Historical theology

Review: Early Christian Theology

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Cover image of "Early Christian Theology" by J. Warren Smith

Early Christian Theology

Early Christian Theology, J. Warren Smith. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802874771) 2026.

Summary: A guide to the development of early Christian theology emphasizing diverse attempts to understand scripture.

One of the texts we used during my seminary education was J. N. D. Anderson’s Early Christian Doctrine. It was an important text helping me understand the centuries of debate behind the creeds we recited in church and the beliefs about Christ, about the Trinity, original sin, and the atonement that I took for granted. Anderson’s book was published in 1960. J. Warren Smith, professor of historical theology at Duke Divinity School, thought it was time for an update. His approach stresses how the theological debates of the early Christian centuries reflected the different readings of scripture in different Christian communities, wrestling with complex questions about the person of Christ and the nature of the Godhead. The challenge of the councils was to address those readings, resisting relativism while constructing a framework of belief that incorporated the best of those readings.

Smith’s focus is on the second through fifth centuries. The book combines chronological and thematic coverage, so that some chapters will recur to an earlier period to discuss a different theological theme. Smith begins with the foundations of scripture and worship in early Christian communities. While this is uppermost, he also weighs the influences of classical culture. Then he turns to the challenges of persecution and the early Christian apologists. This is followed by responses to the gnostic challenge.

Then chapters 4-6 turn to responding to various Christological errors including the formidable challenge from Arius and his followers, culminating in the councils of the fourth century. While there were politics and powerful personalities, what is also evident is the church’s struggle to find language to crystallize its understanding of the data of scripture concerning both Christ and the Trinity.

Chapter 7 addresses Pneumatology including the critical work of the Cappadocians affirming the divinity of the Spirit and the eventual division over filioque. Likewise, chapter 8 on the incarnation also reflects the differences between east and west, as well as conflicts among eastern churches. The remaining chapters (9-14) address early concepts of the atonement, ecclesiology, particularly in North Africa, the Manichaean conflict over creation and evil, divine and human agency, deification, and early eschatology.

I was struck with several differences from Anderson. One is that the treatment of the church’s controversies was far more in-depth and nuanced. In addition, Smith helps us understand how the controversies were based in widespread communities. We see Rome in conversation with Constantinople, Alexandria with Antioch. Theological differences weren’t abstract conversations but based in believing communities. Smith helps us understand the different concerns that shaped the way different communities read scripture and formulated doctrine.

Given the mix of chronological and thematic material, a timeline might have been helpful. In addition, particularly around the discussions of Christology, charts that summarized the major tenets of key figures or movements would help. I would recommend that students using this text create their own versions of this. As a survey text, Smith offers bibliographies of primary and secondary sources for further study.

In conclusion, Smith aspired to create a worthy successor to Anderson’s book. I believe he has succeeded in that work, incorporating more recent scholarship. In addition, he helped me see theology as an ongoing conversation between Christian communities. Sure, it was messy and individuals were not always at their best. Would that we had the sense of the global community reading scripture together to understand the mind of the Maker.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Eternal Son

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Cover image of "The Eternal Son" by Robert Letham

The Eternal Son

The Eternal Son, Robert Letham, foreword by Ian Hamilton. P & R Publishing (ISBN: 9781629958637) 2025.

Summary: A Christology focused on Christ’s Person, his eternal sonship, and Incarnation, as clarified in councils and more recently.

Robert Letham has written extensively on the Godhead, beginning with a work on the Trinity. This work is the second of a projected three-volume series on the persons of the Godhead, the first being The Holy Spirit. Having in another work addressed the work of Christ, Letham focuses here on the Person of Christ. However, the final chapter, “For Us and our Salvation” does address aspects of Christ’s work.

Letham begins with three chapters which frame out what Christians have historically affirmed concerning the person of the Son. Firstly, he addresses the “Son in the Divine Trinity.” He summarizes developments between the New Testament and Constantinople, in 381. Discussing the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, he focuses on God’s indivisibility, three persons who are one substance, yet distinct persons. He focuses on the divine order, and the idea of the eternal generation of the Son, that from eternity without beginning, the Son is the Son of the Father. Secondly, in the following chapter, “Before The Beginning” he goes more deeply into the Son’s eternal relations with the Father. Then thirdly, in “The Word Became Flesh,” Letham discusses the biblical evidence of the Incarnation.

Chapters 4 through 8 address the controversies that arose related to the person of Christ and the conciliar decisions, post-Constantinople. One of the things that stands out in the controversies with Apollinaris and Nestorius and in the lead up to Council of Chalcedon is the singular influence of Cyril of Alexandria. Cyril defends the eternal nature of the Son, his taking on of human nature in full union, such that all his actions are of one person in two natures. One of the most interesting ideas was that the assumption of a human nature was not problematic for the Son through whom humans were created in the imago dei.

