Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 21:62 (Spring 2017)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Biblical Authority after Babel by Kevin J. Vanhoozer. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2016. 269 pp., cloth, $14.57.

A popular practice among many modern theologians is to disparage the Reformation and blame the Reformers for the “hermeneutical havoc” that has been unleashed upon the modern world (p. x; see pp. 10, 18–19). Vanhoozer wants to refute this idea by reclaiming “elements for a normative Protestantism from the ruins of present day by revisiting historical Protestantism (the Reformation solas)” (p. xi). The present volume devotes a chapter to each of the solas; however, VanHoozer spends little time explaining the solas in a normative sense. His concern is to show that when rightly understood the solas are both biblical and helpful. They have not thrown the church into a theological and ecclesial freefall, but rather have restored to God’s people truths that had been slowly abandoned throughout the first 14 centuries of church history: the priesthood of the believer solved the problem of unbiblical church authority and abuse; Scripture alone demoted tradition; grace alone put merit in its place; and, faith alone revealed that works lack saving power (p. 25). VanHoozer called this “mere Protestantism,” meaning a focus and emphasis upon what is essential and central within Protestantism that should unite rather than divide the movement. Throughout the volume the author offers 20 theses with which mere Protestants agree.

The first chapter discusses sola gratia. To go wrong here is to go wrong everywhere in theology, VanHoozer asserted (p. 40). As a matter of fact, the Reformation is a recovery of grace, as well as a return to literal hermeneutics (p. 42). The Roman Catholic Church went astray when it began to teach that fallen humanity retained the capacity to receive and cooperate with grace; the Reformers disagreed (pp. 47–49).

Sola fide is the subject of chapter two, and is the recognized article by which the church stands or falls (p. 73). Unfortunately, Jerome had translated “justification” as “to make righteous” rather than to “declare righteous,” which has caused significant misunderstanding of justification ever since. Returning the church to the correct meaning of justification was at the heart of the Reformation.

Sola Scriptura, however, was no less important. Ecclesiastical authority determines not only what is true but also how Scripture is to be interpreted. The Catholic Church claimed that even Scripture draws its

authority from the church (p. 112), to which is added oral traditions (pp. 118–20, 137). The Reformers challenged Rome’s authority and de...

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