Chosen in Christ (Book Review)

 

Chosen in Christ: Revisiting the Contours of Predestination by Cornelis Venema (Reformed Exegetical Doctrinal Series, Christian Focus, Fearn, Ross-shire, 2019) 

It's been a while since I've done a book review on blog, despite having read a number of excellent Christian books in the last year. So, I thought it was high time to do one and the book I have just finished, is well worth reviewing and recommending.

The difficult doctrine of predestination or election has long been of particular interest to me and Cornelis Venema's book on the subject is an excellent contribution to this area of doctrine, often regarded as being at the heart of Reformed theology. As might be expected, Venema takes a Calvinist point of view and endorses unconditional election. This is reflected both in his positive presentations of his view and in his critiques of other approaches to election and predestination.

The book reads like a collection of essays on topics concerning predestination rather than a single cohesive treatise or argument on the subject. 

The first part of the book takes a biblical theological tour of the Bible's teaching on election and predestination across three chapters that look at, in turn, the doctrine of election in the Old Testament, the doctrine of election in the New Testament (excluding Paul) and then the doctrine of election in Paul's epistles. This material takes up about a third of the book.

The remaining chapters take a more historical theology perspective, with chapters on election and predestination in Augustine, Reformation theology, Arminian conditional election, Karl Barth's doctrine of election, and what Venema calls "Neo-Arminianism" - more commonly called Open Theism. As expected, Venema's treatment of Augustine and Reformed theology is positive, while his assessment of Arminianism, Barthianism and Open Theism are negative critiques.

The final chapter is entitled Concluding Theological and Pastoral Reflections where the author presents his own reflections on some common objections to the Reformed doctrine of predestination, such as regarding evangelism and the gospel offer.

Election and predestination are scarcely the simplest of Christian doctrines and any treatment of them is bound to be somewhat complex. Venema's book is no exception. In my view, this is at least a semi-technical treatment, aimed at theology students and pastors more than a general Christian readership, I think many people would find it difficult to work through this book. It offers an in depth treatment, particularly of the various deviations from the Reformed doctrine. I would not recommend it as a first read on this topic by any means. For that, I would suggest various other works, whether one of the many books on the Five Points of Calvinism, or A. W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God or James White's The Potter's Freedom. In addition, the relevant chapters of a good Reformed systematic theology, such as Berkhof, would be worth reading before turning to this book from Cornelis Venema. 

The work is valuable for a more in-depth study of the subject, particularly as I said, for the historical analysis and context.

Simply Christian

Simply Christian
Tom Wright
SPCK 2006

Simply Christian is Tom Wright's straightforward and simple introduction to the Christian faith. As such it is designed to be read by people who have little or no prior knowledge of Christianity and though, as with most Wright books I would have issues with how he treats some subjects, overall I think this book is an excellent introduction and I would not have a problem recommending it to any of my non-Christian friends. The comparison with C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity are obvious and I think self-consciously so in Wright's choice of title and approach to his subject. But whereas Lewis, writing in the 1940s, spends part of his classic book in apologetics territory - arguing for God's existence and so forth - Wright does not really engage in apologetics at all.

Instead, Wright does what I think is quite a clever thing though it leaves him open to some fair criticism. He starts with a treatment about mankind's sinfulness, yet he does it without calling it sin. Now straight away some will object to this as Wright soft peddling on sin. I think that's a bit unfair. Looking on Wright's book more charitably, I think he has decided to not mention 'sin' as such because he did not want to alienate or confuse his 21st century audience before getting an opportunity to explain what sin is actually like. Although he may not use the word, he certainly writes powerfully about the subject. In the first part of the book called "Echoes of a Voice" Wright points out four areas of life where things have gone wrong. They are: (1) our longing for justice and our anger at injustice in the world (that is just isn't right the way things are), (2) our longing for a spiritual element in our lives, (3) our longing for good and loving relationships with other people and (4) our longing and appreciation of beauty in a world marred by so much ugliness.

The problem I would have is not with what he says, but with what he doesn't say. It would have been good I think to have added a final section in the first part dealing with the God-ward aspect of sin - that we have rebelled against and insulted a holy God. This in turn would have naturally led to greater balance later in the book. 

Part Two is entitled "Staring at the Sun" and is a well-written and clear presentation of a number of key ideas in biblical theology including God, Israel, Jesus, the Cross and Resurrection and the Holy Spirit. Here Wright outlines what he considers to be "the gospel" according to the New Testament. As Wright has often said "the gospel" in biblical terms is not an ABC guide to "How I get saved and go to heaven" although it has often been reduced to this in evangelical circles. Rather, although Wright recognises individual salvation is one of the key things to flow from the gospel, it is not itself the gospel. The gospel, according to Wright, is that Christ is the true Jewish Messiah and through his resurrection has revealed himself as the King and Lord of all the world. It is here that I think Wright misses out on some of the New Testament's emphasis. Although Wright focuses on Christ as King and the resurrection, this is only half of the Bible's emphasis. The Bible also focuses on Christ as Saviour and the cross. Wright sometimes seems to miss out on this emphasis - and it is here that his downplaying of sin may also be a legitimate criticism. Downplayed sin results in a downplayed Saviour perhaps?

