Major Review: A Theology for the Twenty-First Century

In thIs hefty tome, noted Presbyterian theologian Douglas Ottati offers a theology rooted in Augustinian, Protestant, liberal, and humanist elements, which enables him both to embrace classical theological wisdom and to rethink theological themes in light of “new and pressing realities” (p. xxi). The book consists of three sections structured around seventy propositions. In the first section, on method, he introduces Christian theology as a practical wisdom, i.e., as “a vision of God, the world, and ourselves in the service of a piety, a settled disposition, and a way of living” (p. 25). Then follows a section on creation, which offers fresh perspectives on creation and providence, while emphasizing the unity of God’s creative and redemptive work. Finally, in the section on redemption, Ottati focuses on the themes of Christ, Spirit, sin, regeneration, and world renewal, concluding with three final propositions on God the Redeemer. The overall structure of the theology rests on three central insights gained from Augustine: the goodness of creation, the depth of sin, and the centrality of grace. From these themes, Ottati presents God as Creator, Judge, and Redeemer. This is an experiential and narratival perspective on God rooted in both Protestantism’s call to return to the source of Scripture, and liberalism’s emphasis on experience as a source of knowledge. It is therefore precisely as a liberal theologian who values the experiential that Ottati expresses discomfort with “speculative” elements in theology, noting, for example, that his “metaphysical reticence” leads him to remain “agnostic about ‘internal relations’ among the three persons within God” (p. 741). He focuses on the revelatory experiences captured in Scripture, stating that he intends to “work with current historical and biblical scholarship rather than dismiss it on dogmatic grounds” (p. 364). The fourth element in his theological viewpoint is that of Christian humanism, partially borrowed from Calvin, which offers a way out of the “dislocation” that marks the twenty-first century (p. 16). Christian humanism, he says, is theocentric, and as such dislodges humans from the center of the theological frame by recognizing that in the context of divine governance the world beyond humans has value. It also relocates humans by sensing that within the context of the divine dynamic human beings have worth.