Today I will be reviewing the book, An Introduction to Ecclesiology, By Veli-Matti Karkkainen. This review will include a brief description of the book so that one may gain insight into some of the author’s thoughts and perhaps stated purpose for the book.  In addition, something will be said of the author to gain perspective and a context for the writing of the book.  Finally, and appraisal will be made based upon this reviewers understanding of the author’s purpose and how well this purpose has been achieved.

     As stated in the title of the book, it is an introduction to ecclesiology and as such gives a glimpse into the theology of ecclesiology.  Dr. Karkkainen, presents Christian thinking about the church. His overview begins from the traditional approaches of the theology of the church with ecclesiologies represented from Roman Catholicism, Lutheran, Refromed, and Free Church.  He then gives consideration to the various voices in ecclesiology from contemporary theologians.  Finally, he presents views of the church in a cultural context.  Throughout the process Dr. Karkkainen is helping us understand how the theology of the church is changing.  He continues to describe some of the variables that are contributing to these changes. He cites the pursuit of unity in the church, cultural context and the social systems these churches find themselves in, as reasons for the rapid spread of churches and thus the changing ecclesiology.  He concludes in his epilogue with what he sees as challenges for theologians as they wrestle with ecclesiology in the third millennium.

     When I review a book, I find it helpful to understan something of the author.  To gain a little perspective as to whom the author is, and how he may be uniquely qualified to share these thoughts, I present the following snap shot.  Veli-Matti Karkkainen, originally form Finland, is a Professor of Systematic Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.  He began there as an associate professor in the year 2000, and became a full professor in 2003.  He holds a teaching position at the University of Helsinki and he has taught and lived on three continents.  Dr. Karkkainen, has written numerous articles and published at least ten books.  He is a member of the World Council of Churches and works on three of its committees.  As a systematic theologian his dominant areas of study include, Pneumatolgy and Ecclesiology.

     As I have had the opportunity to read the book, I believe the purpose of his writing to be an expression of the range of ecclesiology within the church.  And in light of the rapid expansion and socio-cultural situations that the church finds itself, this book shows the varied ways in which the church manifests itself in local contexts.  In addition to this, the author shares what he believes to be the challlenges for theologians now and in the future.  Accepting what I believe to be the purpose, Dr. Karkkainen has put forth concise and straight forward examples of the manifold ways in which the church has found expression.

     In his introduction, he describes an ecclesiological renaissance.  He writes, no other movement in the history of the Christian Church, perhaps with the exception of the Reformation, has shaped the thinking and practice of Christendom as much as the modern movement for Christian unity.  As he looks for reasons for this renaissance, he notes the call for unity, but includes the rapid growth of the church outside of the west and the rise of “free churches” or non traditional forms of the church, both here in the west and eslewhere.  As he addresses this rapid growth, he discusses how the Christian west is asking the question, of what part of their ecclesiological heritage can be applied to the new contexts spring up around the world?  The most dominant context being those in Asia and Africa.  He states, almost until our day, theologies were still western.  Even though today in any meaningful teaching and study of theology, full hearing has to be given to voices from outside the west. 

     Moving on into his presentation, he begins introducing the major traditional ecclesiologies from Roman Catholicism, through Reformed, and then into what he calls the fastest growing segment of the church, the Free Church.  In the free church category he places the non traditional churches that are growing in other parts of the world for various reasons.  He does explain that the most explosive expansion that is being seen in the Free Church , is within the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.  He continues to add that the continuing global expansion of the free churh model is without a doubt beng borne by irreversible social changes of global proportions , this being a quote from Miroslav Volf, one of the contemporary theological voices being heard today.

     These Free Churches, put forth strongly their faith in the revelation of God in the Bible and the priesthood of the believers.  He states,

though the Free churches from early on have wanted to ground their faith in the revelation of  God, apart from human-made prerequisites such as special ministry, sacraments or lituries.  The latter part of this statement expresses as he puts it, one of the most distinctive emphases of the Free church ecclesiologies has been the insistence on the right and gifting of each believer for ministry as equal partners.  This emphasis has truly empowered the laity for ministry.

     Perhaps this has helped to foster the rapid growth of the Free Church model around the world.  Some of the other reasons that may contribute to the expansion of these churches and their ecclesiological perspective may be the differing contexts that they find themselves in.  This expansion seems to have caused different ecclesiologies to come into play, while giving the traditional models things to consider.  Dr. Karkkainen first notes that,

the emergence and growing significance of several kinds of contextual theologies does not, of course, mean that the Western theological tradition loses it significance; even theologians from outside the West are still primarily being trained either by Westerners or, even in their own contexts, in topics mainly deriving from the West. 

     These contextual  ecclesiologies fall into several different categories.  Some are related to their cultural and geographical situations, such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America.  A couple of them fall into ecclesiologies put forth by Feminist thinkers and the rest have nol connection in specifics with one another.  Dr. Karkkainen writes, the third category of contextual ecclesiologies here is a cocktail of independent voices with little or no relation to each other.  Their inclusion by Dr. Karkkainen, sums up the heart of what he is trying to express throughout the book.  His desire, I believe is to give testimony to the suprising richness and variety of alternative testimonies to what the church is.

