Fifty years prior to the publication of the original Dutch edition of this book Berkouwer began his theological career as a student at the Free University of Amsterdam. The author has prepared this useful survey of critical theology since 1920 in an attempt to draw together the insights and experiences of a five-decade career in academic theology.

After a short historical overview of the period and its leading thinkers Berkouwer interacts with several key issues which in his judgment have dominated the theological scene during the last fifty years. First the author sketches the lively debate over the place of apologetics, particularly in Dutch theology. Berkouwer rightly rejects the skepticism of Kuyper, Barth and Van Til, and sides with scholars such as Hepp, Bavinck and Heim who sought to shape a creative and relevant apologetic for the orthodox faith.

Quite naturally Berkouwer interacts more extensively with Karl Barth than with any other figure. While not entirely pleased with Barth’s inordinate emphasis on divine transcendence, his positivism of revelation or his depreciation of apologetics, Berkouwer generally endorses Barth’s positive contributions to theology and preaching.

Secondly, the author discusses the ongoing Reformed debate on election and reprobation. The reader who casually assumes that Dutch theology monolithically endorses double predestination will want to read Berkouwer’s excellent treatment of the soteriological tension between the divine sovereign initiative and the human response. This excellent discussion of a knotty problem itself is worth the price of the book.

Berkouwer’s chapter on ‘The authority of Scripture’ focuses not on the current ‘battle for the Bible,’ but on the problem of the historicity of the Gospels and the validity of the historical-critical method. The question is astutely asked whether the radical innovations of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century critical theology have led to a better and deeper understanding of the Word of God or to more authentic preaching. If forced to choose between the ‘unscientific’ theology of Paul, Luther and Calvin, on one hand, and the ‘scientific’ results of modern neologists, on the other, Berkouwer would have no hesitancy in siding with the former.

In his discussion on the relation between faith and reason Berkouwer skilfully threads his way between the polarities of a mindless fideism and a faithless rationalism by seeking to do justice to both realities. Faith is not antithetically set against reason, although faith is summoned to transcend the powers of human ratiocination. In the light of abuses of the dialectical school, Berkouwer offers a balanced analysis of paradox and antinomy as they relate to the perception of truth from the divine and human perspectives.

No discussion of twentieth-century theology would be complete without interaction with questions of eschatology. We are rightly cautioned against a false preoccupation with a futurist eschatology as, for example, dispensationalism’s flight into an ‘escapist apocalypticism’ (p. 181). While in no wise depreciating the legitimacy of eschatology, Berkouwer pleads for a more authentic balance between this-worldly and other-worldly concerns, between present and future dimensions of the kingdom. For the Marxist on the left and the fundamentalist on the right the approach should be ‘both-and’ rather than ‘either-or.’

In the final chapter Berkouwer interacts with grass-roots concern in the church that theology has become unglued and is out of control. The author responds that theology always has been in a state of flux. When questions have been raised regarding the trinity, the incarnation, or the atonement, theology has provided only provisional and partial answers. Berkouwer’s position on the matter appears to me more clinical than pastoral. Confronted with a welter of opinions the author opts for the academician’s tolerance of viewpoints—be they radical or conservative—rather than the pastor’s concern to cut through to the truth for the sake of the spiritual life of the church.

On balance, Berkouwer’s work is an excellent survey of modern theology which the divinity student is urged to read and master. If the discussion rather consistently focuses on the Dutch scene, it merely reflects the fact that the author speaks from his own personal situation. For the reader not familiar with theology in the Netherlands this feature could prove to be an asset.

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