However, Chalcedon did not resolve all problems and led to new ones. Letham discusses the shortcomings of Chalcedon and the continuing challenge of Nestorians and the rise of Monophysites. Also, challenges arose around the two natures of the Incarnate Son willing and acting as one. Letham walks us through Monoenergism and Monothelitism, including a recent revival of the latter. Finally, he summarizes the consolidation of the church’s thought on Christology in both East and West. To do so, he focuses on two key figures, John of Damascus and Thomas Aquinas.

Chapters 9 and 10 then focus on the Reformation and the Post-Enlightenment. The discussion of Luther and Calvin both emphasized their contributions and how at times they could wander from Chalcedonian orthodoxy. The Post-Enlightenment discussion focuses on kenotic theories–what did it mean that Christ “emptied” himself? Letham also discusses theories of peccability. That is, was it possible for Christ, having a human nature, to sin. Letham argues that Christ’s nature was neither a fallen nature or a nature like Adam’s before the fall. “Rather, he lived in a state of humiliation, sinless and righteous but with a nature bearing the consequences of the fall in its mortality, its vulnerability, and its suffering–but not fallen.”

Finally, after his concluding chapter on Christ’s work, he includes two appendices. One has to do with recent thinkers who have resurrected the idea of the adoption of Jesus as Son, particularly as the basis for our on adoption. The second, promoted by David Moffitt, proposes that Christ’s atoning work was not on the cross but when he presented himself as a blood sacrifice in heaven. Letham refutes both ideas.

I found Letham generally clear in his explanations and discussion of different controversies and councils (he also includes a glossary to help us keep our terms straight). In particular, Letham is good at explaining what is at stake with various proposals, and what stands to be lost. He also offers a good summary, as a Reformed writer, of Reformation developments, probably worth a book in itself. Most of all, I feel Letham writes doxologically. He speaks in his introduction of the hope that we might “Behold, the Lamb!” And I found myself often stopping to do just that.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Faithful Exchange

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Cover image of "Faithful Exchange" by David W. Opderbeck

Faithful Exchange

Faithful Exchange, David W. Opderbeck. Fortress Press (ISBN: 9781506467016) 2025.

Summary: Economic life through biblical and historic lenses with attention to current debates on capitalism versus socialism.

How might one think Christianly about economic life? How have Christians thought about these matters through the centuries? Among the contemporary systems, is one more inherently Christian? And what resources do we find in the ancient texts of the Bible that speak into our present realities? David W. Opderbeck, a professor of law at Seton Hall University has set out to address these questions in this book.

He describes this book as offering a narrative theology of economic life. After an introduction and overview, chapters 2 through 5 explore the economy of biblical narrative. Specifically, he covers the periods from creation to Babel, the patriarchs through the exodus, the judges, kings, and prophets, and then Jesus and the New Testament.

The next five chapters concern historical and contemporary discussion. Chapter 6 explores property and economics from pre-Constantine through the Reformation. Chapter 7 centers on influences contributing to American capitalism: Locke, Hobbes, Hume, Blackstone, and Smith. Then chapter 8 turns to Marxism and socialism, including Christian socialism and social teaching. Chapter 9 covers the period from the Great Depression, the postwar settlement and our more recent internet-based and global economy. Finally, the last chapter, titled “Toward a Contemporary Constructive Christian Economics” gestures toward how Christians might think about capitalism and socialism. And he draws all this narrative and historical material together.

As you can see, Opderbeck sets himself a huge task. Consequently, much of what he does is, indeed,, narrative and descriptive. The final section of each of the biblical narrative sections offer syntheses summarizing the economic material. The history up to the Reformation addresses private property in tension with a “the earth is the Lord’s perspective.” The discussion of influences upon the American experiment was fascinating, particularly in how all this failed to resolve the vexing problem of slavery, even as it laid the groundwork of commerce and capitalism. For those who conflate communism and socialism, his overview of both movements, and particularly, the Christian socialists is important in understanding the distinctions. He also shows how these challenged the exclusive emphasis on private property in seeking the economic welfare of all.

In the final “constructive” section, Opderbeck first engages a number of contemporary thinkers (Sirico, Waters, Tanner, Milbank, Pabst, and Turner). His skill as a legal scholar was on display in a section on “Critical and Constructive Threads” where integrates biblical material, economic theory, and discussions of corporate practice. Then he illustrates these threads in a case study on land and MOSFET chips.

