In this review essay, missionary-scholar Jim Harries challenges Western assumptions used to decry the prosperity gospel as it is taught and believed in Africa.

Hermen Kroesbergen, ed., In Search of Health and Wealth: The Prosperity Gospel in African, Reformed Perspective (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2014).

In reviewing a book about Africa written in English, one is tempted to ignore constant category errors being made. I have chosen in this review not to ignore them.

The contributors to this book have embarked on an impossible, but nevertheless important task. Impossible, I suggest, because one cannot effectively evaluate African thinking using English. Important, because the issue they address is critical and topical. The book is an outcome of debates that occurred at Justo Mwale Theological University in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2012.

My own background affects my interpretation. As a young man, I was much influenced by Calvinism. I continue to love Calvin’s teaching. Yet, I struggle to see how it can fit in Africa. I lived in Zambia from 1988 to 1991. Since 1993, I have lived in Western Kenya. Reformed churches in my home area in Kenya (I am familiar with one or two, there may be more I do not know about) have been swamped by Pentecostalism. It is hard to see how a reformed church can thrive, except through foreign donations, which would then implicate them in a kind of prosperity teaching that this text sees itself as critiquing.

Chilenje gives us a run-down of the kinds of difficulties that the West has with prosperity teaching. In the following chapter, Zulu sees positive things in prosperity teaching, rejecting the idea that it is only a pathology. Ellington tells us that correct analysis of biblical texts would solve the problem of prosperity teaching. Banda, D. suggests that we shouldn’t attack prosperity unless or until we have a better alternative. Then Banda L. suggests that the best way to resolve the rift between reformed and Pentecostal churches, is through dialogue. Kroesbergen struggles not to condemn prosperity teaching as sheer folly, by looking at ways in which it enables African dignity. Soko sees prosperity teaching and Pentecostalism in general as a response to globalisation. Kroesbergen-Kamps realises that in Zambian minds, Christianity and modernism are integrally linked. Togarasei concludes the book, by suggesting that what prosperity-oriented Zambians are looking for is not flagrant wealth, but merely bread on the table.

Many hours were needed to edit and proofread this book (xi). This indicates a starting difficulty – the expectation that citizens of African countries should produce work of a literary standard that pleases Western scholars. The book presents many respectable avenues of exploration of prosperity teaching in Zambia. I very much appreciate the efforts made by its authors.

Tony Richie: Consultation on American Evangelicals and Islam

Antipas Harris: How Can Christians and Muslims Relate?

I am grateful that my friend who participated in the Consultation, pastor-scholar Tony Richie, invited me to attend the public forum on Friday, August 25. This forum was appropriately titled, “Learning to Engage our Muslim Neighbors.” The diverse panel was made up of Rick Love, Marion Larson, Richard Mouw, John Azumah, Michal Muelenberg, and facilitated by Cory Willson.

Recently, the leadership at my church has been thinking about how hope, humility, and hospitality can be a profound way of expressing how we follow Jesus. Therefore, when Marion Larson used similar language to speak about stances to take as we approach conflict and welcome strangers, I was all ears. Three ideas she mentioned were Receptive Humility, Reflective Commitment, and Imaginative Empathy.

Part of Receptive Humility is being willing to receive gifts and hospitality. In my experience, this ability to graciously receive is something our Muslim neighbors understand much better than I do. We value being a good host, do we value being a good guest?

Having a Reflective Commitment is making a decision to be teachable, to intentionally reflect that I don’t have it all figured out and that I have much to learn. All of us need to be humble enough to recognize we are wrong about some things. I always want to be willing to let God surprise me.

Bruce McCormack, the Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Theology at Princeton, is the most interesting and helpful Barthian working today. He has made his mark working to correct a certain North American distortion of Karl Barth’s thought. His contributions now include a number of edited works, including this one, which gathers the essays presented at the 2005 Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference.

As always with an edited work, the articles collected here are of uneven quality. They are also of varying atmosphere. Most of the essays breathe the air of British evangelicalism (which theologically has a lot of variation within it), while others are academic versions of something one might find in Christianity Today. Now and again, the staler air of the World Council of Churches wafts through the volume. The contributors vary from biblical scholars, to historical theologians, to systematic theologians. McCormack classifies some of the contributors as holding to a form of “classical theism”, and others as being more “‘progressive’ … in their willingness to pose questions to concepts of divine timelessness, impassibility, and so forth” (pp. 9-10). The decision to include biblical scholars was perhaps a move toward a broader outlook, but as everyone’s topic appears to have been assigned, the gain of including biblical scholars in the program has been minimized. The program as a whole has a systematic-theological stamp through and through. Topics like “divine simplicity” and “divine aseity” are not on the radar screen of biblical scholars, and for a good reason: they’re not on the radar screen of the Bible.

