I cannot stress enough how important this article is. It should be read by anyone in a Christian leadership position. It is the finest article on the background to the takeover of the America university system by Marxists and radicals that has occurred in the past decades.

The Rev “Rob” Smith is an Anglican priest and lecturer of theology and ethics at Sydney Missionary Bible College, and a book review editor for the e-journal Themelios. It is published for the Evangelical English-speaking world, with contributors from this country, the UK and “down under.”

In his article, Rob Smith sets out to examine the concept of “Cultural Marxism” and determine if the term is useful, if it pertains to a real ideology, or if it is merely a myth invented by conservative activists to negatively broad brush the Left.

He goes about this principally from a historian’s perspective, and rightly affirms that intellectual history is especially difficult, though it is important:

The development of ideas and their links to the movements they generate or justify is often a messy process. It can be notoriously difficult to identify the precise relationship between this school of thought and that social phenomenon or to quantify the impact of particular individuals on larger social changes.

Rob begins his analysis by examining the main components of Karl Marx’s theories (especially useful for those who have not majored in economics or history in college). Rob points out that Marx came from a nominal Christian family and became an atheist as a boy, and never looked back. Not surprisingly, the salient feature of Marx’s theories was his hatred of the bourgeois (the economic middle class). He also developed a reliance on, and then reversed, the philosophy of Hegel. Marx believed that history was driven by materialists factors, not spirit as Hegel believed, and primarily driven by the struggle of the underclasses. Marx believed this would eventually end in a classless Utopia after the bourgeois were violently overthrown. He predicted that communist revolutions would first take place in Europe led by awakened industrial workers. Of course, this did not happen. In Russia and China, the Communist revolution was led by intellectuals and supported mostly by peasants.

Kentaro Toma

Marxist followers tried to make sense of why the industrial workers did not succeed in bringing revolution in Europe and America, and why only a minority were truly radicalized. The answers were worked out by an Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) who died young but left an extremely influential set of writings. These were done while he was in one of Mussolini’s prison – He had actually supported the fascist Mussolini earlier. Reflecting on his Catholic youth, Gramsci concluded that the reason that prevented workers from becoming communist as Marx had predicted was that the culture was Christian and held on to Judeo-Christian values and ethics. This would always impede and stop the spread of communism. His solution was not a frontal attack on the church, as was happening in Russia, but rather a slow takeover of church institutions and government agencies.

Gramsci’s work was not edited and published in English until 1970, but it circulated among the radical youths of the 1960s and continues to be vastly influential today among radicals and Marxists. The Rev. Smith affirms that after Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci is the most influential Communist writer of all time. What he advocated has become fact in the American University system, many NGOs, and through “liberation theology” in many parts of the Catholic Church.

This continued advancement of Marxism in the universities and other institutions of America was fueled by a group of Marxist intellectuals that came together at a Communist think-tank in Frankfort, Germany after World War I. They were independent of Stalin’s control, unlike the official Communist parties of the time, and developed different ideas about how to bring about the promised Communist Utopia. The Frankfort group, including Theodore Adorno, Eric Fromm and Herbert Marcuse, fled Germany after the Nazis won power (1933). For a time, they gathered in Columbia University and established the influential Marxist journal, Studies in Philosophy and Social Science. They were careful to be discrete and not overtly call for revolution or cite Karl Marx directly. What they did was develop critical theories of the important institutions of the West, with the intension that if they collapsed internally, or lost authority, the Communist revolution would succeed naturally, and utopia could be gained.

A salient quality of their writings was that they said nothing about the coming Utopia, assuming it would naturally fall into place. Several, including Eric Fromm, attempted to unite Marxist theory with Freudian psychoanalysis. Marcuse did this also, and in his Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud (1955) went to the extreme of suggesting the capitalist bourgeois restrictions on sexuality were what made people unhappy. The liberated person should have no restrictions on sexual expression, including doing what some children do, playing with their own poop. He called this “polymorphous perversity” – a truly demonic idea which invites the spread many parasitic and bacterial diseases. In spite of this, Eros and Civilization became one of the foundations of the sexual liberation movement.

