Contemporary Theology: An Introduction by Kirk R. MacGregor (review)

Kirk MacGregor introduces several major voices of Christian theology since the modern era in a clear, in-depth, and broad-ranging survey. MacGregor proceeds roughly chronologically, beginning with Schleiermacher and ending with today's "post-conservativism." Each chapter is a bird's-eye consideration of a major thinker, moment, or tendency that is relevant to theology now. With thirty-eight chapters in all, Contemporary Theology achieves a laudable breadth of inquiry. MacGregor pays attention to lesser-known topics alongside the predictable giants. All of his chapters spend considerable time in historical situation, and each concludes with a brief but helpful statement about the contemporary relevance of the figure or movement just considered. MacGregor balances the historical and theological tasks of a historical survey of contemporary theology well.

MacGregor's background is evangelical, and the task before him is the elucidation of Christian perspectives "both inside and outside the scope of the evangelical tradition" (11). So naturally, the book leans toward the evangelical, dedicating separate chapters to each of C.H. Spurgeon, Princeton theology, and dispensationalism, while collapsing Catholic theology from Vatican ii to the present into one chapter. Nevertheless, within the Protestant world, MacGregor strikes an ideologically irenic tone. The jeremiads that arise from Spurgeon, fundamentalism, dispensationalism, and so on are treated in their context and neither championed nor maligned. MacGregor balances those voices with fair considerations of Barth, open theism, and theologies of liberation. Indeed, perhaps the greatest single virtue of Contemporary Theology is its surprisingly appreciative treatment of such figures as Hegel, Tillich, and especially Bultmann. It is no small task to read such thinkers carefully, and MacGregor clearly has done so.

Catholicism is given marginal attention, and Eastern Orthodoxy is left out entirely. These are notable shortcomings in a textbook on theology that does not name a Protestant audience on its cover. (Perhaps subsequent editions could specify its distinctively evangelical Protestant character.) But on the other hand, MacGregor pays special attention to global voices in the contemporary Protestant world, giving each of the following contexts their own chapters: Latin American Pneumatology, African Christology, and Chinese Eschatology. MacGregor marries each of these Global South contexts to a major pillar of doctrinal theology, thus presenting each context as a positive contribution to global Christianity and acknowledging each context as the situation in which authentic Christianity accomplishes new forms. Such global attention is a special achievement for North American Protestant theology, which too often justifies the use of the geographical echo chamber cliché. Instead of resorting to tokenism, MacGregor chooses to treat contexts as practical and constructive contributors to theology. This is a strength of Contemporary Theology.

MacGregor's use of female voices is an area in need of improvement. One chapter, about seven pages long, is dedicated to feminist theology. The next chapter is ten pages long, titled "Evangelical Complementarianism and Egalitarianism." Notwithstanding the importance of the complementarian-egalitarian debate within MacGregor's home context, such source selection betrays a narrow focus on theological considerations of gender and sexuality. More importantly, MacGregor falls into the common trap of simply not enlisting enough women's voices, especially given his work in the theology of recent decades and today.

One particularly important strand of consideration for MacGregor is the inerrancy, inspiration, and/or authority of Scripture. Here, Contemporary Theology dives into its closest readings of primary texts, tracing the conversations between H.J. Ockenga and C.F.H. Henry through today's evangelical perspectives on Scripture. Once in a while, inerrancy presents itself as a fraught topic in a surprising way, as if the reader should have anticipated its inevitability and shared the author's concern for its weight. For instance, MacGregor wrings his hands about whether Wittgenstein's thought precludes the possibility of inerrancy in his picture theory of meaning (it probably does, but so what?) (155). The reader feels as though she's stepped into a family argument at Thanksgiving and must wait out the fight for more peaceful conversation...