God Up There? [antikvár]

CHAPTER I The Present Predicament: Diagnoses and Prescriptions There have been times in the history of Christian thought when it seemed as if the solid earth had moved beneath men's feet. This has happened once again today, and it is time to re-examine our theological foundations to see whether they have cracked, and are in need of regrouting. Such an examination is now in progress, and this book is intended as a small contribution to it. In earthquakes there is usually one main centre or line of shock, and in this day of the shaking of the theological foundations it is not hard to say in what area the tremors have occurred. They have been felt in relation to the doctrine of God's transcendence. And yet this picture of regrouting is far too negative to describe the present situation, as if we were merely filling up unsightly cracks in a temple, or shoring up some tottering Dagon. The Lord has caused the earthquake, or at least he is in it, and therefore this is a time not only of confusion but of tremendous promise. It may be that we are in sight of a new Reformation. But if so, it would be tragic if we were unable to benefit by it because theological confusion had made us powerless. We shall later need to examine the writings of a number of men more closely, but one or two striking quotations from theologians of today may help to enforce my point about the contemporary situation. In his book Guide to the Debate about God, David Jenkins opens with a chapter called, with a question-mark, "The Beginning of the End?" Jeidiins asks whether the present debate, sparked off in this country by John Robinson's Honest to God, is "simply a recurring phenomenon which has to be reckoned with as a normal feature in the life of man in the world, and of his dealings with and