The writings of Gransci and the Frankfort group permeated American and European universities and blended with ecological, feminist, and LGBQ agendas to produce the political correctness movement – which is destroying freedom of speech in the universities. In this regard, Marcuse’s essay, “Repressive Tolerance” (1965) is key, as he suggested there that free speech can be oppressive to the underclasses of society and must be restricted.

The Rev. Smith concludes by identifying Cultural Communism as a real, strong, and active ideology. It is not a myth invented by right-wing activists, nor is it a Jewish plot as some have suggested. Although many in the Frankfort group were indeed Jews, it also had non-Jews. Rather, Cultural Marxism is Marxism elaborated and gone to seed while the West snoozed.

This is a masterful article, concise and insightful. Readers need not have a degree in philosophy or history to understand, though it might be difficult to follow for someone without a college education.

I find the only weak point in his article is the Rev. Smith’s section on how to reverse the present, awful situation in our universities. He advocates pursuing standard evangelistic techniques of conversations and evangelization with the radicals, as in, being polite and listening, and then giving the Gospel. Unfortunately, that has not worked very well. There have been Evangelical groups and clubs at universities for decades, and they have not stopped the universities’ march to radicalization. Traditional evangelism and apologetics has had relatively little impact on non-believers who are saturated with the ideas and myths of Marxism, while the writings of the New Atheists, have widely broadcast distorted and deformed views of Christianity.[1]

What the Rev. Smith is lacking is any understanding in the development that has occurred in recent decades in the area of spiritual warfare. He hints that some of the success of the Cultural Marxism may be due to demonic influences, but does not elaborate on this.

In this regard, I am preparing an essay which suggests that to counter Cultural Marxism it is necessary to massively employ spiritual warfare techniques and strategies, as in “concerts of prayer” that war against the territorial “principalities and powers” that reign over universities. Decades ago, the missiologist Peter Wagner showed this could be done to bind the demonic spirits that held back effective evangelization in the areas that resisted the Gospel.[2] To this type of spiritual warfare[3] should be added the “power evangelism” technique for individual evangelization made popular by John Wimber.[4] Indeed, radicalized individuals will not be swayed by evangelistic tracts or Billy Graham type crusades. Their deep contempt for Christianity makes them resistant to those forms of evangelization. But they will respond to the Gospel if it is presented, as scripturally mandated, with “signs and wonders,” as in their own healings (Heb 2:1-4). Power evangelism might best be brought to the universities through the “public prayer stations” where intercessors are posted on the streets to offer prayer to pedestrians. Even radicals have personal needs (“I’m sick,” “My girlfriend left me,” etc.) and are often willing to try prayer.[5]

Reviewed by William De Arteaga

Notes

[1] Siniscalchi, Glenn B., “Evangelization and the New Atheism,” American Theological Inquiry, 2 no 2 Jul 15 2009, p 29-41

[2] Peter Wagner has written many books and articles, but perhaps the two most pertinent in praying for the universities and colleges are: C. Peter Wagner, ed., Territorial Spirits: How to Crush the Enemy Through Spiritual Warfare (Shippensbury: Destiny Image, 2012) and Confronting the Powers (Regal, 1996)

[3] [Editor’s note: For a counter-point to the discussion of strategic level spiritual warfare, please see Larry Taylor, “Worldviews in Conflict: Christian Cosmology and the Recent Doctrine of Spiritual Mapping” Pneuma Review (Part 1 in Fall 2001 and Part 2 in Winter 2002).]

[4] John Wimber and Keven Springer, Power Evangelism (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1987).

[5] William L. De Arteaga, The Public Prayer Station: Taking Healing Prayer to the Streets and Evangelizing the Nones (Lexington: Emeth Press, 2018). Note the rapid conversion of a dedicated atheist during a prayer station healing, p. 62.

With a cover made to look like an organizational chart (indeed, the author believes in hierarchy), and the catchy, contemporary title, a potential reader might assume the content is similar to the business leadership manuals that have been popular over the past thirty years. In fact, the reader wouldn’t be far off. The focus of the book is primarily focused on non-profit organizations and how to lead them. Institutions, Smith iterates repeatedly, matter and they are “essential to human flourishing.” For an organisation to be effective, members must have institutional intelligence: “the wisdom of working effectively within an organization with others … by understanding how institutions work, how they can be effective, and how all people in the organization can contribute to the whole system.” This book is relevant not only for church planters—just starting new institutions—but also for seasoned pastors and other non-profit leaders who want more synergy between the institution’s mission and its operations.

