For what other light of God can be named, in which any one sees light, save an influence of God, by which a man, being enlightened, either thoroughly sees the truth of all things, or comes to know God Himself, who is called the truth? Such is the meaning of the expression, In Your light we shall see light; i.e., in Your word and wisdom which is Your Son, in Himself we shall see You the Father.

—Origen, De Principiis, 1.1.1.

I testify to every man who is confessing Christ and denying God, that Christ will profit him nothing; to every man that calls upon God but rejects the Son, that his faith is vain; to every man that sets aside the Spirit, that his faith in the Father and the Son will be useless, for he cannot even hold it without the presence of the Spirit. For he who does not believe the Spirit does not believe in the Son, and he who has not believed in the Son does not believe in the Father. For none “can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Corinthians 12:3), and “No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten God which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him” (1 John 1:18).

— Basil of Caesarea, De Spiritu Sancto, § 27.

The acquisition of true religion is just like that of crafts; both grow bit by bit; apprentices must despise nothing. If a man despise the first elements as small and insignificant, he will never reach the perfection of wisdom.

— Basil of Caesarea, De Spiritu Sancto, § 2.

Dictionary of Christian Spirituality

The Dictionary of Christian Spirituality (DCS) is an evangelical reference work for the emerging field of study that analyzes the Christian life (or “Christian formation” or “Christian spirituality”) from a globalist and ecumenical perspective.

“Broad” and “global” are fitting descriptors both for DCS’ intended audience and for its international cast of contributors. The latter is primarily comprised of Protestant scholars from a wide array of Protestant traditions. Contributions from Roman Catholic scholars, Eastern Orthodox scholars, “and even a few [scholars] who are not going to church at all right now” also appear throughout the volume, albeit less frequently (p. 11).

DCS is arranged into two parts. The first contains thirty-four short essays on propaedeutic and substantive topics such as:

• the nature of “Christian spirituality,”
• various methodological approaches to the field,
• Old-Testament and New-Testament foundations for the field,
• the history of the field,
• surveys of Christian spirituality throughout various times and places in the history of Christianity,
• liturgy and spirituality,
• spirituality and interfaith relationships,
• spirituality and missions,
• and the future of Christian spirituality.

Each of the essays conclude with a bibliography of citations and suggestions for further reading.

Part two is a dictionary with nearly 700 concise entries that cover all manner of people, places, events, and ideas that have influenced Christian spirituality from its inception in the New Testament era through its contemporary global expression. Including everything from African Christian Spirituality and Alfred the Great to Zen and Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, the dictionary’s wide scope is impressive even if its entries are modest and brief. Interested students will appreciate the suggestions for further reading that are appended to each entry.

In sum, anyone who is seeking a broadly-evangelical, contemporary introduction to the vast field of contemporary Christian spirituality that is

1. biblically engaged,
2. accessible and relevant to contemporary Christian practitioners,
3. generous in its regard for the full range of Christian traditions of spirituality,
4. attentive to otherwise neglected topics, concerns, and formative figures in the evangelical tradition of spirituality,
5. global and international in both topical scope and contributors,
6. reflective of interdisciplinary engagement with related fields of inquiry,
7. and reasonably priced,

will benefit heartily from this fine reference work (list quoted from “Preface,” p. 8).

The lecture is now available in the inaugural issue of Jonathan Edwards Studies, an online journal sponsored by the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University:

Richard A. Muller, “Jonathan Edwards and the Absence of Free Choice: A Parting of Ways in the Reformed Tradition,” Jonathan Edwards Studies 1, no. 1 (2011): 3–22.

Access to the article is free, but you must register an account in order to view it. The abstract is as follows:

Jonathan Edwards, frequently identified in modern discussions of his thought as the “greatest American theologian” and often regarded as an epitome of Calvinism for his teaching on the freedom of will, was, in his own time and for a century after his death, a much-debated thinker whose views had a polarizing effect in Reformed circles. Scholars have examined the reception of his ideas in America and have noted a rather pointed opposition both in New England and in the American South. The reception of Edwards’ thought in Britain, however, has received far less attention, even though it offers a rather significant perspective on Edwards’ place in the Reformed tradition.

