The recent resurgence of ‘popular’ theology, with virgin birth and resurrection exalted to headline status, has sent Christians of all confessions back to examine what they believe, and why they believe it. Consequently the labels of convenience have assumed the role of flags of allegiance within the church, and the things which divide us have become more evident to the world than those which unite. If Theology in Turmoil teaches us anything, it is that there is nothing new in all this. The issues which are the object of such impassioned debate today were being treated to a similar scrutiny over a century ago, and then, as now, they were the occasion for division within the Christian community.

Dr Sell’s overview of the liberal-conservative debate begins with the problems raised by Kant, Schleiermacher and Hegel, all of whom, in their own way, posed the epistemological question ‘How far does the thinking subject establish the standards of objectivity?’ The answers which they gave, the author believes, set the agenda for later immanentism, the tendency to locate the theological centre of gravity in man rather than God. This tendency is illustrated by reference to the rise of modern biblical criticism, with its far-reaching dogmatic disjunction between ‘Historie’ and ‘Geschichte’, fact and interpretation; also the various manifestations of romantic evolutionary thinking, among them the interpretation of the Incarnation as the particular fulfilment of a general propensity of man for union with God. A painstakingly careful treatment of the theology of Ritschl leads into the final two chapters in which the debate proper between ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ is documented and assessed. The picture which emerges is one of a confusing variety of subtly different positions within both theological camps, making the terms ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ awkward to define. Nevertheless, lines of demarcation are drawn, and consideration largely restricted to those within their confines. This results in the unfortunate exclusion of several notable modern theologians who have sought a third, yet by no means a neutral, position.

In the Preface the author expresses his hope that this book will be of value to the general reader, the student and the scholar alike. Yet this is not a book which could be read easily by someone with little or no knowledge of the debates of philosophy since the Enlightenment. From the outset a complex vocabulary is employed which, in the absence of a glossary, denies the casual reader any easy access to its substance. Nor is this the book for the reader seeking to wrestle theologically with the issues at stake in the debate. The book itself provides no answer to the central question ‘What is the Christian gospel?’, although a variety of answers are documented within it. Yet the essentially historical nature of the book is its undoubted strength, and for the student seeking to explore this area further, the wealth of factual and biographical detail, together with careful critical comment, will provide an indispensable research tool.