BOOK REVIEW:
Testimony and Tradition: Studies in Reformed and Dissenting Thought. By Alan P.F. Sell. Aldershot UK & Burlington VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2005. 376 pp. (hardcover). ISBN 978-0754640825. 

Collections of essays are like buffets: some are cafeteria lines of predictable steam table food while others display a range of surprising, imaginatively prepared dishes. Testimony and Tradition is a rich collection from Alan Sell, composed of papers written during his years in the Chair of Christian Doctrine and Philosophy of Religion at the United Theological College, within the Aberystwyth and Lampeter School of Theology at the University of Wales.

The thirteen essays in the collection range from Sell’s inaugural lecture, “Conservation and Exploration in Christian Theology,” to the concluding “Reminiscence, Reflection, Reassurance.” In between are essays both wide-ranging, such as “Reformed Theology: Whence and Whither?” and restricted, such as “Andrew Fuller and the Socinians.” American readers might be tempted to bypass studies of Andrew Fuller, Henry Grove, or even P.T. Forsyth, but avoiding unfamiliar dishes only deprives theological diners of some taste treats. Together with essays of obvious relevance to the current North American theological context, close studies of British figures from previous centuries provide a wide-ranging examination of the Reformed approach to Christian faith and life.

Alan Sell is a theologian from the Congregationalist stream of the Reformed tradition. He “half-jokingly” notes that he would like his gravestone to be inscribed “Minister of the Gospel,” followed by the footnote “Of the Dissenting sort.” It is his conviction that the Dissenting witness needs to be made because it goes to the heart of “the Gospel of God’s free, Church-convoking grace.” North American Reformed thought, dominated by Presbyterian sensibilities, can benefit from hearing Sell’s sympathetic treatment of free church ecclesiology and social witness.

But satisfaction is not only found in sampling unfamiliar fare. “Conservation and Exploration in Christian Theology,” “A Renewed Plea for ‘Impractical’ Divinity,” and “Reformed Theology: Whence and Whither?” are particularly notable contributions to the Reformed conversation. Sell approaches vital issues with erudition, insight, and dry wit. The combination provides the reader with knowledge, a spur to thought, and a bit of fun.

A small taste of Sell’s essays may whet the appetite for a more complete repast. In “Reformed Theology: Whence and Whither?”—an address given at a 1999 Reformed Studies Centre conference at Cambridge—Sell offers three positive “whither” declarations coupled with cautionary words.

First, “we should do well to remember that Reformed theology is catholic in intention, but ever at risk of affording hospitality to the sectarian demon.” Of all the ecclesial traditions emerging from the 16^th century Reformation, the Reformed family of churches is the most fragmented. What has led to this sorry history of serial schisms, and how might we draw on our catholic intentions to overcome our sectarian demons? Alan Sell offers some intriguing insights into the Reformed past and some overtures to a more faithful future.

Second, “we should remember that Reformed theology has a comprehensive sweep in principle and manifests a certain lacunae in practice.” Readers may or may not agree with Sell’s identification of lacunae, but his exploration helps to rescue Reformed thought from a kind of ecclesial docetism that substitutes idealization for honest realism.

Third, “the Reformed have a theological method which is integrally related to their pneumatology and to their completed ecclesiology, but which is open to abuse in more than one way.” Wedges between Spirit, Bible, and Church that spawn both individualistic spirituality and biblicism, and an ecclesiology that fails to embrace both the ministry of the whole people of God and the “priestly” governance of the body, are but two of the abuses that Reformed churches must grapple with.

Perhaps these few notes from one essay will evidence the value of Alan Sell’s life-long contribution to Reformed thought. One prime value is found in his inaugural lecture at Aberystwyth: “Theologians may or may not be ministers of the Gospel, but ministers of the Gospel ought to be theologians. They comprise a second category of theological conservationists and explorers.” Testimony and Tradition is not a mere intra-academic conversation, but an invitation to the whole people of God in Reformed churches to know their tradition well so that their testimony may be faithful and fruitful.

A review of Testimony and Tradition would not be true to its subject without an indication of Alan Sell’s delightful humor, found on nearly every page. His inaugural lecture begins by quoting W.H. Auden: “A professor is one who talks in someone else’s sleep,” and noting a possible professorial obituary: “His gifts were not of the popular sort.” Sell’s “Reminiscence, Reflection, Reassurance” contains the observation that the Westminster Shorter Catechism answers the question, “What is the chief end of man?” with “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” However, Sell goes on to say, “It is not difficult to find examples of those who would utterly repudiate the Catechism’s answer.”

Alan Sell does not repudiate the Catechism’s answer, which is one of the reasons he is such a good conversation partner. 

Joseph D. Small
Office of Theology and Worship, PCUSA
Louisville, KY

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