Against Calvinism by Roger Olson

When I first became really interested in theology in my late teens, all the in-depth books I read were from a broadly Calvinist perspective: JI Packer, RT Kendall, John Piper, and of course, Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. I was sometimes uncomfortable with some of the things they wrote, but assumed these were just difficult, indisputable truths I would need to understand and accept as I studied further. One thing that some of these writers did was to look quite disparagingly at writers they disagreed with, to the point of implying that other views were either heretical or at least the result of weak theology. So I was looking forward to reading a book which presents a logical and coherent alternative to the theology I grew up with.

This book is one half of a two-parter, the other cleverly called 'For Calvinism'. Roger Olson takes some time to outline what kind of Calvinism he is against, and he is most concerned about the way that the TULIP system is being taught as an essential part of true Christianity, by the 'Young, Restless and Reformed' movement who look to John Piper and others as their spiritual and theological mentors. Indeed, the book is subtitled 'Rescuing God's reputation from radical reformed theology'. Although this sounds quite confrontational, Olson writes in a humble and irenic way which really appeals to me, and is a welcome contrast to some on the other side of the debate!

For those who don't know, TULIP is an acronym outlining 5 points essential to Calvinism, which essentially carries the idea that: there is no way humans can pull themselves out of the mess they're in and all deserve hell (Total depravity); before the beginning of time God elected some and not others to be saved (Unconditional election); Christ's death was for the elect rather than the whole world (Limited atonement); when God calls a human they cannot resist his call (Irresistible grace); all who are truly saved will persevere to the end (Perseverence of the saints). This is of course, my brief and incomplete effort to summarise a complex set of beliefs in one sentence!

To give you a flavour of the book and the debate, here are some quotes: 'I am opposed to any idea that, as the old Calvinist saying goes, "those who find themselves suffering in hell can at least take comfort in the fact that they are there for the greater glory of God". One Calvinist writer said 'God wills righteously those things which men do wickedly'. 'The Calvinist account of God's sovereignty... inevitably makes God the author of sin, evil, and innocent suffering... and therefore impugns the integrity of God's character as good and loving'. 'The Calvinist must sacrifice a clear notion of God's goodness for the sake of maintaining his view of God's sovereign decrees'.

So, much of the book is about what you might call 'high Calvinism', which is an attempt to take ideas of God's absolute sovereignty to their logical conclusions. It is also what I have found most difficult to accept in John Piper's writings. Basically, the idea is that everything that happens has been foreordained by God to bring him the maximum amount of glory. So I am grateful to Roger Olson for providing a sensible and humble alternative argument, which maintains the highest view of the Bible and of the character of God himself.

I suggest you read the book yourself, whatever your thinking on this debate, as this kind of Calvinism it is a way of thinking I find myself encountering more and more, especially in young, often quite angry Christian men, who come up to me after seminars to 'correct' me and encourage me to read Jonathan Edwards! (I have read Jonathan Edwards by the way) I hope this book will bring some balance to a hot topic.

Highly recommended.

Jesus A Very Short Introduction by Richard Bauckham

I have read a number of these Very Short Introductions, including recently on Islam and Judaism, and all are very informative and interesting. Although I didn't really need to be introduced to Jesus, I like Richard Bauckham's stuff so thought I'd give it a go. If you've read much Bauckham, or NT Wright for that matter, it's not really anything new - Bauckham says that much of the info in here is expanded in his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - but it is great to have lots of his thoughts on the historical Jesus gathered together in a concise form like this.

And there are some real gems in this book. His stuff on Jesus' often indirect style of teaching is fascinating, and he is brilliant on Jesus' attitude to social status: 'Jesus thus took the unparalleled step of abolishing social status, not by giving all the disciples the status of master... but by reducing all to the lowest social status: that of slave'.

Also recommended are his thoughts on the gospels as eyewitness accounts (Ch 2), and chapter 3 which is all about the 1st Century context Jesus found himself in.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in Jesus!

Concrete Faith by Matt Wilson

This is the story of the Eden Network. It is a story I have been a part of since the early days, so I was keen to see how Matt Wilson's book matched up with my experience over the last 13 years and more. Matt tells the story well, in a punchy and honest way, mixing theology and missiology with powerful stories which enhance the developing narrative of a project becoming a network and then looking to become a movement.

For those who don't know, Eden was originally a project that involved 25+ youth workers from around the country moving into Benchill in Wythenshawe in the late 1990s, to live and work alongside the young people there. It quickly spread to Langworthy in Salford, then Openshaw, Longsight and a number of other estates, and most recently has become a national movement. Matt Wilson knows the story well as he was a part of the original project and has overseen the development of Eden nationally.

It is an exciting and challenging read, and Matt has captured well the paradoxes and tensions of incarnational urban mission Eden-style. Most encouragingly for me, he doesn't gloss over the many difficulties involved, especially the stories of 'what went wrong' in some of the early projects. These are important stories to hold alongside the many wonderful stories of individual and community-wide transformation.

I would encourage anyone who has an interest in transformation in the inner cities to read this book. It is not full of hype and just containing the impressive stories, but is real, and genuinely hopeful, a useful record of 15 years of God at work in Greater Manchester and beyond. I hope it will inspire many people to move into inner city estates and do similar things, as well as being an encouragement to those of us already involved in this stuff.

The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular World by Randall J. Stephens and Karl W. Giberson

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from a book telling the stories of several well-known Christian leaders, which openly criticises them and the way their teachings are accepted by millions of followers, especially in America. However, I did find it very helpful and compelling, whilst not always agreeing with the authors in some of their conclusions, and at times I felt like they unfairly caricatured some of their subjects.

The heart of the book is clear: what is it that makes millions of evangelical Christians follow the teachings of men like Ken Ham (young-earth Creationist), Tim Lahaye (prophecy guru and Left Behind author) and David Barton (fundamentalist revisionist American historian), many of whom have little or no qualifications in their specific areas, whilst ignoring the work of other evangelicals who are highly qualified and universally respected in their particular fields? (such as Francis Collins, NT Wright and Mark Noll respectively)

This is actually a question I have found myself asking many times when watching some of the more extreme fundamentalist programmes on Christian TV, and trying to stop myself from throwing something at the television  in despair and occasionally anger! So I'm glad someone has had the courage to write about it, whether or not I agree about their particular examples.

The book is very America-focussed, but it is still interesting and relevant to Brits like me, especially having been brought up in a conservative evangelical background, and at times feeling like it's 'us against the world', clinging on to the safety of the teaching of a small number of charismatic, confident preachers who assure us that they are simply reading the Bible as it is, not interpreting it like those terrible liberals. The title of the book, The Anointed, is based on the idea that the fundamentalist evangelicals in America are 'deeply rooted in some good old-fashioned American anti-intellectualism', and choose to trust those they believe God has anointed, rather than those who have expertise in particular subjects. There is a deep mistrust in the experts and a great trust in the popular preachers who talk about common sense, reading the Bible literally and uniting together against the evil secular world: God's 'anointed' leaders are the ones we can trust. This is an interesting claim and I have certainly seen anti-intellectualism at work sometimes in the evangelical church, although not to the extent described in the book (except on Christian TV).

The leaders who have achieved so much success and are critiqued in this book are all experts at tapping into the desire for common sense, plain speaking, bible-based life teaching. Unfortunately they have helped to create an isolationist culture where anyone who steps outside the boundaries (young earth, 6 literal days of creation, premillennial eschatology, America as a Christian nation, unquestioning support for modern-day Israel) is seen to be selling out to secular humanism and therefore is not to be trusted. In this point I think the authors have a good point.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading a mostly balanced and measured critique of the fundamentalist evangelical culture. It did annoy me at times, but it is an important subject for discussion, and I hope it will lead to discussion rather than being ignored or rejected by those within the fundamentalist stable of evangelicalism.

The Teaching Of The Twelve by Tony Jones

This book is subtitled: 'believing and practising the primitive Christianity of the ancient Didache community'. The Didache (DID-ah-kay, meaning 'teaching') was possibly written around the same time as the synoptic gospels, and the short document contains a fascinating insight into the practices of a very early group of Christians. The book includes the whole text of the Didache, as well as some historical background to the document, commentary and some modern day application illustrated by a group called the Cymbrogi who are trying to live out the teachings of the Didache, which is very similar in parts to the Sermon on the Mount.

The Didache contains four sections, in Jones' words: Training in the way of life (preparing converts for baptism); The Rhythms of community life (guidance on eating, fasting, baptising, praying and Eucharist); Visitors welcome (how to treat visiting preachers); The end is nigh (the apocalyptic bit!). If you're into early church history and practice, this is just great stuff, fascinating to compare it to the biblical writings and to imagine how this group lived and thought, perhaps never having seen any of Paul's letters or John's gospel, just working out how to follow Jesus in a world containing people who had seen him and touched him!

Well worth a read.

The Lost World of Genesis One by John H Walton

I have read many books and commentaries about Genesis 1, as well as reading and studying and teaching on the actual text countless times. This is the most interesting and thought-provoking book I have read on this foundational passage. The author compares the other ancient creation texts with Genesis 1 and does some historical work to try to understand what the original readers would have been thinking when they read it. And his conclusions are fascinating. His basic argument is that the author is describing the enthronement of God in his temple - the cosmos. It's all a little complicated to explain in a short blog, but a series of quotes should give you a flavour of the argument.

'Genesis 1 can now be seen as a creation account focussing on the cosmos as a temple. It is describing the creation of the cosmic temple with all of its functions and with God dwelling in its midst'. 'The most central truth to the creation account is that the world is a place for God's presence'.

'The point is not that the biblical text therefore supports an old earth, but simply that there is no biblical position on the age of the earth'. 'In this view, science cannot offer an unbiblical view of material origins, because there is no biblical view of material origins aside from the very general idea that whatever happened, whenever it happened, and however it happened, God did it'.

All very controversial to some, eye-opening to others, and helpful to many others. Whether you believe the world was created by God 6000 years ago in six 24-hour days, or that it is billions of years old and life evolved from tiny molecules, even if you are an atheist with a passing interest in matters of faith, you should read this book with an open mind.