His approach throughout is to show how the biblical hope informs, critiques, and transcends our earthly economic systems, whether capitalist or socialist. Opderbeck captures this well in his concluding words:

“Freedom for generosity and freedom from the love of money and the lust of the eyes is offered in the waters of baptism and at the table with Jesus in the community of his people. Every -ism, including capitalism and socialism, is here exposed as unworthy of devotion. In every time and place discerning the Kairos and listening to the Spirit of Christ, we are called to act with grace and wisdom, affirming but relativizing private property rights, prioritizing the poor, emphasizing fairness, and actively waiting for the coming of Jesus, when God will be all-in-all” (p. 258).

My sense is that Opderbeck, as a legal scholar, has assembled a careful set of “briefs” summarizing both biblical and historical theology with regard to economics. Then he applies them to our contemporary situation. This is a tremendous resource on Christian economic thought, concisely summarizing, without sacrificing nuance, a vast amount of material. It’s a great place to begin if one wishes to discover the landscape of Christian economic thought, and how it has addressed questions of property and profit, moving beyond slogans, sentiments, and prooftexts to substantive thought.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Concept of Woman

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Cover image of "The Concept of Woman" by Sister Prudence Allen, RSM

The Concept of Woman, Sister Prudence Allen, RSM, edited by Sister Mary Cora Uryase, RSM, foreword by John C. Cavadini. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802883889) 2024.

Summary: Surveys philosophers and theologians from ancient Greece to today tracing the concept of woman.

What does the word “woman” signify? I suspect the question might elicit some snide quips, most likely from men. However, this volume surveys the ways philosophers and theologians from ancient Greece, the early church, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and down to the present have answered this question. This work constitutes a synthesis into one volume of a three volume work by Sister Prudence Allen, RSM. In all, she summarizes, if my count is correct, the thought of 163 people!

A key element of this work is Allen’s use of John Henry Newman’s Development of Doctrine. Newman proposes a process of development of Christian doctrines from their first appearance in scripture through the history of the church. His proposal is that while while the truth of a doctrine is fully present in its origins, it also has the capacity to develop as Christians address different contexts. Yet all these developments may be anticipated in the earliest form, which enjoys a “chronic vigour” through time.

Allen’s aim is to demonstrate that Pope John Paul II’s enunciation of “integral gender equality” reflects a true development of the concept of woman through the history of the church, surviving corruptions, along the way to coming to its fullest (so far) exposition in the works of recent Catholic theologians, culminating in Karol Wojtyla’s (Pope John Paul II) work.

She traces the development of four key ideas, beginning with scripture:

  1. The equal dignity of men and women (Genesis 1:26).
  2. The significant difference between a man and a woman (Genesis 1:27).
  3. The synergetic relation of a woman and a man (Genesis 1:28; 2:24).
  4. Intergenerational fruition (Genesis 5:1-32).

Through history she traces various ideas reflecting equality with or without complementarity, forms of polarity that usually devalued women, and forms of complementarity that affirmed equal dignity. Among the ancients and medieval thinkers, Hildegard of Bingen stands out as a defender of integral.

The Renaissance, Modern, and Nineteenth century are a mixed bag. On one hand, satires reinforced ancient polarities that diminished women. By contast, humanists affirmed women’s identity and women were found to be writing, speaking, and in the case of Joan of Arc, fighting. Cartesian dualism strengthened gender equality but fractured any sense of unity.

The final part shows the “chronic vigour” of integral gender complementarity while confronting what the author considers corruptions in modern sex/gender ideologies. She introduces many of us to formidable Catholic thinkers from Lonergan and Maritain, to von Balthasar and von Speyr, as well as to her own formulations and Karol Wojtyla’s personalism.

It is nothing short of an intellectual tour de force to summarize over twenty centuries of thought into four hundred pages. Thus, Allen offers the reader what amounts to a comprehensive intellectual history of the concept of woman. What is striking is that the contemporary discussions of egalitarian and complementarian positions within evangelicalism do not warrant mention. By the same token, evangelical discussions don’t mention the development of the doctrine of woman (and man) in the Catholic church. What is striking to me is the absence in the idea of integral gender complementarity of the sharp bifurcation that exists between the two evangelical camps. Equality and complementarity are held together.

At least mostly. The question of the priesthood is not discussed, a glaring silence it seems to me. At least here, the difference between women and men overrules equality. Some discussion of this seems warranted.

