New Dimensions in Evangelical Thought : Essays in Honor of Millard J. Erickson

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing with a few highlights
Review: This compendium of essays by various conservative scholars is a fairly disappointing offering. Despite the promise offered by the title, there is little new in here at all. Most of the authors merely retread old doctrines without adding anything of interest. For example, J. Rodman Williams' chapter, entitled, 'New Dimensions in Charismatic Theology,' simply gives a [rather pedestrian] rendition of the Pentecostal distinctives and enlightens us with no further food for thought. Carl F. Henry and Thomas Schreiner both provide well-researched summaries of the last few decades of New Testament scholarship, but where are the 'new dimensions' promised us? They have little to say that one can't read in any run-of-the-mill textbook.

Having said that, there are a few highlights. Wolfhart Pannenberg is a welcome contributor, coming from a less conservative standpoint, discussing society and culture. Alister McGrath bravely raises a few issues regarding new interpretations of salvation and redemption for different cultural contexts. Clark Pinnock's essay on theological method is one of the few chapters that has something new and challenging to say, and, indeed, one of the few that takes a genuinely self-critical look at evangelical theology. Such contributions come as a breath of fresh air in an otherwise dull volume.