After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age) [Paperback]

Miroslav Volf (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age | Publication Date: January 1998

In this first volume in the Sacra Doctrina series, Miroslav Volf explores the relationship between persons and community in Christian theology. The focus is the community of grace, the Christian church. The point of departure is the thought of the first Baptist, John Smyth, and the notion of church as gathered community that he shared with Radical Reformers. Volf seeks to counter the tendencies toward individualism in Protestant ecclesiology and to suggest viable understanding of the church in which both person and community are given their proper due.

Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802844405
• ISBN-13: 978-0802844408
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. He has published and edited nine books and over 60 scholarly articles, including his book Exclusion and Embrace, which won the 2002 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A free church vision?, July 17, 2001

By 

Neil Brighton (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age) (Paperback)

Volf's book explores the question of the manner in which the church is a reflection of the triune God. His own interest is to articulate a free church vision of the church. He seeks to do this in dialogue with the Catholic theology of Ratzinger and the Orthodox theology of Zizioulas. The benefit of this is that both Ratzinger and Zizioulas represent particular and distinctive comprehensions of the trinity. The danger is that it allows Volf considerable latitude in forming his own position. The result is that the book is stronger as a critique of others than as an alternative proposal.

There are a couple of points to be made of Volf's critique of Ratzinger and Zizioulas:

1. Has he been overly selective in his choice of Ratzinger's texts in view of the fact that Ratzinger has not published a comprehensive ecclesiology nor written extensively about the Trinity.

2. Given the importance of eschatology to Volf's argument, the book would have been strengthened by a more detailed engagement with Ratzinger at this point.

3. His critique of Zizioulas's desire to give precedence to person over substance has validity. But given that Zizioulas claims to be working in continuity with the Cappadocians, it would have been helpful to draw distinctions between what Zizioulas is claiming and what they had written. In particular Zizioulas's insistence on the monarchy of the Father is an example of the degree to which he has moved from Gregory Nazianzus.

In Volf's own argument there are times when it reads like a complex justification for much current western practice. While he correctly identifies that free church ecclesiology frequently starts from below rather than from a view of the Trinity one wonders how far Volf goes to correct this. While this book does much to sharpen our thinking and opens up a number of crucial questions there are deficiencies in Volf's proposals:

We must start from a view of the Trinity that give due attention to the person and work of each member and which seeks greater understanding of the relationships between the members. While Volf seeks to distance himself from hierarchical understandings of the Trinity his own views seem to suggest that the Trinity is some form of democracy. Mutual indwelling is a critical part of our understanding but so is the priority of the Father. Flowing from this is an understanding of the role of the Spirit in the creation of fellowship and as the bond of unity as we are being incorporated into the one body over which is Christ as head. Is unity, as Volf claims, derived from the plurality of its members or not.

In short, an important book which raises important questions for the church. It is worth reading and grappling with the issues. However, in the end I think a better case can be made.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent actually, December 10, 2001

By 

Patrick Oden (San Dimas, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age) (Paperback)

It is always a distinct pleasure when one comes across an author which one has not read before. Although I have perused articles by Dr. Volf before, this was the first occasion in which I really read his text. The fact that upon finishing this book I began to seek out more of his books is a sign that something he wrote really caught my attention. Maybe it is the fact that as one raised in what can be called the free-church tradition (Baptist, Pentecostal, etc.), it is always delightful when I find a well thought out theologian who shares those same convictions. Or indeed it could be that the intention of the series to provide a Christian Theology for a postmodern age resonated within me.
After Our Likeness begins with the discussion of two very different ecclesiologies. The first is the great Catholic theologian, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. The second is the Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas. Both are esteemed within their respective Church and they are quite able representatives of their traditions. In doing this, Volf seeks to first establish the foundations of these distinct understandings of what it means to be a church, which more or less represent broadly Western and Eastern thinking as a whole. It is because of his real intent that he feels this is necessary. The primary goal of Miroslav Volf in this text is to, "contribute toward making the Free churches and their ecclesiology (or ecclesiologies) presentable, Free Churches that are dogmatically orthodox and that are numerically becoming increasingly significant." He is essentially seeking to provide a theologically developed ecclesiology which could be in dialogue with the older, and rather now defensive, ecclesiologies of the traditional churches. An example of why this is needed is found in the Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry document which was published by the World Council of Churches. Here one from a Baptist tradition feels completely left out of the so-called dialogue.
Having briefly discussed the traditional ecclesiologies, Volf then proceeds to develop one which takes into account the ancient and the modern, seeking to provide a theological model which will be useful for this century, understanding that the global church will increasingly reflect a Free Church form with or without the approval of the World Council of Churches. He begins by looking at the foundations of what the Church is, seeking to show what is at the roots and core of the creation and continuation of the Church in this world. Understanding that the Church is essentially part of ?God?s eschatological new creation?, Volf develops how a church can be identified as such. The core idea is that the Church is an assembly, an assembly which gathers in the name of Christ, committed as individuals to allow their lives to be determined by Jesus Christ. Volf then develops what this means, dealing with the issues of faith, God?s being, the specific structures which result from this core idea, and the question of how differing perspectives can still be united into one whole catholic church. In many ways, what Volf is offering is more of a starting point than a completely thorough treatment, but a starting point which demands to be included in global ecumenical discussions as representing the fastest growing understanding of what being the Church means.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars needed conversation and questions, April 6, 2007