Nevertheless, this is an important resource, particularly for its trenchant critique of modern and post-modern sexual and gender ideologies. The synthesis of her earlier three-volume text makes it useful as an academic text. Along the way, she acquaints us with the centuries of rich thought from Augustine, Aquinas, Hildegard, the Maritains, and Wojtyla. There is much of benefit for Catholic and non-Catholic readers alike.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: The Priesthood of All Students

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The Priesthood of All Students, Timothée Joset. Carlisle, Cumbria, UK: Langham Global Library, 2023 (Also available in French and Spanish editions).

Summary: Contends from historical, ecclesiological, theological, and missiological perspectives that the idea of the priesthood of all believers has been essential to the student-led, non-clerical character of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, and helps account for it global spread to 180 countries.

In 1947, ten evangelical (in theological, not political terms) student movements in North America, Europe, East Asia, and the South Pacific united to form the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). They united to foster similar movements, led by students in other countries around the world. Today, 180 countries are represented in IFES. [In the interest of full disclosure, I work as a campus staff minister in the IFES member movement in the United States, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA.]

This work considers how a basic biblical premise of the Reformation, the priesthood of all believers, has been vitally important to the character and spread of student movements under the umbrella of the IFES. The work is a published version of the doctoral dissertation of Timothée Joset, PhD, who serves as IFES Engaging the University Coordinator, residing in Switzerland. As such, it represents one of the most extensive archival research projects on the history of the IFES as well as an analysis of the theological and missiological outworkings of this biblical premise.

The first part of the work, then, focuses on the history of the IFES, showing how the idea of the priesthood of all believers has been the implicit rationale for the ministry of students with other students within the ten founding movements and their pre-history before 1947, subsequently in post-colonial Africa, amid the student activism and revolutionary impulses of the 1960’s, the rise of the global south in the 1970’s, and partnerships between movements in the 1980’s and the changes in the world up to the beginning of the new millenium. The history more briefly considers the years since.

Several things stand out. One is the parting of the InterVarsity Fellowhip in the UK from the World Student Christian Federation, a once-evangelical student movement that did not share the IVF understanding of the authority of the Bible and the centrality of the atoning work of Christ, reflecting a drift to a more intellectual and liberal theology. This is crucial because in ensuing years, the founding movements of IFES arose from the UK movement and shared the theological convictions, which are reflected in the IFES Doctrinal Basis.

Joset traces how this difference was reflected in the years subsequent to the formation of IFES, tracing questions about its decisions to eschew the ecumenical movement, questions about IFES relationship to the church, and doubts about how a movement primarily led by students with limited staff counsel could remain sound. He traces the responses of both how students were encouraged to active church participation, and the focus on campus mission, where students were most effective in reaching other students, and how the mission-focused doctrinal basis allowed students to come together across denominational lines.

An important part of this work also traces the impact of IFES on broader evangelical thinking relating evangelistic and social concerns, as they wrestled with the response to the turbulent sixties. He features how IFES leaders Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar helped articulate a gospel-centered social ethic that, with the help of John Stott, shaped the Lausanne Conference of 1974, all of this arising from the grapplings of Latin American students. Likewise, the redefinition of partnership between movements, particularly between the West and the rest of the world was rooted in the importance of indigenous student leadership, the priesthood of all student believers.

A briefer second part looks at how IFES groups practically function. Joset develops the ideas of immediacy, mediation and membership to describe how the theological premises of priesthood of all believers works out in these groups–groups gather on the basis of their immediate faith, they mediate it to their campus environment in both witness and intellectual engagement, and they maintain membership with their local congregation. I personally appreciated his recognition of the complex role of campus staff ministers who are not clergy–helping maintain focus on doctrine and mission, yet without overstepping the role of students.

The third part focuses on ecclesiology. Much of this focused on how the doctrinal basis both articulated how IFES is a part of the church but also provided a basis for mission in the university world which actually enriches the church rather than simply arising from it. Joset then turns in the fourth part to the theology behind the idea of the priesthood of all believers, from Old Testament, to Christ, to the early church, in which all believers are part of a kingdom of priests. He brings this to bear on the discussion of these student movements as “para-church,” contending that a missional ecclesiology that sees such movements as a natural response to God’s redemptive movement is not bound by ecclesiocentric structures. I was also fascinated by his exploration of Roland Allen. Allen’s book on Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours was formative for many of us in student ministry in the 1970’s and 1980’s in arguing for the ability of students to advance and multiply the movement, a version of the priesthood idea. He also explores how recent discussions of apostolicity related to the priesthood idea.

In his concluding section, I appreciated his discussion of the different forms of mediation in which student movements engage–priestly, intellectual and academic, to the church, and internationally. He also underscores how the priesthood of all student believers, operating within the doctrinal framework of IFES provides a basis for a vibrant mission in the university world, not diffused by the theological differences among churches, and in turn, enriching the church in its own mission.

