Theological Negotiations: Proposals in Soteriology and Anthropology by Douglas Farrow

Abstract

Reviewed by: Theological Negotiations: Proposals in Soteriology and Anthropology by Douglas Farrow Joshua Farris Theological Negotiations: Proposals in Soteriology and Anthropology by Douglas Farrow (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2018), 288 pp. Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way" sums up a not too uncommon theme in contemporary culture. Arguably, this captures the end of Western classical liberalism and its infatuation with individualism (i.e., the view that a society should be justly governed on the basis of individual rights of which egalitarianism is at the heart). But, there is another problem endemic to the history of theology for which it is a fitting analogue, namely, Pelagianism (i.e., the heresy that humans are not affected by original sin and, in fact, are quite capable of choosing good or evil and satisfying the just demands of God). Pelagianism, at its core, places the utmost value in what we as humans do and what it is that we bring to God. However, and unmistakably, the Christian message is one where God the Son descends to give us the gifts of life and blessing from which Christ brings us to God. Both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism have rejected Pelagianism as an adequate feature of the Church Catholic's soteriology and anthropology. If it could be shown that one of these sub-traditions led the way to Pelagianism, at least in practice, then the provoking question would inevitably follow: "Should I move my membership?" This is one theme that is picked up throughout Douglas Farrow's excellent foray into Protestant soteriological and anthropological issues. In Theological Negotiations, Farrow is convinced that Roman Catholicism is the one true Church and Protestantism is a deviation or aberration from the Tradition. He attempts to show that Protestantism leads to all sorts of deviations from the Church like antinomianism and Pelagianism. The first half of Theological Negotiations is concerned with the nature and tendency of Protestantism toward antinomianism. In it, Farrow offers the reader an excellent analysis of why philosophy has played an essential role in the process of clarifying biblical claims and an aid in systematizing the material aspects of the Bible so as to grant form to it. He recognizes that intrinsic to God's revelatory process is an interpretive community that God not only providentially safeguards from error but also that God has provided mechanisms for which to preserve the Church from error (e.g., John 16:13; 1 John 4:2). In other words, the Church Catholic is necessary to the transmission of the Gospel [End Page 299] and intrinsic to the process. Call the relationship between philosophy and the Bible one of "faith seeking understanding" following Anselm, but it is the Church's reception that is so crucial to the arrival at theological truth. In other words, philosophy and biblical truth (e.g., exegesis and biblical theology) are insufficient themselves. Systematic and practical theology are the goals interior to the Church's function of proclaiming the Gospel to the next generation, so in this way Farrow has helpfully illuminated the "evangelical" nature of Roman Catholicism, when by "evangelical" we mean something to do with the Christological mission that is ancillary to the Church's role in transferring the good news to the world, Farrow also gives the reader a careful analysis of nature and grace, but it is inaccurate to suggest this is unique to Roman Catholicism. Many theological authorities in the Protestant sub-tradition do not depart from the Thomistic framework on nature and grace. Excising nature and its attending creational realities including the moral law would render grace incoherent. But, like the Roman Catholic sub-tradition, Protestantism's theologians have many complicated ways of working out the relation between nature and grace. Chapters 3 and 4 are theologically robust and substantive to both Roman Catholics and Protestants. In these chapters, Farrow advances a case for both antinomianism and Pelagianism that unironically begins with Martin Luther—the great Reformer who challenged, or attempted to challenge, the Roman Catholic Church. Farrow does so, in part, by calling into question Luther's understanding of justification (namely, the doctrine of Christ's imputed righteousness) and sanctification, which either renders us Pelagians...