Book Review: God Still Matters
Abstract
BOOK REVIEWS61 with what the gospel defines for contemporary action and desire? Such work is not a simple repetition of the gospel, Webster rightly says, but is the venturing of an interpretation of the gospel. My point is that this interpretation is not only the attempt at faithful thinking, but must also be in terms of faithful desire and praxis. Only as such is it knowledge, as biblically defined. In conclusion, one way to understand Christian ethics is as a discourse that attempts to take seriously exactly what Webster espouses, that Christian holiness is the 'extension of the baptismal pattern into the life of the Christian, so that Christ's dying and rising, in -- not despite -- all their objectivity and perfection, are the shape oftheChristian'sownpersonalhistory'(p.89).OnthisviewChristian ethics is a discourse which signifies a serious attempt to grasp the meaning of baptism -- not its implications, but its actual reality. A discussion of holiness that lacks concrete considerations of the form ofsanctifiedbehaviourhintsatalackofseriousinquirybythechurch into its own baptism. Leviticus 19 stands as a challenging example to contemporary theology of just how serious, and how detailed, such a faithful inquiry can be. Brian Brock Erlangen GodStillMatters,byHerbertMcCabe;editedbyBrianDavies.London: Continuum, 2002. 264 pp. pb. 16.99.