-stakes game. They are also to be thanked for providing others with a case study of an approach to the relationship between religion and power which provides new light on the vexed "Constantinian question." Historians will also find the expansive time-line of the history of the Ger­man Evangelical Methodist Church contributed by Weyer (pps. 285-331) covering the years 1948-1990. A list of abbreviations (pps. 333-337) will be necessary for most who read the letters. A complete list of sources is provided (pps. 339-348) for the 126 texts published. Unfortunately, there is no index.

It is hoped that this important book can have a wide circulation and that the missiological, ecclesiological, and praxis issues raised by the experience of the Evangelical Methodist Church in the DDR will be given the attention they deserve, for they are very important issues for the church, especially Holiness and Pentecostal churches at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Charles Edwin Jones. The Charismatic Movement. A Guide to the Study of Neo-Pentecostalism with an Emphasis on Anglo-American Sources, 2 vols. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995.

Reviewed by William Kostlevy, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY.

In a certain sense this bibliographic work of Charles Edwin Jones reminds one of Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics. Its size, scope, thorough­ness, and complexity are reminiscent of that life-long work of the Swiss theologian. In effect, Jones' guide to the literature of the Charismatic Movement is a complement to his previously published two-volume Guide to the Study of the Pentecostal Movement (1983) which followed his brilliant 1974 Guide to the Study of the Holiness Movement.

Following the now familiar format of his previous guides, Jones' most recent work is divided into five parts: literature of the Pentecostal Movement, literature about the Charismatic Movement's impact on non-­Charismatic groups, educational institutions, biographical material, and an index. Two of the book's most notable features are the thoroughness of its index and the extensive listing of materials documenting the Charis­matic Movement's impact on a variety of church bodies. As a result, the work provides important bibliographic data for virtually all Christian bod­ies and becomes an important reference tool for serious students of mod­ern Christianity. The remarkable detail of this work provides a rare con­temporary glimpse into the rise of a popular religious movement. This is an important resource that demonstrates the significance of the Charis­matic Movement. Current and future students of late twentieth-century Christianity will find it an indispensable object lesson and a comprehen­sive reference work.

R. G. Moyles. The Salvation Army in Newfoundland: Its History and Essence (Toronto: The Salvation Army, 1997). 231 pp.

Reviewed by Norman H. Murdock, Professor of History, University of Cincinnati.

R. G. Moyles, a Professor of English at the University of Alberta, has written an engaging history of the Salvation Army in Newfoundland. Recent local histories of the Army have provided depth and color to its formation as a religious and social agency in the nineteenth century and its development in the twentieth. While the official histories that feature the itineraries of the Army's generals induced a triumphalist story, the hardships at the battle's front tells a compelling story of sacrifice and bravery which is more revealing of how churches grow at the grassroots.

Most Salvation Army advances in the nineteenth century did not come at the initiative of headquarters. The Army's "foundress" in New­foundland, Emma Churchill, migrated to Toronto from Portugal Cove, Newfoundland, in 1882 with her parents and in 1884 became the 11th officer commissioned in the Army's new Canadian territory. She "opened fire" on Guelph in 1885, but when she married one of her converts the Army forced her to resign her rank, but not her call. When Emma returned to her Newfoundland home with her husband Charles Dawson, they began to hold Army meetings in St. Johns and Portugal Cove. At the end of January, 1886, the Army's Toronto headquarters ordered an "offi­cial" assault, and riots greeted their invasion.

Moyles places the blame for riots on "sectarian conflict" between Anglo-Protestants and Irish-Catholics, but he concludes that "one would be unwise to insist that opposition stemmed from any large-scale Catholic-Protestant conflict." He does not see the riots as "proportionate to that of the Skeleton Army opposition in England." Besides, "opposi­tion accelerated the Army's progress." Yet he finds that the Army's newly opened corps often used "borrowed Orange lodges," indicating a sectarian bond between the Army and Irish-baiting Orangemen (7ff). Scholars have engaged in debate on this issue of riots and Moyles' conclusion is not altogether convincing.

