Anthony C. Thiselton, The Thiselton Companion to Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015. Pp. xxiii + 860. Cloth, $75.00.
Anthony C. Thiselton is professor emeritus of Christian theology at the University of Nottingham, England. Covering everything from “Abba” to “Zwingli,” The Thiselton Companion to Christian Theology offers a comprehensive account of a wide sweep of topics and thinkers in Christian theology. The entries comprise both short descriptive surveys and longer essays of original assessment. The articles on God, Christology, and the Holy Spirit, for example, vary between 20,000 and 28,000 words, whereas the average length of an article is 700 words. Each entry has an attendant bibliography. Thiselton is clear in that this is a companion to Christian theology, and therefore he has avoided other faiths, only marginally touching on ethics and liturgy as well. He is keen to cite sources in the entries, and is careful to quote the actual language that the theologian originally wrote in, if applicable.
Central theological topics – such as atonement, Christology, God, and Holy Spirit – and such theologians as Aquinas, Augustine, Barth, Calvin, Küng, Luther, Moltmann, and Pannenberg are herein covered. Additionally, such positions within Christianity as absolute idealism, apophatic theology, kenotic theology, natural theology, open theism, panentheism, and pantheism are highlighted and discussed by Thiselton. Topics such as aggiornamento, allegory and allegorical interpretation, the authority of the bible, the communion of saints, evolution, filioque, glossolalia, the intermediate state, glossolalia, prevenient grace, and the relationship between science and religion are described and expounded upon. The book includes a helpful time chart at the onset that dates all of the theologians discussed in the text and highlights key events in Christian history. Select reading suggestions conclude each of the longer entries.
Gained from his fifty-plus years of study and teaching, and drawing on the concept of his previous Concise Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Religion (OUP, 2002), The Thiselton Companion to Christian Theology is a text that contains some 600 articles, from A-Z, on theologians, theological concepts, biblical words, time periods, and systems of thought. Written entirely by eminent scholar Anthony Thiselton, the title is impressive in part because it features a coherence that is lacking in most multi-authored volumes, which avoids the danger of presenting an uneven work. As it is written by a single author, it also avoids an imposition of word length by a general editor, and as such, the entries herein receive the word length that subject or thinker genuinely warrants. Valuable for both research and teaching, The Thiselton Companion to Christian Theology is a handy one-volume reference for pastors, students, teachers, and academics alike. I recommend this for all parties who have interests in evangelical theology.
Bradford McCall Holy Apostles College and Seminary
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