RECONSTRUCTING THEOLOGY
A critical assessment of the theology of Clark Pinnock
Edited by Tony Gray and Christopher Sinkinson.. Paternoster Press. 284 pages
ISBN 1 84227 037 0
Though this book is largely critical, with only Christopher Partridge among the contributors siding with Pinnock, it is something of debate, because at the end of each of the three parts Pinnock himself responds.
The other writers are Daniel Strange, Nathan MacDonald, Simon Gathercole, and Patrick Richmond. From a Reformed or even mainline evangelical point of view, Pinnock could be described as something of a maverick, having gone from teaching Reformed theology to now being on the Process Theology (=other!) side of Arminianism. But the book is relevant because quite a number of Christians in Britain - most obviously the leaders of Ichthus, Pioneer, HTB, and YWAM - are being influenced by him.
Free will hunting
After a biographical essay, part 1 deals with Pinnock's doctrine of God and how it challenges the traditional understanding. It is particularly in the areas of whether God knows the future and whether he can change that the issues lie. In part 2 these issues are gone into in greater depth, with extensive argument against Pinnock's position from Scripture and traditional theology. In part 3 one particular consequence - at least in Pinnock's mind - of 'free-will theism' is examined: that God is at work saving many in non-Christian religions who never make any profession of faith in Christ.
Calvinists say that God has planned beforehand everything that happens, and this includes the fact that we exist as rational, responsible, meaningful people and so our choices have meaning even though what we choose has been planned. Furthermore, since the fall we are trapped by the sin of Adam and our own sinful natures and actions, unless and until God graciously and gratuitously frees us; and the doctrine of original sin says that he is under no moral obligation to do so. Well, to Pinnock and many others, God's sovereignty and human meaningfulness just don't fit, so the former must go. However, unlike Wesley and most traditional evangelical Arminians (Charles Finney was an exception) who still believe that God at least knows the future, Pinnock wants to be more logically consistent and say that he does not. The book explores some of the tensions that arise for free-will theists when we look at God's predictions in the Bible!
How wide?
On the issue of the wideness of God's mercy, as he felicitously phrases it, Pinnock separates the heart trusting in God from the mind having any real understanding of God. He also gets rid of the distinction between general revelation (God speaking through creation and conscience) and special revelation (Scripture), and the distinction between common grace (God restraining the power of sin in all, for the common good) and special grace (God reconciling people to himself through Christ). The results are pretty drastic in terms of who is a Christian and who desperately needs the gospel. Pinnock ends up very near to the position of the Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner and his notion of 'anonymous Christians'.
Throughout the book there are fascinating bits and pieces about the history of theology, such as Luis de Molina's idea of 'Middle knowledge' and Wesley's view that because of Christ's work everyone in the world has been given prevenient grace and so can believe - which I'm inclined to think is near Pinnock's position but one Rubicon short! But this is a heavy-going, somewhat academic tome, made none the lighter by the fact that the contributors do not all agree with one another.
So if you want to start thinking hard about how we can make meaningful choices if God knows or has even planned all future events, or about how 'God is love' fits in with the lost condition of the vast majority of people alive today, it would be better to start reading a relevant portion of Wayne Grudem or R.C. Sproul or Jim Packer. However if you want to find out about the latest doctrinal cliff-edge that a significant proportion of evangelicalism in this country and America is teetering on the brink of, and, more importantly, if you want at least some stimulating leads on why Pinnock is basically wrong, this book is for you.
