Mark E. Powell

A sort of faith manual intended for members of churches of Christ in which the best of their heritage is commended and a type of way forward for the future.

The work is anchored in the premise of everything leading to faithful discipleship, a historic and present emphasis in churches of Christ. The authors speak of a robust Trinitarian understanding of the faith and how it can and should anchor a Christian's faith and perspective, and the goal of relational unity with God and with one another. The authors then speak of eschatology and provide a robust new heavens and new earth eschatology rooted in the confidence of the resurrection and how such a perspective informs discipleship. Next is a discussion of Scripture and an attempt to maintain an elevated perspective on the value of Scripture but centering on the use of Scripture to inform discipleship, getting way from the tendency toward bibliolatry easily manifest in churches of Christ. Then value is placed in the believers' church and the historic emphasis on the ministry and priesthood of all believers in the church. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are then covered with a sacramental emphasis: there is some value in envisioning baptism and the Lord's Supper as sacraments and sacramental experiences, focusing on the community aspects of both and going beyond just the memorial/remembrance aspects of the Supper. The final dimension is mission and an orientation of community values around God's mission in the Kingdom. The work has two responses, one highlighting a feminist approach and another a liberation theology approach to churches of Christ.

There's a lot of good stuff here to chew on; a lot of healthy reassessments and attempts to maintain the best of the heritage of churches of Christ while looking forward to a more holistic and healthy discipleship and faith in the future.

But the work must be recognized for what it is: a treatise that attempts to direct the ideology prevalent in churches of Christ. This work is not a description of what members of churches of Christ believe: if you go to a church of Christ and expect to see something like what is adumbrated here, you're going to be disappointed. A new heavens and new earth eschatology is a very minority position presently among churches of Christ. Everyone across the spectrum will be able to find things with which to disagree and question in the work. I, for one, could have done without the creedal emphases, finding some value in the historic critique of creedalism in the heritage - even if the substance of the creeds is generally decent, the impulse toward making the creeds is rank sectarianism. Those of the non-institutional persuasion will not find a whole lot of room left for them in the perspective on missions, and they have a critique which ought to be heard - if the missions impulse was all too married with colonialism in the past, how can we be sure that modern mission practices are the end all and be all of how mission ought to be performed?

The purpose of the work ought to be kept in mind, but it is still worth considering. An emphasis on discipleship in a Trinitarian framework holding firm to the basic orthodox principles of the faith would do a lot of good for many in their walk of faith.

**galley received as part of early review program… (altro)