Practicing Christian Doctrine

Jones, Beth Felker. Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic 2014. 256 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0801049330.
Reviewed by E. Jerome Van Kuiken, Asst. Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Bartlesville, OK.
Dr. Jones is a Wesleyan Theological Society member, United Methodist pastoral spouse, and at the time of writing was a Wheaton College theology professor. Having authored studies of theological anthropology (The Marks of His Wounds: Resurrection Doctrine and Gender Politics), pneumatology (God the Spirit: Introducing Pneumatology in Wesleyan and Ecumenical Perspective), and Stephenie Meyer’s fantasy bestsellers (Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga), Jones has now released an introductory systematic theology textbook aimed at undergraduate students. As the title suggests, she intends to inculcate that doctrine is meant to be lived out, not just thought about. The book’s introduction and concluding benediction, as well as each chapter’s final section, emphasize this intent.
The introduction also identifies Jones’ theological perspective as evangelical and ecumenical. Regarding the former, she situates herself within the matrix of multiple scholars’ definitions of evangelicalism. Regarding the latter, she emphasizes both the unity of consensually-held theology and the diversity of theologians. Consequently, the following chapters unfold a traditional Protestant ordering of doctrines – revelation and Scripture, Trinity, creation and providence, theological anthropology, Christology, soteriology, pneumatology, ecclesiology, eschatology – liberally sprinkled with quotes from patristic and feminist thinkers, Thomas Aquinas and Julian of Norwich, Calvin and Wesley, Pope (emeritus) Benedict XVI and non-Western theologians. Doctrinal content befits a theologian teaching at Wheaton: discreet defenses of classical theism and masculine God-talk; confession of creatio ex nihilo coupled with ease about contemporary scientific models of the “how” of creation; commitment to Scripture’s verbal, plenary inspiration, Chalcedon’s Christology, and the Reformation’s solas; and concern for sociopolitical and ecological exploitation worldwide. Jones tips her Methodist hand in Chapter One by introducing the Wesleyan Quadrilateral but is even-handed in her coverage of Arminianism versus Calvinism. While not minimizing the two systems’ significant disagreements, she stresses that both of them are fundamentally grace-based as opposed to Pelagius’ and Charles Finney’s overconfidence in human free will.
Jones is also gracious in her handling of other points of theological divergence. As with the Arminian-Calvinist divide, at some points she simply sketches the rival views and affirms their common denominator. She takes this approach, for instance, in debates over biblical inerrancy versus infallibility, holistic dualism versus nonreductive physicalism, and the assorted millennialisms. Elsewhere, such as with cessationism, she appreciates the element of truth in it before rejecting it. On other occasions she integrates multiple perspectives, as with views of the imago Dei and models of atonement. Her recurrent nemeses are idolatry, which she sees several heresies as entailing, and Gnosticism.
A brief textbook like Practicing Christian Doctrine cannot cover everything. Jones assumes that her readers are already acquainted with Scripture’s overarching story and its details. She elects to discuss in some depth the divine attributes of immutability and impassibility but simply to affirm the “omni” attributes. Likewise, she surveys various Protestant positions on the Eucharist but not on baptism. Such selectiveness gives a somewhat uneven feel to her coverage, but this is easily countered in an introductory theology course by class lectures or use of a supplemental textbook like Greg Boyd and Paul Eddy’s Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. Jones’ frequent citation of historic Christian thinkers without introductions may strike uninitiated students as irrelevant name-dropping. Again, a supplemental survey of Christian intellectual history could prove valuable.
Other instances of unevenness or omissions involve terminology. One example distills the issue: Chapter Two opens with the line, “The big reveal is a familiar trope in ‘reality’ television,” then notes how superficial media “revelations” contrast with transformative divine revelation, of which one “locus” is Scripture (p. 31). Here Jones’ popular-culture reference establishes rapport with readers and demonstrates insightful application of doctrine to practice; these positive points, though, are blunted by jargon like “locus,” with which many undergraduates are unfamiliar. Similar instances arise across the book. Jones’ many insightful remarks and occasional references to current culture (e.g., Harry Potter) make the text well worth reading. Here and there, however, she falls into comments that assume advanced terminological knowledge, including etymological knowledge. Aggravating the text’s terminological trouble is that key terms are in bold print, but without any corresponding glossary. On the positive side, the occasional diagrams and the many sidebars with descriptions of concepts and with quotes from Scripture, creeds, theologians, and poets add variety and value to the text and should be retained.
Practicing Christian Doctrine insightfully, informatively introduces the practice of theology. It fills a niche for the educator who wants a beginning theology textbook from a broadly orthodox, evangelical perspective more distinctively Wesleyan than Stanley Grenz’s Created for Community or Alister McGrath’s Theology: The Basics but less so than Sam Powell’s Discovering Our Christian Faith. The availability of Practicing Christian Doctrine as an ebook, including hyperlinked endnotes, enhances its attractiveness for classroom use.