Part Three is called "Reflecting the Image" and in a series of interesting chapters, Wright discusses worship, prayer, Bible reading, the gospel, the Church and the Future. Each of these reflect Wright's distinctive views to some extent, but also contain much that would be uncontroversial. One point of disagreement I have is when he says that it doesn't matter whether we call it the Lord's Supper, Communion, the Eucharist or the Mass. Wright lumps all together. But the fact is that there are significant differences between Protestants and Roman Catholics on this point and we certainly do not all believe the same thing!

Like most of Tom Wright's books, Simply Christian is a mixed bag. Although it is wonderfully written and easy to read, and although he deals with many things in a winsome and accurate way, there are those characteristic issues at the same time. For this reason, no doubt some would question using this book to reach out to non-Christians. I wouldn't go as far as that, but I probably would want to supplement this with something that is not quite so idiosyncratic. It might just be worth pointing out to non-Christians that this is simply Wrightian Christianity (from the New Perspective on Paul viewpoint) and not necessarily what Christians have always believed or all believe now. If there had been more mention of the God-ward aspect of sin and personal guilt as a result and if there had been more said about the cross and Christ as Saviour, I think the book would have been far stronger and Wright would have lost nothing in doing so.

Once again, this is a case of agreeing with Wright in what he affirms, but questioning a lot of what he omits from the book.

From Creation to New Creation

From Creation to New Creation
by Tim Chester
Paternoster Press

This is a superb overview of the story of the Bible from God's creation of the universe in the past through to God's new creation of heaven and earth for eternity in the future. The book's subtitle is "Understanding the Bible Story" and that about sums up this book's intent and method. It sees the Bible not as a collection of proof texts but as a grand narrative, as a series of stories. He also makes it very clear, in line with the Emmaus Road appearance of the risen Christ, that Jesus Christ is the central figure and focal point of the whole Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

At times the scope of the story that Tim Chester helps us to understand simply staggers the mind. We see the story of God creating the world and human beings and the story of Adam and Eve choosing to disobey God. Chester's explanation of the danger of men and women "knowing good and evil" was not one I've noticed before, but it struck me as obviously correct. He argues that it was not being aware of good and evil that was the problem (this is often the way the verse is interpreted), but human beings deciding for themselves what constituted good and evil. This ties in much better with the Bible's picture of fallen humanity and our rebellious, sinful nature.

The story continues with God's choice of Abraham to be the one through whom he would create a nation, through whom the Messiah would come and ultimately through whom "all the nations" of the earth would be blessed.

Chester then charts the development of the nation of Israel through Isaac, Jacob and the Twelve Tribes, to the formation of a nation that was freed from slavery in Egypt, becoming a powerful nation with its own monarchy. He also traces the decline of the nation from David's day through to the exile in Babylon in the time of the prophets.

The narrative reaches a crescendo with the coming of Jesus as God's Messiah in the New Testament. Again some of what Chester writes here was new and fascinating to me. He talks about the decline and decline of Israel until there was only one faithful Israelite left - the faithful remnant was reduced to just one man, Jesus Christ. So, as Elijah had thought he was the only one left who trusted in God, so later that would be the case for Christ. Christ carried out the task of blessing the nations that national Israel failed to do, through his life, death and resurrection.

The rest of the New Testament explains the creation of Christ's new people - the new Israel - who fan out from their covenant head just as national Israel grew out of Abraham. But as Christ is also the second Adam, this new Israel includes people from every nation on earth.

The story culminates in more than the restoration of Eden, but a new creation and a new heaven and earth where God and his people will live in peace and blessedness forever.

It's quite a story when you see it all laid out before you in broad vistas. Chester does an excellent job in this short 160-page book in which he unfolds the basic theme of the Bible, God's promise of salvation in four key elements:

• The Promise of a People who know God
• The Promise of a Place of Blessing
• The Promise of a King and a Kingdom
• The Promise of a Blessing to the Nations
  

It really made me want to re-read the biblical narrative for myself again. I think that by keeping the big picture in mind, it helps us understand the details of the narrative along the way.

I would recommend this without reservation. There are few Christians who would not benefit from reading this either as a guide before embarking on a journey through the Old Testament or as a refresher for the more experienced traveller.