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A review by spoiledmilks
For the Life of the World: Theology That Makes a Difference by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun
3.0
You can read my fuller review at Spoiled Milks (9/16/19).
What matters most in life? People and theologians from all stripes try to answer this question, but Miroslav Volf and Matthew Croasmun think that what really matters is “the true life in the presence of God,” and that western academic theology has lost its way (1). They writes, “Theologians seem to have lost theological eros, our sense of divine calling to grapple with the ultimate question of human existence and of the world’s destiny” (3). Theology fought to be seen as a legitimate discipline, standing alongside the humanities and sciences. Yet to do so, it had to answer the questions posed by the sciences rather than “the most profound and important questions of human existence, which the sciences, by the very nature of their methodologies, are unable even to take up, let alone to answer” (4).
Genesis and Exodus show us the story from creation, to sin and decreation, to Israel’s slavery in Egypt, to God’s rescue of Israel, covenant with Israel, and his dwelling with Israel. The New Testament redraws that story to include the world, and when God makes “all things new” heaven will come down to earth. The authors believe that theological education (whether that be done in seminaries or in Sunday schools) should have the goal of “forming human beings according to the pattern of Christ, such that each person and community is able to improvise the way of Christ in the flow of time in anticipation of becoming, along with the entire creation, the home of God” (9).
Recommended?
I didn’t think chapter four gave enough reasons on how to live in pluralistic societies as Christians amidst the cultural climate of certain controversies, such as the LGBTQIA movement. Also, since a large part of the book is focused on academic theologians, non-academics may find those sections irrelevant to them. In fact, the book wasn’t what I thought it would be. That’s partly my fault for not reading the excerpt ahead of time, but the two paragraph summary on Amazon makes no mention of academic theologians. Rather, it sounds like this book is aimed at all people everywhere.
I don’t really know who to recommend this book to. It’s aimed first at academic theologians, how they should live and articulate theology. Because of that, this isn’t entry-level information. Some non-seminarians might get a kick out of this, but many in the church may have a hard time getting through it. But since the book concerns itself with Christian theology, it ultimately deals with everyone. So if you do pick it up, you will find a lot of benefit here.
What matters most in life? People and theologians from all stripes try to answer this question, but Miroslav Volf and Matthew Croasmun think that what really matters is “the true life in the presence of God,” and that western academic theology has lost its way (1). They writes, “Theologians seem to have lost theological eros, our sense of divine calling to grapple with the ultimate question of human existence and of the world’s destiny” (3). Theology fought to be seen as a legitimate discipline, standing alongside the humanities and sciences. Yet to do so, it had to answer the questions posed by the sciences rather than “the most profound and important questions of human existence, which the sciences, by the very nature of their methodologies, are unable even to take up, let alone to answer” (4).
Genesis and Exodus show us the story from creation, to sin and decreation, to Israel’s slavery in Egypt, to God’s rescue of Israel, covenant with Israel, and his dwelling with Israel. The New Testament redraws that story to include the world, and when God makes “all things new” heaven will come down to earth. The authors believe that theological education (whether that be done in seminaries or in Sunday schools) should have the goal of “forming human beings according to the pattern of Christ, such that each person and community is able to improvise the way of Christ in the flow of time in anticipation of becoming, along with the entire creation, the home of God” (9).
Recommended?
I didn’t think chapter four gave enough reasons on how to live in pluralistic societies as Christians amidst the cultural climate of certain controversies, such as the LGBTQIA movement. Also, since a large part of the book is focused on academic theologians, non-academics may find those sections irrelevant to them. In fact, the book wasn’t what I thought it would be. That’s partly my fault for not reading the excerpt ahead of time, but the two paragraph summary on Amazon makes no mention of academic theologians. Rather, it sounds like this book is aimed at all people everywhere.
I don’t really know who to recommend this book to. It’s aimed first at academic theologians, how they should live and articulate theology. Because of that, this isn’t entry-level information. Some non-seminarians might get a kick out of this, but many in the church may have a hard time getting through it. But since the book concerns itself with Christian theology, it ultimately deals with everyone. So if you do pick it up, you will find a lot of benefit here.