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William J. Abraham. Crossing the Threshold of Divine Revelation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006. xiv+198 pp. $20.00 (paper), ISBN 9780802829580.
In Crossing the Threshold of Divine Revelation, philosophical theologian, William J. Abraham attempts a new «ray forward concerning the epistemology of theology that "takes its place in the cracks and tensions between philosophy and theology" (xi). He bemoans the lack of attention given by many philosophers and theologians to the concept of divine revelation and thinks that this theological concept has not been scrutinized sufficiently for its profound epistemic insights concerning the rationality of Christian belief. This work is part of a larger project of what Abraham calls canonical theism that he has developed over the last two decades. He understands canonical theism to be that:
vision of theism adopted publicly, intentionally, and explicitly by the church as it was initially driven to articulate, celebrate, and live out its fundamental convictions on the other side of conversion and the gospel. I refer to this theism as "canonical theism" because it is indeed canonical; it was the theism, the beliefs about God, listed and officially adopted by the church prior to the schism between East and West (xii).
The current work builds off of two previous texts, The Logic of Evangelism and Canon and Criterion in Christian Theology. Perhaps a brief word about these texts will help orient the reader as to how the text under review fits into Abraham's larger project. In developing the ideas in the former text, Abraham notes this is where he first stumbled upon the seeds of what would later be developed as canonical theism. He noticed in his research for The Logic of Evangelism that the church, in fulfilling its mission, communicated a particular vision of Christian theism that needed to be viewed and accepted as a whole. It was a vision of God that was being communicated by the church in which catechism played a central role in Christian conversion and the early creeds «rere pivotal for understanding the Christian faith.
The latter text, Canon and Criterion in Christian Theology, is Abraham's attempt to provide the historical evidence that something akin to his canonical theism project is basically correct. In this massive work-over 500 pages-he undertakes the colossal challenge of...