A Common Sense Theology: The Bible, Faith, and American Society.

Roberts, J. Deotis

Mark Ellingsen, Studies in American Biblical Hermeneutics 9. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1995. Pp. 251. $18.00, paper.

In this book Ellingsen argues that the tradition of postliberal narrative biblical theology at Yale Divinity School is compatible with a proper public theology for American society. He is unhappy with most theological programs in the West, asserting that they depend too heavily on the assumptions of the French and German Enlightenments (especially Kant and Descartes). He is also concerned that American thought and life have become obsessed with rampant relativism and individualism and that Americans are more concerned with self-interest, self-fulfillment, and therapy than with vital religion.

Ellingsen's goal is to point to the convergence between American culture's suppositions and common-sense realism. He offers postliberal biblical narrative theology - particularly in the thought of Hans Frei and George Lindbeck - as the first building block of an alternative position. He sees their views as undergirded by classical Christian consciousness (Augustine), Francis Bacon's scientific outlook, and the New Criticism. Ellingsen observes a convergence between postliberal biblical narrative theology and African-American homiletic/hermeneutic style, i.e., the central role of the story in communicating the gospel. He also sees the Augustinian view of the Two Cities as a framework for social ethics. Christians are to have a passion for justice, but they must look to extrabiblical sources - including the common-sense realism of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence - for sociopolitical guidance. Here he emphasizes common-sense realism, with its epistemological, ethical, methodological, and communal components.

Ellingsen argues that the essential claims of the Christian faith are self-evident. Kierkegaard's observation on "truth as subjectivity" is respected here; that is to say, only faith can discern the gospel. Yet, he also wants to insist that his view is "public" - that postliberal biblical narrative theology is open to evidence from other disciplines through dialogue with Christian truth-claims. Finally, he attempts to draw upon empirical science, including physics, chemistry, and sociobiology, to illustrate the influence of Bacon on our views of both religion and politics.

The book has abundant material for reflection, but Ellingsen assumes too much from the reader - and perhaps from himself. With a proper focus, just one of his ideas would be adequate for a book. He raises far more substantive issues than he can address. Further, his references to the African-American perspective seem awkward. He seems certain that African Americans and Evangelicals understand the Bible in a similar way, but where is the evidence? He also seems to assert that African Americans affirm the political outlook and program of the U.S.A., but the relation of Blacks to the Constitution has been uncertain, because of oppression.

The book is valuable for its serious discussion of constitutional law, biblical hermeneutics, Scottish common-sense philosophy, the New Criticism, the relation of faith to science, and a number of other topics. It suffers from a lack of focus and the failure to make a clear case for the proposal at the foundation of this important effort: to present an American public theology for ministry at the grassroots.

J. Deotis Roberts, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wynnewood, PA