The book contains ten chapters, a conclusion, and three appendices. Chapter one introduces seven “distinctive” features of an effective organization. These features include mission clarity, appropriate governance, quality of personnel, a vibrant culture, financial resilience, appropriate ‘built space’, and strategic alliances. Indeed, these seven characteristics comprise the remaining chapters of the book.

Good governance is another distinctive feature of an effective organization. In chapters three and four, Smith posits that institutions must ask themselves questions about decision-making and implementation. Effective organizations not only make good decisions, but they have the capacity to implement those decisions. Leaders should have a clear understanding of how to use power responsibly and to whom they are accountable. Smith specifies three “entities” of an effective organization: executive, board, and practitioners. Each entity needs to know what it is responsible to achieve. As a learning organization, effective institutions get the wisdom and knowledge they need to make good decisions and ensure they can carry them out.

Smith Wigglesworth praying for a sick woman.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

In 1888, Wigglesworth established the Bowland Street Mission in Bradford, England. It was there he and his wife Polly fed the poor and ministered the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to all who would come. He was a chief forerunner of what came to be known as the Pentecostal Latter Rain Revival. In 1913, he left the Bowland Street Mission with a call to the nations of the world, including the United States. In 1947, Wigglesworth met with his friend Lester Sumrall (another mighty man of God), and essentially prophesied the last four great moves of God in the earth. He saw the healing revival of the 1950’s in the US. He also saw the Charismatic Renewal of all the denominations in the 1960’s – 1970’s. Then he saw people going to church with a Bible in one hand and a notepad in the other, this was the Word and Faith movement of the 1980’s into the 90’s. Finally, Smith saw hospitals being emptied out, and hospitals working with the Church that knows how to move with the Holy Spirit. On a separate occasion he said churches would wane [gradual reduction] in attendance and then take a steep decline. It would cause a great hunger to rise in many of the unchurched people who would see a marriage between the Spirit and the Word. He said that from that spiritual place the greatest harvest the earth had ever seen would spread to the nations.

We are right now in a prophetic timeline of fulfillment of these words from Wigglesworth. I know of a hospital setting in Haiti filled with Cholera patients that was emptied out by Dr. Chauncey Crandall and his tax accountant. Chauncey said, “It was the best of God, and the best of medicine.” A significant number of hospitals are now partnering with those of us who know how to flow in the Holy Spirit. Amazing healing is happening in a beautiful partnership. Christ Healing Center and other affiliates here in the San Antonio area are in relationship to 7 hospitals. A number of these partnerships are popping up in Houston, TX with our dear friend Jan de Chambrier.

Recently, Lil de Fin, great granddaughter to Wigglesworth, was invited by Pastor Vincent Mann to reopen the Bowland Street Mission in Bradford. It had been closed for 97 years. The British Broadcasting Company Radio group covered this very significant event. What happened there was very powerful in terms of prophetic impact and an impartation of the Wigglesworth anointing.

Someone asked me what it was like to reopen Smith Wigglesworth’s Bowland Street Mission in Bradford England. It was a packed house with fabulous worship with the Spirit and Word fused together like Wigglesworth said would launch us to the nations! It was like a war zone. People were lying all over the floors during ministry time, having been overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Healing and more healings broke out spontaneously with fresh Baptisms in the Spirit as well. Several people had prophetic utterances that rang true and authentic, reinforcing the impact of the moment. There was raucous dancing, high praises, and singing in the Spirit. Holy laughter broke out!! There was also weeping, brokenness and fire from heaven burning up diseases! It was wild. When the smoke cleared, the consensus in the sanctuary was this: We all want these manifestations and empowerments for the United Kingdom for a launch into Europe.

I believe a prophetic door is opening now for Great Britain, Europe, and even the United States for the Harvest of the Ages. In essence, The Bride of Christ is waking up. It is a door of destiny. Many are saying this is the Year of the Door in the Hebrew calendar. We must, for Jesus’ sake, go through that door.

The Rev. Dr. Jack Sheffield with the Rev. Anna Marie Sheffield
November 4, 2017
San Antonio, Texas

James K.A. Smith is a philosophy professor at Calvin College and author of many books and articles. He has designed this book to focus on two distinct aspects of Christian life, the things we love and the habits we have. The book is divided into seven chapters with the first half focusing on the reality of love and the second on habits of worship. He concludes the book with a helpful resource of suggestions for further reading.

Smith opens this book with a distinct re-orientation to view ones’ self as a loving being, rather than a thinking being. He peppers the book with a comic reference to viewing humanity as thinking beings as brains on a stick, rather than beings who are motivated and directed by the things they love. A pointed question drives this: “What if the center and seat of the human person is found not in the heady regions of the intellect but in the gut-level regions of the heart?” (7). He presses the point further: “The center of gravity of the human person is located not in the intellect but in the heart” (9). In this regard, he argues that we are beings that are ultimately oriented by the things we love, and not by the rationality of our thinking. The opening emphasis rests on the repeated phrase and title of the book: you are what you love. Love forms our everyday habits and it forms how we approach making disciples in the church (19). In addition, because of this, love undergirds the interaction of the church with culture. Liturgies, both formal and incidental, unconsciously communicate how we as Christian people view our relationship with God and our relationship with our community, particularly when we are not even aware of having a liturgy (37).

Smith begins to broaden the term and concept of liturgy into multiple aspects of life. There is a liturgy of consumerism (53). There is a liturgy of cultural practice (54-55). As he expands these definitions of liturgy, he will ultimately turn, in the second half of the book, to his concept of liturgy as a methodology for the “rehabituation” or the “re-habit-making” needed in the disciple making work of the Church (61). He argues that re-training the intellect of the disciple does not make new habits of right worship; re-training the heart makes them.

Somewhere in the mid-point of the book, Smith’s thesis seems to take on a different emphasis. It seemed to start out as a work focused on heart habits, but then the book seems to take on an apologetic tone for the liturgical format of worship. The latter chapters of the book seem to labor to demonstrate how “evangelical” or “charismatic” formats of worship miss the mark and how “liturgical” formats of worship hit the bull’s-eye. Wrongly directed, worship can become Pelagianism because the effort is on human effort (73). Later he supports worship as the “arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves” (77).

Evangelicals are known for their emphasis on conversion, but unfortunately they often neglect life after conversion and beyond justification. Needed, therefore, is a comprehensive theology of the Christian life from beginning to end, along with an explication of the means of that transformation. In Called to Be Saints, Gordon Smith invites us to think theologically about what is means to be a mature Christian. To address matters of the Christian life and its spirituality effectively, we need to find an answer to the questions of what is the beginning of the Christian life, what is the character of Christian maturity, and what is the approach and means of the formation of this character. A comprehensive theology of the Christian life will address all three of these questions, that is, the beginning, the end, and the means by which one grows toward maturity. There are a number of publications regarding the initiation into the Christian faith. Moreover, there are likewise plenty of resources on the spiritual formation of believers. However, there are few resources regarding what it means to be a mature Christian. This book seeks to address this lacuna in Christian scholarship.

The chapters within address the goal and objective towards which Christians walk. That is, the end to which we are converted. The opening chapter makes the case for why such a theology is needed. It notes that there is a significant “sanctification gap” in the churches today – that is, there is a marked distinction between what we profess to be, i.e. saints, and what we actually are. However, there is a call to holiness – or perfection – made by the Father to participate in the life of Christ, through the power of the Spirit. As Aquinas stated, a thing is said to be perfect when it attains its proper end. Chapter 2 is the central chapter within the text, with its insistence that the Christian vision for maturity is one that is “in” Christ. To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus, and a mature disciple is one who knows Jesus through the fruit of learning that leads to intimacy, loves Jesus such that he is the first and deepest love, and serves Jesus such that all one does is in response to Christ’s call and is an expression of allegiance to him.

Chapters 3 through 6 identify four distinctive features of a mature Christian, that is, what it means to fulfill the purpose for which we are created. There are also two appendices, the first of which is an invitation to pastors to consider what it means for the character of congregational life to be “in” Christ, and the second of which is an invitation to leaders within the academy to consider how they can design the life of the university setting around a vision of transformation “in” Christ. This text affirms that our lives are a gift that is offered to us in Christ.

