“The road to the future runs through the past.” So says the late Robert Webber in the first book of his Ancient-Future series. In Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World, Webber encourages evangelicals to return to the model of the early church as a way to bring renewal and guidance to our churches as we navigate through the murky seas of postmodernism.
Ancient-Future Faith is a thought-provoking book with many good insights. Webber’s knowledge of history and theology ground this book in the need for corporate worship that is focused on God, a church that understands itself as the body of Christ, and an evangelistic outlook as a process of discipleship.
What I Liked
Webber is right to show us how we can learn from the early church. Webber is also right to chastise evangelicals for so quickly dismissing the roots of our history and heritage. There is much to be gleaned from the classical Christian period, even if we have too often neglected our past by choosing instead to chase after the most contemporary expressions of Christianity.
Webber rightly emphasizes the importance of discipleship over quick-conversion evangelism. He claims that, for a postmodern world, the church’s witness is the most effective apologetic that we can put forth. He is also right to advocate the recovery of symbolism in our worship services.
The Bad
The generalizations found in Ancient-Future Faith are often misguided. Webber’s charts, diagrams, and tables comparing the current worldview to those of previous generations are helpful in their illustration, but their generalizations tend to polarize the discussion rather than elicit appropriate reflection. Because Webber seeks to show how a return to classical Christianity is the best reaction to the culture’s recent turn to postmodernism, he has to squeeze and force his descriptions into these categories in order to make this case.
Webber downplays the need for intellectual justification of Christianity’s truth claims. I agree that the community of faith is the best apologetic for a postmodern world, but I do not think this must replace the worthy goal of Christian apologetics. Webber leans toward Fideism in his apologetic outlook (perhaps in an overreaction to a purely rational Christianity). Why do we have to choose one apologetic method over another?
Webber believes that postmodernism demands a return to the Christus Victor theory of the atonement. While I agree with Christus Victor and Irenaeus’ theory of recapitulation, I do not believe that one theory has to be cherished above all others. Webber has a certain distaste for penal substitution, and though he does not deny its truth, he clearly denies its power to reach the current generation. Ironically, the substitutionary model of the atonement comes out even in the early church leaders that Webber quotes as evidence for Christus Victor! The idea that classical Christianity believed in Christus Victor alone is a historical fallacy.
One other part of Ancient-Future Faith bothered me. Webber goes back to the ancient church, but not to the earliest church. I kept asking myself as I read: “Why doesn’t he just go all the way back to the New Testament?” Surely, the New Testament church has more to say to us as we enter a pluralistic, postChristian society than does the Constantinian -Christendom era. While I believe we can gain insight from classical Christianity, I am not convinced it is the best period from which to draw. Furthermore, Webber downplays the significance of the Reformation, both theologically and practically, only giving lip service to its goals, theology, and reforms.
Ancient-Future Faith is an important book. I admire Dr. Webber for his work in the area of worship renewal. There is plenty of good insight contained in this book to merit its place on the thoughtful pastor’s shelf. Even when I disagreed with some of Dr. Webber’s conclusions, I felt as if the book has sharpened me and helped prepare me for the challenges ahead.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog
