B.H. Carroll’s Pastoral Theology
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 58, No. 2 – Spring 2016
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
By Matthew Levering. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014. 384pages. Hardcover, $45.00.
Matthew Levering is steadily becoming one the most prolific contemporary systematic theologians. Levering proves to be an authority on core Christian doctrine having published widely on the law, temple, afterlife, hermeneutics, the body and God. Engaging the Doctrine of Revelation reflects his breadth and depth as a scholar. While a committed Roman Catholic, Levering is not limited to traditional and contemporary Roman conceptions of revelation, but he carefully explores the broader contemporary Christian literature (e.g., liberal and conservative varieties of Protestantism). His analysis of the contemporary literature is especially present in his defense concerning the mediation of Divine communication through the Church, which he primarily perceives to be the Roman Catholic Church.
Levering explicitly defends a view of revelation that is tied to the tradition that is continuously linked all the way back to Christ, the apostolic teaching, helpfully influenced by Hellenism up to the present day Catholic Church. He begins articulating and situating his view of revelation in the Trinitarian God where God the Father concretely acts in Christ and both the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to create a new community. Initially, he sets out his case by grounding revelation in God’s concrete activity of Christ’s mission to unite the church and believers to God. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and Son, appropriates the love of God to believers by enlightening the minds of believers within the church. God’s mission to humanity is highlighted as a concrete public reality (see chapter 2), which Levering argues is represented in liturgical practice. In this way, it is not possible to sharply distinguish revelation from Christian practice. Hence, he does not defend a two-source view of revelation, namely, the Bible and tradition (or Tradition.) He recognizes the interwoven nature of the two sources. Finally, as it concerns revelatory mediation, Levering defends the hierarchical nature of Roman Catholicism (chapter 3). Levering’s interlocutors include Calvin and Hobbes, yet not the comic strip mind you. Protestants will find this section especially important for clarifying how it is that they/we understand the nature of the church in terms of hierarchy and democracy.
In what remains of Levering’s useful work, he discusses other significant notions tied to revelation. Chapter 4 is concerned with the concept of “gospel culture.” Levering interacts with the evangelical Scot McKnight in his The King Jesus Gospel. Important to this discussion is Levering’s intent to relate and deepen McKnight’s interest in creating a culture of gospel by drawing from Aquinas’ Christology. Evangelicals will find much here that is worthy of either adopting via Aquinas or criticizing and modifying in such a fashion as to retain what is in keeping with Protestant sympathies. One significant objection to Roman Catholicism is doctrinal change throughout the history of interpretation, given its strong view of Tradition. Levering rightly shows that this is not only an issue for Romans as it is also an issue for Protestants desiring some continuity with apostolic teaching through history. Arguably, this is a greater challenge for Romans, but he is right to pose it as a challenge for both. Rather than conceding to a common view that there have been “ruptures” or “corruptions” in the Church, he argues, instead that the traditions do change but there is not a “rupture.” By drawing from the recent sophisticated work of Ayres and Anatolios on tradition, he defends the idea that doctrinal development has occurred as it does in all traditions, yet a doctrinal core that persists through God’s providential preservation of the Church. Having said this, Levering is aware of the significant challenges with Catholicism, but this is no reason for Protestants to brush aside his meticulous and considered reflections on the topic.
In one of the most important and interesting chapters, Levering shows just how doctrinal development came about. In chapter 8, Levering defends natural law and natural theology as part and parcel of interpretive and doctrinal evolution. He uses one concrete example, the doctrine of God, as case and point that the traditional/orthodox conception of God as an immaterial being without a body is one area that the church did not simply read directly off the pages of the Bible, although it is consistent with comprehensive biblical teaching, but that such a doctrine required traditioned reflection on the biblical data helped by Hellenistic philosophy. This, however, is not limited to Roman teaching but is consistent with a Protestant core of theology proper.
In the end, serious engagement with the doctrine of revelation ought to in-clude Levering’s Engaging the Doctrine of Revelation. While Protestants will come away disagreeing with much of what is defended, Protestants will not come away empty handed. Instead, Levering can help Protestants clarify what it is that we believe and hold essential to the doctrine of revelation.
