Why Christian?: For Those on the Edge of Faith

Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, if inconclusive
Review: As any reader of Douglas John Hall's massive three-volume systematic theology--Thinking the Faith, Confessing the Faith, and Professing the Faith--will know, Hall is a sensitive and thoughtful Christian who is convinced of both the reality of God and the decisiveness of Jesus. He does not seek in this book simply to repeat in detail the content of his earlier work but to explain to contemporary audiences why he believes Christianity still makes sense. Some Christians will regard him as too liberal, others as too conservative; all can, I hope, agree that his heart beats with a passion for making God's love real in our world and for acknowledging the gap between God's goodness and the state of contemporary North American culture. I wish Hall had been somewhat more systematic; I wish he had explicated his own position in a somewhat less impressionistic fashion. But this is certainly among the books I'd place in the hands of someone interested in exploring the Christian gospel.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: For a long time, I was really lost with religion. I'd attended church as a youngster, but as I grew up, I grew distant from God, Christ, and everything religious. I sometimes even had to logically convince myself that God could exist.

I joiced religious youth groups that got me longing for a closeness to God, and I even joined a church once I got to college. However, I felt the church was very offtrack and more attached to conservative public views rather than what the Bible says and God demands. Although I felt they were offtrack, I felt as though I was getting somewhere, at least learning something abotu the Bible. But, I overall felt very confused.

Over the summer, determined to figure things out, I began reading the Bible and bought this book. Between reading the two of them together, I realized (to my dismay!) how wrong the church had been... and "Why Christian?" really helpd me open my eyes as to what everything was about. Rather than saying "believe this! I'm right, everyone else is wrong!" Hall guides the reader in his beliefs, general beliefs, and towards the Bible. It helped me in a way that the church and youth groups never could. And, it does not dispute the Bible.

Some readers argue against the view of Christ, but I believe they failed to realize that Hall did not attempt to explain everything... he merely wants to guide a nonChristian, a distant Christian, or a lost person towards some basic beliefs... Hall does not say that Christ's death on the cross was not mean to save us, he says the opposite. I think, if a reader reads Why Christian? with a mind already locked on beliefs, he will find a lot to criticize about it. But, one needs to realize that it's meant as a guidance, not set in stone.

Rating:
Summary: A Christian perspective without the rhetoric
Review: Hall fashions this latest, very readable work "an exercise in what is conventionally called Christian apologetics." Composed as a series of notes from a professor responding to a skeptical student's questions, Hall tackles the questions of why one might chose Christianity, why Jesus is essential to the faith, how we might consider salvation in a modern context, how the Holy Spirit is involved, and why the church matters. It is a most simple exploration of some preliminary questions for those interested in the Christian faith. It is strange that the author aligns himself with the task of Christian apologetics. Traditionally, such a work was assumed to involve a defense of classical understandings of the Christian faith in the wake of modern questions and challenges being raised against them. Hall's work does not attempt to explore classical Christian doctrines, what might be termed "orthodoxy." While clinging to the terminology of Trinitarian theology, he is comfortable redefining most orthodox doctrines into new, and quite different, beliefs. In fact, the book is not so much a systematic defense of anything as it is the musings of an Emeritus seminary professor in response to a student's questions. Rather than defending Christian doctrine, Hall reinterprets it in ways that might accommodate the modern ethos. Here are a few examples:

On Scripture: Love is at the center of the canon. Paul's discussion of love in 1Cor. 13 is central to the meaning of faith, while Paul's discussion of Jesus' death for our sins is dismissed as "ghastly." His doctrine of Scripture readily acknowledges historical critical scholarship, at one point qualifying a citation from Jesus as, "words attributed to Jesus by the author of the Gospel according to John" (p 41). Hall continuously refers to it as the "newer Testament." While he laments the loss of Scriptural authority in the liberal churches, but his own use of it is fairly selective. On Sin: Tipping his hat to Tillich, Hall redefines sin as "the anxiety of meaninglessness and despair" (p 56). Sin is generally disregarded, as the modern, Western conscience is no longer plagued with guilt. Instead, the anxiety we feel is over fear of our own superfluous existence. It is for this reason that Jesus came. In one of the only passages that mentions sin, the author says that Constantine's claims to military victory in the name of God were "pretty close to the essence of sin" (p 143), although Old Testament passages suggesting God's leading of the Hebrew army are not discussed. On Salvation: "There is of course no definitive 'conclusion' to our understanding of salvation.... 'What do we need to be saved from?' And the answer to that question will always depend on who 'we' are, precisely-corporately, personally" (61-2). The goal of salvation is not the reconciliation of God and humanity, but "health" or "wholeness." He says that heaven and hell are not his concern. On the Atonement: "I am with the liberals in their refusal...to present Jesus as the innocent victim God needs in order to forgive the guilty" (p 49). The atonement is generally disregarded, and no explanation of it is given to replace the traditional understanding of substitutionary sacrifice. On the Resurrection: as far as I can tell, he doesn't mention it. On miracles: likewise not a subject of discussion. On Eschatology: nope. On the Sacraments: not discussed.

