If you want a full-throated defense of Chalcedon Christology - perhaps for Christmas preaching or reading - this is your book. My guess is that many Christians are looking for such a defense and might not even know it. I found MacLeod answering questions that I didn’t even know I had. During the first few chapters of this book, he seemed to defend articles of faith that I hadn’t even thought to doubt - such as aspects of the virgin birth and the pre-existence of Christ. As I continued to read, I recognized that his rigorous defense of these articles of faith revealed how very consistent these doctrines were and how very inconsistent the skepticism around them has been. I felt more and more certain of the wisdom of orthodoxy and increased certainty always gives fire and backbone to preaching and teaching.
MacLeod is an even-handed interpreter of other’s positions. His assessment of the Christology of liberation theology is particularly impartial. The man disagrees agreeably. Even if you have no interest in the doctrine of Christ (and if not, why not?), it is worth reading this book to civil disagreement. It is like apples of gold in a setting of a setting of whatever corroded metal best describes our current incivility.
I first read this book during a seminary class on systematic theology. As I reread it this past month, I was struck by how much my thinking has matured (that might be charitable… let’s just say changed… mutated?… hopefully matured). Questions that then seemed pressing enough to write in the margins of the book now seem irrelevant or well answered by the author. It makes me wonder which of the questions I have written in the margins on this reading will seem irrelevant in another ten years. It makes me shudder to think what I will think of this post in ten years, if the internet is still around that is). Thinking about writing in the margins of books - I don’t know if you write in your books, but, for me, it has made reading seem more like a conversation and less like a monologue and that has added to the joy of reading.
Orthodoxy is sometimes dismissed as shallow and dull while divergent views are celebrated as deep and vigorous. This book is a helpful reminder of the power of orthodoxy