Christ and the Spirit
The Doctrine of the Incarnation according to Edward Irving
By Graham W.P. McFarlane. Paternoster Press. 204 pages.
ISBN 0 85364 694 5
Have you ever wondered how we can understand God's plan of redemption without reducing it to a mere contingency plan?
Have you ever considered the relationship between Jesus and the Spirit and just how dependent Jesus actually was upon him in his life and ministry?
If the answer is 'no' to both of these questions, don't bother to read this book. But if the answer is 'yes' to one or both, then this book may well interest and stimulate you.
The basis of the book is a PhD thesis by the author, and some attempt seems to have been made to write the book at a slightly more popular level, although, it has to be admitted, not too successfully.
For example, within the first chapter, the reader will encounter words such as fecundity and proclivity, Latin phrases such as mysterium trinitatis and opera trinitatis ad extra indivisa sunt, and names like Schleiermacher and Heidegger, and although some translation is offered, it doesn't really help the uninitiated. Yet the issues being grappled within the book are of pertinence and significance to far more people than the theologically competent.
You may or may not be familiar with the writings of Edward Irving, but McFarlane has shown that Irving made a real attempt at understanding vital theological issues, such as the Incarnation, and working out the implications at a pastoral and practical level.
In the light of the technical nature of the book, philosophically and theologically, don't sell your shirt to get it. But it is worth considering using up a birthday book token!
