BOOK REVIEW:
Theology Today: Reflections on the Bible and Contemporary Life. By Patrick D. Miller. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. 2006. 137 pp. (paperback). ISBN 978-0664229924. 

Editorials are a genre unto themselves. Traditionally, they reflect the values and shared assumptions of their constituency as understood by the writer. In addition, they are usually quite hortatory, summoning readers to get themselves together and to measure up to standard values. Woefully short on specific details and safely tucked within their general principles, they offer much but inform little. They are only as good as the wisdom of their writers, and sometimes their goodness is pretty thin. Wisdom carries a cost that few of us have paid. When an editorial writer knows the issues and provides a new, razor sharp perspective, however, we all feel that wisdom becomes part of our own lives.

And that is what Patrick Miller did. In a journal like Theology Today, where a multiyear conversation among its contributors reaches out and snares its readers, we are invited to eavesdrop on the discussions that could change our minds. Miller’s editorials told us what was at stake and explained why we ought to become engaged. This collection, drawn from 1992-2005 issues, re-engages us in their underlying topics.

Miller not only introduced the contents in each issue, his comments went much further. He provided an investigated push. He identified a deeper significance in the articles that we might have overlooked. In the course of this editorial journey, however, Miller did more. The editorials often became miniature essays in themselves. And this is why they remain pungent. Miller’s editorials, we might say, had attitude.

They provoked questions. Should a more attentive reading of the canonical books of scripture lead to new components in the Apostles Creed? Has the traditional theology concerning the church been overrun by sociological studies? Whatever happened to catechisms on our way to theological illiteracy? And more to the point, can we still believe in a God who acts? Miller’s piece written in the fall of 2001 after September 11 is particularly poignant and helpful.

The interrogatory element is obvious. Miller had a way of turning each article into a question. When Miller, for instance, says, “theology is no small part memory . . . sometimes we need to go back to the beginning to see a little more clearly where we are and how we got here,” he helps to ask better questions about our own lives.

The urbane quality of the little pieces belies their pragmatic value. One could use this book as a collection of discussion topics for a thoughtful adult class. If you did, however, you might let some pedagogical tigers outside of their cages. When Christian education uses material like this it starts conversations that are hard to end. 

Richard A. Ray
Montreat, NC

PUBLISHED IN THE BULLETIN OF THE INSTITUTE FOR REFORMED THEOLOGY, SPRING 2008, VOL. 8, #1.