By 

matt (the reading room) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Sacra Doctrina: Christian Theology for a Postmodern Age) (Paperback)

I have to say that the previous reviews are about as thorough as I could be, so I only want to add a few general cents here about the text.

First, his desire to have the Congregationalist/Free Church recognized as legitimate ecumenical partners for dialogue is very welcome. Since they represent one of the fastest growing segments in modern Christianity, it makes sense that they should have a voice. But a common voice would be helpful. Congregationalists are a little like talking to Hydra- who is the voice? Volf offers a defense or vision of his ecclesiology, but in the end I believe it remains just that, "his" defense of "his" ecclesiology. In my own dialogue with "Free Churchers" there always remains the but-we-don't-see-it-that-way factor that is hard to go beyond, when the next one can totally agree. I certainly believe that Volf's ideas will find resonance with many readers/prayers/hopers, but in the end, it still lacks the unifying force that remains in the mainline traditions of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy (although some would argue that Orthodox are not unified in any real sense, but that's another story...) which leads them to lack a real, unified alternative to modern society. In chapter 3, Volf argues that it is the Holy Spirit that actualizes the Church. Of course, but that is also the problem with Free Church theology. Its theological identity is always playing second fiddle to its non-conformist, non-structured ecclesial identity, leading to a least common denominator "denomination". What is most essential is then the question. But since when is the Tradition or scripture minimalist? Volf doesn't help there. Although chapter 6 tries to define what it means to be "catholic" (according to the whole), it really doesn't ring true.

Second, his ecclesiology and trinitarianism tend towards individualism, since he still fails to deal substantially with the Eucharist and Baptism and traditional Trinitarian theology (the heart of traditional ecclesiology). Since his ecclesiology is essentially individualistic (Enlightenment?), it makes sense for him to do this, but it totally misses the point. Even while he claims trinitarian models for his approach, I found them lacking in substance. God is more than three roles, three persons united in love or a common substance. (He follows Moltmann's lead in seeing the three Persons of God as individuals united in self-giving. There is certainly precedent for this in the past, starting with St. Gregory Nazianzus' Christology, but it still doesn't go far enough, or perhaps it goes too far!). What unites "God" is the Father- God proper. The Son and Spirit are not the head. What really defines Christian theology is that God exists not as three individuals with relations to each other, but as three who are relations. There is a monarchical order, even if it is beyond our understanding. And this, too, Volf criticizes in Zizioulas, since faith for Volf is rationalization, not the faith of children. Z argues for a suprarational approach/experience of the Church in the context of liturgical realities, not cognitive reflections. And this is the real heart of the issue. If we are to image the Trinity, our imaging is in what we are. I am not really me unless I am united to you. Perichoresis as Volf and Moltmann use it must move beyond united individuals in freedom (Congregationalist ecclesiology). An individual, or the isolated, self-defined Church, is not a person or church in the traditional theological sense.

This book would have been much more useful had it used the sacraments/mysteries as touchstones of ecclesiolgy.

I would suggest reading Zizioulas' "Being as Communion" or "Eucharist Church and Bishop", McPartlan's "Eucharist Makes the Church" and "Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries" by Werner Elert for a more comprehensive understanding of these topics that Volf ignores outright.