Southern Baptist Theology in the Late Twentieth Century
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 54, No. 2 – Spring 2012
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
By Kathryn Tanner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 309 pages. Paperback, $29.99.
Kathryn Tanner in her work Christ the Key offers a theological feast for those interested in historical Christian theology and systematic appropriation of it for present purposes. In exemplary fashion she constructs theology by dialoging with the early church fathers, and considering pre-critical and critical forms of scriptural scholarship for contemporary purposes. Readers may disagree with her especially as it pertains to her Platonic foundations/assumptions, political conclusions, and views on the atonement, but the reader ought not to reject her insights, skill, and method outright. Theologians and philosophers of religion have much to gain from her through dialogic interaction.
As the title suggests, the reader will quickly note the theme of the book, namely Christ is the Key. More specifically, Tanner argues for the notion that God fulfills his desire to give us all good things in Christ, which is keeping with her previous systematic theology, Jesus, Humanity, and the Trinity (vii). She begins the discussion by showing how Christ unlocks for us the mysteries of human nature by drawing from the likes of Augustine, Aquinas, Gregory of Nyssa, Ireneaus, and Athanasius, in a strongly neo-platonic fashion Tanner seeks to answer how it is that Christ is the “image of God” and how Christ fulfills our human nature as it is intended in the Genesis narrative. Her specific contribution in this chapter is a more explicit appropriation and fusion of neo-Platonism and Christological theologizing that is arguably unique in the contemporary theological scene and an extension beyond the expressed views of many theologians in history, thus serving as the foundation for the rest of the book.
In chapter 2, she considers the nature of God’s grace in relation to man’s nature, the good in nature, and the problem of sin by considering the discussion between Catholics and Protestants. Chapter 3, Tanner considers other issues related to grace specifically as it concerns the Catholic understanding of natural desire inherited from an Aristotelian ontology of final causes, arguing that this creates a two-tier system within divine providence. In an almost Barthian manner chapter 4 on the “Trinitarian Life” is concerned with the abstract relations of the trinity in view of Christ’s redemptive role with humanity (174). Chapter 5 is concerned with socio-political issues not from an abstract Trinitarian perspective, as is common in much modern theology, but from a concrete Christological perspective. In chapter 6 Tanner discusses a cluster of controversial issues surrounding the atonement. Finally, Tanner considers the debate on the work of the Spirit in chapter 7 as either mediate or immediate.
Every chapter is full of insight and constructive engagement with contemporary literature and church history, yet there are two noteworthy examples worth mentioning here. First, Tanner argues that humans are the image of God in a weak and strong sense. Humans are the image in a weak sense as all creatures are, yet to a greater extent and in a strong sense only by grace in Christ. Debatable issues worth interacting with further include Tanner’s interpretation of the “image” and the substantial nature of humans theologically. While debatable there is much insight and fresh thinking deserving reflection. Second, Tanner contributes to the discussion over the divide between nature and grace, within the Catholic-Protestant dialogue, by arguing the solution for sin and nature is the same—grace. Although interesting, this solution does not fare with the biblical portrayal of sin as the immediate reason for grace or the moral foundations of sin, responsibility, and the need for atonement.
One criticism is the book’s lack of a clear moral framework undergirding responsibility and sin, thus lending itself to a confused view of the atonement. A moral framework that includes the notion of retribution or some modified form of retribution can coherently be accounted for by either a satisfaction or penal model of the atonement, views that Tanner dismisses without justification.
In the end, Tanner’s work is deserving of thoughtful engagement. The need for evangelical encounter is clear when it comes to bringing scriptural portrayals of sin, morality, and the atonement to bear on the contemporary setting. Not only that but evangelicals may learn much from Kathryn Tanner regardless.