Overall, this book is both a call and an invitation to live life “in Christ” – more precisely, to live a life that is the fruit of dynamic participation in the life of Christ. The title has four marks, all of which are presented as invitations: 1) to be a wise person and to pursue wisdom with passion and persistence; 2) to do good work in response to the call of Christ – i.e., vocational holiness; 3) to love others as one learns to live in love; and 4) to know the joy of God, which is the deep wellspring of the blessed life. Each of these – wisdom, good works, love, and joy – are offered to us in Christ.

Being consummately practical, this book presents a trinitarian theology of holiness that encompasses both justification and sanctification, as well as union with Christ and communion with God. Smith unfolds how and why Christians are called to become wise people, do good work, love others and enjoy rightly ordered affections. This is for the whole Christian community. It is a challenge to young people to establish early in their lives the kind of life that they wish to live. It is also a guide to those in midlife who might need to make midcourse corrections to their priorities in order to focus on what matters most. And finally, it encourages those who are in their senior years to be attentive to what sort of legacy they wish to leave behind them. For each group, it is about stewardship. Christians in every walk of life, therefore, will find this text a rich resource for learning what it means to “grow up in every way… into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). I recommend it to all comers.

Reviewed by Bradford McCall

Publisher page: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=4030

Preview Called to Be Saints: https://books.google.com/books/about/Called_to_Be_Saints.html?id=OppYAgAAQBAJ

Gordon Smith’s book deals with a central piece of Pentecostal life: conversion. Thoughtfully read, it can deepen understanding and expectations of conversion, which in turn have evangelistic and pastoral implications. On the other hand, it will challenge much that is taken as unquestioned fact regarding conversion. Because of this challenge, some may bypass it altogether. But it would be better to read it and take away as much as presently possible.

The occasion of writing is Smith’s observation that nineteenth century revivalism has set our understanding and language of conversion. It is assumed that conversion is entirely a point action, that the focus of conversion is religious activity, and that the goal of conversion is life in heaven. The problem is that Bible teachers have much more to say on the subject. The concept of conversion has a history that is largely ignored, and that other streams of Christianity have been dealing with this subject for a much longer time. Beyond this, evangelicalism as a whole is undergoing changes. No longer can an Anglo-American perspective be considered the norm. Evangelicalism is a world-wide phenomenon with the majority consisting of Pentecostals and the pentecostalized.

Gordon T. Smith is the president of Ambrose University College and Seminary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The language of conversion is important. Many evangelicals feel alienated from their churches when their genuine experience does not match the patterns of conversion either preached or broadly assumed. Additionally, if language about conversion does not reflect how people actually come to Christ, evangelism methods will be skewed. Though nineteenth century revivalism rightly emphasized the necessity, possibility and current invitation of conversion, it never addressed some major difficulties. Conversion and salvation are made out to be synonymous when in fact, they are not. Salvation becomes something that “happened” when a commitment was made. As true as that is, NT language of salvation “happening” and “will happen” must receive equal weight. Salvation is the work of God; conversion is the human response to God’s initiative. Again, conversion is seen as simple and without struggle. Without implying that there is a minimum threshold of difficulty, conversion counts the cost and leads one to become a “disciple,” one that actually is in the game. Revivalist inspired language leaves us with the notion that one gets converted (saved), and then we must make every effort to get him or her “discipled.” We have gone from a necessary noun to a hopeful verb. Furthermore, the place of children of believers is left ambiguous. Do they need conversion? Does a child’s conversion look like that of an adult? If a child is converted at age five, is there any place for further conversion at, say, sixteen after profound personal development? For Pentecostals especially, how is the NT connection between conversion, baptism and the gift of the Spirit fostered?

Prior to revivalism, there was the evangelicalism represented by Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. Though of differing theological commitments, both shared an engagement with the beginning and progress of the life of God in the soul. They understood the integration of the affections, the intellect and the will in both conversion and salvation. They understood the place of both process and crisis as the grace of God was encountered. Knowing that mere talk of conversion was cheap, they looked for change in a person’s life. It was a different era. Unlike his predecessors, Edwards found a way to bring the gospel invitation into a person’s grasp. And unlike his successors, Wesley was no revivalist in the later sense of the term. This leads to Smith’s reminder, needing broad proclamation, that how conversion is understood has a long history, and that there are others who have experience with conversion, long preceding our own, from which we might learn.

