In The Nature of Christian Doctrine: Its Origins, Development, and Function, Alistair McGrath provides an unparalleled account of how Christianity engaged in a process of self-definition via doctrine. His examples are well-chosen, and he incorporates the work of recent theologians with a clear emphasis on gender parity. As the argument progresses, McGrath shows how doctrine distinguishes Christianity from several other world religions. Using Mary Midgley’s concept of “multiple maps,” he develops a “theological laboratory” odel that locates the germination and historical growth of doctrine from the New Testament to the early church.
Chapter 1 distinguishes doctrines, dogmas, and theology. This chapter establishes categories to be critiqued later. A dogma might be defined as a religious community’s belief, and while a doctrine is a belief as well, it could also be seen as pervading a discourse that shapes the views of individuals within the religious community. Theology, on the other hand, describes the perspectives of individuals within a religious community.
In chapter 2 , McGrath explores how New Testament understandings of faith in Christ shaped dogma and doctrine. Considering the diversity of 2nd-century doctrines, McGrath uses the “theological laboratory” model to emphasize that early church doctrines have great range and do not necessarily harmonize with one another. Christoph Markschies, Judith Lieu, and Winrich Löhr all inform McGrath’s development of this metaphor.
In the third chapter, McGrath gives an overview of the influence of George Lindbeck’s “taxonomy of doctrines.” He then offers an approach that incorporates the historical interpretation of doctrine. To do this, McGrath draws on Mary Midgley’s idea of “multiple maps,” which he develops as one where mapping connects objects with higher meanings for that particular domain (for example, the way Paul uses a metaphor in one letter) while also relating objects with meanings across a wider scope of investigation (for example, the way that metaphor and its meanings relate to the larger Pauline corpus and associated literature and its interpretation). Augustine’s City of God, for McGrath, shows that we must have a map that teaches us that we will be satisfied only by belief in God as a desired object and yet we also must connect to the wider community of faith to refine and reform our instinctual desires. This mapping allows some cohesion while also permitting the diversity of doctrine that McGrath emphasizes throughout the book.
McGrath covers much interpretive ground in chapter 4, the title of which (“The Three Worlds of Christian Doctrine: Theoretical, Objective, Subjective”) invokes Karl Popper’s understanding of physical worlds, states of consciousness, and artistic and scientific works. He underscores the need for wonder in theology and the importance of meditation and reflection for doctrinal development. Examples of this transcendence include Uluru, French Jesuit Jean-Pierre de Caussade’s “sacrament of the present moment,” and Søren Kierkegaard’s distinction of present time from other times.
McGrath examines the scholarly understanding of the historical doctrine of aniconism in Judaism and Christianity in chapter 5 in order to develop his themes of doctrinal diversity and also ways that theory helps us to see. He argues that doctrine goes beyond intellectual theory to a “personal beholding” that changes the way the interpreters see the facts in front of them. This sounds similar to the catechetical belief that the Holy Spirit enables believers to apprehend Jesus as Christ and to read the Bible as inspired Scripture rather than classic literature. However, McGrath’s exploration of how believers may see the face of God through its scriptural development goes further in explaining how Christ functions as a framework to see. This framework gives Christians a “way of life,” which is helpful in times such as suffering. By moving the framework to seeing through Christ rather than to seeing how God allows suffering in the world, including that of Jesus, McGrath demonstrates that the manifold insights of Christianity can be woven together to create a path by which believers can know God through focusing on Christ rather than intellectually abstracting his suffering as that of the human condition.
In the sixth chapter, McGrath contends that the development of Christian doctrine turns theological complexity into a theological framework. Christian doctrine is not simply a series of historical manifestations that are connected only by expressed faith in Christ or attendance of religious services. Instead, theological principles from the New Testament around topics such as soteriology weave together a transhistorical framework that enfolds the community of faith throughout its history.
Chapter 7 explores the imagery of adoption in the New Testament, which connects with Roman law more than the history of Israel. Although Christ is depicted as a high priest, he is also conceived as someone with kinship with all believers. Provided this kinship is more than fictive, the metaphor promotes the socioeconomic status and self-esteem of those who proclaim faith in Christ. In contradistinction to the typical paterfamilias of the Roman Empire who adopted someone, God adopts women into his family line as often and with as much esteem as men. McGrath notes that Erin Heim has highlighted the solidarity created by this metaphor.
This book advances the idea that doctrine develops in theological laboratories and so is diverse and far-ranging at the same time that it is cohesive and unifying. While omitting more historical doctrinal disputes such as those in Pauline epistles (e.g., whether to maintain dietary rules), it nonetheless gives a fascinating explanation of how different doctrinal moments might interact when connected by maps of specific imagery and metaphors to larger cultural conversations. McGrath explains how objects of faith both have larger contemplative meaning and create comprehensive frameworks of devotion and meditation.
Janelle Peters is a lecturer at Loyola Marymount University.
Janelle Peters
Date Of Review:
December 27, 2024
