The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism

Carson brilliantly analyzes the 'isms' from modernism through to post-modernism. In the exposition of faulty worldviews, Carson crosses swords with all who have blurred the lines of vital Christianity as the task of the Church, and all those who dare blemish the Bride of Christ with spots and wrinkles. A praiseworthy and timely defense against the academia of modernism, relativism, humanism, consumerism, liberalism, feminism and post-modernism. 'God creates snowflakes, we produce ice cubes.' pg 97 'In the 3rd Century, Origen moved in this direction (universalism), tho on this and many other points the Church departed from him.' pg 142 'The Enlightenment tried to make man the measure of everything; Rationalism elevated human reason to godlike status.' pg 134 'Having elevated self to the place where God is no longer needed, self now proclaims that language is inadequate to talk about objective reality, God included. Having damned interpretation for being manipulative, God, if He were to speak, becomes the arch manipulator. The gagging of God is complete.' pg 134 '...where He alone ought to be acknowledged as both the source and the end of all His creatures, not least those made in His image, our deep self-centeredness is rebellion - it is sin.' pg 133

One of the good things about Carson's assessment is that he provides thoughtful, balanced critiques. He doesn't make "certain" claims where certainty does not exist. Unlike much of David Wells' blather, Carson will not make claims about things he cannot back up. I find it interesting that the Brownstown pastor didn't find Carson's work subtly enlightening. The fact that this Brownstown pastor gives Stanley Grenz's work as alternative shows her naive understanding of the issues. The Brownstown pastor indicts her own wits with her claim that she is a doctoral student. If this person is a doctoral student, then Carson's assessment is right on. See section 4, chapters 11 and 12. Grenz work is simplistic and doesn't consider early Greek thought which would alter his analysis of "Modern" individualism. Carson would never make this mistake.

An earlier reviewer claims that Carson should change the so-called offensive title of this book. It is intended to offend, but the reviewer who said this doesn't seem to have bothered to read the preface to know what the title really is getting at.The title has a two-fold meaning. On one level, it is talking about how contemporary pluralistic thinking gags God. If truth is impossible to communicate, how can God speak? I'm not sure this should be offensive to a postmodernist. Their whole goal is to deconstruct religious thinking so God can't be said to speak to us anymore.However, the truly offensive aspect of the title is the more profound meaning. Much of what Carson does in this book is to show how Christians have been gagging God by reacting to pluralism in wholly inappropriate and unbiblical ways. Someone who has digested his analysis in a self-evaluating way cannot miss that. The title is supposed to be offensive to Christians because Christians are the people who should know better. Because of that, the title is not quite a very clever pun but something in that area.

When D.A.Carson speaks, it's prudent to listen closely as his cogent,thorough exegesis and research lead to compelling conclusions. One of the most prominent is an echo from his other writings(see essay in Still Sovereign - Reflections on Assurance) which masterfully states: methodology is the mother of meaning. Scripture presupposes or explicitly teaches COMPATIBILISM, where apparently contradictory texts are instead mutually compatible. Examples include: God is Sovereign and Man is responsible agent;God loves the world yet only some are saved; Assurance is secure and Christian Perseverence is necessary to endure;Future is settled(on God's Divine, Infinite plane) and the Future is not closed (on Human, Finite plane), etc. When COMPATIBILISM is neglected in Biblical interpretation, incomplete methodologies are then applied to texts yielding asymmetrical, polar distortion of Scriptural truth, theology and application. Such is the fatal flaw in Postmodernism and its stepchildren neotheism, neo-Arminianism and Process Thought(almost not worthy to be labeled 'theology'). This book is must reading to keep current in contemporary theological dialog.

Wow, what a piece! While the subtitle reads, "Christianity Confronts Pluralism," Carson also gives an assessment of postmodernism. Carson especially deals with how Hermeneutics (interpretation of works) has been effected by pluralistic thinking and postmodernism. Not only does Carson tackle the hermeneutical issue but he dives into the problems that have arisen in recent years in the area of epistemology. Moreover, Carson discusses popular thinkers who are proponents of pluralism in light of the exclusive claims of Christianity. Some of these current popular thinkers include John Hick, David Tracy, and Clark Pinnock. Additionally, Carson discusses law and morality in light of postmodernism and how these areas of thought/practice are effected, and what the evangelical stance via historical orthodox Christianity has to offer. As you can see, the book is very detailed (569 pages of text and 47 pages of bibliography). I believe this to be one of the better books on the market dealing with pluralism/postmodernity.