to unwarranted conclusions. For example, Gignilliat observes Barth’s insistence thatNew Testament writers understood Isaiah 11:1–2 as being fulfilled and actualized inJesus; yet Barth fails to take into account those distinct cases to which the passage isdemonstrably alluded (e.g. Rom. 15:10) and which may in fact lead to a contraryconclusion. Nevertheless, the author sees in Barth an example of reading the Bible asa ‘way forward for those wishing to affirm the positive role of historical-criticismplays in the exegetical task while at the same time sensing that something grand ismissing if we keep to that realm alone with no recourse made to categories such ascanon, inspiration, and two testaments with a single subject matter’ (p. 134).

Overall, this is a helpful new study on Barth’s use of the Bible, and one can onlyhope that it will set the pace for increased attention to Barth’s biblical work. The onlycaution for future studies of a similar nature (and the one caution one should have inreading Gignilliat’s work) is to avoid expecting something from Barth’s ChurchDogmatics that it does not promise. That is to say, just as Gignilliat rightly points outthat Barth sought to interpret Scripture in accordance with the nature of Scripture, so,too, scholars looking to assess Barth’s exegetical insights need to be careful notto expect formal exegetical findings to be on display in what is clearly a non-exegetically oriented genre. The CD, after all, while grounded in Barth’s exegesis, isfinally not a biblical commentary, and the expectations of what is or is not containedtherein by way of exegetical detail must be tempered by an understanding ofjust what a Dogmatics is. In this regard, some more attention to Barth’s explicitlybiblical exegetical works (especially beyond the Römerbrief ) would be welcomed.Nevertheless, Gignilliat’s work is well worth commending to students both of Isaiahand Barth.

David GuretzkiBriercrest College and Seminary

Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand, The Genius of Luther’s Theology:A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church. GrandRapids: Baker, 2008, 240pp. $21.99ijst_487 373..393

Robert Kolb and Charles P. Arand present a text which focuses upon what they calla Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the church. They explore the genius of Luther’stheology and interestingly locate his genius not in doctrine, but in method. Thus, thetext is not a presentation of doctrine but an investigation of the interpretive matrixthe Wittenberg theologians (Luther, Melanchthon and their students) used as theyapproached their theological work. Luther’s genius was not his destination but howhe went upon his journey. Kolb and Arand illumine the matrices by which theWittenberg theologians read the Scriptures and went about their theology. Theyexplore Luther and Melanchthon’s two theological presuppositions which providedthe lenses by which Scripture was to be interpreted and theology written. This,they hope, will assist the contemporary lay community in understanding how the

Reviews 373

© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Wittenberg theologians worked, and will allow contemporary exegesis and theologyto be done in the Wittenberg tradition.

The text is divided into two extended essays, each of which articulates an aspectof the Wittenberg interpretive matrix. The first essay is an in investigation into howLuther saw God shaping human life through two different kinds of righteousness.The essay is an extended discussion on anthropology and the fullness of humanrelationships with God and each other. Kolb and Arand still hold that justification isthe teaching ‘by which the church stands and falls’ (p. 22), but seek to reinforce thebroad manner in which Luther understood justification and the human condition.They see righteousness beyond mere sin-based terminology and cast it as livingas creation in the manner which God intended. Righteousness is life in harmonywith God and with our neighbour. Therefore, it has a twofold application: humanrighteousness before God comes from God’s activity on behalf of humanity.Human righteousness in the world and with fellow creatures depends uponhumanity completing its God-given tasks. Both forms of righteousness must bepresent for a person to be fully human. Anthropology takes a central role in theunderstanding of these two kinds of righteousness.

This formulation is a substantial step. By configuring the human conditionand its ailments away from a focus merely on issues of sin and moving it toward amore inclusive configuration of life in its fullness, Kolb and Arand broaden thestereotypical presentation of Luther. They show how Luther relates justification toanthropology and subsequently locates justification away from merely forensicanalysis to a more robust discussion of the human condition. They locate justificationat the heart of what it means to be fully human, with fully developed active andpassive righteousness, and in the midst transition what it means to be fully humanaway from a mere forgiveness of sins. This positioning allows Kolb and Arand toreinforce the guiding role played by anthropology in Luther’s theology.

The second essay is devoted to an extensive investigation of Luther’s doctrineof the Word of God and the significance of the performative speech act. Over andagainst other theologies which see the Word of God as something which providesinformation only, Kolb and Arand present Luther’s theology of the Word of Godas something which performs that which it says. For the Wittenberg theologians, anew reality comes into being when God speaks. Kolb and Arand investigate theirdoctrine of the Word of God and discuss the multiple manners by which God’sWord accomplishes that which it declares. It creates, establishes conversationbetween God and humanity, elicits faith, simultaneously reveals and hides God,and kills and makes alive. Kolb and Arand spend the remainder of the essayexploring how God’s Word performs these actions through the oral word, writtenword and sacramental act. They conclude by discussing the pastoral outworkingand significance of the Word of God as the place where God’s Word takesform.

Kolb and Arand have attempted to assist the church by providing a historicaloverview of the Wittenberg school’s approach to theology. In doing so, they havesought to provide a historically rooted interpretive matrix for current theological

© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

374 Reviews

reflection, and have squarely hit their mark. They wrote the text precisely because thesocio-political landscape in the twenty-first century is decidedly different today fromsixteenth-century Wittenberg, and yet they believe this theological matrix remainsequally as valid now as it was then. The Wittenberg Way of Thinking can still informtheology and the ministry of the Word of God today.

Kolb and Arand have also accomplished a significant secondary task regardingpositioning their Wittenberg-style of theology. The text presents a simple case:Luther’s theological genius does not necessarily lie in specific doctrines developed,though they are indeed important. Rather, the genius is the manner by whichthe Wittenberg theologians went about their task. Thus, their text becomes aninteresting bridge into contemporary theological work. To say that classicalLutheran theology has come under critique in the twenty-first century is to put akind face on a very significant moment. Recent work in New Testament theology,specifically in relation to justification, has recast Reformation theology in a newand different light. So called ‘New Perspective’ theologians have substantiallychallenged traditional Protestant configurations of justification, a theology largelybased upon the work of Luther and his students. The tendency of suchre-evaluations is often to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, andmuch has been said regarding moving beyond Luther. Kolb and Arand havepresented a means by which to save the proverbial baby and retain Luther’s genius,while at the same time leaving space for the current developments in NewTestament studies. By explicating Luther’s theological presuppositions with regardto the human condition and the creative and re-creative power of the Word of God,they open the door for new readings of the biblical texts which no longer movebeyond Luther, but rather place themselves squarely within the Wittenberg Way ofThinking.

Joe McGarryUniversity of Aberdeen

Jerry L. Walls, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2008, xviii + 724pp. £85.00 / $150.00ijst_496 375..395

This recent addition to the ranks of Oxford Handbooks gathers together 40 discretearticle-length entries (including the substantive introductory and concluding essays)to produce a scholarly portrait of the state of the question regarding eschatology. Itis a reference work, designed to be read and used as such: each essay treats a discreteaspect of the theme, and includes useful literature reviews, reference lists and briefbibliographies to prime the pump of further investigation. Yet, readers with enoughstaying power to read the essays seriatim will certainly appreciate the editorial carewhich has been taken to ensure a thorough exploration of such a wide range ofeschatological themes and questions here. The collection is inevitably uneven,though not in terms of quality as is sometimes the case in works of this kind. Rather,

Reviews 375

© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd