THE FAITH OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Written by Tyron Inbody Reviewed By Gerald Bray

Dr Inbody has taught systematic theology for many years and describes his book as the fruit of his attempts to come to terms with what he sees as the massive shifts which have occurred in theological study since he first began his career. In an engaging introduction, he tells us that he originally came from a conservative evangelical church background and then was exposed to a theological education in which the claims of classical Protestant liberalism were still very much in the air. He telis us that he bought into them at the time, only to discover very soon after he began teaching, that the cultural climate was changing in fairly dramatic ways. A revival of conservative religiosity, extending even to fundamentalism, upset the liberal consensus of his college years and forced him and his colleagues into a radical rethinking of their assumptions. The result was post-modernism, and Dr Inbody has been running with that ever since. As he tells us, he likes to think of himself as a blend of evangelical piety, classical liberalism and postmodernism to which no particular label can be attached. In a sense, he has moved into a world of his own, and it is this which he invites us to explore with him.

The focus throughout the book is on faith, understood as constructive engagement with the Christian tradition as this has been conveyed to us through the Bible, the church and the influences of our secular culture. Taking this approach, he goes through the standard subjects of traditional theology—God, the world, evil, Christology, soteriology and so on. In each chapter he takes up the customary language used by theologians and sifts it so that it can be made to fit with his vision of what a contemporary theology ought to look like. The result, it has to be said, is disastrous. The chapter on God is both fundamental to the book and paradigmatic of what to expect. According to Dr Inbody, our knowledge of God is derived from many sources, and the Bible’s testimony cannot be accepted uncritically because it contains internal contradiction which have to be eliminated by taking rational decisions about what is acceptable to the modern mind and what is not. Among the things that must be rejected are ‘patriarchal’ terms used for the person of the Trinity—no more Father or Son, though Dr Inbody admits that it is not easy to find acceptable substituted for the traditional vocabulary.

Those who believe that theology is the study of divine revelation as found in Scripture will find it difficult to follow what Dr Inbody is saying and impossible to sympathize with it. In some ways this is a pity, since when he discusses particular issues like divine impassibility, he has some useful points to make and some helpful insights to share. However, his overall framework is alien to the orthodox mindset and readers committed to that are certain to be irritated before they are enlightened by what he has to say. As a study of what has happened to someone who started off in an evangelical church and ended up in a liberal seminary, this book is very instructive. However, as a study of God and Christian doctrine it leaves a great deal to be desired and is unlikely to impress anyone who has not followed its author’s trajectory through life.


Gerald Bray

Gerald Bray is research professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, where he teaches history and doctrine. He is a minister in the Church of England and the editor of the Anglican theological journal Churchman.