Abstract
The fact that this book was written in the context of Fr Oakes’s terminal illness gives it an added poignancy. He begins with the honest statement that the theology of grace is ‘hydra-headed’ (p. xviii) and with the distinction that what is natural is essential to one’s identity: but grace is something bestowed from the outside (p. 248). Two positions are recognized: ‘instrinsicists’ recognize the continuity between nature/grace, while ‘extrinsicists’ (p. 7) stress the disjunction. The second controversy, ‘sin and justification’ (p. 47), offers the important conclusion that the concept of justification cannot be understood as a ‘stand-alone’ (p. 91) doctrine but entails a set of dynamic antinomies, ‘the pursuit of which leads both to greater clarity … and greater understanding of each side’ (p. 91). In considering original sin – in an evolutionary perspective (Chapter 3) – Oakes is helpful: it is a ‘retrospective doctrine’ (p. 121) – only clear in the light of Christ’s mission to save humanity. He considers the point of the Genesis story as to separate the origin of evil from that of good and stresses the inherency of sin which he thinks takes the form of ‘drifting’ (p. 112). In ‘Free will and Predestination’ we are challenged by the polarity of God’s omnipotency and the role of humanity in salvation. Predestination is felicitously described as realizing ‘how graciously we have been accepted by God’ (p. 147) – and the importance of gratitude is stressed. Calvin’s difficulties are admitted: ‘A doctrine that he had meant to give hope to his persecuted followers … became the occasion for their despair’ (p. 148). Although he cites Barth as stating that ‘The election of grace is the sum of the Gospel – we must put it as bluntly as that’ (p. 162), yet he warns readers not to close an open question.
In the discussion on Experience, what is striking is the statement that ‘it is not the experience that counts but the testing’ (p. 198) and examples are discussed for the need for discernment from the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. There is a poignant passage on Affliction – although I missed a reference to Simone Weil’s work in this area. There is also a recognition that a deeper analysis of grace leads to paradoxes: here we need to rely on Jesus’ criterion: ‘By their fruits shall ye know them’. There is an interesting discussion on the renewed interest in Deification – God became man so that man could become God – ending with a resolution of tensions with the statement ‘your life lies hid with Christ in God’. My only difficulty with this book is in Chapter 6, Mary Mediatrix, which Fr Oakes focuses on for its ecumenical potential. His position seems exaggerated: to claim that ‘Rome is the head of the Church but Lourdes is its heart’ (p. 229) seems to downplay Christology and the cherished place that Christ himself occupies in our emotions. I was sorry that he had chosen to end with this particular controversy in a book which is so rich in theological insights.