THOSE who read the first volume of Paul Avis’s series of explorations in fundamental theology, Jesus and the Church (Books, 12 March 2021), will warmly welcome this second volume focused on revelation, and on Jesus, scripture, and the Church as the threefold form of the Word of God.
He cites (1) “educated persons” who wrestle with “existential questions of belief and faith” and (2) “third year undergraduates in theology and religious studies” as his target readership, and expresses the hope that the book may be seen as “a theology of divine revelation unlike any other”.
Adhering as he does to Karl Barth’s well-established taxonomy of Jesus, scripture, and the Church as key to unlocking the mystery of divine revelation, such a claim may raise an eyebrow or two. But it is surely justified by the combination of profound theological insight and sound spiritual, pastoral, and liturgical consequence. All clergy, and especially those in Anglican Orders, should certainly be included on a roster of those who stand to benefit from this scholarly but consistently accessible study.
Avis acknowledges up-front that divine revelation is a key area for theological study, but is, at the same time “one of the most perplexing and opaque” and, following Bultmann, “could only be known in the form of paradox and in the context of mystery”. But it is none the less fundamental to theism as only some kind of revelation can assure us of God’s existence and nature.
Half the book can be described as a deep dive into the phenomenology and trajectory of “the Word of God” from being “in the beginning” to “becoming flesh” and on to its proclamation in the Church as “the echo chamber of the eternal Word”. Notwithstanding the kaleidoscopic diversity of scriptural and theological genres, “there is only one Word of God and it has unifying and integrating power.” Furthermore, while any objective assessment of the relevant evidence offers “modest assurance about the reality of divine revelation. . . it is axiomatic for Christian theology that revelation is a reality.”
The essentially mysterious nature of revelation means that it is a form of indirect communication requiring the deployment of metaphors such as God’s “speaking” and “acting”. Also, what exactly is revealed, and how, are challenging questions. By no means least, revelation needs to be experienced, and is subject to reception, requiring human reason and imagination. These and other challenges are the subjects of key chapters leading to the conclusion that “Revelation is at the same time an unveiling and a veiling”, [it] does not cancel the pervasive ambiguity and uncertainty in our knowledge of God . . . or remove the need for faith.”
This leads into chapters elaborating on the threefold form of revelation (Jesus/scripture/Church) with particular attention to the work of Karl Barth and Karl Rahner. But when it comes to the part played by the Church it is indeed but an earthen vessel, with many limitations and imperfections, and yet divine revelation needs the Church in order to become effective in the world.
This acknowledgment takes Avis into a robust appraisal of the ways in which the Church, through its preaching, teaching, worship, pastoralia, and prophetic witness, can be most effective in fulfilling its role as part of the threefold revelatory matrix. He does not hold back from being sharply critical of much that he feels to be amiss in the preaching prevalent in the Anglican Church, within which he is himself an ordained minister, and its liturgical formularies and practices. The demand that sometimes preachers find inscribed on the inside wall of the pulpit, “Sir, we would see Jesus,” is one likely to be honoured as much in the breach as in the observance. Hence, a final chapter draws mainly on the Fourth Gospel to underline the book’s fundamental commitment to Jesus as “the definitive, complete and unique revelation of God”.
Avis appears to have read everything available to be read on this topic, and to have subjected it to laser-focused scrutiny, critique, and evaluation. That said, he readily apologises for not including a chapter on natural theology, and he does seem to skate around compelling challenges posed by the problem of evil, and the revelatory potential of religions other than Christianity.
Occasionally, his casual colloquialisms surprise us in the midst of such erudition, but they are evidence of a commitment to earthing his argument in the day-to-day pastoral, liturgical, and prophetic exercise of ministry and discipleship.
While he is committed to an even-handed evaluation of diverse theological perspectives, he is reassuringly incisive in his critique of the worst excesses of (mostly Evangelical) literalism, (mostly Catholic) ecclesial interpretative dogmatism, and (mostly liberal Protestant) scepticism.
As an exercise in what Avis calls “critical theological exploration”, this is an admirable venture, lucidly explaining how revelation relates to scripture, history, religious experience, and the Church.
The Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee is a former Bishop of Lincoln.
Revelation and the Word of God: Theological foundations of the Christian Church —Volume 2
Paul Avis
T & T Clark £28.99
978-0-567-70419-1
Church Times Bookshop £26.09
