Reviewing The Spectacular Atonement by Robert Falconer

Assignment 2 By Julius Mucheregwa Assignment 2 Course code: THE2123-Doctrine of Salvation Bachelor of Theology South African Theological Seminary 17 July 2017 Assessor: Dr Mark Pretorius TABLE OF CONTENTS BOOK REVIEW ................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Details of the book................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background of the author ....................................................................................... 1 1.3 Description of the purpose ..................................................................................... 1 1.4 Evaluation of the book ............................................................................................ 3 1.4.1 The author’s use of Scripture ............................................................................. 3 1.4.2 Use of Scholars .................................................................................................... 4 1.4.3 Author’s Presuppositions .................................................................................... 4 1.4.4 Organisation .......................................................................................................... 5 1.4.5 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 5 1.4.6 Accuracy and Suitability ...................................................................................... 6 1.4.7 Comparisons ......................................................................................................... 6 1.5 How the book impacted me ................................................................................... 6 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................... 7 BOOK REVIEW INTRODUCTION The following essay is a review of Spectacular Atonement: Envisioning the Cross of Christ in an African Perspective. It will look at the details of the book, the background of the author, its purpose and offer an objective evaluation of the book (the use of Scripture and scholarly works, its structure and organisation, its suitability and its contribution to the scholarly world among other things and how it impacted my life). In reviewing the book, the contents of the book will be weighed against Scripture and other scholarly sources. This will help to see whether the book fills an academic void. 1.1 DETAILS OF THE BOOK The book Spectacular Atonement: Envisioning the Cross of Christ in an African Perspective (ISBN number of 978-0620624053) was written by Robert D Falconer. It was published by SATSP. The book has one hundred and seventy three pages. The hardcopy costs from $11.98-$16.24 online. 1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR Robert D Falconer has a PhD in Systematic theology from South African Theological Seminary. His PhD is in African Theology. He also holds a degree in architecture in addition to BTh and MTh from SATS. Having been schooled in Africa, Falconer has good understanding of the African way of life. Currently, he is a seasoned missionary and a principal at a college in Kenya. He is married to Catherine. 1.3 DESCRIPTION OF THE PURPOSE Falconer (2015:1) states the composition of the Cross of Christ and he tells us that it is predominantly atonement theology. In light of this, he states the purpose of the book as the discussion of atonement theology, focusing on penal substitution and the victorious Christ from an African point of view. 1 of 9 In achieving this great feat, the foreword of the book states how the book achieves it; it explains words or concepts and tries to apply these in a modern day setting (Falconer 2015: vii). In the introduction, the author states his purpose. He grounds the reader in the context of his work and helps him to see things from his perspective. He argues from an African perspective and shows that the Christus Victor theme and penal substitution should be combined (Falconer 2015:3). But how does he do this? The book is divided into two sections. The first part looks at atonement and the victorious Christ as they are laid out in Scripture, Christian Theology and in African Christianity. This section firstly, looks at what the Bible teaches about penal substitution and the victorious Christ theme by taking the reader from the Old Testament into the New Testament. Falconer does deep textual exegesis and sees how the teaching develops through the whole Bible (2015:35-60). The intention of this section is to show how the concept of atonement has developed and was applied through history. When looking at atonement in Christian theology, Falconer (2015:35-60) explores how the church throughout the ages has embraced the concepts of penal substitution and the victorious Christ. He looks at the response of the early church fathers, the scholastics, the reformers, post reformation and today’s Christians to the teaching of penal substitution and the victorious Christ. The second part addresses the issue of African Spirituality. Falconer (2015:61) states that the function of this chapter is to address how African theologians and leaders view atonement theology. He shows that, like in the Old Testament, atonement played a major role in African religion and goes on to highlight the reasons. He shows that the African worldview focuses on the Christ who is able to deliver people from the bondage of poverty, ill-health and principalities and human enemies. He sees this Christ as the Supreme Ancestor who is able to mediate between God and man and solve the African woes (Falconer 2015:93). For the African, there is no clear cut boundary between the physical and the spiritual (Falconer 2015:vii) and thus they want the death of Christ to have a 2 of 9 bearing to their lives. The author seems to concede that the