Abstract
Foster, a disciple of Professor John Macquarrie (1919–2007), is eager to keep his master’s legacy alive while aiming to convince readers that its intellectual substance and approaches have a continued relevance within the realms of postmodern theology. The first three chapters of the book, while preparing the ground for the author’s more focused arguments and interpretations, function as a decent introduction to Macquarrie’s background and thinking. This part, useful for all readers, is vital for the uninitiated. The dialectical character of Macquarrie’s method is stressed: ‘it aspires to be neither this nor that … since it seeks always to balance both this and that: both immanence and transcendence; radicalism and conservatism; tradition and scripture; the individual and community; revelation and reason’ (p. 12). A method that can be called a ‘dialectical theism’ relates well to the emphasis on ‘conversation’ in contemporary theological debate. For Foster, this could go as far as forming the basis for a ‘sacramental naturalism’: existentialism and ontology embraced within a dialectical unity (p. 40). Beyond this, Foster becomes lucid in his advocacy of the suggestion that Macquarrie is to be ‘located in the space created by the ambiguity of the “modern” and “postmodern” divide, his theism is a dialectical play of what is “modern” and what is “postmodern”’ (p. 69).
In Part 2 of the book Foster seeks to relate some of this thinking to the themes of natural theology, reason and revelation, truth and language. Although he promises to use a ‘heuristic of conversation’ (learning through dialogue), on the basis that this presentational approach would do justice to the communal context of human salvation (p. xii), the promise does not always seem to be fulfilled – the brighter ‘question-and-answer style’ of delivery seen (and appreciated) in abundance at the beginning of Chapter 5 (‘The problem with (the violence of) natural theology [1]’) soon dries up, with the presentation both there and in subsequent chapters apparently reverting to descriptive monologue.
The themed chapters of Part 2 continue to be intellectually speculative, describing and evaluating patterns of thought. The academic strength and validity of the material is beyond question. Some readers, however, might have been pleased to engage to a far greater extent with the possible practical relevance of Macquarrie’s thought, either in his own day or in the current global context (perhaps some end-of-chapter ‘questions for discussion’ would have facilitated this). For these reasons, and on the strength of the work as it stands, Foster is unlikely to be the instigator of a popular revival of interest in the life and thought of John Macquarrie.