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The Culture of Theology by [John Webster, Ivor J. Davidson, Alden C. McCray]

The Culture of Theology Kindle Edition

by John Webster (Author), Ivor J. Davidson (Editor), Alden C. McCray (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition

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John Webster, one of the world's leading systematic theologians, published extensively on the nature and practice of Christian theology. This work marked a turning point in Webster's theological development and is his most substantial statement on the task of theology. It shows why theology matters and why its pursuit is a demanding but exhilarating venture. Previously unavailable in book form, this magisterial statement, now edited and critically introduced for the first time, presents Webster's legendary lectures to a wider readership. It contains an extensive introductory essay by Ivor Davidson.

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169 pages
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English
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Baker Academic
Publication date

October 15, 2019
File size

7080 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"The Culture of Theology encapsulates John Webster's thinking about the task of theology at a crucial stage in his own theological development, orienting the study of theology around the living address of the gospel's God and toward the communities, conversations, and character requisite to theology's flourishing. In addition, this book exhibits many of the virtues it commends: reverent wonder before theology's divine subject matter, humble attention to the divine Word, deference to the wisdom of the communion of saints, and critical dialogue with the various conversation partners and settings of theology. For this reason The Culture of Theology is a welcome guide in the cultivation of theological understanding."
--Scott R. Swain, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando

This outstanding work offers a short account of the nature of Christian theology. In a series of six lectures, John Webster explores the privilege of thinking and speaking of God in light of "the staggering good news of Jesus Christ." How might faith approach that task? Webster proposes that we do theology well when we recognize the gospel as the most important reality. He considers the significance of church, Bible, and tradition as foundational to the unique "cultural world" the gospel brings into being, and he explores the challenges as well as the joys of inhabiting that sphere. Theology has particular responsibilities: in its academic conversations, in its self-criticism, and in its spiritual and moral life; at the heart of its calling lies prayer. Webster's exposition, here available in book form for the first time, is accompanied by an introduction by his close colleague, Ivor J. Davidson, who was involved in the original lecture series and discussed the material extensively with him. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

"This volume provides the reader with a wonderful and welcome chance to reflect with John Webster on the task of theology--its methods, sources, contexts, purpose, and character. The lectures presented here are redolent with the freshness, insight, and wisdom that characterize the finest theological inquiry. They leave one inspired and encouraged, yet also gloriously unsettled by the vocation of theology and its demands. Complete with an illuminating introduction by Ivor Davidson, this work comes highly recommended."
--Paul Nimmo, University of Aberdeen

"Why would a theologian as God-centered as John Webster be constantly ruminating on theology's culture, theology's tasks, Christian tradition, university faculties, and so forth? He does so in order to meet his hearers in the midst of their (our) theologically scandalous loss of interest in God and Christ and to call out: God is summoning you, the eschaton (Christ himself) has broken in among you, Scripture is speaking Christ's Word to you in the Spirit! When Christ is recognized for who he is, theology can rediscover itself for what it is: a joyful response to the risen Lord. Let theologians be Christians and thereby really have something to say to one another, to the university, and to the wider world."
--Matthew Levering, Mundelein Seminary

"This book is vintage John Webster--a stringent but also generous summons to let theology be about nothing less than God. It is the best account of what it means to be a theologian existentially since Karl Barth's Evangelical Theology. I hope it will find a wide readership in both the church and the academy."
--Joseph Mangina, Wycliffe College, Toronto School of Theology

"How wonderful to have Webster's Culture of Theology edited and made available to a new generation of readers in this fine book. I count myself fortunate to have had the challenge in these chapters--to strive to think of theology, its methods, aims, and practices, theologically--put to me during my student days and to have been compelled to wrestle continuously with the possibilities and perils of doing theology in the eschatological space created by 'the staggering good news of Jesus Christ.' This book stands as a winsome invitation to others to do the same."
--Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07PYY83NQ
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Baker Academic (October 15, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 15, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 7080 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 169 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1540960803

Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,235 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #816 in Systematic Christian Theology
- #2,241 in Christian Systematic Theology (Books)

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Albert

Excellent: Do Theology as a Christian

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 6, 2021

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Webster's basic point is this: don't do theology by secular rules, or as an academic exercise. Do it from the stance of being a Christian, living before God himself in Christ. In other words: do "real" theology, not head theology.

He approaches the theme by speaking of the "culture" in which true theology is done, and in which it can be done. The culture is one which is not autonomous, and one which prioritizes character and relationship with God over school-learning.

I disliked some of the dependence on Barth, and use of Barthian-ish terms / phrases. But the substance was absolutely excellent, and much needed.

