The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? by Steven Hein

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? by Steven Hein Mark Mattes The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? By Steven Hein. Irvine: New Reformation Publications, 2015. 189 pp. Walther von Loewenich's Luther's Theology of the Cross appeared in English four decades ago. This volume, more than any other, directed North American theologians to the early Luther's theology of the cross, which reconfigures the Christian life as something God does to create people of faith, as opposed to a theology of glory, where people offer their best as leverage to merit favor with God. Hein's book belongs to a steady stream of English-language books which, while not aimed at an academic audience, seek to bring Luther's grace-centered approach to the Christian life into a North American context. North American spirituality remains governed by the slogan "my utmost for His highest." Hein's is a sturdy book suitable for laity and students. It is forthright in its willingness to take on contemporary [End Page 360] theologies of glory. "Apart from the cross of Christ crucified, all focus on Jesus, all talk about the love of God or doing what Jesus would do, simply add up to remaining under God's wrath and condemnation" (3). Indeed, for Hein, Christian life is a daily return to the waters of baptism in which the old being dies and a new being in Christ is reborn. In a word, "God is interested in producing a humble heart, not in coaxing moralistic self-denying behavior out of us" (123). Given that moralistic therapeutic deism, with its attendant perfectionism, is the pervasive faith stance of young Americans, Hein offers an important alternative. Even so, Hein affirms, with the Book of Concord, an instructive, didactic, or third use of the law for believers in contrast to the contemporary stance of reducing the functions of the law to two, a political and an accusatory (142). This is not for the sake of measuring spiritual improvement but for combatting the old nature. Also of interest, his last chapter examines a theology of the afterlife, heaven and hell, and agrees with C. S. Lewis that "only the Godlike want heaven" (186) while the "doors of hell are locked from the inside" (188). For Hein, the theology of the cross challenges the perfectionistic tendencies of North American Evangelicalism and its hold on some Lutherans; he refuses to allow the legacy of Puritanism to define spirituality for North Americans. While fitting more under a devotional than an academic label, this volume is highly recommended for adult and youth parish education, as well as college and seminary classes. Mark Mattes Grand View University Des Moines, Iowa Copyright © 2020 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.