James K. A. Smith, associate professor of philosophy at Calvin College and executive director of the Society of Christian Philosophers, engages the subject of hermeneutical philosophy and presses the boundaries outward to make room for a distinctly pentecostal perspective. He examines philosophical ideas from Husserl, Heidegger, and Gadamer, laboring to remind the reader of their foundational concepts on language and communication. In this regard, Smith divides the book in two major sections by first exploring the classical pentecostal worldview and then by exploring communication theory, in order to propose how the phenomena of glossolalia might expand Christian philosophy. The first three chapters will be readable and comprehendible for the college graduate, but the second three chapters wade into deep waters of hermeneutical philosophy, which may disorient many of the uninitiated or novice philosophers. Smith concludes the book in an open-ended manner, inviting conversation on his newly proposed conceptual framework. Herein, we recognize that Smith’s targeted audience is the academic community rather than the average person in the church. It has been said that academics take simple ideas and talk about them in complex ways. Thus, in this review we will attempt to do the opposite, to unpack Smith’s difficult words and restate them in simple ways.

In the first half of this book, Smith offers five ways to define the pentecostal worldview. The first of these is fairly straightforward; pentecostals are open to God doing new things. Pentecostals regularly expect a prophetic word to start with the phrase, “Behold, I am doing a new thing” and pentecostals anticipate that God will not always do things as He has done in the past. Second, pentecostals recognize spiritual realities in every area of the natural world. Angels and demons are active participants in our everyday life. Demonic influences motivate people to do evil. The Holy Spirit guides the believer to do good. Third, pentecostals know that the work of Jesus on the Cross accomplished both the salvation of the soul and the restoration of the body; by his stripes we are healed. Pentecostals read the birth-of-the-church Pentecost story in Acts 2 and the healing of the lame man in Acts 3 as being examples of the normal Christian life. Peter did not lead the lame man to salvation and leave him lame; he healed his body then brought him to salvation. Thus, pentecostals expect both supernatural and natural blessings. Fourth, pentecostals place high value on salvation and miracle testimonies. These stories build faith and validate spiritual reality and blessings from God. They are foundational to faith and they take first place in theological understanding. Theological epistemology may not be clearly written, but the pentecostal worldview includes space for “I know that I know that I know.” Fifth, pentecostal philosophy is oriented toward doing the right thing for the poor, the needy, and those who have never heard the gospel; mission is taken seriously.

In the second half of this book, Smith explores theories of languages and philosophies of interpretation. For the most part, these chapters labor to build a theoretical foundation that the final chapter can build upon. Once Smith has established his philosophical basis, he will finally say what he has wanted to say from the start. Speaking in tongues, be it an exhortation with an interpretation or a private prayer in tongues, is more than simply strange words. Smith’s challenge to pentecostal philosophers is to consider the question “What does this prayer do?” over what do these strange words mean (144). He opens the door for philosophers to consider that “tongues” DO something regardless of whether they make any sense or not. It is here that Smith’s purpose becomes clear and exciting; in the arena of language theory there must be a legitimate place for unknown “tongues” to communicate something beyond the rationality of known words. He presses the practical question (What do tongues do?) to the harm of the theological proposition question (What do tongues mean?). “Tongues” effect and affect God. Likewise, “tongues” open other people to an expectation of the miraculous.

James K.A. Smith, Introducing Radical Orthodoxy: Mapping a Post-secular Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2004), 291 pages.

Post-modernism is a philosophical perspective many Christians are now embracing in order to overcome the debilitating effects of modernity on the Christian church. What is refreshing about James Smith’s book is that he questions whether this approach is as helpful for Christian theology as it first appears. In fact, Smith proposes that post-modernism is in reality a continuation of the modernist project. This book offers an overview of the place of radical orthodoxy (RO) within the context of a post-secular/post-modern theological landscape. His aim is to draw together the thematic strands of RO in order to appraise its contributions to the theological enterprise and critique the misaligned assurance in the supposed neutrality of the modernist and post-modernist paradigms.

