This book is called ‘philosophical theology”, enough to put a lot of us off from attempting to read it. It certainly stretches my ‘little grey cells’ as Hercule Poirot would say! However, it is good to be stretched and be made to think more deeply about a matter. The author is professor of philosophy at the University of Montana and his writings seem to concentrate on the area where the technologically based society touches the Christian church. Being a book of philosophical essays means that he is not discussing surface matters too much such as, should we watch TV or things like that, rather he examines the ‘why’ of the impact of technology upon us and the ‘what; in his view, is the underlying power at work in technology and what are its effects upon society and on the church in particular. It does seem that we can waste our time seeking to live Christian lives in today’s society unless we are coming to understand the powers particularly at work in it and the way they threaten the life of faith. The author does not heavily critique the consumerism of today, rather he seeks to point out issues that lie underneath that consumerism and call us back to certain biblical centralities. Rampant technology obviously encourages a crazy consumerism and this in turn tends to obscure reality. All becomes plastic and a cultural crisis of massive proportions is the result. Are there alternatives to this pathway, does the church have a vital part to play in calling men and women back to the real issues of life. As you read this book you can understand why, in order for the church to apparently get a hearing in many quarters it itself is becoming entertainment oriented and presenting itself in a way that satisfies the consumer mentality. No lasting answer lies in this direction but rather the church is called to be a culture of ‘word and table’ as the author says. Reading this book gives insight as to why Christians do not find it easy to get a hearing in today’s world where the quest for more ‘things’ seems to be paramount. Yet the book gives hope and gives encouragement to us to pursue our true being with courage. This book is not a long one. I do think that a novice like myself can fail to gain help from it, I know I have been given further perspective on the subject. The world in which we live is profoundly needy, and what it does not need are churches providing Christian entertainment and calling it worship or a user friendly, seeker friendly mentality as though that will win the lost, rather let her look to her true identity in Christ, center on the things that matter so that men and women may through her gain a sight of what true human existence is as compared with the superficial image of things offered by our technologically dominated consumerist society.
