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Read the Editorial for this double issue

Anvil Volume 26 Numbers 3 & 4 2009

Due to a production error in this issue of Anvil, page 321 was reproduced twice and page 320 was omitted. We apologise to subscribers, and to the authors and reviewers affected, and publish below in full the two reviews concerned. The missing page may also be downloaded as a PDF and printed.

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ETHICS, PASTORAL STUDIES AND MISSION

Church Unplugged: Remodelling Church without Losing your Soul

David Male

Authentic Media, 2008, 179 pp   
£8.99    ISBN 9781850787921

This is a good basic primer in what fresh expressions of church are all about. It takes very little for granted, pointing up the most rudimentary distinctions required to understand the movement. Those who have already travelled some of the road on this topic will find it painfully repetitive of things they already know well. But for those who know little or nothing about the nature of pioneer ministry (and there are lots of them), this is a good place to start because it starts where they are. We have immediately adopted it as essential reading for our Devon adaptation of the mission shaped ministry course, as we seek to help people steeped in traditional models of church to embrace a very different mindset. There are many parts of the book that echo the msm teaching materials very closely.

Dave Male draws on his experience of giving birth to and leading the Huddersfield network church The Net, so the book is shot through with his practical experience. Mostly this is a strength, but it is also a limitation. The Net started just before the new millennium dawned. So much has moved on in the last 10 years, in particular our understanding of what it means to be authentic church. A community of Christian people can be authentic church without displaying all the characteristics of mature church, and there is more openness today to provisional beginnings.

There is a brief chapter on cultural change and the need to listen to cultural settings. The language of 'change' restricts the perspective, because it is only from the viewpoint of the previous generations (and of the cultural ossification of the church) that things have now 'changed'; for younger adults they have always been this way. It can also lead to undue polarisation of perspectives; and I think that British people have more Christian cultural identity today than the author allows (see page 47). Thechapter also continues the language of 'locality' (e.g. 'listening to the locality') – which feels odd when talking from the experience of leading a network church. It is as if the author himself is struggling to adapt his own previous wisdom about the building of the church, to his more recent experience.

The emphasis throughout the book on teamwork and plural leadership is a great strength. It was arresting to discover that The Net had started with a team of almost 30 adults – for many fresh expressions that is more a goal than a starting point! And the team emphasis is worked out in detail as the book proceeds, with an excellent practical chapter on evangelism which spells out different expectations and roles of leaders and members. Equally, the chapter on community is very good at defining what 'membership' of an emerging church can mean, given the different stages of faith journey that people are at; and a chapter on 'pace' is simple and direct in its challenge to live life more deeply rather than at such speed.

For me the book lacked a radical edge, given the provenance of the author. Indeed at various points the author shows rather conservative leanings – such as the primary role of 'church' being to enable people to develop their relationship with God. But perhaps for that very reason it will help more traditional Christians get their hearts as well as their heads around key components of the fresh expressions movement. And the author's own history in The Net shows that you don't have to be fiercely radical in order to make effective fresh starts in building church again today.

David Muir
Okehampton

Engaging Politics: The Tensions of Christian Political Involvement

Nigel Oakley

Paternoster, 2007, 248 pp   
£16.99    ISBN 9781842275054

Non-involvement in political issues is not an option for Christians, according to Nigel Oakley as he starts his investigation of the tensions underlying the diverse responses of Christians to political involvement.

Oakley tackles this often contentious issue of the political involvement of Christians by reviewing the contribution of four theologians. He starts with Augustine of Hippo, one of the great early Christian thinkers, and then moves to three modern theologians from different contexts who grappled with the political issues: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, facing the menace of the Nazi regime, Gustavo Gutierrez, grappling with the challenges of structural poverty in South America and Stanley Hauerwas who deals with a Christian response to modern American political maneuverings. He gives useful insights on how their context and experiences influence their theology and teaching. For example, St Augustine advocated obedience to the authorities and yet he pleads for the freedom of illegally enslaved people. From this he highlights the most important principles that should guide Christian challenge to the authorities.

He takes a scholarly look at political involvement from an eschatological and ecclesiological perspective. This gives it a theological grounding and highlights the 'here' and “not yet here' tension of the realization of the Kingdom of God. He addresses the question of how Christian prophetic voices can be heard and how Christians can live out the core of the gospel.

He has a practical look at the way these theologians educated their congregations for political engagement, addressing the tensions between the polar responses of activism and passive acceptance. Pacifism or non-violent resistance and the just war theory feature prominently, as could be expected in the writings of these theologians. Augustine is known for the just war theory and Hauerwas for the concept of the 'peaceable Kingdom'. Oakley examines these and analyses them in the light of Bonhoeffer's response to Hitler that incorporated the possibility of violence.

In the second half of the book he uses the insights from the tensions he has highlighted to examine the pressing issues of poverty, slavery, sex and marriage, violence and climate change. He traces the theological thinking that confronts injustice showing how poverty and slavery are 'incomprehensible with a Kingdom of love and justice'. The varied stances of the theologians examined in the first half of the book are used to provide sensitive interpretations of scripture regarding the issues. Here Oakley makes some useful practical suggestions that are biblically based. His discussion on sex and marriage focuses on intimacy as a guiding principle that avoids trite answers. He sets out the pacifist and the just war positions evenly but does not hide his own preference for the just war position.

Overall this is a very useful and thought-provoking book that uses solid theological insights to grapple with the challenges of political involvement. It is well researched and scholarly and yet avoids the pitfalls of being too abstract and dry. Instead it gives practical guidance and useful principles to consider, even if one does not agree with the conclusions. Overall the important message is that non-involvement is not an option for Christians.

Caroline Tuckey
TEE College Johannesburg

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