The book is divided into two sections. The first provides a map for understanding RO within the context of current theological trends. Smith suggests that four theological schools of thought have come to prominence. (1) The correlationist project emerged out of Tübingen (Germany) and made its way into the US through Union Theological Seminary (NY), The University of Chicago Divinity School (Chicago) and even ironically the fundamentalist school Dallas Theological Seminary (Dallas). This approach tries to correlate revelation with cultural, political and economic systems, and assumes the neutrality and universally accessible methods of the so-called “secular” sciences. (2) The Revelationist school is Barthian at root and has made its way from Basel (Switzerland) to Yale Divinity School (New Haven), Princeton (NJ) and Duke University (Durham, NC). This school highlights the antithesis between the gospel and culture, and therefore subverts all secular frameworks. The tendency in the Revelationist approach, though, is to jettison the secular sciences as irrelevant and focus exclusively on revelation claims. (3) The Neo-Calvinist school emerged in Amsterdam and has made its way into Calvin College (Grand Rapids) and the Institute for Christian Studies (Toronto). This approach represents an early post-secular critique, which is deeply suspicious of secular methods for arriving at knowledge and calls into questions the “sacred” tenets of modernity. (4) Finally, the Cambridge phenomenon of RO likewise emphasizes the antithesis between revelation and culture, but unlike the Barthian project’s abandonment of the secular, RO maintains there is no secular because even these methods presuppose faith commitments. For radical orthodoxy, all nature and culture is graced, but in need of redemptive transformation. RO is therefore critical of post-modernism because it is in reality a continuation of modernity.

Smith then outlines the theological contours of RO, which includes an ecumenism that transcends confessional boundaries, a retrieval of pre-modern sources and a hermeneutical disposition that seeks to be unapologetically confessional. Moreover RO is critical of modernity as a flawed system, because it reduces truth to a single system based on a notion of universal reason; RO is post-secular in the sense that it identifies secular reason as myth; as a theological movement it emphasizes participation and materiality, meaning that creation has to be understood as participating in and suspended from transcendence. This position fights against modernist and post-modernist notions that the world is self-contained and therefore without the need for the divine. In other words, nihilism (e.g. lack of transcendence) is questioned because it assumes that the universe is isolated and self-supporting. RO also emphasizes the sacramental, liturgical and aesthetic modes of worship as a consequence of the incarnation and participation in the divine. Finally, RO offers a cultural critique of the world in the hope for its redemptive transformation in all areas of language, history and cultural. Throughout the discussion, Smith draws upon the Dutch Reformed tradition to voice his agreements and disagreements with RO, arguing that the two disciples would benefit from fruitful dialogue.

James K. A. Smith, Speech and Theology: Language and the Logic of the Incarnation, Radical Orthodoxy Series (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), 186 pages, ISBN 9780415276962.

The book is more complex than its title suggests. Speech and theology is a splendid inquiry into the question: how we can speak about God. More precisely, it addresses the question of why we can speak about God at all. Smith’s answer is indicated in the subtitle: it is the logic of the incarnation that allows us, and even compels us, to speak of the ineffable mystery of God.

Speech and theology is directed primarily toward an academic audience. It is published as part of Routledge’s Radical Orthodoxy Series which offers writings of a contemporary theological movement that operates across many Christian and non-Christian traditions, and which works alongside other academic disciplines such as politics, economics, the natural sciences, social and cultural theory. The increasing interest in the central themes of Radical Orthodoxy should also direct attention to this author, who seeks to create a new Christian phenomenology which asserts the Incarnation as the condition of possibility for language generally and for speech about God in particular.

The dilemma of theological language is that every act of human speech about God, who is infinite and transcendent, must employ language and concepts that are finite and immanent. Smith proposes that this should not reduce us to silence. On the contrary, he argues that the transcendent God must appear in terms of immanence or, otherwise, cannot be revealed at all. Consequently, immanence and transcendence should not be viewed as opposites. In the Incarnation, the transcendent God entered into the finite world, not simply participating in it but being embodied by the immanent and thus allowing the finite and the infinite, the immanent and the transcendent, to exist side by side as the very possibility of finite language about an infinite God.