258 - The Coming Great Revival: Recovering the Full Evangelical Tradition

The Coming Great Revival: Recovering the Full Evangelical Tradition
By William J. Abraham
San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1984. 125 pp. $12.95.

Rejecting the notion that evangelicals are simply "fundamentalists with good manners," our author tackles the difficult question: "Just who are the evangelicals?" He brings to his task not only a very readable style but also a breadth of understanding that delivers him from common stereotypes and oversimplifications. Hence, I found his answer to the question to be genuinely helpful. In fact, I have not seen a more succinct analysis of the anatomy of the term "evangelical," though I have been associated all my life with those who go by that name.

Furthermore, the author does very well in putting his finger on the problem that the evangelical movement (for all its strengths) faces of disintegrating under the pressure of internal controversy. I agree with him that the heart of the problem is the tendency of the evangelicals, like the fundamentalists before them, to fix upon certain doctrines rigorously and precisely defined, such as the inerrancy of the Bible, as the criterion by which they-and by implication, God-determines who is a Christian. When the author turns from diagnosis to cure, however, though his argument is interesting and worthy, it is not quite as clinching, in this reviewer's judgment.

Take, for example, the following Wesleyan prescription:

What I am suggesting is that this concern with the intellectual and with formal theology be thoroughly relativized. It needs to be subordinated to spiritual renewal. We need to reorder our priorities so that the primary emphasis is placed not on right doctrine but on right relationships with God and with each other. The internal dynamic of the evangelical tradition must therefore be radically changed so that much more room is found for the role of the Spirit and the life of faith. Hence piety and obedience replace commitment to right doctrine as the essence of the evangelical tradition (p. 53).

Standing as I do in the Augustinian and Reformed tradition, and earning my keep by teaching systematic theology, I can respond to this call, though I cannot do so without reservation. When one appreciates something of the breadth of the evangelical heritage, striving for correct doctrine does, indeed, cease to be the only way to preserve and revitalize that heritage. But somehow, though I surely believe we have much to learn from Wesley, I cannot persuade myself that his quadrilateral-the Bible, tradition, experience, reason-is quite as fruitful a model of our evangelical heritage with which to work toward a future recovery of that heritage as our author would have us believe. For him, as a Methodist, it may be true that "whatever evangelicalism is, Wesley exemplifies it par excellence" (p. 70). But for some of the rest of us, things are not quite so simple. Admitting that his readers may feel some disappointment here, he observes, "They will be keen to know exactly how I would set out the

259 - The Coming Great Revival: Recovering the Full Evangelical Tradition

internal themes of the tradition. They would like to know precisely what I believe about revelation, inspiration, authority, justification, sanctification, atonement, the end times, and the like" (p. 101). Some of us would hardly be keen to know "exactly" and "precisely" what the author believes in all these matters, but we could wish he had ventured a little more information by way of a general, overall filling out of his approach. But of course no book ever says it all; we are past the days of summas.

The author closes with a call to all evangelicals to explore the various versions of their tradition, whether they work with a Calvinistic or Wesleyan model. This is surely a more workable program and one worth heeding. Finally, the note of hope with which the call is given, anticipated in the title of the book, The Coming Great Revival, is one which many a beleagured evangelical will welcome.

Paul K. Jewett
Fuller Theological Seminary
Pasadena, California