The Army's percentage growth was faster than any other Newfound­land church-from 2,094 soldiers in 1891, to 6,594 in 1901, to 10,141 in 1911 (59). Moyles provides graphic stories of how the Salvationists' risky heroism spread the Army to the more remote outports from St. Johns, the administrative center. From 1900 to 1950 the Army was Newfoundland's "fastest-growing sect." In the 1960's Corner Brook Temple was the largest corps in Canada, with 1,800 soldiers (126). But a new era was commencing and the Army moved "away from a single-minded revival­ism to a more complex social/religious infrastructure." Worship became "less spontaneous and informal." A "normal social evolution" aimed at maintaining the soldiers' loyalty. Ministry "by means other than its social work" came to include summer camps and radio broadcasts (129).

Earlier, Newfoundland Salvationists had expressed themselves in a torrent of charismatic emotion. Moyles cites Richard Neibuhr's analysis of emotional worship: "Where the power of abstract thought has not been highly developed, and where inhibitions on emotional expression have not been set up by a system of polite inventions, religion must and will express itself in emotional terms. Intellectual doubt is submerged in expe­riential religion" (41). The Army's Methodist recruits yearned for revival. The fervor of Army marches was soon "rivaled only by those of the Orange Lodge (47). Army jargon and paraphernalia and visits of Army leaders created an esprit that gained public and government recognition, especially as the Army added social programs that William Booth announced in his "Darkest England" social scheme.

In 1893 the government (Newfoundland did not join Canada until 1949) granted Army leaders the right to perform marriages. Also in the 1890s the Army began to receive government grants to join Catholics, Anglicans, and Methodists in running government schools. The officer­teacher ran both a corps and a one-room school in the outports. Moyles deals frankly with the problems of a denominational educational system, where churches compete for territorial rights in order to get a government stipend and increased church membership through control over an area. Due to poor educational quality, the Army agreed in 1969 to integrate its schools with the United Church and Anglicans. The Army gave up con­trol over educating 8% of the population to gain an equal voice in educat­ing 55%, an act that promoted church unity (94).

Social services evolved over time, as they did elsewhere, from itin­erant rescue programs to fixed-location social reclamation centers for alcoholics and fallen women. The latter work grew into rescue homes, then maternity care for unwed mothers, and finally Grace Hospital in 1923, which became a general hospital in 1929. By 1966 Grace was the largest hospital in Newfoundland, the locus of the Army's social service reputation. But in 1995 Grace closed as a result of "changing political and economic conditions," as Army hospitals also closed across North Amer­ica and Europe.

Newfoundland exported Salvationists as missionaries to Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australasia, and Europe. India rewarded Solomon and Fannie Smith's work with "criminal tribes" and "Sister" Eva Crann's work at Behala orphanage in Calcutta with the Kaiser-I-Hind medal. A son of Newfoundland, Clarence D. Wiseman was elected the Army's tenth general (1974-77). Thus a "remote, poverty-stricken and practically uncivilized" mission field sent missionaries to the world.

Moyle's fascinating thesis is: "if one examines only official records one sees what looks like an orderly, planned progression even in the inva­sion of the outports. But when one looks deeper, one sees that the spread of Salvationism throughout much of Newfoundland was a spontaneous, catalytic kind of phenomenon." The growth of small corps (over 40 were opened in 1892-1902) were "after-the-fact affairs-the Army being forced to respond to impromptu, unplanned 'glory-meetings' conducted by local fishermen who had been converted in the Army elsewhere." Dur­ing the Army's first decade about a fifth of its "young, inexperienced, poorly educated, unsophisticated" converts, "bred to hardship and filled with revival fervor," offered themselves for officership (clergy). "Living as their soldiers lived," they made the Army "the dominant (and some­times the only) religious denomination in many small Newfoundland out­ports" (21-6). Surely Moyles' analysis provides fodder for the mills of the "church growth" strategists.

Paul Livermore, The God of Our Salvation: Christian Theology from the Wesleyan Perspective. Vol. 1. Indianapolis, IN: Light and Life Press, 1995. 347 pp., paperback.

Reviewed by Howard A. Snyder, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.

This book by Roberts Wesleyan College Professor Paul Livermore is the first of a projected two-volume "compendium of systematic theology" intended primarily for the instruction of Free Methodist pastors and other leaders. It grows out of action taken at the 1989 Free Methodist General Conference mandating such a work. In his foreword to the book, retired Canadian Bishop Donald Bastian, who worked closely with Livermore on the project, expresses the hope that the book "will also become a basis for dialogue with other Christian bodies in the Wesleyan tradition."

Considering its scope and purpose, this is an admirable piece of work. It is clearly organized and well written. It is solidly biblical and yet draws on a broad range of sources, with excellent and extensive use of patristic writers. It uses inclusive language when referring to people (with a few exceptions). It is well designed as a teaching tool. Each section in each chapter concludes with a summary listing the main points covered, though at times the large number of brief sections breaks up the continu­ity of the whole.

The overall structure of the work is traditional and the content ortho­dox. Livermore says the book is "designed as a teaching and resource document and focuses on building a solid theological system." He employs a six-part structure. Only the first two parts, the task of theology and the doctrine of God, are included in volume one (hence the book's title). Volume two, now in preparation, will apparently cover human nature and sin, ecclesiology, soteriology (including entire sanctification), and eschatology, in that order.

The structure is traditional and useful. Whether it is Wesleyan or not is another question. Livermore titles his first chapter, "The Wesleyan Per­spective on Theology," but it is not clear from his discussion what consti­tutes this Wesleyan perspective. Apparently it is the use of the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral," which the author discusses briefly, noting that "The Scrip­tures have priority." "We designate the Scriptures as our source and the other three [tradition, reason, experience] as the resources for our theolog­ical work." The book's structure suggests, however, that tradition functions here more as "source" than as "resource" (to use the author's dis­tinction). Clearly, the structure and a good deal of the book's content are based more in the Western tradition of systematic theology than on Scripture.

This becomes clear, I think, in Livermore's treatment of three doc­trines: the Trinity, the church, and the Kingdom of God. Though the last two will be treated more fully in volume two, the overall structure and scattered references to ecclesiology and eschatology in this first volume give a sense of where the author is headed. They raise the question: is this the Wesleyan way to do theology? And is it the way most compatible with Scripture?

Take, for example, our understanding of the Kingdom of God. The sixth and last part of this two-volume work will deal with eschatology, "last things." There the author "will explore eschatology, including the doctrines of the return of Christ, the resurrection and the judgment." He does not state how he will deal with God's reign, but some passages in volume one raise the issue. The book notes that "God will sovereignly bring history as we know it to an end and create a renewed world," "the new heavens and the new earth" (p. 36). "The theme of God's kingdom played a prominent role in Jesus' teaching" and has Old Testament roots (pp. 205ff), says Livermore. In his discussion of Jesus as Prophet, Priest, and King, he points out that "Jesus redefined kingship" (p. 251) and that as Christus victor Jesus will eventually crush all enemies (p. 262f).

We may presume that these themes, which occur here under Chris­tology, will be fully elaborated in volume two. But already a question arises. If Jesus began his ministry by preaching the Kingdom of God, why should we end with it in our theological systematization? Why not begin with it? There are good biblical and practical reasons to begin our theo­logical discourse with the reign, mission, and plan or "economy" (oikono­mia) of God (as do several of the New Testament books; cf. Eph. 1, Col. l, Heb. 1), treating the reign and mission of God (the missio dei) as part of the doctrine of God. Such a structuring gives a more missiological cast to all of theology and thus, one could argue, is more compatible both with Scripture and with Wesleyan motifs.

These accents are not entirely absent from the present volume. Liv­ermore has a fine discussion of the redemption of creation and the goal of redemption in his chapter on "God, the Creator" (pp. 187ff) and of God's redemptive purpose in history. But the missiological accent is not as cen­tral or primary as it is in the Bible itself.

The influence (even primacy?) of tradition vis-a-vis Scripture will be seen especially, it seems, in Livermore's treatment of ecclesiology. The section on the church in volume two will cover "the orders of the church, the sacraments, the means of grace and the mission of the church" (p. 29). Clearly this structure comes from systematic theology, not from Scripture, where the controlling images are the church as Body of Christ and the People of God in mission. The New Testament nowhere speaks of "the orders of the church," although this is a staple of post-Constantinian ecclesiology. Making the categories of Western systematic theology nor­mative when we deal with Scripture skews theology away from its full force and tilts it in a more conservative and institutional, less dynamic and missional, direction. This is especially true for ecclesiology, which deals with the actual practices that shape the life of the church. Taking the primacy of Scripture in the Wesleyan Quadrilateral seriously would mean allowing the Bible to shape both the form and the content of our theology. This is what Wesley - fairly self-consciously, if not always successfully­ - attempted to do.

In treating of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Livermore has a brief section on the gifts of the Spirit (pp. 304f). Presumably this will be expanded in the section on the church in volume two, but the general direction of the argument can be discerned here. The author speaks of the value of the gifts, but suggests that Ephesians 4:7ff refers to "positions or offices within the church to be filled." In fact, Ephesians 4 makes no mention of "positions" or "offices." Here again, later ecclesiology is read back into the text.

In speaking of "The Spirit and the Church," the author makes the curious assertion that there are "two foundations for order within the church," Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The "Christological founda­tion" accents "leadership and authority" while the "pneumatological foun­dation" accents spiritual gifts and "free movement" rather than "institu­tional forms." While the author argues that there is no conflict between these two-they are somehow complementary-the distinction itself (it seems to me) is questionable. It seems to link the "institutional" side of the church with Christ and the "charismatic" side with the Spirit. It would be much better to see the church as grounded in the life of the Trinity. What seems to be at work here, consciously or unconsciously, is an attempt to find theological grounding for "orders" and institutional authority in the church.

The discussion of the Trinity is the third problem with the book's traditional post-Augustinian approach. On the one hand, the author asserts that "The doctrine of the Trinity is the central teaching of the Christian faith" and "became explicit in the New Testament." Both of these state­ments are questionable, or at least need clarification. Yet they properly lift up the importance of the Trinity. On the other hand, Livermore seems implicitly to make the "threeness" of God secondary to his "oneness"­typical of Western theology since Augustine. While the author says, quite rightly, that "All of God's personal relationships with His creatures are grounded in the relationships of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit within the Godhead" (p. 127), the crucial implications of this for society and for ecclesiology are not worked out. Perhaps they will be in volume two. In light of the contemporary "rediscovery" of the doctrine of the Trinity and of biblically sensitive criticisms of the neglect of Triniatrian insights in Western Christian theology, one might have hoped for a treatment that put as much emphasis on the "threeness" as on the "oneness" of God.

The author's methodology also shapes his view of the Free Methodist doctrinal heritage. The God of Our Salvation says that, while the Free Methodist Church belongs to the Methodist family, it is theologi­cally rooted in "historic Christian orthodoxy" and has "also been signifi­cantly influenced by European Protestantism, pietism, and American revivalism" (p. 29). In fact, the FMC has also been strongly influenced by the Radical Protestant or Anabaptist tradition, both through Moravianism and in other ways. But the Radical Protestant influence is unacknowl­edged and its insights generally ignored in this volume.

Livermore has chosen to largely by-pass distinctive Free Methodist emphases in order to stress a broadly orthodox theology. Free Methodist founder B. T. Roberts, despite his fertile mind and extensive writings, is totally ignored as a theological resource. The several references to Jesus' compassion for the poor give no hint that this was a distinctive early Free Methodist emphasis. This tendency may be due in part to the foundational nature of volume one, but is seems also to be a methodological issue.

One final concern I have with The God of Our Salvation is its view of sin. Though the discussion is otherwise quite biblical, sin is pictured fundamentally as "disorder." The author says, for example, "The world in which we live is disordered. Wherever there is disorder we can look to sin as its ultimate cause." This point - the pervasiveness of disorder resulting from sin - is made repeatedly in the book. Granted that moral disorder and many other problems derive from sin. But should disorder be made virtually synonymous with sin? To suggest this naturally implies that righteousness is at heart "order" (and implicitly places surpassing value on "order" and "orders" in the church). But is "disorder" a moral cate­gory? Vitality and order don't always necessarily go together. Recent dis­coveries in the study of chaotic systems suggest that chaos and order are complementary, not mutually opposed. In many pagan worldviews chaos is the greatest evil and order the greatest good - but this is not the biblical view. Closer adherence to the biblical teaching and images for sin is needed here. One would have thought that the author would have seen sin fundamentally in more biblical ways, such as self-centeredness, or as moral disease (John Wesley's favorite image).

I make these criticisms fully aware that this book is intended for leadership training, not scholarly debate. Still, one can regret the passing up of an opportunity to do theology in a more authentically Wesleyan way. Such an approach would have made the book even more useful.

In sum, while the content of The God of Our Salvation is essentially biblical, the lens through which Scripture is seen is much less so-and this significantly nuances the content. It would be useful to compare this volume with Barry Callen's God As Loving Grace: The Biblically Revealed Nature and Work of God (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Publishing House, 1996), which in both structure and content stays closer to Scrip­ture and places more emphasis on mission.

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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