BOOK REVIEW:
King, Prophet, and Priest: A Trinitarian Theology of Atonement. By Robert Sherman. Theology for the Twenty-First Century Series. New York: T & T Clark International, 2004. xi+291 pp. ISBN 0567025608. 

Robert Sherman introduces his study, a Trinitarian theology of atonement, as being directed to “Christian ministers, . . . seminary students, . . . or lay leaders,” identifying himself as an “academic theologian” writing from a pastoral motivation (p.ix). He tells his readers that the book exhibits a number of standard academic trappings and offers an alternative plan for reading his book, suggesting the reader may move directly to chapter 3 or 4, reading the first and last sections of chapters 4, 5, and 6 along with the final chapter. This, he tells the reader (p. x), leads directly to practical and pastoral implications, the goal being to gain a new appreciation of key parts of the Christian tradition, or be prompted to some new theological connections for pastoral work. 

Arising from class work in Christology at Bangor Theological Seminary and crystallizing in an article for the Scottish Journal of Theology, the manuscript became a monograph with the support of the Louisville Institute and the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, published by T & T Clark. Sherman acknowledges this to be a work of theology in the Reformed framework but still intended for an ecumenical audience, “. . . I employ Scripture as the Primary source and norm for my project (p. 48).” Yet it is necessary to qualify that with the notice “. . . I will not abstract general principles or deductions from Scripture, nor will I engage in a predominantly historical-critical examination of the biblical texts. Instead, I will offer a theological narrative and patterns of thought that echo and grow out of the biblical narratives and thought patterns (p. 48).” Sherman then presupposes, “. . . that the entirety of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, work, passion, resurrection, and ascension is a unique, indeed, pivotal redemptive act of God in history. God’s prior creation and providential sustaining of the world and his election of the people of Israel anticipate this redemptive act and his subsequent work through the Holy Spirit applies and broadens that redemption and will eventually bring it to culmination. But the hinge of God’s eternal purpose of salvation, and the focus of my project, remains the totality of Christ’s life—not just one aspect of it, such as his incarnation or his death on the cross—and what this means for the concrete and particular life of the Christian faith” (p. 49). Sherman declares, “. . . I assume that Scripture represents a unified witness to the intentions and work of the triune God, as manifested and accomplished preeminently in Jesus Christ” (p. 49). However centered this Scriptural focus seeks to be, it is necessary by page 51 to assure the reader, “However, I will not read the Bible ‘on its own.’ Rather I will read it in accord with the broad interpretive framework supplied by the church’s rule of faith and creeds, particularly as that has come down to us through the Reformed tradition. Obviously, the church, even in its Reformed branch, has never spoken with one voice in its reading of the Bible. But at least this standard should make my interpretive task a little more manageable” (p. 51). 

Sherman goes on to offer his select summary of the Trinitarian language emerging out of Scripture, the patristic attempts to express a unity of persons while preserving appropriate emphases on distinctive aspects of salvation history, his take on the use of the Threefold Office of Christ (Munus Triplex) in the Christian tradition from Eusebius, and the Reformed tradition from Bucher, through Calvin to popular piety and hymnody, and return to a consideration of Scriptural materials that would correlate or perhaps resonate to the echoes he is able to represent monophonically. While many more Christians historically have belonged to churches that responded more positively to the presentation of Christ the King than those who find their clerical magistracy grounded in the prophetic office of Christ, Sherman’s recasting of the order of offices may strike some as pressing the envelope of Reformed usage. Although committed to following Scripture, his narrative license is employed a bit freely (p. 216) in the description “But Christ’s sacrifice on the cross—especially as it is captured in Jesus’ dying words, ‘Father forgive them . . .’—offers us a different way.” Synoptic critics may note the divergence with Matthew 27:46-50, Mark 15:34-37 and Luke 23:46. Alas the disclaimer “academic trappings” is not false modesty but true in the end.

Gerald W. McCulloh
Morton Grove, IL

PUBLISHED IN THE BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE FOR REFORMED THEOLOGY, FALL 2006, VOL. 6, #2.