Book Review: Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer

Abstract

Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer. By Rowan Williams. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2014. viii + 84 pp. $10.00 (paper).Some books are a few hundred pages long and you only get a handful of helpful insights from them. Others may be short, but are so well-written that two or three pages in you are already moved and illumined. Rowan Williams's latest work falls into the latter category. Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer is a mature summary-reflection of the Christian Ufe from one of Anglicanism s most significant leaders in the last twenty years. Rowan WilUams, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, has written numerous books on a variety of subjects. His writing appeals to a broad spectrum of readers, conservative and Uberal. His style is very poetic and pastoral, and in that sense, his work is inviting. It is clearly the work of a master theologian with a wealth of pastoral experience.In this short work, Williams discusses elements of the Christian Ufe, by which he means those simple and recognizable things that make you realize that you are part of a Christian community (p. vii). WilUams chooses four topics that seem to him most obvious for this exercise: baptism, Bible, eucharist, and prayer. He then gives attention to each in individual chapters. Each chapter contains much to be admired and appreciated by all orthodox Christians, although WilUams sometimes stretches the topic to its Umits in the effort to summarize all of Christian living under these headings.Baptism, for WilUams, is certainly a rite of entrance into the church. It is connected to the new creation. It means becoming God's beloved child. WilUams also uses the language of chaos moving into order, and the restoration of what it is to be truly human (p. 3) to explain what happens in baptism. These things all lead to a Ufe of Christian mission. Being baptized into Jesus will mean being led toward the world in all its brokenness to bring the presence of Christ. To be a Christian is to be affected-you might even say contaminated-by the mess of humanity (p. 6). Being a Christian is not a safe, easy Ufe. Rather, WilUams states, Perhaps baptism really ought to have some health warnings attached to it: 'If you take this step, if you go into these depths, it will be transfiguring, exhilarating, life-giving and very, very, dangerous' (p. 9). So, mission is subsumed under baptism.An additional point to highlight is that baptism, according to WilUams, brings you into the neighbourhood of other Christians; and there is no way of being a Christian without being in the neighbourhood of other (p. 10). Baptism is a communal event. It is not just about the individual being baptized. It is not a purely private spiritual exercise. It is how we enter a community. It seems to me that this understanding of baptism might be especially appreciated by Reformed churches, where baptism has covenantal significance.Bible reading (or perhaps, hearing the Bible) is also an essential aspect of being a Christian. As WilUams explains, Christians are people who expect to be spoken to by (p. 21). And the Bible consists of those texts that, from the very beginnings of the Christian community, have been identified as carrying the voice of (p. 22). Williams writes briefly on how the Bible works and how it should be read. Here is one place where some readers will disagree. Williams affirms the larger story of the whole Bible and the need for that story to shape believers' lives. However, he suggest that some events, such as the conquest of Canaan, which may appear to be divinely sanctioned, are in fact merely descriptions of what people thought God wanted them to do. They may not have heard correctly. And we can, perhaps, learn to do better now. This suggestion arguably undermines the reliability of scripture. Williams does not intend to cause doubt. Rather, he is trying to explain the offensive behaviors found in some biblical stories. …