This book is best approached as a theological smorgasbord rather than a meal of nouveau cuisine. It offers a vast and varied selection of dishes, some more pleasing to the palate than others, but in a context of shared fellowship in the church’s history of Christological construction.

The central contention of the author as stated in his preface, is that ‘Nothing pushes Christology back into the centre of theological concerns more than the threat of cultural domination and nothing removes Christology to the margins more than the scourge of cultural accommodation.’ This helpful and balanced observation is not only crucial to understanding much of what is happening in theology at the moment, but it informs the author’s extensive historical—cultural investigations into the development of Christology, particularly in the period of modernity.

Describing the many ways in which Christological reflection has been engaged over the centuries, the author rightly points out that the cultural lens is often overlooked. His task, then, is to rectify the oversight, and examine Christology through three cultural trajectories—cosmological, political, and anthropological. Too often, he argues, Christology has not been sufficiently contextual, leaving romantic, natural law, liberation and feminist Christologies wedded to the emancipation myths of the Enlightenment. The author finally reflects on the strengths and weaknesses of the three Christological trajectories in an attempt to construct a Christology appropriate for a post-foundationalist, post-modern era. His suggestions are general rather than specific, signifying the complexity of dialogue between revelation and culture, in an age of deconstruction.

This is an adventurous book of theological methodology. It surveys a broad sweep of western history, while presenting the development of Christology through modernity as an accommodation to various cultural influences. It is intelligent in its presentation, and is perceptive in its observations, particularly of the fact of philosophical impact on theological development. It is essentially a specialist tome, for those with both a background and interest in theology and cultural studies.

The sheer volume of people and ideas considered is impressive, though it leaves several ill-treated. It would have been helpful, for example, to trace the claims made about thinkers like Kant and Locke through their own Christological thought. In several cases, the primary sources are overlooked in favour of rather general secondary sources. Yet, as a dialogue between many voices it is consistently interesting and engaging.

Some sections and author treatments are done very well, and are given thorough attention. Theologians such as Tillich, Rahner, Sobrino, Barth, and Moltmann seem to be especially familiar to the author, and when he digs into their primary sources, the work buzzes to life. His ‘assessments’ at the end of each chapter are particularly helpful, and are eminently fair in their incisive treatments of ideas and scholars.

Other parts of the book surprise with their sweeping conclusions. For example, the chapter on Christology and Enlightenment is particularly dismaying, as it perpetuates gross but fashionable overstatements that many scholars have come to recognise as sweeping generalisations where a more nuanced understanding is required. There is also room to consider whether epistemological deconstruction is itself a capitulation to modern, Kantian assertions about what is knowable. (The author does not mention that Kant eventually rejected both pure and practical forms of reason.) While his suspicion of Enlightenment thought helps the author to develop his critical lenses, a more constructive approach may have been found through a study of those Christians who responded quite differently to the influences of modernity than the mainstream voices who sit at the centre of his focus. The text itself is not particularly clean, with many sentence fragments and occasional errors, including an attribution of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Beyond Tragedy to his brother Richard, something that would have probably dismayed them both!

In the end, the author has certainly provided an ‘all you can eat buffet’. Some dishes are tastier than others, and some are easier to chew. And, as with every smorgasbord, you might leave the table completely full, but at least you know you’ve got your money’s worth.

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