Biblical Theology: Past, Present, and Future (I)
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 55, No. 2 – Spring 2013
Managing Editor: Terry L. Wilder
By Michael W. Goheen. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011. 242 pages. Paperback, $22.99.
God’s purpose for his people as displayed in the Biblical narrative is for them to be a light to the nations, a people on mission to spread his fame throughout the earth. So argues Michael Goheen in A Light to the Nations: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story. Goheen notes in the preface that although books on missional ecclesiology abound today, none of them base their conclusions on “sustained biblical-theological and exegetical work” (ix). He therefore intends to fill this particular lacuna in current missions scholarship, and suggests that the primary audience is “pastors, theological students, and educated church members” (ix).
The organization of the book is straightforward. Goheen introduces the issues, namely his definitions for mission and ecclesiology and the misunderstandings the church has about these terms, in chapter one. In the next six chapters he follows the contours of the Biblical narrative from Genesis 12 through the NT epistles and notes how that narrative demonstrates missional identity of the people of God. Chapters two and three focus on Israel’s calling, chapters four and five on Jesus’ work in gathering the church and the implications of his death and resurrection for missional ecclesiology, and chapters six and seven on the church in the NT story and images for the church in the NT epistles. Chapters eight and nine offer a summary of the previous material and practical implications for the contemporary church.
In retelling the Biblical narrative, Goheen comes to a number of conclusions about missions and ecclesiology. First, mission defines the people of God in that it is God’s purpose for them. Second, the Biblical narrative possesses an eschatological shape in which OT Israel, although given a missional identity by God, largely failed in its calling to be a light to the nations. This results in Jesus calling an eschatological people of God, a renewed Israel, who proclaims salvation to the nations. Goheen also notes here the more centripetal calling of Israel. Third, because redemption has been accomplished for the entire cosmos, the church is called visibly to demonstrate Christ’s victory over the evil worldly powers at the cross and the restoration of all things in his resurrection. Fourth, and based on the previous points, the ontological nature of the church is the most important aspect of ecclesiology as opposed to polity and praxis. Finally, the dominant missional model for Goheen appears to be the attractional and contrastive community that simultaneously demonstrates God’s restoration through Christ and the call of God to live holy lives in the midst of pagan nations.
A Light to the Nations is vitally important for scholars and pastors alike for a number of reasons. First, Goheen is careful in his attention to the Biblical narrative. He does not rush to conclusions but grounds his description of the missional identity of the church in a mostly comprehensive reading of the Biblical story. Second, Goheen aptly combines scholarship and pastoral sensitivity by having both an eye toward the Biblical text and an ability to apply it to the contemporary church. Finally, Goheen offers a number of correctives to today’s sometimes individualistic, colonial, dualistic ideas about ecclesiology and mission. His picture of the church and of mission as communal, attractional, and comprehensive is at times refreshing and necessary.
Two serious omissions, though, stand out to this reader. First, there is a paucity of material on verbal proclamation. Although Goheen finally discusses preaching and evangelism, it is only in the last fifteen pages of the book and in certain places he seems to swing the pendulum to the opposite pole of a totally attractional model of evangelism. This is inexplicable in light of Romans 10 and its emphasis on the Gentiles coming to faith through hearing the gospel proclaimed verbally. Second, Goheen fails to root mission in the Adamic commission to be fruitful and multiply. The entire Biblical narrative, and especially the mission of Israel and the church, is predicated on the fact that Adam and Eve were created by God to be his image bearers and fill the earth but then failed at that task. Goheen only mentions Genesis 1–11 very briefly and there is hardly any focus on Genesis 1–2 as the foundation of mission in the creating purposes of God. This is puzzling given Goheen’s constant attention to the grand narrative of Scripture.
Despite these two omissions, Goheen’s book is still important and in many ways groundbreaking. He has firmly rooted the missional identity of the contemporary church in the Biblical narrative of God’s people, a daunting task, but one that he deftly completes. It should be read and engaged by any who want to understand the Biblical theological foundation for the purpose and mission of God’s people to be a light to the nations.
