Mike Higton, Christian Doctrine (Long Lane, London: SCM Press, 2008), xi + 413 Pps. $22.99.
Mike Higton is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter. This SCM Core Text: Christian Doctrine offers a contemporary and accessible introduction to Christian theology. It is written, as per the introduction, to undergraduate university students. It is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of all the major options in the interpretation of Christian doctrine, nor is it a detailed history of Christian doctrine. In this sense, it is not even a Systematic Theology. It is, however, one man’s attempt to make sense of Christian doctrine (ix). As such, it is an expanded exploration of one way of telling the Christian story. The text is divided into two main parts: part one focuses upon the life of God, and part two focuses upon life in the world and the way in which it is drawn into the life of God. Accordingly, part one covers such areas as the Trinity, the incarnation of the Son, and the sending of the Spirit. Part two covers such areas as creation, providence, eschatology, sin, the church, and the bible. In what follows, significant points shall be highlighted from the text under review.
In chapter one, Higton notes that ‘theology’ means ‘rational discourse about God’ (5). Herein, Higton stresses the import of the larger Christian community in the derivation of any substantial theology regarding key teachings, noting that locale-centric theology is often errant (e.g. the Corinthians). Notably, Higton promotes a non-foundationalist view of rationality (26). Moreover, knowing God requires participation in the life of God (41). In chapter three, Higton introduces a fundamental distinction between God’s immanent life and the economy of God, noting that to claim that God makes God’s immanent life known in the economy is to also claim that what people learn about the economy can be trusted at all times, which he deems erroneous (71–72). Higton identifies the ‘The Threefold Way’ in chapter four, contending therein that to know the Spirit is to know Jesus, and that to know Jesus is to know the Spirit; additionally, to the Father is to know Jesus, and to know Jesus is to know the Father; thirdly, to know the Spirit is to know the Father, and to know the Father is to know the Spirit (88). The whole threefold economy is, according to Higton, the self-revelation of God (94).
Higton asserts that any significance that Jesus has in Christian thought he has because of his entirely human life, as the exemplar of it (106–107). In so doing, however, Jesus did not cease to be the eternal Son, but had two natures in one hypostasis instead (131). Within the sixth chapter, Higton avers that the Spirit is the name given to the life-giving, community-shaping, and justice-building power of God. Therein he claims that the Spirit is God’s sustaining presence, animating creation from within, imparting to it life and dynamism (139). In the eighth chapter, Higton introduces and minimally elaborates upon the traditional threefold division of providence: conservatio, concursus, and gubernatio, and argues that this providential care of creation is a necessary condition for human freedom (196). He also contends herein that the laws of efficient causality that govern the universe depend upon the deeper laws of final causality that specify what the universe is for and where it is going (207). Importantly, Higton’s discussion of eschatology in chapter nine argues that the eschatological vision laid forth in the bible is a recipe for political discernment and activism. It should be noted that Higton is no advocate of the classical “penal substitution” metaphor of atonement, though the model can be salvaged if the ‘punishment’ is understood as the paying of the costs inherent in the restoration of sinners to flourishing life (283).
The marks of the church, as laid out in the Creeds of Christendom are examined in chapters thirteen (‘One and Catholic’) and fourteen (‘Apostolic and Holy’). In asserting that the church is one and holy, Higton notes that worship is the central defining feature of the church, and that ecumenism is the imperative of the church (309). In claiming that the church is apostolic and holy, Higton highlights that the church is called into being by witness and for witness, is holy now, and is upon the pathway toward holiness (334). In the last chapter, sixteen, Higton relates his own theological methodology by way of a narrative: the story that the world is being drawn by the Spirit into conformity to Christ on the way to the Father (376). This assertion validates and makes explicit, in its thrust, the Trinitarian worldview implicit within the book theretofore.
All in all, this book explores central Christian doctrines, and in each case, shows how the doctrine makes sense, and how it is should be integrated into Christian life. It will help beginning theological students to how Christian doctrine affects the way that one looks at everything. Higton sought to produce a textbook for undergraduate students that might help them make sense of Christian doctrine; I view his attempt to be successful.
Bradford McCall
Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA