"A forceful, scholarly call to return to the solid ground of the ancient creeds of Christianity. Dr. Montgomery's incisive observations on Barth, Bultmann, Tillich, de Chardin, Pike and others may rankle some readers on occasion. But there can never be any question about the mental acumen he brings to bear upon his subject or the skill with which he pens his views. Montgomery is so obviously at home in the area of the theological, and so conversant with the convictions of his fellow theologians that he certainly must be reckoned with. Not content with only analyzing the suicide of theology, the author also gives a proposal for its resurrection."
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely challenging and thought provoking!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Suicide for Christian Theology (Paperback)
Montgomery covers a wide array of subjects dealing with challenges upon Christiaity, specifically on the historicity of Christ, God-is-dead theorists, the sufficiency of Scripture for today, and anti-God arguments based on feelings and "I think..."Not for remedial readers; not for cowards; not for closed-minds. Definitely for serious scholars; a must for pastors; necessary for apologetics. A big book with lots of material that might be considered esoteric if read as "light" reading. Definitely take your time with this one.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful.,
By GangstaLawya (TimBuckToo) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Suicide for Christian Theology (Paperback)
Montgomery has a strong appreciation for science and the application of scientific standards to theological questions. Moreover, his education was saturated by analytic philosophy, such as Max Black, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. His application of science to epistemological questions therefore has an approach utilizing the insights of analytic philosophy. He takes seriously questions raised by John Wisdom and Antony Flew and tackles them head on quite successfully. This is a large book with an enormous amount of information. Thankfully, the author has a very clear writing style, not wanting to wax verbose and dazzle us with his extensive vocabulary but actually wanting to communicate. This latter is attributed to his mentor Edward John Carnell whose prose is second to none in clarity. In dealing with scientific theory, Montgomery lays out what science accomplishes in a very clear fashion in the chapter dealing with the theologian's craft. He takes stock of Wittgenstein on this that has some profound insights about it. With regard to epistemology, he deals with the Hegelian ideal of absolute knowledge. To make proper judgments about the human condition, especially as regard to morals, man would have to stand outside the human situation to see it aright. Of course, man cannot do this, hence is doomed to a paltry understanding of his own condition notwithstanding the penetrating thoughts of a Plato or a Buddha. Without "revelation" or "contact from the outside world" we are left without hope or certainty as to the ultimate fate we all share; namely, death. Any man who claims to resolve this issue would have to deal with it head on. Although he disregards Anselm's ontological argument, he approves of Norman Malcolm's moral version of it on account of his appreciation of Anselm's short treatise Cur Deus Homo ("When God became Man"). The historical resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pivotal event for all of these epistemological dilemmas because, by rising from the dead, Jesus showed He could deal with the problem of death. Moreover, rising from the dead supports His claims to have come from outside the world since He claims to be the author of life and demonstrates it by rising from the dead. It also demonstrates Jesus' ability to understand the human condition without any flaws in knowledge. By coming from outside the world, Jesus isn't limited in His understanding. Therefore, we can have confidence in His opinions and judgments. In addition, by taking the sins of the world upon Himself and rising from the dead in spite of that condition, He demonstrates His power over sin. Although God is quite beyond our ability to comprehend or even withstand in all His infinite glory, He shows His love by appearing in a form we can relate to, in the form of a man so that when we see Jesus, we "see the Father." Therefore, with regard to our moral shortcomings of sin, we can either have Him as our Savior or have Him as our Judge. Although I have some misgivings with Montgomery's silence on other issues, such as the role secret societies and cabals have in silencing the Christian message in the world, you can learn a lot from him. You can appreciate the fact that, unlike most so-called Christian authorities today, he reads widely, and isn't stuck in the chicken coop with his Scofield reference bible and R. A. Torrey book of answers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Practically unintelligible for the common man.,
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This review is from: Suicide for Christian Theology (Paperback)
I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this, but I found the writing so complicated that I had difficulty following the intricately woven arguments. I actually had to take some of his sentences and rewrite them in simpler terms before I understood what he meant. I heard that Montgomery once said he writes this way on purpose so that the average person can't take his ideas and then mis-state them. Too bad he didn't follow the example of the greatest theologian who ever lived and speak in the language of the common man. His writings would be much more influential and impactful if he had. I suggest Ravi Zacharias for a more contemporary apologetic that can be read without constant reference to a dictionary. PS. I am no dummy either. I have a 3.96 GPA at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
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