Contemporary World Theology

This book is subtitled a "Layman's Guidebook". It was published in 1973, shortly after Dr. Conn arrived from Korea to assume a faculty position at Westminster Theological Seminary. He was subsequently to become very influential there in the area of missions, especially urban missions. This little book is a broad overview of some of the important theological movements at the time of writing. Being a layman myself, I am probably not aware of all of the movements that have become important since then, but certainly liberation theology, which arose in the 1970s, and the emerging church movement, would have to be included in any updated treatment. However, in the positions he covers, Conn does a nice job giving a short, accessible synopsis of each position. Each movement receives a concise six to seven page chapter and includes a brief history of the movement, a numbered set of four to five of its distinctive points, and then another numbered set of four to six criticisms or observations. Of course, he covers Neo-orthodoxy of Barth, Bultmann and others, but also Situation Ethics, Theology of Evolution, Process Theology, Mysticism, and several lesser known positions which fundamentally deviate from historic orthodox Christianity. He then examines several movements which can be said to be within historic orthodoxy, such as pietism, dispensationalism, fundamentalism, and neo-evangelicalism. Each one is dealt with fairly and Biblically, and I think this book can still be helpful for understanding some of the most important theological movements of the 20th century.