Cross of Christ does have such bearing when he says that it has overcame evil forces and witchcraft among other things. He shows that the African believes that the animal sacrifices played an important role in the deliverance of the Africans from all manner of misfortunes. This is done through various illustrations that have strong similarities to the practices in the Old Testament (for example the scapegoating practice) (Falconer 2015:79). In atoning God, the Cross of Christ is the major distinguishing factor between the African and the Christian religion. In his preface, Falconer (2015:xi) echoing Hebrews 9:11-14, tells us that Christ’s sacrifice was far greater than that of animals. The last five chapters of the book seek to restore hope to the Africans by showing the relevance of the Cross of Christ in their everyday troubles. The African worldview is filled with fear of evil spirits, sin, witchcraft and suffering and Falconer (2015:101-123) wants them to see the cross as a ray of hope. God offers protection to all African fears (Falconer 2015:121). In the last section, Falconer (2015:141-151) alludes to the fact that cosmic harmony is the pinnacle of the African hope and compares the African belief system to the Christian worldview. The greatest difference lied in how both perceived the afterlife. The African believed that they will become ancestors while Christianity teaches dramatic resurrection (Falconer 2015:146). Harmony can only be achieved through the Cross of Christ. 1.4 EVALUATION OF THE BOOK 1.4.1 The author’s use of Scripture Falconer (2015) makes use of the Bible excellently and consistently. From the onset he engages with Scripture in context applying and explaining its meaning. For instance in looking at the proto-evangelion (Falconer 2015:9), he explains it in a way that is understood by anyone. He links the text with the rest of the Bible and help to draw a deeper meaning to the text. 3 of 9 Further, he helps the reader to understand better by explaining difficult or important words as they are used in the passages in question. For example, he highlighted important words (offspring page 9, for; our guilt pg.13…). He does not seek sophistication by using tough Greek or Hebrew words in his writing making the reading easy and exciting. 1.4.2 Use of Scholars The author engages various recent scholars (Kalu, Mbiti, Kunhiyop Carson, Packer, Boersma and Ferguson among others) in trying to argue his point. Though one may argue that the scholars were placed late, it is my opinion that page 15 was not late because the first few pages served to lay a foundation of his great argument. In using the scholars, he did not strictly use African scholars to argue an African case and Western scholars to argue a Western case. It is my opinion that this gives the reader a diverse view on the subject. Further, the use of scholarly material served to ground the reader in the context of the Bible or to further dissect the issue under review. In discussing “ransom” (Mt. 20:28), he uses D.A. Carson who elaborates what entailed a ransom and helped to take the reader into the historical context in which the text was written. Not only does this give credibility to the writing, but it grants greater understanding to the reader. 1.4.3 Author’s Presuppositions The author believes that the African religious landscape is uniform and supposes that the way that they worship is also uniform. It is my opinion that this is the same mistake that Mbiti (1991) makes in painting the whole of Africa with the same brush. It should be observed that Gelfand (1962:5-7) sees every geographical area with its own medium, a point that falconer never addressed. In fact, Gelfand (1962:51-83) notes that there is a hierarchy in the spirit world. The position taken by Falconer (2015:88), from Orobator, is not consistent with this. He teaches that spirits from other clans do not matter, while a closer look reveals that Chaminuka, Zunzungara, Nzvivira and others were spirits that transcended their clans and had influence over many clans (Gelfand 1962:5). This is the same with Mbuya 4 of 9 Nehanda, whose influence transcended her clan and participated in the Zimbabwe war of liberation (Daneel 1998:50). Shoko (2016:90) however supports the positions that are expounded by Falconer (2015). He sees the African Traditional Religion being closely related to Christianity, so much so that Christ’s ministry to the needy is viewed as relevant as that of a Supreme Ancestor. Shoko (2016:89) and Kunhiyop (2004) are in point in showing that African are in the family both in their religion and the church. The Africans value the community above all (Kunhiyop 2004:12). However, embracing Christ as the Supreme Ancestor and dwelling on the similarities results in syncretism and an inclusivism (Shoko 2016:90). 1.4.4 Organisation Robinson (2001:183-197) emphasises having strong transitions and a clear style (inclusive of a clear outline, short sentences and simple structure among others) as the pointers to good sermon writing and this argument can be used in reviewing a book. Smith (2008:31) holds that presentation matters as it gives the first impressions. It is my opinion that the book under review has all the above and therefore is a product of a skilled hand. For example, he used words like “furthermore” and “like” (pg. 98), “although” (pg.99) and among others as road signs to mark his train of thought. From the onset, he clearly marks how his train of thought by an exemplary table of contents consisting of two parts; the first one dealing with tracing the idea of atonement throughout the ages and the second dwelling on the application of this theme to the African landscape. He cites many scholars through clear in-text citations. These are supported by an up-to-standard bibliography, which is arranged on topic by topic bases. 