(Part 1)

JBTM Book Reviews
179
Systematic Theology. By Anthony C. Thiselton. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015. 467
Pages. Hardcover, $40.00.
Anthony C. Thiselton is professor emeritus of Christian theology at the University of
Nottingham, England. He holds degrees from King’s College London (BD, MTh), the University
of Sheffield (PhD), and the University of Durham (DD). He has written multiple works in the
fields of hermeneutics, Christian theology, biblical studies, and the philosophy of religion.
His other works include The Two Horizons: New Testament Hermeneutics and Philosophical
Description, New Horizons in Hermeneutics: The Theory and Practice of Transforming Biblical
Reading, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, The Hermeneutics
of Doctrine, and The Holy Spirit: In Biblical Teaching Through the Centuries and Today.
After a long career of writing in the disciplines of hermeneutics, theology, and biblical
studies, Anthony Thiselton has provided a systematic theology. Though it is only 467 pages,
readers should not underestimate the amount of information contained in this volume. In
his Systematic Theology, Thiselton discusses the classic topics of Christian theology as well as
some unique topics of theological method.
Thiselton begins his Systematic Theology by addressing issues of theological prolegomena.
He notes the necessity for coherence in systematic theology and addresses objections to
“system.” He is skeptical of some correspondence theories of truth and appropriates a
coherence theory for his work. Thiselton does not deny the claim that truth is that which
corresponds to reality. Rather, he notes that in epistemological issues such as those in
systematic theology, one has to rely primarily on tests of coherence. Also, theology must
deal with the Bible in its historical context, rather than using the Bible as a set of prooftexts.
Furthermore, Thiselton deals with issues concerning conceptual grammar as well as
the usefulness of developments in speech-act theory, hermeneutics, sociology, and literary
theory for systematic theology.
Thiselton divides his doctrine of God into two chapters. The first of these two discusses
God’s personhood, the Trinity, and God’s holy love and grace. He notes that God is personal,
but not in the same way that humans are personal. Thiselton prefers to describe God as
“suprapersonal.” Thiselton states, “God is more than a person but not less than a person” (30).
He affirms that God exists as Trinity, noting the implications of his being suprapersonal,
namely that God is not “three human like persons” (32). He prefers to explain God’s
existence as Trinity in terms of the realtionality among the three members. Thiselton also
prefers to understand God as the dynamic, “living God” rather than the static, immutable
God of theism. Thiselton does not deny theism understood as adherence to the belief in one
God who relates to the world in a suprapersonal way (40). He summarizes the theism he
denounces as follows: “But ‘theism’ can also be more abstract, static, and theoretical than
belief in the living God of the Bible, and especially the God of the OT. . . . (T)heism seeks
to know God through his being, while faith in the living God knows God from his activity”