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Micah Carpenter

A Needed Paradigm Shift for Theology

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 12, 2020

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I found this book to be a fantastic introduction to John Webster's theological method. His basic claim is that the theological task must be understood and practiced according to the distinctive norms which theology itself teaches. Theology, in other words, lives within the God-created world of the gospel. Theology is not to be undertaken as just another human-initiated quest for knowledge. Theology rather has its basis in God's great "interruption" of human life which has come to us God's revelation and redemption through Christ. The living God himself sets the agenda for the practice of theology. Webster's theology, at least as presented here, has a very Barthian, apocalyptic flavor to it. There are perhaps a few matters on which I would beg to differ with Webster (he stresses the theological task as something that, at times, seems almost unilaterally given by God, whereas I would suggest a more conversational dynamic between Divine address and human reply). But such arguments aside, I believe that Webster has argued for an absolutely critical paradigm shift in theological method. All too often, among scholars all across the ideological spectrum, God himself has been squeezed out of the practice of theology. Do we remember that our words are not merely about God, as if he were a distant object of our scrutiny, but that God himself has spoken to us and is present among us?

This book is short and very readable, but is also rich and deep. It may require more time to digest than your average book of this length, but it is well worth it for all those who want think more carefully about the practice of theology--and of course, the Christ-revealed God of our theology.

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Brett

Webster and Eschatology

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2019

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This book is shot through with an eschatological perspective. That is, it takes seriously that God has acted in the world in Jesus and now the end of the ages is upon us. The table of contents gives a good overview, so one can look there for more on that. One point Webster makes that needs to be heeded is that revelation is the greatest unmooring of all. If we really say that the Bible is Scripture, God's word, then this should unsettle us, make us dig deeper into Scripture, and make us rethink life in ways that other interesting but uninspired approaches and philosophies cannot. If you like Webster, buy this book. This shows some of the development of his thought.

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David M Goetz

Highly Recommended!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 20, 2020

A solid book, originally delivered as the Burns Lectures at the University of Otago in 1998. Webster's major concerns here were the nature and tasks of theology, the relation of Christian theology to the university, and the demands of the gospel on the theologian.

Ivor Davidson's introduction is super helpful, not just for its summary and exposition of the lectures themselves but for its careful consideration of how Webster might have spoken differently about these topics later in his career. Although this was not a definitive statement--JBW himself considered the text "inchoate: self-conscious, over-invested in the language of cultural practices, not yet clear enough on a doctrine of creation or history or on the abundance of God's Godness as basis of God's outer works, and thus as beginning and end of everything the theologian ever is or does" (2)--it is nonetheless marked by all the features that make Webster's work so rich and enduring: joy, humility, precision, respect for his theological forebears and peers, clear statement and description of the questions that matter, deference to Scripture and the gospel, love for the church, and love for the church's Lord.

He argues that theology needs to be rooted in its proper culture and the practices of that culture--praise, prayer, repentance--and needs both roots ("the discipline of location") and astonishment, for the eschatological space of the church and theology is characterized by "a dialectic of homelessness and belonging" (56). He argues that theologians must speak and write using both a "rhetoric of effacement" (self-renunciation for the sake of attention to the Lord and his word) and a "rhetoric of edification," for "theology cannot be anything other than a commendation of the gospel" (79). He argues that the university benefits from theology and theology from the university when the university is--as it should be but rarely is--a place of "consent to conflict." He argues that the content of our faith enables self-critique: "Pertinent criticism will be criticism which takes the measure of a distinctive form of human life and culture by setting it in the light of appropriate standards ... In sum: the end of critical theological inquiry is to press the question of the fidelity of all forms of Christian apostolic life, though, and speech to the revelation of God which projects them into being" (125). This section could have used more on Scripture as the norma normans non normata. Perhaps this need drove Webster to his consideration of Holy Scripture in the years following these lectures. In the final lecture he argues that theologians must be marked by prayer, and then he commends three specific "virtues" (a term he appreciated but still resisted at this point) to the theologian or would-be theologian: fear of God, patient teachability, and freedom from self-preoccupation. Lord, grant all three to the doctors of your church!

"Good theological practice depends on good theologians" (45). "The gospel of the new world" (63). "Theology offers an orderly statement of an amazing reality" (93). "Revelation is nothing other than the history of God's covenant with humanity in its own intrinsic perspicuity" (121). Sanctification: "so all-consuming in its demands, so rewarding in ways that we can scarcely imagine" (132). "Prayer is that basic human action which corresponds to our incapacity, to our unsuitability for what is required of us, and therefore to the utter necessity of the merciful intervention of God. To pray is to be human in the theater of grace" (143-144). "Little progress is possible in theology unless one's will is broken ..." (145).

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