1.4.5 Methodology In the Foreword, Kunhiyop shows the methodology that Falconer (2015) used (vii). He states that the book will define terms and seek to apply these to the African landscape. This was repeated by Falconer (2015:x) in many words but on the whole the methodology was stated clearly. 5 of 9 1.4.6 Accuracy and Suitability The book was not meant to cover general African Tradition but was directed at atonement from an African perspective. As such, the omission of deep African Traditional worship will not be taken as errors. However, taking Christ as an ancestor (Falconer 2015:93) raises questions on whether ancestors are not supposed to be the dead living as wholly spiritual beings. A closer look reveals that Christ cannot be regarded as a Supreme Ancestor because he is not dead. In fact he is a living Man and fully God (Grudem 1994:542). On the whole, I believe that the author’s research was meaningful and not focused on just a few authors but around a varied many. The book was suitable in addressing an issue that many have not chosen to explore. Atonement is a huge thing in the Christian walk and any error in this doctrine leads to a warped theology (for example the ransom to Satan Theory, Moral Influence Theory, the Example Theory and the Governmental Theory (Grudem 1994:568-582)). Further, many African writers have chosen not to write about their own religion but have embraced the Western teaching on African Religion. Thus, the book addresses this challenge through an African writer who has researched the African Religion and answered an atonement question from an African position. 1.4.7 Comparisons The art of writing embraced in the book compares well with other works. If compared with Kunhiyop’s African Christian Ethics, Shoko’s Christianity and African Traditional Religions and other books, it can be seen that Falconer’s book carries the same weight in that it covers areas that the other scholars did not cover. The fact that a celebrated authors like Samuel Kunhiyop has written a foreword for this work (pg. vii-viii) or Professor Jabini’s guidance (pg. x) means that it has depth. 1.5 HOW THE BOOK IMPACTED ME The first thing that dawned on me after reading the book was the fact that my theology was one sided when compared with what Falconer (2015) advocates. Being an African who has grown up witnessing the African Traditional Religion, I 6 of 9 tended to emphasise the victorious Christ part of atonement and neglecting penal substitution. This has led me to make prayers that placed weight on the deliverance from evil and other ills that plague man. However, after reading the book, I have come to realise that I cannot have one without the other. In fact, without the penal substitution there is no way I could have the relationship with God. It has dawned on me that I tended to read the Bible selectively, choosing for myself passages that emphasised the Christus Victor theme and skipping those that talked about other things. Through the reading of this book I repent of the sin of selective reading and commit myself to reading through the Bible with the same zeal. While I emphasised a particular atonement theme, it seems to me that I did not fully understand what the victorious Christ theme entails. I seem to have been praying to God out of fear of offending him. This was influenced by my background, but now I know that God is a loving Father who has lavished his love on me through his Son. My prayers are now driven by my love for a loving Father and not fear. Like Luther and Gustuf Aulen, I can gladly proclaim that I have been redeemed from all ills because of God’s love for humanity (Falconer 2015:3). Without the knowledge of the relationship that exists between me and God and how that relationship fully came to be, I used to declare and decree and tried to manipulate God through offering and tithes. But I have come to note that God cannot be manipulated. In fact John 3:16 speaks well when it tells us that it was out of love that God gave the world his Son. No one caused him. CONCLUSION This essay has reviewed Spectacular Atonement: Envisioning the Cross of Christ in an African Perspective by Robert D Falconer. It was published by SATSP and costs not more than $16.24 online. Falconer has a PhD from SATS, teaches at a Bible college (being a missionary in Kenya). The book was written to show how the Christus Victor and the penal substitution theme walk hand in hand and 7 of 9 applies the findings on the African context. On the whole the book was well written and makes use of the Bible and other scholarly sources giving it a good grounding. This helped to bring out the purpose of the book. The essay has shown how the book has vastly impacted my Christian walk in that it has corrected some errors that plagued it. These include reading the Bible selectively. All the above was achieved by comparing the contents of the book with Scripture and other scholarly sources. 8 of 9 WORKS CITED Daneel ML 1998. African Earthkeepers. Pretoria. UNISA. Gelfand M 1962. Shona Religion: With Special Reference to the Makorekore. Cape Town: Juta and Company. Grudem W 1994. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Nottingham: InterVarsity. Kunhiyop Samuel W 2004. African Christian Ethics. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan. Mbiti. JS 1991. Introduction to African Religion. Blantyre: Heinemann. Robinson HW 2001. Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic Shoko T 2016. “Christianity and Traditional African Religions” in: Phiri I and Werner D. Anthology of African Christianity. Oxford. Regnum Books. Smith KS 2008. Academic Writing and Theological Research: A Guide for Students. Johannesburg: South African Theological Seminary. 9 of 9