Exploring Christian Theology: Volume Two: Creation, Fall, And Salvation, by Nathan D. Holsteen & Michael J. Svigel, general editors

[Note: This book was provided free of charge by Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.]

This book, in ways probably unknown to its authors, manages to be revealing and of great interest in understanding the mindset about evangelical Protestants regarding Creation, the Fall, and Salvation. The book makes it clear what axes it has to grind and what agendas it has to promote. Among the axes it has to grind is a hostility to the doctrines of Finney, the widespread skepticism within general society about the doctrine of original sin, and evolution. In terms of the agendas it wishes to push, there is a focus on the Trinity, a desire to popularize the semi-Augustianian view of mankind’s depravity found in the Orange II council [1], which was largely unknown for most of the Middle Ages, as well as a general mindset of progressive revelation. I suppose the authors and editors of this two-part volume in a three-volume set are to be praised for being so open and obvious about their perspective that it ought to be loud and clear to every reader. The fact that it manages to at least attempt to bring fairly obscure subjects into a general and even basic level of understanding across an evangelical consensus is also to be commended.

In terms of its contents, this book is divided into two parts in a designed U-shaped melodramatic structure. The first part contains an evangelical view of the Creation that focuses on areas of consensus (namely God’s role as creator, the fallen nature of mankind) and either points out options where there is disagreement without making firm judgments on all views or by avoiding areas of fruitless speculation (like Young Earth versus Old Earth creationism). Each sections contains passages, full of interpretation by the authors and editors, about the doctrines discussed, point out obvious heretical pitfalls (to them), give some tips to remember, include a lot of sayings from various figures in Hellenistic Christendom (mostly), and include a lot of writings for further reading for those interested in studying a given topic in more depth. Some of these books, namely those in Intelligent Design, I have read and can even recommend.

That said, this book has some glaring faults. Some of them are inherent in the approach of the authors. The book as a whole is full of human reasoning and a desire to prefer the wisdom of man to the truth of scripture. At times this is done in omission, where the book completely ignores the importance of the Sabbath and Holy Days in pointing to God’s plan for salvation, despite that being a pertinent subject for the book. Likewise, when the book discusses views of salvation, they entirely ignore the biblical belief of the small first harvest of the firstfruits and the larger general harvest, the doctrine of the resurrections, except to point to a belief in the bodily resurrection, even if the book does not greatly discuss the immortal soul doctrine, which is the source of the error in Hellenistic Christianity about resurrection. At other times, the errors are ones of commission, where there is a specific and strong bias in supporting Augustine’s Hellenism over the complicated biblical view of sin. The book shows a common tendency to wish to resolve tensions by going to either one direction or the other, rather than realizing the truth of both, and seeks far more precision through manmade words than can be gained through the complexities of scripture. If one is reading this book to see what Evangelicals think about Creation, the fall, and Salvation, this is a good book, but if one wants to see what the Bible has to say, one will instead get flawed human interpretations, mediated through centuries of Hellenistic faith that has departed from the faith once delivered, rather than the Gospel truth.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/book-review-know-the-creeds-and-councils/