Alister McGrath, The Living God: A Guide for Study and Devotion, The Heart of Christian Faith Series (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2014), ix + 111 pages.

Alister McGrath is professor of theology, ministry, and education at Kings College, London. He is also a historian and a biochemist. McGrath has written these volumes for ordinary Christians rather than professional theologians or clergy. In undertaking this task in that manner, he is following in the footsteps of Chesterton, Lewis, and Sayers. Like them, McGrath explores a consensual, basic Christianity, using accessible and engaging language and images. The present two books under review are two of five in a series entitled The Heart of Christian faith in which McGrath seeks to answer three questions: What do Christians believe? Why do we believe this? And what difference does it make? The first book under review deals with the nature of faith and how it came to be expressed in the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. The second book under review deals with God the Father and what we believe about Him.

In chapter one of Faith and Creeds, which outlines both McGrath’s and Lewis’ once atheistic positions in life, McGrath quotes Lewis as saying, “A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful about his reading. There are traps everywhere”. McGrath also notes that Lewis was drawn to Christianity not so much by the individual arguments in it’s favor, but rather by its big picture of reality (10). Christianity seemed to make sense of everything that really mattered to him and it connected with his inner longing for truth, beauty, and goodness.

In chapter 2, McGrath likens the Creeds to maps, which distinguish and delineate the framework of Christianity. The Creeds are indeed a map that distills the core themes of the Bible, disclosing a glorious, loving and righteous God. The Creeds give us a framework for going further and deeper into our faith. As chapter 3 points out, one of the virtues of the Christian faith is that it makes sense in and of itself, while also making sense of what we experience in the world around us. In chapter 4, it is noted that although the Creeds often seem wordy and formulaic, they are verbal vessels containing the treasure of the gospel. Chapter 6 introduces the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed by noting the words at the beginning — I believe — suggest that the focus of faith is the individual (83).

The Heart of Christian Faith series: Faith and Creeds (2013), The Living God (2014), Jesus Christ (2014), The Spirit of Grace (2015), and The Christian Life and Hope (2016).

All in all, both of these titles are worthy of study. Moreover, I look forward to getting the chance to read and study the other three volumes in this set.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

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Oskar Skarsaune, “From the Jewish Messiah to the Creeds of the Church” Evangelical Review of Theology, Vol. 32, No. 3 (July 2008), pages 224-237.

My interests always peak when encountering a document that traces our Christian faith back to the first century believers, so I was delighted when this article by Oskar Skarsaune, professor of church history at the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Oslo, was brought to my attention.

Skarsaune’s work is a fast-paced, condensed exploration of the Apostle’s and Nicene creeds. It is difficult to tell at first if the professor is caustic or sarcastic, as he clearly takes a dim view of what he refers to as Liberal Protestantism from yesteryear to today’s Jesus Seminar. In all fairness however, it may simply be a matter of style between the Norwegian and English syntax.

Yet his point that since very early on there has been a tendency to seclude Jesus from his Israeli context and Jewish practices is well taken. This view divorces him from being the Messiah of the Hebrews and “converts” him into a Messiah for the Gentiles. That of course, creates a very interesting debate which, in this writer’s opinion, merits further exploration.

The professor challenges what has rightly or wrongly become commonplace: that the creeds have become an outgrowth of a Gentile expression of faith and are distant from any Jewish origins. Most of modern Christianity supports this position, but so does most of Judaism, only too happy to divorce Jesus from any hint of Jewishness and certainly separated from the notion that He is the long-awaited Messiah of Israel.

Skarsaune disagrees with both camps, and takes a markedly different approach, exploring Jewish thought in the second temple period—both biblical and apocryphal—to uncover clear lines of evidence linking the creeds with the faith of Israel. Examining the creeds almost line by line, he helps the reader gain a perspective that is surprisingly refreshing, albeit ancient.

His conclusion? The creeds so common and important in many denominations of the Christian faith owe their origins to the ancient faith of Israel.

Reviewed by Kevin M. Williams

The July 2008 issue of Evangelical Review of Theology: http://www.worldevangelicals.org/commissions/tc/ertcont-article.htm?id=2324  (includes an article by Jim Harries)