In general, Hall's work suffers two fatal flaws. First, his use of the Scripture is an arbitrary proof-texting the likes of which one might get from our televangelists. The themes have changed, but the disregard for the center of the texts is the same. Love is definitely at the heart of the Scriptures for Hall, but where the major theological themes of the Old and New Testaments have gone, Hall doesn't say. Second, Hall continues to maintain the language of Trinitarian systematic theology, referring to Trinity, salvation, sin, the Holy Spirit. However, he has redefined each of these doctrines individually so much so that they no longer resemble Christianity. The question is this: why keep the peel when you've discarded the fruit? There is no reason why Hall ought to hang on to the Trinity, when so much of orthodox Christianity has been laid aside for the sake of its modern audience. If the Scriptures do not define individual doctrines, there is no need to maintain the systematic structure which was originally derived from them. For a better explanation of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith, I would refer to John Stott's Basic Christianity, and for a thinking person's explorations of reasons to believe, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Better read theology students would do well to explore the apologetics of William Lane Craig. In the end, I walked away from the book asking the question of its origin all the more. Dr. Hall, if Jesus didn't die for our sins, if he makes no claim to divinity, if is resurrection is irrelevant to an apology, then...why Christian?

Rating:
Summary: On the edge of faith . . .
Review: I found this book to be very well written with a rather unique approach of using a "composite character" with whom the author has first a dialogue on a question and then for whom he provides a more thorough essay answer. The reader is caught up in this give and take between professor and student, and the questions are the hard ones! Why Christian? Why Jesus? Saved from What and for What? Why Church? Is there Hope?

There are many selected biblical quotations with a clear explanation written in such a way as to leave room for the reader to differ. In almost all cases, respect for other faith systems is maintained, reserving the most direct criticism for the author's own beloved Christianity. Professor Hall recognizes many of the atrocities committed in the name of religions, including Christianity, and explains why such actions are inconsistent with the precepts of those religions. He discusses how birthright so often is a reason for starting out in a religion but how today especially, birthright alone is not enough to keep someone in a given faith system.

Appropriately, some of the more fundamental questions are left to the reader to answer. For example, " 'So what precisely (as we may ask with Wendell Berry and others) are human beings for?' If we are not just accidents of nature, what is our place in the scheme of things? What is our purpose and how could we attain it, or reclaim it?" This question is never really answered directly, but is diverted to a related "sense of anxiety" angle.

My belief is that this book will be a bit of a disappointment for those looking to find a dogmatic statement of why Christian today. Instead, one finds a respectful questioning of today's Christianity with a deep routed love of what Christianity can be. This is indeed a wonderful resource "for those on the edge of faith."

Rating:
Summary: On the edge of faith . . .
Review: I found this book to be very well written with a rather unique approach of using a "composite character" with whom the author has first a dialogue on a question and then for whom he provides a more thorough essay answer. The reader is caught up in this give and take between professor and student, and the questions are the hard ones! Why Christian? Why Jesus? Saved from What and for What? Why Church? Is there Hope?

There are many selected biblical quotations with a clear explanation written in such a way as to leave room for the reader to differ. In almost all cases, respect for other faith systems is maintained, reserving the most direct criticism for the author's own beloved Christianity. Professor Hall recognizes many of the atrocities committed in the name of religions, including Christianity, and explains why such actions are inconsistent with the precepts of those religions. He discusses how birthright so often is a reason for starting out in a religion but how today especially, birthright alone is not enough to keep someone in a given faith system.

Appropriately, some of the more fundamental questions are left to the reader to answer. For example, " 'So what precisely (as we may ask with Wendell Berry and others) are human beings for?' If we are not just accidents of nature, what is our place in the scheme of things? What is our purpose and how could we attain it, or reclaim it?" This question is never really answered directly, but is diverted to a related "sense of anxiety" angle.

My belief is that this book will be a bit of a disappointment for those looking to find a dogmatic statement of why Christian today. Instead, one finds a respectful questioning of today's Christianity with a deep routed love of what Christianity can be. This is indeed a wonderful resource "for those on the edge of faith."

Rating:
Summary: Excellent review
Review: I truly loved this book, it's challenging, simple (but not easy), and I would credit it with deepening my own understanding of my relationship with God.

The author is a thinking man, and this book is for thinking people. No easy answers, no pretend understandings of the Mystery, but a deep looking that is essential for a real relationship with God.