Abstract
John P. Bradbury,
Perpetually Reforming: A Theology of Church Reform and Renewal
, Ecclesiological Investigations, Bloomsbury T&T Clark: London and New York, 2013; 256 pp.: 9780567644091, £65.00/$120.00 (hbk)
Reform and renewal are an ever present need of the Church, perpetual by definition. Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda: a reformed church is always reforming. Sometimes the Church longs desperately for reform, as much of the Western Church did in the late Middle Ages and as many in the Roman Catholic Church did before Pope Francis was elected. Historically, reform has meant rectifying bad pastoral practice (abuses), reconstructing the organization, restoring unity and refocusing on the gospel. Reform goes hand in hand with repentance, conversion and fresh spiritual energies.
We tend to associate ‘reformation’ with the sixteenth century, but the theme is patristic – indeed biblical – in origin. Gerhart Ladner’s seminal historical work The Idea of Reform (1959) is not mentioned. The need for reform was embraced by Vatican II, though this is not discussed here either. John Bradbury speaks out of the Reformed tradition that derives from Calvin and the Swiss Reformation, and as a minister of the United Reformed Church in Great Britain. This is a work of Protestant theology. But the imperative of reform does not belong only to those who bear the name ‘reformed’; it can make itself felt in surprising places, as agents of reform are raised up by God when they are most needed.
When is reform authentic and when is it a veneer on changes made for dubious ideological reasons? The word ‘reform’ has long been high-jacked by politicians to justify pragmatic policies, from budget cuts to meddling with the constitution. The Reformers used the criteria of true proclamation of the gospel and sound administration of the sacraments to guide the reform process. The Reformation was also imbued with a strong moral imperative – seeking the purity of the Church. Yves Congar wrote widely on true and false reform, but his work is not mentioned here. John Bradbury does not give us a head-on account of what reforms are needed now, what form they should take, how we test their authenticity, and what the consequences would be. Rather he provides some necessary theological groundwork for the concept of reform.
One piece of useful ground-clearing concerns the distinction, well embedded in Protestant theology, between the visible Church and the invisible Church. There is inevitably and importantly a mystical or hidden dimension of the Church. But giving priority to a supposed ‘invisible Church’ (as Bradbury – questionably – claims Luther and Calvin did) makes schism from the visible Church all too easy. Bradbury robustly affirms that the true Church is the historical Church. Another helpful analysis is of the biblical theme of covenant. There is one covenant of God with God’s people that can be renewed and enlarged, not a series of discrete covenants. Thus continuity is affirmed. The discussion of memory and narrative shows that for this author reformation is not about breaking away, starting from scratch or (God forbid) setting up a new Church, for unity is part of the reform agenda. Covenantal renewal is not achieved by mere repetition of practices, but repetition with variation, doing it better, more imaginatively. Unlike some of his Reformed predecessors, Bradbury’s approach to the Church and the sacraments is intensely incarnational. The physicality of the sacraments is the key to the way that they embody the narrative or memory of faith. The whole range of bodily senses should be engaged in worship. This is to side with Richard Hooker against the Puritans, which seems a surprising – though welcome – posture in a reformed theologian.
I would have liked a considerably tighter, less discursive argument, with less conceptual foreplay, fewer methodological justifications and more actual engagement with what reform should mean to us in the Church, in ecumenism, now. This is not really a monograph on the theology of reform. But what we have, contained in a rather baggy envelope, is a worthy ecclesiological study, abounding in stimulating discussions and insights, a resource for all concerned with the integrity of the Christian Church.