Mapping Modern Theology: A Thematic and Historical Introduction

Written by Kelly M. Kapic and Bruce L. McCormack, eds Reviewed By Jonathan King

This is a wonderful compendium of fifteen essays, contributed by a high-caliber array of evangelical scholars, that all concentrate on the development of various classical Christian doctrines over the course of the modern period-roughly within the last two hundred years or so. I will not comment on each individual essay, as I could do the whole collection justice only with a full essay-length treatment of its own. I will, however, highlight the main features and flavor that characterize the book throughout.

Bruce McCormack leads off with an introductory essay that sets up expectations nicely for the rest of the essays. For this reason a bit more needs to be said about it than applies to the other chapters. The project's overall intention is given at the outset: “Our idea is to organize modern theology along the lines of classical doctrinal topics or themes so that more complete coverage of significant developments in each area of doctrinal construction might be achieved” (p. 1). In this opening essay, McCormack gives his take on the critical earmarks that characterize modernity, that is, “certain defining moments in which those commitments emerge that will help us in identifying 'modern' theologies” (p. 2). Each contributor could choose whatever constructive approach they wanted to take, e.g., typological, thematic, or more historical. The only firm parameter set “was that contributors work descriptively, rather than prescriptively. That way, even the differences of opinion that exist would not become an issue” (p. 18). Following the introductory essay, the other essays given here in order cover the following topics: The Trinity (Fred Sanders); Divine Attributes (Stephen R. Holmes); Scripture and Hermeneutics (Daniel J. Treier); Creation (Katherine Sonderegger); Anthropology (Kelly M. Kapic); The Person of Christ (Bruce L. McCormack); Atonement (Kevin J. Vanhoozer); Providence (John Webster); Pneumatology (Telford Work); Soteriology (Richard Lints); Christian Ethics (Brian Brock); Practical Theology (Richard R. Osmer); Ecclesiology (Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen); and Eschatology (Michael Horton).

Though the focus of the book historically is on the modern era, quite a few of the essays start off giving relevant background with respect to the pre-modern era (maybe the medieval period or the early Reformation period) or otherwise beginning with the post-Reformation period. The pre-modern background given in these instances definitely helps one appreciate better the various theological paradigms and movements that take shape in the modern period. As one would naturally expect, the theological paradigms and/or movements that became most influential in the development of a given doctrine are not necessarily the same as those that influenced other doctrines. Schools of thought or movements stemming out of Enlightenment thought, German idealism, Romanticism, neo-Thomism, historical criticism, social gospel movement, neo-orthodoxy, Radical Orthodoxy, and Reformed/confessional Protestantism are but a cross-section of the important influences and sources of contention that show up regularly in the narratives describing what has shaped the various Christian doctrines over the modern period. Worth particularly commending, a number of essays also address the associated trends in the Roman Catholic Church and in Eastern Orthodoxy. In the case of the RCC, what factor the Vatican I and II Councils have respectively played is also discussed. Moreover, attention is given in certain places to the significance of contemporary ecumenical confabulations and initiatives between Rome and major bodies of Protestantism.

The essays are between twenty to thirty pages in length, and given this limitation, all of them are impressively informative. Generally speaking, works that provide a history of doctrinal development often seek to cover either a broader range of history at the expense of topical depth or focus on the theological development of a particular individual. While this book covers a lot of topical ground, it succeeds overall in providing a good balance of substantive breadth and depth. Usually when an edited work has anywhere approaching fifteen contributions as this book does, a fair amount of disparity in regard to the level of scholarship and writing quality of the essays is expected. In my judgment, the quality of these fifteen essays is consistently excellent. Of course, I did find some essays more to my liking than others, but this has much more to do with my own areas of theological interest than it does with any major unevenness of essay-quality.

The word “Introduction” in the book's title should not be taken to mean “appropriate for undergraduate-level studies but not graduate-level”; it is suitable for both levels of study. The book's weakness is simply the natural weakness one would expect for this type of project. That is to say, the narrative that each of the contributors tells regarding the doctrinal development being presented is still selective according to that contributor's own theological biases and specialized interest and knowledge. That alone makes it easy to take issue with certain points in any of the narratives presented-whether some other influence to the theological development should have been included or otherwise given a different slant, and the like. The question is whether any of the essays give an unfair or unbalanced account in describing those influences that have effected the development of a given doctrine. To this point I think all of the contributors do present a fair and knowledgeable narrative.

Besides serving the more-general theologically interested readership, this compendium will serve very well as a supplemental textbook for any systematic theology or modern/contemporary theology courses of study. Does the book achieve its aim of organizing modern theology along the lines of classical doctrinal topics or themes so that more complete coverage of significant developments in each area of doctrinal construction might be achieved? The answer most definitely is Yes.


Jonathan King

Jonathan King
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Deerfield, Illinois, USA

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