05-4 Theology of the..

52 LOGIA
felicity and deftness (Wilken is a good writer), one can find the
same points more forcefully made by other more confessionally
Lutheran voices. Thus, without intending to be pejorative, one
finds Wilken perhaps most valuable in providing what are
essentially patristic “sound bites” for particular issues that may
be valued in the same way that the “Catalog of Testimonies” is
valued in the Book of Concord: good corroborating voices, but
not essential to settling the issue. And finally, however good
such gravy may taste, it is the meat and potatoes beneath that
one seeks to eat.
Charles L. Cortright
Martin Luther College
New Ulm, Minnesota
Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship.
By Leslie Newbigin. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995. 105
pages. Paper. $7.99
■ Leslie Newbigin speaks from the experience of the mission
field of India as former bishop in the Church of South India
and also from ecumenical effort as associate general secretary
of the World Council of Churches. His task in this book is to
steer a course between the labels of liberal and fundamentalist
and come to the real meaning of Christian faith in the postmodern
age.
A brief overview of the history of Christian apologetics lands
one in the Enlightenment at the feet of Descartes, who
bequeathed to Europe a false confidence that certain knowledge
could be achieved without reference to God. The scientific
method has since captured biblical scholars who unwittingly
adopt it as their creed, most noticeably in the study of Holy
Scripture.
Against this position Newbigin introduces Hungarian scientist-turned-philosopher
Michael Polanyi, who rejects the objective/subjective
dualism of knowledge and asserts that all objective
knowing of reality involves the subjective personal commitment
of the knower, which we commonly call faith. The truth claims of
scientists are not irreformable and indubitable claims to possess
the truth, says Newbigin; rather, they are claims to be on the way
to the fullness of truth. The debate between science and the
Christian faith has for too long been overdramatized and radically
skewed by those who want to propose science as the replacement
of an outworn faith. This dependence on science has led to
modern despair.
According to Newbigin, the cure is putting confidence not in
the content of our knowing, but in the faithfulness and reliability
of the one who is known. “I do not possess the truth, so that I do
not need to be open to a new truth; rather, I am confident that
the one in whom I have placed my trust, the one to whom I am
committed, is able to bring me to the full grasp of what I partly
understand” (67).
Modern liberalism is at fault in its definition of truth as a product
of thought. Augustine said, “I believe that I may know.” We
affirm the objectivity of a truth by committing ourselves to live
and act in accordance with this claim.
The fault of fundamentalism is seeking a certainty that does
not acknowledge the certainty of faith as the only kind of certainty
available. This leads to a kind of rationalism that is
remote from grace. “Christian faith is not a matter of logically
demonstrable certainties but of the total commitment of fallible
human beings putting their trust in the faithful God who has
called them” (98).
One quote is especially noteworthy in relation to the pitfalls of
both fundamentalism and liberalism. “It is less important to ask a
Christian what he or she believes about the Bible than it is to
inquire what he or she does with it” (87). The truth of this statement
is evidenced in the present debate over the role of liturgy in
the church.
The postmodernists recognize the world is full of stories, but
no overarching truth by which they can be assessed. The
church’s affirmation is that the story it tells, embodies, and
enacts is the true story and that others are to be evaluated by
reference to it. The telling and living out of the story of Christ
takes place in his Divine Service and in the lives of those it
serves.
Readers believing the Holy Scriptures to be the authoritative
source of truth, but hesitant to apply the term inerrancy as it is
pronounced in the fundamentalist tradition, will enjoy this book.
James F. Wright
Pacific Hills Lutheran Church
Omaha, Nebraska
Transforming Congregations for the Future. By Loren B. Mead.
Bethesda, MD: The Alban Institute, 1994. 139 pages. Paper.
■ This is the third volume in the Once and Future Church
Series. The first volume, The Once and Future Church, is reported
to have been a reading assignment for the biennial Joint
Faculty-Council of Presidents (LCMS) meeting at St. Charles,
Illinois, in August 1993. This third volume was sent to all the
members of Conference of Congregational Services of the synod
as, again, a reading assignment for its September 1995 meeting in
St. Louis. Mead seems to be getting an increasing popularity
among us.
Unlike many other similar books and articles, Mead does not
see the cause of declining membership in doing or not doing certain
programs, various controversies within church bodies, style
of worship, performance of pastors and church officials. Rather,
“the character of the culture surrounding the congregations” is
suggested to be the main factor, noting the similar pattern of
membership decline among the listed mainline denominations
(Episcopal, ELCA, Presbyterian, UMC). In addition to loss of
members, the picture Mead offers is the church of diminishing
funds, vanishing boundaries, the possibility of losing tax-exempt
status, rising incidents of litigation, the high cost of theological
education, and rising numbers of unemployed or underemployed
clergy. Mead sees a “serious storm . . . buffeting the churches.
The storm is so serious . . . that it marks the end of ‘business as
usual’... and marks a need for us to begin again building from
the ground up.”