Have you given much thought to the changing face of the church?  Certainly you are aware that changes are affecting the church, particularly evangelical Christianity.  In the change process we can easily get caught in the tension that pulls us toward one of two extremes.  We can either forget the past and focus only on the events and developments of today, or we can concentrate solely on the past, as though we actually could return or remain there.  Robert Webber suggests a third alternative: to create dialogue between the present and the past which in turn becomes (my words) a synthesis for the future, or, as he says, to “carefully and cautiously seek to interface historic Christian truths into the dawning of a new era.” Webber states, “you can best think about the future of the faith after you have gone back to the classical tradition.”  He is partially right, and with some significant insights this book helps us to do that. 

I am a bit uncomfortable with the direction suggested which would almost lead one to re-embrace the past or the ancient faith and its classical model.  I do not believe God would have us return but to go forward.  Webber writes, “Here, I believe, is a faith for our time, a faith that finds in the ancient Christian tradition a power to speak to the postmodern world.”  If that means we return to a point in time, I am troubled.  If it means we go forward with a firm footing in our ancient Christian tradition but always seeking to express our faith and theology in a way that communicates to our audience, then I am more comfortable.

This is one of the best, most important books that I have read over the past year.  One especially valuable chapter is “Christian Spirituality in a Postmodern World.”  I can think of no more important topic amidst today’s revival of spirituality, especially because that revival has no semblance of evangelical Christianity.  Webber writes that we must not have a spirituality that can be turned on and off. We must be spiritual as a habit of life. For the Christian that spiritual life habit has both an element of the mystical and the reasonable, the inner and the outer, the ecclesial and the personal.

The chapter on the role of the church in the world is also extremely timely and challenging.  Webber poses the question, “how does the church function in the world between the time of the Christ event and the consummation of history?”  and calls the church to be a sign of the other world present in this world.   Marva Dawn calls the church to be the alternative community.  Jesus calls it to be the salt and light community.  “Our goal is to focus on the church as a community of light, an alternative to a relativistic society.”  Webber is right on when he states, “The ultimate question is not “How is America?” but “How is the church?”    While there is obviously much confusion about the church’s role in today’s world, Christians should be clear about the church’s mission.

Webber is right to challenge the church to be a counter-cultural community; however, the way to achieve that is not by returning to some time past which cannot really be done.  We must carefully build upon the past and present in order to design a proper paradigm to move us into the future.

I also appreciate Webber’s challenge to dialogue with the past and present.  To do this he suggests that we divide our scope into six different paradigms, the first beginning with primitive Christianity and the sixth ending with today’s postmodern period. He has also developed a table or chart of the six paradigms of history with helpful descriptive features of each. He does a good job of summarizing the ingredients of the various paradigms from historical, philosophical, and theological perspectives.  I believe that to be effective and strategic theological thinkers today, we need to grasp the development of philosophy of thought. Webber enables the reader to evaluate the difference between what I call the pre-modern, the modern, and post-modern eras.

Webber is to be applauded for his attempt to develop a paradigm for the sixth epoch of postmodernism.  He writes, “ Our calling is not to reinvent the Christian faith, but in keeping with the past, to carry forward what the church has affirmed from the beginning.  We change to...remain the same.” In the tradition of the Apostle Paul, Webber shows how Christ is the unifying principle of all things.  An overview of history, philosophy, and theology will bring you to that point as well.  It will also help remind us that in a proper world and life view, derived from Scripture, all things are interrelated.

One comment on the book jacket reads, “Robert Webber substantiates the vision of an anciently-rooted and forward looking evangelicalism…Ancient Future Faith works as a narrative-oriented Christian primer and as a road map to the promise of catholic evangelicalism.”  That is a fair representation of this book and is why I think Christian leaders and teachers should read it carefully.

- Charles Dunahoo, CEP Coordinator