432 - Reformed Spirituality: An Introduction for Believers

Reformed Spirituality: An Introduction for Believers
By Howard L. Rice
Louisville, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991. 224 pp. $14.95.

Living the Christian Life: A Guide to Reformed Spirituality
By Robert H. Ramey, Jr., and Ben Campbell Johnson
Louisville, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992. 181 pp. $12.95.

The purpose of these two recent publications is to encourage the "deep renewal of the Spirit in personal and corporate life" (Ramey and Johnson) in the Reformed family of Christians. Both return to the roots of this tradition and seek to mine their legacy for the life of the church today. Ramey and Johnson are clearly reacting to the crisis of spirituality within the Presbyterian denomination, which they see as a primary cause for its much-analyzed loss of members and vitality. While acknowledging that modern life is spiritually "flat and without passion or a sense of purpose," Rice is writing in response to the revival of the quest for spiritual experience, which he sees arising on all sides within recent years.

Since both books are working out of the same tradition, it is to be expected that they will be similar in content. They begin by discussing the basis of spirituality in the Reformed tradition: the knowledge of God, or "the response to God's providence." Spirituality (or "piety") is understood as "the pattern by which we shape our lives in response to our experience of God as a very real presence in and around us" (Rice). The very definition of Christian existence is, thus, at stake,

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which Ramey and Johnson bring out as they begin with a helpful presentation on what it means "to be a Christian." Pastors and elders who struggle with the idea of evangelism will be helped by their pithy treatment of "the substance of Christian commitment."

Both books address prayer, worship and the sacraments, and the study of Scripture as the basic forms of spiritual experience. Their Reformed orientation is most distinctively addressed when they turn to the relationship between spirituality and Christian action. One wishes that it were true that "nearly every responsible writer in the field of spirituality stresses the obligation to use the closeness with God that may be found as a source for strength for service to others" (Rice). However, the tendency of much popular modern writing on the Christian life is to restrict discussions of spirituality to the private and individual. In both books, this "suspicion of otherwordliness" is countered by challenging discussions of "self-denial," "cross-bearing," and "discipleship in the world." The consensus of all three authors is that "the need of the church today is for a spirituality that combines a deep and renewed personal piety with a passionate concern for the world" (Rice). Both books stress that Reformed spirituality is not spontaneous, but disciplined, not restricted to the affective and emotional, but wholistic and life-embracing. Spirituality requires both study and practice to be genuinely Christian and biblical.

Dr. Rice brings a helpful and often neglected emphasis in his chapter on "Consultation: Spiritual Guidance in the Reformed Tradition." Here is a much-needed corrective to the tendency to reduce the "cure of souls" to therapy and the reception of the behavioral sciences in pastoral practice. His definition of pastoral counseling deserves much attention: "the expression of the accepting love of God by persons, ordained or not, who act on behalf of the church to assist people in their efforts to deal with inner conflicts, unresolved problems, questions about the meaning of life, difficulties in relationships, and other matters that perplex them." Church discipline is included in this definition, and it is moved from the issues of legal order to the necessary level of spiritual care and guidance. The discussion of spiritual guidance is both theologically provocative and eminently practical. This chapter deserves particular attention in both seminaries and congregations.

With all their similarities, there are very important differences between these volumes with regard to their design, focus, and audience. Ramey and Johnson have written the more elementary book, intended for use in congregations. They have created a case study in a typical congregation as their continuing theme to introduce each section. This device works persuasively at some points but is a little too pat in others. There are study questions at the end of each chapter and study outlines at the end of the book. The volume could serve as a textbook for a course on spirituality in a congregation, and it would be accessible to such a readership.

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The person teaching such a course would want to have read Rice's book in preparation, however. It draws on a far broader spectrum of resources in the Reformed tradition, while Ramey and Johnson focus primarily on Calvin (which is probably wise for the introductory level that the book will probably serve). Rice draws out much more of the historical wealth of the Reformed tradition, ranging through resources coming from the sixteenth into the twentieth century. Both books provide very helpful bibliographies, although in keeping with the level of the book, Rice's is more extensive. There is no index in Ramey and Johnson; there is one in Rice. The footnotes in Rice are at the end of each chapter; they are at the end of the book in Ramey and Johnson. For a seminary course on Reformed spirituality, I would use Rice's book as the text and give students Ramey and Johnson to use for a project in their field education congregation.

The role of the theology professor as doctor ecclesiae is well exemplified by both of these volumes, whose authors teach at Presbyterian seminaries. If the publication of such volumes indicates that Reformed spirituality is being taught in a disciplined fashion in seminaries, then we have reason to be both grateful and hopeful for the future of the church!

Darrell L. Guder
Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky