Superlatives have an unfortunate prevalence in too many
Christian sermons and books: “This is the
most” whatever. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard misplaced ‘greatest’
and ‘worst’ and ‘most needed’ and ‘biggest cause’ phrases attached to silly and
nearly neutral issues—and if not neutral, leastwise secondary, tertiary, or
implicative ideas. And so when authors Clark and Marcus describe the doctrine
of Christ’s incarnation as the Foundation
of Evangelical Theology, you might expect some rolling of eyes or tongue-biting
grunts of semi-affirmation. After all, how can the incarnation supplant ‘the
cross and crucifixion of Christ’?! Or even the resurrection: isn’t foundation
the honor Paul accords to resurrection in I Corinthians 15?... or is it? After
all, isn’t Paul’s argument concerned with bodily
resurrection for all the saints?
Well, fortunately for you, Clark and Marcus have handled
this disagreements with tact and love in their case for the Incarnation of God as The Foundation of Evangelical Theology—released
tomorrow in their Crossway book by that title.
The preface describes the full context and impetus for this
book as well as its intended audience, but suffice it for this review to quote their
thesis:
The incarnation of God, therefore, is the supreme mystery at the center
of our Christian confession, and no less at the center of all reality. Consequently,
all conceptions of reality that fail
to see and savor that all things hold together in Christ, and the he is
preeminent in all things, can never be anything but abstract conceptions of
virtual realities—that is, invariable hollow and ultimately vacuous concepts pulled
away from reality.
[This book is]…noncomprehensive and nonexhasustive…. Its aim is to
explore the relation of the incarnation to other major facets of the Christian
faith, demonstrating that Christ holds together, and should indeed be
preeminent in, the whole of our Christian confession.
And does their thesis hold? Argument after argument, I
believe it does. In the pages of this book Clark and Marcus deliver to our
hearts and minds the mystery of the incarnation—offering honor and glory to our
Triune God in exposition of the incarnation in relation to Triune being and
work, soteriology, ecclesiology, marriage & sex. I found myself, several
times, wiping tears from eyes as I was confronted with the beauteous gospel of
our incarnate Christ. Now, I understand that each person is dynamic and that
the same truth or event can effect different results in the individuals; and so
maybe my interaction with this book was a timely interruption from our wise and
loving God, but I anticipate that there are far too many who share my current
theological context—one lacking the robust glory of the incarnation—so while I
cannot guarantee this book will be life changing, neither can I affirm and
support the publication and wide-dispersion enough! I intend to order multiple
copies to hand out to friends and leadership in my church, and I would
encourage any thoughtful Christian to pick up a copy for themselves.
Two more notes:
(1) What
sets this book apart from others (especially those) about the incarnation? I
believe the distinguishing mark of this work is the way the authors reveal the
interweaving nature of all theology. What we believe about the incarnation has
direct implications on what we believe about salvation and the church. It also
reveals what we believe about the Trinity—which is a bold statement, but one
the authors do not shy away from. We know God as Trinity, they argue, only because
the Son came in human flesh and revealed the Father and Spirit to us. This line
of argument—the interweavingness of theology—can have some pitfalls, of course:
namely determining a priori what ‘must’ be resultantly true
and determining therefore what ‘must’ be essentially true, but I do not think
Clark and Marcus fall into this potential trap. And I think they do not do so
because of their great esteem for the giants of theological history. Every
chapter is filled with excerpts and quotes from the church fathers and
reformers, all of which show their own reliance on Holy Scripture.
(2) My
professor and friend once reminded his class that no book can be perfect, and
so no book review should lack a suggestion for improvement. Here’s mine: the
authors occasionally fall into a type of preacher speak/mnemonic device which
seems trite in the face of the profundity. Setting apart ‘atonement’ as “at-one-ment”
each time it comes, while a helpful reminder, can be a bit too childish at
times. There was another term where something similar was employed, but I’ve
forgotten it now. And hopefully the childishness of my own critique only
underlines the timeliness and helpfulness of The Incarnation of God’s entrance into our Christian sphere.
Our Triune God is honored and magnified as the personal God
who communicates himself to us in the very human flesh which we indwell east of
Eden. He has taken this sinful flesh upon himself and marched us into the
Father’s presence where we experience the love which the Father has for the Son
with overwhelming interpenetration. It is scandalous! And it is the very heart
of the gospel.
Be sure to check out my blog for specific interaction with
some of the ideas presented in this book.
I received this book as part of Crossway's Beyond the Page
program; this review is my own.
This review is crosslisted on Goodreads and Amazon.