The first part of Rose’s work closes with careful consideration of the human creature
and what she is for in Barth.
The second part follows on from the section on ontology, bringing that material
to bear on more specifically ethical matter. Rose explores the relation between God’s
command and the good, and works to depict Barth as a eudaimonist in his ethics,
taking seriously that the good leads to human flourishing and happiness. The next
two chapters examine the shape and character of human life in detail, and he rounds
out the second section with considerations of human self-destruction, expounding
Barth on evil and sin. He closes with an epilogue on the relation of philosophical and
theological ethics in Barth.
Throughout, Rose is careful to signpost where many readers will be surprised by
his interpretation, and works to make his account plausible. As I mentioned, Rose is
clear with his audience that his is a reading of Barth, with certain interpretive
interests: throughout, he plays fair and notes unresolved tensions. It may be that
many will be unpersuaded, but his open declaration of his intentions along with his
intriguing (and controversial) suggestions make this a useful addition to the literature
– not so much as commentary on Barth, or as history of ideas, but to the growing
practice of Barth-inspired constructive, ecumenical theology.
These two notable books extend and deepen the growing retrieval (and, quite
often, repair) of Barth’s ethics for a new generation. Make no mistake about it: these
are specialist works. While both the edited collection and Rose’s monograph are
clear and well-written, avoiding needless technicalities, they are not introductory
works. But both of these volumes deserve to be on the shelves of specialists and
theological libraries, and are fitting indications of the continuing generativity
(perhaps now more than ever) of Barth’s moral theology.
Jason A. Fout
Bexley Hall
Alan P.F. Sell, Hinterland Theology: A Stimulus to Theological
Construction. Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008, xvi + 715pp. £39.99
In his book Defending and Declaring the Faith: Some Scottish Examples 1860–1920
(1987), Alan Sell had already demonstrated his ardour and gift for bringing the dead
back to life, for turning strangers into friends and for wading the small streams
and largely-inaccessible rivers on the landscape of British ecclesiastical life. Now,
over two decades later, Sell, in Hinterland Theology: A Stimulus to Theological
Construction, turns his binoculars south to introduce readers to some other forgotten
saints, to those whose writings are not the staple of general undergraduate courses.
These are the second eleven (actually 10), if you like, of Nonconformist Dissent –
drawn from among those who served the church in the wake of the Toleration Act of
1689 after which there was ‘no longer one authority to which appeals on religious
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