Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 37:1 (Apr 2024)
Article: Book Review: "Who We Were Meant To Be: Rediscovering Our Identity As God’s Royal Priesthood"
Author: Desmond Henry

Conspectus 37:1 (April 2024) p. 103

Book Review: Who We Were Meant To Be: Rediscovering Our Identity As God’s Royal Priesthood

Desmond Henry

Burden, Matthew. 2022. Who We Were Meant to Be: Rediscovering Our Identity as God’s Royal Priesthood. Eugene: Wipf & Stock. x, 334 pp. ISBN: 978–1–6667–0874–5. Approx. 490 ZAR (26.55 USD). Paperback.

Matthew Burden is a son of missionaries. He has a service background in South America, along with personal ministry experience in Africa. He is currently serving as a pastor at a Historic Baptist Church affiliated with the American Baptists. He has authored this significant contribution on the rediscovery of our identity as God’s royal priests. Matthew holds a Ph.D. from the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), with a specialization in missiological themes in early English hymnody. His writing outputs span both creative and theological genres.

1. Introduction

This book seeks to illuminate the original intent behind God’s creation before humanity’s fall and it also highlights the redemptive narrative culminating in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is divided into two distinct sections: section one (chapters 2–7) details the biblical and theological basis for seven core points of his corpus, while section two (chapters 8–16) discusses their practical implications within the context of the church and in the lives of Christians. The narrative starts with Genesis, highlighting humanity’s ordained role as creation’s royal priests which is disrupted by sin. It showcases Jesus in the Gospels as initiating the new creation, fulfilling the original priestly role, and proclaiming the kingdom of God—tied to the restoration of God’s reign. Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation affirm this new creation, restoring our original priesthood and anticipating the final unification of heaven and earth, where God will dwell with his people, and reign forever. This underscores our active participation in God’s redemptive plan, inviting us into the ongoing divine symphony, to use the author’s musical analogy found throughout the book. This critical review will assess Burden’s arguments, examining his use of scriptural and patristic sources, the coherence of his theological framework, and the implications of his thesis for contemporary Christian ecclesiology and practice. Through this examination, the review will aim to discern the contribution of Who We Were Meant to Be to ongoing theological discourse and its relevance to the challenges facing modern Christianity.

2. Reductionistic Soteriology And The Symphony Of God’s Kingdom

When it comes to soteriology, some tend toward relativism, others toward reductionism. The pervasiveness of minimalistic (or reductionisti...