Eschatological Economy

At a quick glance, Douglas H. Knight's The Eschatological Economy (Eerdmans, 2006) looks very good. Some of Knight's other work has been on John Zizioulas, the Orthodox Trinitarian theologian, and this book includes discussions of Zizioulasian themes like Trinity, personhood, Trinitarian personhood, personhood and being, etc. Yet, Knight's book is significantly more biblically oriented than Zizioulas's work. Knight includes a couple of chapters on Israel, including one on sacrifice and temple in Israel, and this OT work is integrated into his overall project.

In his introduction, Knight describes something of that project:

"In this book I connect the concept of paedeia, our formation, with the doctrine of sanctification. It is a very old theme in Christian theology, associated with Irenaeus, that God always intended to come to humankind and stay with them, and that in the course of this coming humankind would grow up - a process delayed, but not halted, by sin and rebellion. This book discusses the ways in which Christian doctrine and biblical studies tackle the role of the people of Israel in this process. It explores the relationship of sacrifice, along with other models of the work of Christ, to sanctification, and it re-examines the connections between Israel, Jesus Christ, time, history, and Scripture by closely linking them to the Christian doctrine of God."

"Christian thought is political" he says early on. And: "Modernity and Christianity are both forms of enlightenment, but modernity is the counterfeit version, Christianity the real one."

And this: "the Scriptures invite the world to grow. I hope to show that Christians must live out of the whole Bible, as much out of the Old Testament as out of the New. To that end I talk at some length about the whole people of God and suggest some of the links that must be made between the people of Israel and the church and its present practices."

He's concerned to show that a recognition of temporality is fundamental to Christian anthropology: "Much current theology is content with an anthropology in which humankind is already all it ever will be. This makes it sub-Christian. A distinctively Christian theology will say that the individual is a work in progress, a not yet finished product."

Persons are fundamental, and for Knight this means that we contribute to one another's formation: "Being and doing are one and the same thing. The work of each creature is the being of all other creatures. Their work is not only the well-being of all other creatures, but their very being. . . . Under God, we bring one another into being." Sin involves the disruption of this mutual formation.

Knight sets his face against secularization theories, which he deems mythical. The world is always secular, and has not become more so. It is not more difficult to talk about God now than it was before: "The gospel encounters and confronts other claims and messages. We should call these other claims 'pagan,' for we can then see that there is a real contest of ideas and of ways of life, and this makes intellectual debate worthwhile."

Secular accounts of history assume a flawed theology proper, since they "open a gap between God and his action" and "take God's action out of his hands to form a secular history." Trinitarian theology - which sees God Himself revealed in history, and which therefore implies a historically-oriented theology - opposes secular accounts of history.

These insights are all drawn from the first few pages of the book. This looks to be one of the more stimulating theology books I've seen in some time.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 at 12:14 PM

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