T&T Clark Reader in John Webster

John Webster (1955–2016) was a Christian theologian ordained to the priesthood in the Church of England. Webster prolifically wrote and spoke on a large variety of topics pertaining especially (but not exclusively) to systematic theology, moral theology, and the theology of Karl Barth. The first two are the focuses of the selections contained in T&T Clark Reader in John Webster, edited by Michael Allen.

The book consists of an introduction, ten chapters, and a chronology of Webster’s publications. The introduction helpfully connects and summarizes the works by Webster included in the reader, thus also offering a justification for his selection.

Chapters 1 and 2, “Theological Theology” and “Biblical Reasoning” respectively, represent and expound on Webster’s theological methodology and his view of the tasks of theology. Moreover, they contain Websters’ discussion on other related and equally important topics, such as theological reading, Holy Scripture, and reason.

Chapter 3, “The Immensity and Ubiquity of God,” opens Webster’s essays on God’s nature and Christology. In this chapter, Webster discusses God’s immensity and omnipresence, not as a concept isolated and dissected by itself, but in a trinitarian context. This is quite natural, considering Webster’s conviction that God’s ad intra being (God’s internal trinitarian life) is the source and pattern of both creation and redemption, a conviction that is also defended in the following chapter 4, “The place of Christology in Systematic Theology,” in which Webster provides a trinitarian account of the incarnation. The latter chapter couples well with chapter 6 (“‘It was the Will of the Lord to Bruise Him’: Soteriology and the doctrine of God”), where Webster works with the same principle.

Chapter 5 is titled “Non ex aequo: God’s Relation to Creatures,” and perhaps would have fit better after chapter 3. Here Webster further reveals his extensive (and sympathetic) knowledge of classical Christian theology and his ability to enlighten and develop its themes.

Chapter 7, “Eschatology and Anthropology,” opens the ethical and eschatological essays of the volume. In this chapter, Webster discusses the postmodern dissolution of teleology and of a proper doctrine of the human subject, and how Christian eschatology recovers both. Chapter 8, “Christ, Church, and Reconciliation,” is the most ecclesiastically polemical of the essays. In it, Webster describes the mission and tasks of the church as centered on the proclamation of the word of God, rather than on a social or political “ethical realization” (173). Chapter 9, “Evangelical Freedom,” Webster argues for the thesis that a proper view of human freedom can only be acquired once God’s own revelation of divine freedom has been embraced. For Webster, it makes little sense to strive to develop a formal definition of freedom without first establishing a normative definition of freedom: freedom from what, in what, and for what, or, rather, from, in, and for whom.

The last chapter, “Intellectual Patience,” enriches Webster’s presentation of the task of theology with a discussion of an essential virtue. Faculties (i.e., intellectual gifts) are not sufficient for the work of theology. What is also required is to anoint those intellectual gifts with the intellectual virtue of patience, which, grounded in a proper view of the triune God and of the utter dependence of humanity on God, humbly dogmatizes with longanimity (delayed gratification, so to speak) and strives against pride and hurry.

I only have two minor criticisms of this reader. First, Allen provides very few biographical details of Webster’s life. Webster’s personal and academic life was arguably unadventurous, but a better overview of his life would have helped readers understand the man behind the theology. Second, Webster’s reoccurring biblical references in the Greek language are translated only once (175), and consistency here would have also benefited readers, especially those who do not know that language.

Experts on Webster’s theology will perhaps wonder why Allen has not included work x or y in his selection. However, for the nonexpert, this reader is a good entryway into Webster’s theology. Webster is not the easiest writer to read, and the beginner should be aware of that: the way Webster masterfully connects methodology and ethics, the doctrine of God and Christology, redemption and creation, ecclesiology and eschatology, and all these loci together, both fascinates and demands concentration. However, for those (like the present reviewer) who are at ease in the field of systematic theology but who are not Webster scholars (and it is to them that this reader seems to be directed), Allen has done a great service. This volume is a good, perhaps ideal, introduction to Webster. Besides minor disagreements I have with the placement of some chapters, Allen has collected an illuminating group of essays that aptly present Webster’s profound and comprehensive theology, which, because of the very nature of his thought, is not easy to summarize. The dogmatically inclined reader will enjoy this relatively brief but deep tour of Webster’s teaching on the source, life, contexts, tasks, centers, and ends of the science of Christian dogmatics.

Marco Barone is an independent scholar.

Marco Barone

Date Of Review:

August 30, 2022