Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 38:3 (Spring 1976)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

WTJ 38:3 (Spr 76) p. 368

Book Reviews

Helmut Thielicke: The Evangelical Faith, Vol. 1, Prolegomena: The Relation of Theology to Modern Thought Forms. Translated and edited by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1974. 420. $10.95.

Helmut Thielicke sees the Christian faith today confronted by the massive phenomenon of secularism unparalleled in the history of thought. Modern man neither understands nor listens to what Christianity has to say. The very notion of transcendence seems fantastic in the light of his orientation to the present world. Beyond this, Christianity appears to be dealing with questions people are not asking while bypassing the ones they are asking. Confronted with this kind of situation, what shape should a prolegomena to systematic theology take? Thielicke gives his answer in this translation of the first volume of a projected three-volume theology bearing the general title Der Evangelische Glaube. The original was published in 1968, and was followed in 1973 with a second volume on the doctrine of God and Christology. The promised third volume will complete the project with a consideration of the present and future of revelation, or the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

Instead of a prolegomena in the traditional format, Thielicke proposes to deal with “the relation of theology to modern thought forms.” His discussion unfolds in two parts, the first of which takes up the present state of theological discussion. Here the author seeks to show why modern theology is in disarray and why it has sought for intellectual respectability and acceptability but at the expense of its genius, leaving itself able to say little more to modern man than he can tell himself without the heavy baggage of outmoded theological language. The second part takes up the theme of theology in self-grounded secularity. The Death of God theology of the sixties has its faddish aspect, but Theilicke shows how the movement on its sober side is the culmination of a process in which the deity is put to death, not by a single act of violence but by poison administered in homeopathic doses. After discussing the Death of God, Thielicke deals directly with the theological problem of secularization.

WTJ 38:3 (Spr 76) p. 369

The author rejects the usual alternatives of “modern” and “conservative” as inadequate to describe the major types of theology, and develops his own analysis in terms of a distinction between Cartesian and Non-Cartesian theologies. The great turning point into the modern era both for philosophy and theology is Des Cartes who by means of his method of radical doubt, coming to rest finally in the undoubtable thesis, “I think, therefore I am,” succeeded in focusing attention on the appropriating subject of faith. Thielic...