Long live the Smyth sewn book. Long live the truth.

Additionally, the entire July–August issue, as well as the previous two issues, are freely available via The Reformed Fellowship’s Issuu page.

To learn more about The Outlook, visit The Reformed Fellowship.

Lengthy, yet not prolix

With short chapters averaging between five to seven pages, this 385-page biography reads more like a novel than non-fiction. And thanks to Gutjahr’s organizational accumen, narrative skill, and mastery of Hodge’s massive corpus, the book reads quickly without sacrificing depth. He carefully prepares the narrative canvas early on with Hodge’s key intellectual themes and personality traits so that, as the chronologically-arranged narrative unfolds, issues in the foreground of each chapter sit comfortably against a proportionate background. Upon completing the book, the reader leaves with the satisfying sense that he or she has just spent several enjoyable afternoons in Hodge’s famous study listening to him narrate his life and times to his closest colleagues. This is American religious social history par excellence.

Colorful, yet not caricatural

Gutjahr weaves together the threads of Hodge’s non-theological passions and hobbys (farming, anatomy, medicine, politics, and modern science in general) with the threads of his theological pursuits in order to display the coat of many colors that is Hodge’s intellectual life. At the same time, he spends much effort in illuminating Hodge’s socio-political context in order to demonstrate how various times and events—especially the Civil War—profoundly shaped Hodge’s theological formulations and political views. Thus he shows Hodge to be a colorful intellectual who is both too complex for simplistic, ahistorical theological dismissals and too much man of his nineteenth-century times to allow for ahistorical repristinations of his theology straight into the twenty-first century.

Sophisticated, but one-sided at points

Even though Gutjahr employs the socio-historical method in exemplary fashion and illuminates Hodge’s thought in many useful ways, his method nevertheless invites shallowness in some of his theological assessments. Throughout the book the reader is given the tacit impression that Hodge’s theological views are almost exclusively the results of his stubborn disposition plus his educational background plus his philosophical context plus this or that. While no one would dispute that all of these sociological factors certainly make the man, a very important and foundational aspect of Hodge’s life is too often swallowed up by overemphasizing socio-historical analysis, namely, that he actually believed that the Bible is truly God’s Word and that the Westminster Standards provide the best summary of the Bible’s doctrine.

By reversing, albeit tacitly, the relationship between doctrine and life, text and context, belief and action, Gutjahr risks skewing one of the most basic facts of Hodge’s life: he lived, learned, led, and loved as a Presbyterian. However, if Hodge is not allowed to be a free-thinking Christian who built his life upon true doctrine rather than vice versa, then he has become a puppet, a mere product of the nineteenth-century rather than an actor in it. Thankfully, this sentiment only rears its head here and there throughout the book, and only implicitly. But, it is a methodological danger nonetheless.

A few unsubstantiated, albeit mostly minor, assessments are difficult to pass by without comment such as that Hodge differed significantly with Calvin regarding the nature of the sacraments or that Hodge waffled between reliance upon the Holy Spirit and reliance upon philosophical realism. Also, given that Gutjahr brings up the topic of Scottish Common Sense Realism time and again as a cornerstone of Hodge’s theological method (second only to the Westminster Confession of Faith), it was disappointing to find that the chapter devoted to this topic is based primarily on secondary sources and lacks the broad and deep perspective that Gutjahr normally and ably brings to bear upon most other aspects of Hodge’s thought.

Despite these small criticisms, Gutjahr’s biography is excellent and a delight to read. American Presbyterians will rejoice that Hodge has received the thorough and skillful treatment that his life and work deserve.

Reading this piece should at least cause the thoughtful Reformed anglophone to think twice before dismissing Kuyper as a “transformationalist,” as has become quite fashionable in some American Reformed circles.