BOOK REVIEW:
The Trustworthiness of God: Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture. Edited by Paul Helm and Carl R. Trueman. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002. 289 pp. ISBN 0802849512.

This collection of essays is addressed primarily to those who consider themselves evangelical Christians, whether within or without the Reformed tradition. The collection’s primary purpose is “to explore, from biblical, systematic, philosophical, and historical perspectives, the nature and the implications of the trustworthiness of the God portrayed in the Bible and worshipped in the Christian Church.” An additional purpose is to “stimulate and encourage interdisciplinary dialogue,” that is, dialogue among persons interested in differing specialties in current theological studies. A final purpose is an irenic one, to avoid polemics, dogmatism, and acerbic discussion of contentious issues. (pp. viii-ix).

After a brief introduction by the editors, the collection begins with four essays each on Old Testament and New Testament subjects. Next follow two essays each from church historians, systematic theologians, and philosophical theologians. The book concludes with responses to the collection from Colin Gunton and Francis Watson. The essays are written by and for academic, clerical, and lay persons, which means they are written to be accessible to those outside the writers’ areas of specialization. The breadth of the collection is tempered by a certain narrowness of sources; each essayist is male, and all are from North America, the British Isles, or northern Europe.

As might be expected, the strength of individual essays varies significantly. For this reader, the strongest essays are those of Gordon McConville, “Divine Speech and the Book of Jeremiah,” and Stephen Williams, “Towards Trust.” For readers of this Bulletin, perhaps the most interesting essays will be three that deal in some depth with important theologians from the Reformed tradition: “The God of Unconditional Promises,” by Carl Trueman, the essay of Williams just named, and “The Diversity and Sufficiency of Scripture” by Timothy Ward

Trueman (professor of church history and historical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia) draws together passages from Calvin’s Institutes and a number of the great Reformer’s biblical commentaries on the subject of trust in the promises of God. Trueman’s principal point seems unassailable, that Calvin saw trust in God’s promises as crucial to the faith that justifies, Trueman is less persuasive in his argument that this means Calvin taught that “the sole object of faith” is “the promise of God as given in scripture” (p. 179). The very examples Trueman uses from Calvin raise questions about such a conclusion. These include Calvin’s commentary on Sarah’s faith in God’s promise to her, a promise she did not receive from scripture, and the sacramental promise God gives to an infant in baptism.

In “Towards Trust,” Williams (a professor in systematic theology at Union Theological College, Belfast) contrasts the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth on the basis for trust in God. While Williams considers himself a traditional, evangelical believer, he also seeks to distance himself from the conservative label some of the essayists in this collection embrace. His discussion of trust depends on work of both Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, especially the latter, whom he considers the theologian essential for evangelical work in the twenty-first century.

Ward, a curate in East Sussex, relies heavily on Barth’s notion of the “polyphony” of scripture. Ward believes that “the canonical texts of scripture ultimately sing in unison about the whole of the divine redemption of humankind in Jesus Christ.” They do so, however, “only by virtue of their singing polyphonically, in unsystematic, mutually supplementing ways” (p. 213). Indeed, the curate insists, the diversity of the scriptural texts “must stretch further” (p. 212) than many are willing to imagine or tolerate.

From an overall perspective, the most intriguing feature of this collection of essays is its project of bringing together voices from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives. No reader will agree with even the chief points in every essay. The challenge they pose—to think through carefully some of the relationships among the various theological disciplines—is worthy of acceptance and, in itself, gives value to the collection.

Charles Quaintance
Assistant Professor of Theology
Hanover College, Hanover, IN

PUBLISHED IN THE BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE FOR REFORMED THEOLOGY, FALL 2004, VOL. 4, #2