Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous
Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 18:1 (Spring 2021)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous
JBTM 18:1 (Spring 2021) p. 119
Book Reviews
Hearers & Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine. By Kevin J. Vanhoozer. Bellingham,WA: Lexham, 2019. Xxviii + 259 pages. Hardcover, $19.99.
Kevin Vanhoozer is Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL. He is perhaps best known for his The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster, John Knox, 2005). Vanhoozer earned his PhD from Cambridge University, studying under the Roman Catholic scholar Nicholas Lash. From 1990–2019 he wrote nine books, co-authored two others, and also edited ten books. Therefore, his academic repertoire is quite extensive. This review will discuss the aim of Hearers & Doers, provide a chapter-by-chapter overview, and discuss several plot points of the book.
Hearers & Doers is the newest of Vanhoozer’s books. In this work he appears to fill out the last two chapters of his Drama of Doctrine which consider the gospel, conversion, and the Great Commission. His aim for Hearers & Doers may best be expressed in Chapter Six, “The Company of the Gospel”:
The true end of theology, its final purpose, is not an orthodox compendium of doctrine but an orthodox community of disciples who embody the mind of Jesus Christ everywhere, to everyone, at all times. The church, says Bonhoeffer, is God’s “new will and purpose for humanity.” (127–28)
The reason for this book is to assist pastors in re-envisioning their congregants to see themselves as “the new humanity in Christ” (124). Pastors act as “eye doctors” helping churches to be “a city of God” as Augustine wrote, “a heavenly city marked by love of God rather than the self-love that characterizes citizens of the earthly city” (65).
Vanhoozer divided Hearers & Doers into two parts: “Warming Up: Why Discipleship Matters” and “Working Out: How Discipleship Happens.” Each part is made up of four chapters. In Chapter One, Vanhoozer discussed the fact that all people are being discipled by someone. Therefore, it is important for the pastor to properly leverage that discipleship. He wrote, “secular culture is
JBTM 18:1 (Spring 2021) p. 120
itself a powerful disciple-making force that pastor-theologians need to understand and, if need be, call out” (xxv-xxvi). Chapter Two focused on the need for spiritual fitness, using the analogy of our culture’s infatuation with physical fitness. In Chapter Three, Vanhoozer addressed the need to be both hearers and doers of the word of God. Chapter Four addressed the purpose for this fitness exercise, that...
Click here to subscribe