James Clark is the author of The Witness of Beauty and Other Essays, and the Book Review Editor at The North American Anglican. His writing has appeared in Cranmer Theological Journal, Journal of Classical Theology, and American Reformer, as well as other publications.
On Christian Priesthood. By Robin Ward. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2011. 168 pp. $20.65 (paper). The nature of Christian priesthood, according to Robin Ward, has been obscured in recent decades: “Some theological themes which…are central to a proper understanding of ministerial priesthood in the Christian religion…have come to be seen as either unfashionable…
A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology: Introducing Beliefs and Practices. By Eve Tibbs. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021. 224 pp. $26.99 (paper). In a book designed to educate readers about a particular Christian denomination—or “tradition,” as many are now fond of saying—one can reasonably expect such a work to discuss the denomination’s distinctive character,…
Contemplating God with the Great Tradition: Recovering Trinitarian Classical Theism. By Craig A. Carter. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021. 352 pp. $32.99 (paper). Recently, there has been a marked effort among some Christian scholars to recover the classical Christian doctrine of God and the Trinity. This effort has included All That Is in God by…
Thomas Aquinas—known for centuries within the Roman Catholic Church as the “Angelic Doctor” and the “Universal Doctor,” among other titles—has received increased attention from Protestants in recent years. Some have explored the value of his thought as a whole,[1] while others have constructively engaged him as part of a larger treatment of a particular topic.[2]…
Conversion and Election: A Plea for a United Lutheranism in America. By Francis Pieper. Ithaca, NY: Just and Sinner Publishing House, 2020. 140 pp. $14.00 (paper). In the late nineteenth century, Lutherans in America were at odds with each other over the doctrines of election (i.e., predestination) and conversion. The conflict was reignited in 1912…
The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism (2 Volumes). By Michael J. McClymond. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018. 1362 pp. $90.00 (paper). Before the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion were finalized in 1571, there were the Forty-two Articles of 1553. Almost all the substance of the latter can be found in the…
Metaphysics in the Reformation: The Case of Peter Martyr Vermigli. By Silvianne Aspray. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. 176 pp. $80.00 (cloth). Attempting to discern a systematic approach to metaphysics in the Reformation quickly runs into a problem, namely that the Reformers generally did not treat metaphysical questions as such in their writings. As…
The Oxford Movement in Context: Anglican High Churchmanship, 1760‒1857. By Peter B. Nockles. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 364 pp. $55.99 (paper). In Orthodox Anglican Identity, Charles Erlandson identifies four different “spiritualities” that are commonly thought to be encompassed within “orthodox Anglicanism” as a whole: Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical, Charismatic, and Global. The Anglo-Catholic spirituality is…
PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 5. The Witness of Beauty in Practice How individual churches can most readily manifest beauty to their communities will vary depending on their circumstances. For this reason, I will not try to be overly specific about what people should do to achieve this end, nor will I suggest any…
PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 2. The Beauty of God We have seen that beauty, as a transcendental, is a property of not just some beings but all beings. From this a significant implication follows: The point here is the very notion of a “transcendental”: the word indicates that which transcends, or goes beyond,…
