The Reign of God: An Introduction to Christian Theology from a Seventh-Day Adventist Perspective

Rating:
Summary: Rather disappointing
Review: I got this book when I was going out with an Adventist. I wanted a scholarly text in Adventist theology and to understand what Adventists believe. The Reign of God is very readable, with short sentences and crisp prose. But I came away disappointed.

Perhaps I was expecting too much. I've read a lot of advanced systematic theology, everything from Barth to Moltmann. I was hoping that Rice would be a little more challenging. Of course, it's a text primarily written for Adventist college students and interested lay people to introduce them to the theology of the Adventist tradition. Yet even for first year college students, the success of McGrath's Christian Theology shows that beginners can handle, and even expect, the challenge of something more rigourous intellectually.

The most disappointing feature I found with Rice is that when he comes to many topics he just summarises standard positions without providing a really rigorous argument for them. Further, his treatment of the Apostle Paul is poor. If a student had only Rice to go by, she wouldn't know that there has been a revolution in our understanding of Paul in the last three decades due to the work of Sanders, Dunn, Hays, et al. Rice can legitimately argue for a traditional Protestant reading of Paul, but it isn't acceptable for a textbook written for college students not tell the reader of alternatives.

This points to the main problem with The Reign of God. Much of it has a dated feel, and I have a feeling the text has been only very superficially revised from the 1st edition. One does not get a feel for the "state-of-the-art" in the field of theology from Rice, even of Adventist theology.

The most valuable feature of this book is the detailed annotated bibliographies of Adventist writers and non-Adventist writers on different theological topics. Rice's "Questions for Review," "Questions for discussion," and "Suggestions for Bible Study" after each chapter are also consistently helpful. The discussion and Bible study questions are sometimes really thought-provoking. For this reason, the Adventist minister or student will want to have this book in their library.

The keen Adventist student, however, will come away frustrated from Rice. She will feel that he is often too superficial and brief. For more meat, I direct her to the Handbook of Adventist Theology in the SDA Bible Commentary. Although it is uneven because it is co-authored, it does provide a lot more depth, and is at times brilliant. As yet, I haven't found an Adventist systematic theology up to the standard of a Stanley Grenz, Alister McGrath or Robert Jensen. Because of his reputation, I hoped that Rice would be what I was looking for. My search continues.

Rating:
Summary: Suitable Study for All
Review: This introductory text to Christian theology is quite readable. Though the author understands his primary audience to be students of general-ed religion courses offered at Seventh-day Adventist colleges, the book also certainly appears to be suitable for the lay person and for anyone desiring to more fully understand Seventh-day Adventist beliefs. Pointing to the Bible as the authoritative source of religious truth, Rice proceeds to use not a proof-text-method (though relevant scriptural passages are listed on the title page of each chapter) but an approach to the study of theology which focuses on the reign of God. Readers are encouraged not to swallow the interpretation of the doctrines which is presented, but to ponder the issues carefully and determine whether they have been nourished in their study. Each chapter concludes with questions for review and for further study, along with suggestions for Bible study and for further reading, all of which can motivate the reader to seek a greater understanding of God and to further investigate His Word.