Picture: Veli-Matti Karkkainen

     In this review we will consider the book by Frederick Buechner, The Son of Laughter.  What will follow is a brief description of the work, something about the author and an appraisal.  In the process, we will look at the character, theme, and the setting for the story.  Lastly we will get a sense of the purpose for it’s writing and share some evidence to support the review of the book.

     The book, Son of Laughter, is a fictional book about the life and history of  Jacob and the children of Israel.  The book is short of three hundred pages and rich in putting real flesh and bone to characters in the biblical account.  It follows through time Abraham and his descendants who are living life, while holding onto the promises of God.  As in the biblical story, the people are not perfect.  The author, through his writing brings to life the people with their passions, faults, and frailties.  He colors between the lines, not just with the richness of various colors but with the layers and textures of lives interwoven together in time and space.

     The book is divided into two sections, section one being about the promise and section two about the dreams.  The story begins with the burying of the various gods that they would hold onto at times, and put away at others.  It continues on finally into the land of Goshen, and the dreamer, Joseph.

     A key to better understanding this book, would be to know a little something of the author.  Frederick Buechner is both writer and minister. He has written both fictional novels, non-fiction and short essays.  His first book was published in 1950, and his last published book being 2001.  In Seminary he studied under Reinhold Neibur, Paul Tillich, and James Muilenburg.  He counts many great authors as inspiration.  Much seems to have contributed to his development as a writer, his family background, his military experience in the second world war, his immediate family, etc.  But to get a glimpse into what makes him tick as a writer of this genre type, we might consider what he has said in various writings or interviews.  From an essay on faith and fiction from his book, Now and then, we find what might be the heart of his message.  He says,

Listen for your life.  See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.  In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness:touch, taste, smell your way to the Holy and the heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.  In another quote he states,compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin.  It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. 

     I would say that these quotes sum up what drives him as an author.  His writing would draw us into the touch, and smell aspects of life.  In addition through his writing, particularly this one, we can see the compassion to live inside someone else’s skin.  In this book we see real people with real problems, who try to follow God in spite of their brokenness.

     As we read the book it is obvious that the characters are drawn from the bible.  This is where they and their actions are recorded.  What is unique is the way that the author uses history, archeology, and knowledge of the cultures to add depth to the people the he writes about.

     In Jacob, the son of Isaac or laughter we see flesh and blood portrayed by the author.  This not only occurs with Jacob, but with all the characters down to the camels.  We see them as people in all dimensions.  As we ead through the author’s account of the story we see themes woven throughout.  In the grand scheme we can see a relationship between God or “the fear”, and man.  At times we see the interaction between the two, and at others there is a distance seen between them.

     This is the backdrop, but in the silence, the story would make one think that the distance is because of man, not God.  The storms of life as well as in the every day, occur as this relationship continues with the people holding onto the promise from generation to generation.  The day in which the characters find themselves is difficult for us to grasp. But the author, with the resources available to him brings us not only into Old Testament times, but into the lives of nomadic desert people and their agricultural lifestyle.  Though this is what is going on in the background, the author brings to life the people in such a way that we can see ourselves.  We can see our own emotions and frailties.  The significance for us today as post resurrection Christians is still relevant.

     As a reviewer of this book, I would say that the purpose was to bring these characters to life.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  Though the characters are all this and more, God remains steadfast in his love and mercy towards them through generations.  Based upon this, I would conclude that Mr. Buechner definitely achieved his goal.

Picture: Frederick Buechner

     For Sittser, there is a sense of Divine Providence and that we can learn something through suffering. His book would perhaps answer the following questions: How does our repsonse to pain either guide us through the pain or actually entrap us in the pain? How do we care for those who are suffering? and What is God’s relationship to human suffering?

     When personally reflecting upon Sittser’s book two things stand out for me.  The process that he himself went through and his response, and secondly that the suffering that he was going through, became through time something that was trans formative.  How he talked about going into the pain versus running from it or being in denial over it, might not be our first response.  How we might more typically want to shut down or hide.  But he pressed forward through it.  It did not mean that he wasn’t looking for the to why?  Or that he wasn’t questioning the timing of the drive, or other what if kinds of scenarios.  He just clung on to the sovereignty of God and knew too that he had to be there for the rest of the family that survived.  At some level, life had to go on.  He definitely knew that we play a part in the healing process.

     That the suffering would somehow affect a transformation for him and his family, was something that he comes to in the book.  And in fact he does express some knowledge that he gained about himself, i.e. his self centeredness or that he needed to be a better more attentive father.  He learned of the things that he needed to let go of and also became more involved with others in the community.  He learned to accept the gifts of grace from others as they helped him with his young son who was recuperating from his injuries, or as they helped him with the rest of what needed to happen as he moved through his loss.  In the book it is  apparent that for him, somehow this tragic loss was part of a plan.  God was not only with him as he suffered, but his very life and capacity within himself in relation to others who suffer, or his relationships to others and God was being expanded.  Something good was going to happen because of it.  His courageous gift of this book gives us hope when we too struggle.

     I would highly recommend this book to those who are caring for someone in the process of suffering.  It would also be helpful to those who are at a point in their suffering where they want the kind of input that the book  offers. It is not a cold, purely theological answer to the question of God and human suffering.  It has a much more pastoral perspective.  One can connect strongly with his story and in the process feel very cared for while coming to some perspective of suffering.