MAKING GOOD

Written by Helen Oppenheimer Reviewed By Andy Draycott

The book’s subtitle is ‘Creation, Tragedy and Hope’ and in it Oppenheimer is concerned to flesh out a satisfying, non-moralistic description of what it might mean to have a Christian ethic whose theodicy is not intellectually dissatisfying. With wide-ranging learning in philosophy and well-crafted references to literature and art the author helps us to consider varying forms of goodness, most importantly beauty, and differentiate these from ‘moral’ goodness without divorcing these completely. Her goal is to be able to speak of Creation, and therefore of the Creator, as good without being glib. ‘For the Christian faith to be believable, it has to be both coherent and ethical.’

The church’s confession is woven in as a subtle, but pervasive background to the 22 short chapters. The tone of argumentation is careful and tentative but nonetheless rooted in conviction. Although the book fits together as a whole, it carries it’s rigorous plot lightly, each chapter a meditation of sorts. We find here compelling reason at work, painfully aware of loose logic and superficiality of some Christian positions. The book will perhaps strike Themelios readers as short on Bible and confident assertion, but that, it seems, is largely the point. What we may allow, if we are to be honest about the struggles people have, is that there is room for agnosticism in a process of thought, as difficult issues are thrashed out. Talk of risk and ‘incarnational deism’ may not help but the book is worth reading to the end once it has been started. We are reminded perhaps of the grace given by the object of our faith, rather than dwelling, as we are prone to do, on the subjective certainties of our current thinking.

Oppenheimer’s philosophical method, drawing on human analogy to frame her questions of Christian doctrine, may run against the grain of the evangelical mind but is nonetheless illustrative of the way many think, even if few would claim the analytical clarity of the author. As good readers, we will avoid jumping to conclusions and be rewarded with a stimulating journey from Creation to Heaven via divine and human making, and a ‘reconciliation to tragic fact of reality through looking at stories’. Such keen thinking compels us to re-examine our own handling of the reality of evil and tragedy in the light of God’s good creation and saving purpose. We might also learn to do so in language and arguments alien to our Christian sub-culture. However we almost certainly won’t adopt Oppenheimer’s language outside a company of philosophy and literature post-graduates. (The book will simply be too overtly philosophical for some.) We might be more comfortable with film plots rather than with Shakespeare and Milton. And why not start with the ideas of heaven and goodness in the film featured in still-frame photo on the front cover: What Dreams May Come (1998, dir. Vincent Ward; starring Robin Williams)?

This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book which is hard to summarise, and whilst I’m always happy to commend reading outside the usual publishing clique I’m afraid SCM have done this work a disservice on price.


Andy Draycott

Andy Draycott
Biola University
La Mirada, California, USA