Religion and Revelation : A Theology of Revelation in the World's Religions

Rating:
Summary: Trig Johnson on Prof. Keith Ward's "Religion and Revelation"
Review: Not as engaging as Professor Ward "live" (be it lecture, luncheon or tutorial); but an endeavour worthwhile, nevertheless: his is a lucid articulation, quasi-rigorous examination, fair evaluation, and creative conceptualization of five major world religious traditions' (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism) concepts of revelation. Certain to evoke controversy and to stimulate dialogue both within and across these traditions, "Religion and Revelation" will appeal to theologians, philosophers of religion, and anthropologists, in particular; professional scholars and non-specialists, alike. Trig Johnson of Florida

Rating:
Summary: Interesting theory of revelation
Review: The noble aspiration of this book is to give a theological (& eventually Christian) accountof revelation as an ubiquitous cultural phenomenon appearing in all manifestations of the spiritual. He deals excellently with the conundrums involved with comparing andencountering competing claims of religious truth and the ability of humans to find warrant to choose to believe one or the other. Admirably, he treat the religious traditions featured in his work fairly and even-handedly. He has taken great care not to misrepresent any tradition, and before publication, he employed the criticism of many experts in revising his work where it contained any fallacies concerning non-Christian faiths. While some criticism of them is present in his work, he never takes the tone of a polemicist.

His book begins with an examination of the general epistemological difficulties accompanying claims of revelation and then moves on towards specific examinations of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and a special chapter on Christian revelation and our belief in God's Incarnation. His last section works out the conclusions of his examination and one is left with a strong argument for a non-provincial theology but, if one is a Christian, a strong grasp of how the doctrine of Incarnation makes Christianity as radical and distinct as it is.

Though I didn't agree with him on many small details, I found his general framework to be solid. I highly recommend this book for any Christian seriously wanting to explore revelation in the context of pluralistic market of religions in our post-modern societies.