I value Joset’s rigorous study of these matters, which offers what I think is the most far-reaching theological and historical discussion I have seen. He affirms what I have long thought, that a mission like that of IFES groups just makes sense, rather than every denomination trying to have its own ministry, which is often more about conserving rather than advancing belief. Far from being a threat to churches, as it has often been perceived, the products of such mission have deeply enriched the church and the wider fulfillment of its mission in the world. Furthermore, the robust discussion of the priesthood of all believers not only undergirds the approach of IFES student movements but can be empowering to broad swaths of the church that have ceded ministry to professional clergy rather than being affirmed that they have a vital role in mediating the gospel of Christ in whatever context they are placed. It is also striking that it was this “priesthood” approach that enable IFES to adapt to a post-colonial world, with 170 countries joining the initial ten.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary e-galley of this book from the author.

Review: A Bond Between Souls

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A Bond Between Souls: Friendship in the Letters of Augustine (Studies in Historical and Systematic Theology), Coleman M. Ford. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2022.

Summary: A study of the correspondence of Augustine revealing the qualities of his friendships and a vision of friendship rooted in God, encouraging one another in Christian virtue and the love of God.

Coleman M. Ford has come up with a great idea in this book. Study Augustine’s ideas about friendship in the context of his friendships for what we might learn about them through his extant correspondence.

He sets this against the classical Greco-Roman ideas of friendship, difficult for some to define, as was the case with Socrates, who valued his friendships. Aristotle defined friendships based on utility, pleasure, and virtue, with the latter being the highest form. Epicureans saw friendship in terms of mutual dependence, a willingness to lay down one’s life for the other. Stoics believed only the truly wise and good could know friendship. Cicero saw friendship involving mutual accord accompanied by good will and affection.

To all this Augustine adds the recognition that spiritual friendship is the gift of God, grounded in the love of God for the encouragement of one another in both Christian virtue and in faith, hope, and love. Its intent is to prepare us for the heavenly city. Friends also add to one’s happiness in this world and the happiness of our friends is to be prayed for. Friends also exhort one another to pursue greater holiness and virtue, as was the case with Augustine and Martianus.

That brings us to a study of his letters to various persons. Perhaps the most interesting, and first in this monograph, is the study of his correspondence with another great church leader, Jerome. Augustine, the younger of the two, but already a bishop, desires spiritual and intellectual friendship with Jerome. He has an interesting way of going about this, sparring with Jerome over Jerome’s interpretation of Galatians 2. What was grievous was that his initial letter went astray and was read by others as a criticism of Jerome rather than an effort to engage with a respected intellectual peer and to have an honest friendship where no idea was off the table. Jerome was not pleased and subsequent correspondence reveals Augustine’s attempt to heal the misunderstanding, and his genuine sorrow for the grievance. We see someone interested in both their mutual spiritual improvement and deeply committed to his fellow leader. Ford doesn’t say this, but I have a hunch that Augustine could have been a demanding friend, but also one that could call one out to greater intellectual and spiritual depth. We see the two of them strive toward a mutual love that could stand disagreement and difference.

With others, Augustine could be an affectionate and perceptive friend, as was evident in the long correspondence between Paulinus and Therasia, and Augustine, calling them deeper into their union with Christ and the forsaking of the world’s riches for the hope of heaven. We see similar qualities in other correspondence with clergy, as they deal with various disputes including the Donatist controversy. While remaining faithful to Christ, they must also minister out of holy love, the real foundation of their office.

He also corresponds with civic officials, bidding them to Christlike virtues as they sought the common good. They could only offer ordered leadership out of ordered lives. His writing reflects a love of truth rather than an attempt to wield influence over those in power. He writes with affection and intellectual seriousness.

What impresses me in all of this is how Augustine combines warm affection, intellectual substance, and spiritual devotion to foster Christ-likeness in his friends, and how he invites this from them as well. There is no mere sentimentality or a casual “best buds” attitude. Caught up in the pursuit of the heavenly call and the City of God, Augustine rigorously wanted friends who challenged him to his spiritual best, and this is what he offered others. Strong stuff to be sure.

Coleman M. Ford has given us a fine piece of scholarship in this monograph that shows us dimensions of Augustine’s life of which many of us are unaware. I’m left thinking how this challenges our casual and utilitarian approaches to friendship and the shallowness of many of our relationships in the body of Christ, where “hanging out” substitutes for spurring each other on to “love and good works,” to the Christ-likeness that is God’s intention for each other, that is willing to exhort and correct out of deep affection and uncompromising longing for the other’s progress in Christ.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.