New Dictionary of Theology | Book Review

Reviewed by Thomas Scarborough

Besides a Bible Commentary and a Bible Dictionary, a Dictionary of Theology must be next on the list of desirables for any Christian minister or leader.

By way of introduction, sometimes Christians will confuse a Dictionary of Theology with a Bible Dictionary. A Dictionary of Theology describes how theologians have thought about Biblical themes during the past 2,000 years. A Bible Dictionary merely describes such themes (and names and places) as they appear in the Bible. So, for instance, “Augustine” would not appear in a Bible Dictionary, while “Babylon” might not appear in a Dictionary of Theology.

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT THE BOOK?

This dictionary is written by more than two hundred contributors, so that the quality and style of entries will inevitably vary. However, I found that there was, generally speaking, great clarity of writing, a healthy avoidance of overly technical language, and little if any sacrifice of content in the process. A fine example of this combination is an entry on Immanuel Kant — which is surely the best that I have read to date. It deals with the complex subject matter in a particularly lucid way.

The book is encouragingly up to date. It has many references to living theologians — sometimes even full entries. While there are some puzzling omissions, such as Postmodern Theology or New Evangelicalism, the book clearly did need to make choices. Those entries which did make it into its pages would seem to be the right ones, by and large. This is not to the detriment of older subjects, however, such as Manichaeism or Pelagianism, and subjects both old and new are dealt with in a lively, relevant way.

The dictionary often includes the most crucial or characteristic quotations of theologians through the ages — such as Ludwig Feuerbach’s “The secret of theology is nothing more than anthropology”. It contains vital bibliographies at the end of each entry, and it is cross-referenced throughout. It can rarely be said to favour a particular point of view, or to give it unwarranted attention, although there are a few amusing exceptions by seemingly irritated contributors, such as a reference to the “fundamentally idolatrous” nature of vitalism (see Bioethics), or to “much faddishness” in Contemporary Theological Movements.

DOES THE BOOK HAVE WEAKNESSES?

Upon opening the dictionary, what becomes immediately obvious is that the publishers have decided to give a thorough treatment to just a few select topics. By “a few”, I mean between six and seven hundred. Thus the range of topics is inevitably limited, and there surely would be no perfect selection. What I did miss, however, was an index at the back. For instance, John Cobb appears in the book, but only under Process Theology. The Keswick Convention appears in the book, but only under the Holiness Movement. Many names only appear in the bibliographies. If one did not have a reasonably good idea of where to look, one might be thoroughly stuck for certain information.

While I found no entry which was not useful, or did not deal substantively or even-handedly with a topic, I did find a few which did not seem to be entirely satisfactory. For instance, Paul Tillich seemed to have lost all of his sparkle, and the entry on Congregationalism was particularly Anglo-centric, with little impression of its recent resurgence in large parts of the world. However, such concerns are not central, and they do not detract significantly from the value of the book.

SYNOPSIS

In its definition of theology, the New Dictionary of Theology quotes Thomas Aquinas: “Theology is taught by God, teaches of God, and leads to God.” That, too, would seem to be the general understanding and emphasis of the book.

This is a large book — of the kind that one might use as a door-stop (if it were not so interesting)! Its strengths would seem to far outweigh its weaknesses, and, on the whole, it can be warmly recommended as being thoroughly readable and useful. Not least, it has been reprinted nine times in the past seventeen years, which surely cannot be a bad recommendation.

CITATION OF REFERENCES

Ferguson, Sinclair B. & Wright, David F. (Eds.). New Dictionary Of Theology. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8308-1400-0. Publisher Price £29.99.

Rev. Thomas Scarborough is the minister of an Evangelical Congregational Church in Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently studying for a Master’s degree through Fuller Theological Seminary.