16 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, October 31, 2005
This review is from: Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (Spectrum) (Paperback)
I enjoy different viewpoint books because I can learn about what others believe and why. I think this helps me be a better rounded student of theology. I looked forward to this book with great anticipation, as I was looking for deeper study in this issue. Unfortunately, this book was one in which I was very disappointed.
The first 3 sections (Reformed, Lutheran and Wesleyan) begin with discussions from their "tradition" (a term most Evangelicals are averse to) first, and seem to treat Scripture as secondary. They discuss their central theologians first and in similar terms to that of Scripture (infallible). The Pentecostal view never once uses the term "Sanctification" in its writing, and instead uses this book as a platform for Pentecostal history and general systematic theology. This essay was the epitome of "off-topic" writing. While I have a Pentecostal background, I thought this was a lost opportunity to explain this issue in a different way from the other congregations did. The Contemplative view is shown despite this being called a "conservative evangelical" book. This view, while said to have a long lineage, is a new age mysticism that discusses Gnosticism in less than unfavorable terms. The mere inclusion of contemplative theology in this book seems strange since their tradition lends more to feeling/experience and less to study/knowledge.
Of those interested in this book, I would believe that most would be interested in their exegesis of Scripture. The Bible is full of passages on both Sanctification and Justification (a tightly bound theological concept.) Here is a stat sheet of sorts regarding Scriptural references and amount of pages.
Reformed: 11 references in 20 pages
Lutheran: 132 references in 28 pages
Wesleyan: 73 references in 22 pages
Pentecostal: 27 references in 21 pages
Contemplative: 17 references in 17 pages
Many of these references were lists of parallel passages. But, with the amount of Scripture available for discussion and reference on this topic, I found most of the writings sadly lacking in Scriptural reference. (3 of the writers really dropped the ball in regards to Scriptural discussion, which is the foundation of all of these beliefs, even the contemplatives.)
There are surely other books on Sanctification that can help (I am off to search for others now). This is not a book that is useful for any level of theologian, pastor or lay-person as it does not cover the topic suggested in full, but only gives good inputs by 3 similar beliefs and leaves out much of evangelical teaching on Sanctification.
Another issue is that 4 of the theologians (all but the Pentecostal, since the Pentecostal view was a basic discussion of systematic theology from a Pentecostal view) used liberal theologians and philosophers in their discussions. For a conservative evangelical book, this is strange. Kierkegaard, Bultmann and Bonhoeffer are three that somewhat strange to find in a self-described conservative Christian book.
---My review is NOT based out of disagreement with these beliefs, but because I think this book sorely missed the mark of the intended purpose.---
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7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Where does the Christian life start, and what does it do?, May 30, 2004
This review is from: Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (Spectrum) (Paperback)
This book is an excellent study, comparison, and critique of the Lutheran, Reformed, Wesleyan, Pentecostal, and Contemplative views on Sanctification. As another reviewer correctly noted, the Lutheran and Reformed views are intentionally founded on the Bible, and arrive at their conclusions from key Scriptural passages. The Wesleyan, Pentecostal, and Contemplative views though making occasional references to Scripture, are formulated based on experience and are much more subjective. Though the content of the latter three essays is of less substance, I rate the book at four stars because of the valuable information it offers on the different perspectives.
Another feature of the book which makes it all the more interesting are the responses to each of the five essays. After each view is presented, the other four authors provide their compliments as well as their critiques. It also becomes evident as one reads the book, how the Lutheran and Reformed views are very Christ-centered, while the remainder are anthropocentric. None of the essays are flawless, of course. The Lutheran essay is a little too short and doesn't cover enough ground, and the Reformed essay wrongly seeks the motivation for Christian sanctification in the 3rd use of the Law. Yet both nail the essential point of how the Christian life is lived as both saint and sinner (Romans 7).
The Wesleyan author explicitly doubts this Christian truth, which is why he is able to hold to the faulty notion of "Christian perfection", which ends up watering-down the demands of the law. The Contemplative author seeks illumination and love of God in mystic inner meditation, a dangerous practice because it seeks God elsewhere than He has promised to be found--namely in His Word and Sacraments. And the Pentecostal view makes speaking in tongues an essential criteria of sanctification, which certainly adds to what the Scriptures say.
Altogether, the essays here are valuable reading, but each must be read critically, and examined against the light of Scripture.
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11 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
clear up the confusion, June 21, 2000
This review is from: Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification (Spectrum) (Paperback)
Do you realize that the terms justification and sanctification are as confusing as they sound? How many debates over these issues have molded and effected church history? Books like these can analyze such views putting them side by side. How often have people who stood behind the pulpit made an undistinguishable clatter which have left their congregations with an obscure reference on how they ought to live. I was excited to see this book and I hope that more ministers will read it and glean the truths seen in it. We live in a day where the paradigm shift from living by feeling, opinion and sentimentality have dominated our so called expostions. We declare that we want to meet the needs of our people. What is their need? To walk as Christ walked. I am tired of the old nobody's perfect, lets lower the standard chorus from soceity and the so called church. Let us be holy. What a worthy subject for study in a thoughtlessly benign era.
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