McCormack’s own contribution consists of a suit against Open Theism. Although McCormack’s admirers have already applauded this essay (on the internet), it ultimately fails to convince. He tries to show that Barth’s dissolution of metaphysics (as if that were conceptually possible!) presents a better solution to the problems that Open Theism has adduced. (McCormack prefers to think that God’s election “stands at the root of God’s being” [p. 210], but I think that is as nonsensical as it sounds. I much preferred Paul Helm’s case against the McCormack-Barth dissolution of metaphysics, found earlier in the same volume.) Much depends on one’s starting point. McCormack really only shows that Open Theism is incompatible with Reformed presuppositions, but he in no way shows that it is a poor fit for Christian theology in general. (Throughout many of these essays, this reader was constantly reminded that, for the Reformed tradition, the word “Protestant” basically means “Reformed”.)

This volume packs a lot of food for thought, and should be rewarding reading for those interested in a somewhat safe entry into the speculative side of modern theology. Those interested in biblical theology, however, will find considerably less of a reward.

Reviewed by John C. Poirier

Read an excerpt from Westminster Theological Seminary: www.wtsbooks.com/common/pdf_links/Excerpt_McCormack_Engaging.pdf [available as of June 6, 2014]

Graham A. Cole teaches biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. Readers of The Pneuma Review will probably remember his excellent contribution about pneumatology, also from Crossway, entitled He Who Gives Life (2007). This brief book seems to have grown out of the same research but aimed at more popular audience.

Indeed, herein Cole seeks to biblically – and sequentially – address six questions, all of which are both crucial and common, about the person and the works of the Holy Spirit. Cole contends that despite the growth of the charismatic movement and Pentecostal churches, people still have questions – even troubling concerns – about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. These real questions are the burden of this book, questions that affect a person’s relationship to the Spirit, including: 1. What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?; 2. How does a person resist the Spirit?; 3. Ought we to pray to the Spirit?; 4. How do we quench the Spirit?; 5. How do we grieve the Spirit?; and 6. How does the Spirit fill us?

Each chapter is devoted to only one question and challenges readers about their relationship with the Spirit, as well as about Christian living in general. Readers are also given key elements for thinking theologically about contemporary issues, as well as further implications regarding their belief and behavior. Notably, thinking theologically, according to Cole, involves three specific components, all of which are necessary to “run the race with endurance.” First, viewing the Word of revelation, illuminated and applied by the Spirit, as foundational for life and thought. Secondly, taking heed to the “great cloud of witnesses” in Christian history. Third, recognizing the human predicament in the world as living in-between the Cross and the coming reign of God on the new earth. Taking these three into consideration enables one not only to reflect correctly on the Holy Spirit, but also to work (actively) wisdom in the day(s) at hand. After all, theology without application is ‘abortion’ (17). In sum, this is a reader-friendly book – both brief and full of solid, reassuring answers, and should be a welcome addition to any library.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Editor Introduction: Postmodernism, The Church, and The Future

Postmodernism, The Church, and The Future
A Pneuma Review discussion about how the church should respond to postmodernism

A Review Essay of Lesslie Newbigin’s The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.

“Pluralist!” “Postmodern!” Lately these two terms are increasingly, and sometimes carelessly, bandied about as especially descriptive of the present age. They signify such complex concepts that sometimes even defining the terminology can be difficult. To make matters even more intimidating for many of us, pluralism and postmodernism also exist in both religious and secular forms with widely variant philosophical, political, and theological schools of thought and levels of radicality. In fact, they may be descriptive of an even deeper seated condition of being post-Christian. “Post-Christian” describes a personal or societal world view no longer rooted in the language and assumptions of Christianity, though it previously originated and existed in, and thus emerged from, that environment. Importantly, a wide range of continuing attitudes from open embrace to complete exclusion exist toward Christianity itself.¹ Yet the basic meaning of pluralism and postmodernism is understood easily enough. “Pluralism” at its most fundamental level simply observes the fact “that there is an actual plurality of religious and other beliefs, practices, and so on in the world.” It proceeds from that point to varying degrees of representation either embracing or eschewing implications of that acknowledgment.² “Postmodernism” essentially identifies a disposition questioning the Enlightenment/Modernist argument for the sovereignty and ubiquity of reason as being reductionist at best and dismissive of or skewed against other important elements of reality (e.g., imagination, intuition, tradition) at worst. Again, it proceeds from that point to varying degrees of representation either embracing or eschewing implications of that acknowledgment.³ Christians are currently divided about the consequences of these paradigmatic developments. Some are hopeful about possibilities while others are fearful of pitfalls.⁴ At this point, humbly admitting that I’m not an expert or authority in these matters may be helpful; at least, it will certainly be honest. I’m more or less a typical pastor and preacher struggling to make sense out of today’s world. I suppose that is why I find Newbigin so challenging and stimulating.

Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Eerdmans, 1989), 264 pages, ISBN 9780802804266.

Lesslie Newbigin (1909-98) was truly one of the towering figures of the twentieth century when it comes to the theory and practice of Christian mission. And this book is his now classic contribution to that increasingly complex and controversial endeavor. A native of Great Britain educated at Cambridge, as a young man he was converted from agnosticism to Christianity when he saw a vision of a huge cross touching heaven and earth. A man of boundless energy and profound intellect, Newbigin then spent nearly four decades as a missionary in India, also building a lasting reputation as a great ecumenical leader. Although he himself humbly claims to be only “a pastor and preacher” he is often hailed by others as a scholar and thinker.⁵ The Gospel in a Pluralist Society is in fact a clear and cogent articulation of how contemporary paradigm shifts such as pluralism and postmodernism may inform and influence Christian identity and ministry in what is now sometimes called a post-Christian society.⁶ One would be hard pressed to find another book that takes more seriously or navigates more skillfully both commitment to historic Christianity and engagement of contemporary cultural contexts. It is a must read for anyone intending to integrate those same ideas today. At times provocative, always informative, seriously studying it promises to be potentially transformative. Therefore, be warned: one reads at a certain (worthwhile) risk!

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Engaging God’s World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 145 pages.

This book was written to fill a need that concerned the leadership at Calvin College–wanting to keep Calvin a college that is Christian. Though presented to a wider Christian audience, Plantinga is a minister in the Reformed tradition and his writing is from that perspective. It would be good to note that the Reformed tradition places great emphasis on the main topics of the book, and that adds to the value of what Plantinga presents. My own theological perspective comes from Holiness and Pentecostal interpretations, yet I can easily read and admire Plantinga’s thoughts.

The book was commissioned to provide the basic background that Calvin College found was missing in its incoming students, students which largely had grown up in the church but nonetheless were rather clueless when it came to the great doctrines of Christianity. Plantinga deals with each of these doctrines: Longing and Hope; Creation; The Fall; Redemption and Vocation in the Kingdom of God. The book closes with an Epilogue and an appendix of talking points to enable discussion by and between the students.

Longing and hope repeats some of Plantinga’s thinking from his earlier award winning book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Eerdmans, 1995). There he described Shalom for which we were made and hunger for and yet have trashed such that it no longer exists except as a hope. I was so impressed when I read the earlier book with this concept that it has become part and parcel of my own being and I pray that priestly blessing in Numbers 6 over my house every morning as part of the litany with which I start each day. I, too, long and hope for what Plantinga so magnificently and simply presents.

With the stage thus set, Plantinga next takes us to and through the marvel and wonder of Creation a place where we find creatures of wondrous particularity–each of them and all of them a display of God’s inventiveness and love. We learn that God revels in his creation, that lightning bolts say “here we are” to God; that the morning stars sang together as God unfolded his creation and all the angels shouted for joy. We have to do more than glance around; we have to lie on our backs and look into the night sky. We also have to study scripture which corrects our dull vision with special or particular revelation or what a prophet today might call illumination.

We learn there is a time to speak and a time to be silent; that this is the rhythm of God as is the time to work and to rest from work. We learn that marriage is good and that God gave our ancestors, that primal pair in the garden, a cultural mandate to multiply and fill the earth. Against the backdrop of all the good and the wonder in creation, Plantinga develops the horror of the fall, the onslaught of sin, culpable evil. God hates sin not just because it violates law, but because it also violates trust. Sin grieves God, offends God, betrays God, and not because God is touchy. God hates sin against himself, against neighbors, against a good creation because sin breaks the peace. Sin interferes with the way God wants things to be. That is why God has laws against sin. God is for Shalom and therefore against sin.