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far-reaching (most disturbing) implications. Otherwise, Most Moved Mover may seem "much more moving" rhetorically and emotionally than what it packs in actual theological substance. A. Boyd Luter and Emily K. Hunter The Criswell College, Dallas, TX

Portraits of God: A Biblical Theology of Holiness. By Allan Coppedge. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2001, 432 pp., $29.99. This book has three purposes: (1) to identify and examine the major portraits or roles of God in order to understand how they illuminate our knowledge of and relationship to him; (2) to show how these roles connect biblical studies with systematic theology; and (3) to show the centrality of holiness for understanding God's nature. Coppedge also hopes to create fresh dialogue across Christian traditions and show the practical implications of theology. Coppedge argues that "in using the language of this world to talk about a transcendent God, the best way to describe God in relation to reality is by the use of analogical language (using terms that are alike in some ways, but not in all ways)" (p. 23). Metaphor is the analogical language used to describe God. The personal metaphors used are portraits or roles; they are helpful for understanding God's being, actions, and relationships to humans. Eight divine roles are primary: creator, king, personal revealer, priest, judge, Father, redeemer, and shepherd. Each role is described by explicating the theological themes of the triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit respectively), man and woman, sin, salvation, atonement, growth, Church, full sanctification, and glorification. The divine attributes that relate to each role are also introduced. Coppedge argues that holiness is the central and most pervasive concept of God in Scripture. While sovereignty is significant, holiness better unifies the attributes and roles of God. Holiness is ceremonial and moral, with six components of meaning: separation, brilliance, righteousness, love, power, and goodness. These components correspond to the eight roles (separation and brilliance each apply to two, while the other four apply to one role each). Following two introductory chapters, chapters three through ten unpack the roles. The fourth chapter, "Holy God as Sovereign King," provides a good example. The role of God as sovereign king relates to the concept of holiness as separation and the language figure for the role relates to royalty. God the Father is understood as king over Israel and one who institutes the monarchy in Israel. Terms such as "Lord" and "warrior king" illuminate this metaphor. The Son is Messiah, Christ, King, Prince, Lord, and Head, and the Holy Spirit is the executive of the Godhead. Men and women are servants or subjects of the king with Jesus as a model. Sin as act is rebellion and rebelliousness is the state of sin. Salvation is pardon through repentance and faith, and the satisfaction and governmental atonement theories fit here. Growth results from increasing obedience, but salvation can be lost. The Church is the people of God under divine kingship, sometimes referred to as a kingdom or nation. Full sanctification is total submission and entire consecration to Christ's Lordship, and glorification is seen as the eternal heavenly kingdom. Omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience are the attributes related to the kingly role. Each chapter on the divine roles takes a similar course. The final chapter shows the theological and practical implications of the roles and admirably succeeds in showing how there can be a bridge between biblical studies and systematic theology. Does Coppedge accomplish his three purposes? Yes, in a very thorough fashion. Written with a distinctive Wesleyan flavor, this book is useful across the Christian tra-

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ditions, and readers will find themselves increasing in intellectual and personal knowledge of God regardless of tradition. There is clear and nearly exhaustive biblical material here for studying about God, and it is a good starting point for systematic theology. Though there are some technical terms, this book is accessible to informed laity as well as ministers and scholars. Vincent . acote Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL

The Clarity of Scripture: History, Theology & Contemporary Literary Studies. By James Patrick Callahan. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001, 272 pp., $18.00 paper. The perspicuity or clarity of Scripture has been discussed and disputed since the first century, but the Protestant Reformation asserted Scripture to be innately perspicuous and perspicuously understandable as the sole rule of faith and practice preeminent over the Church. By contrast, the Roman Catholic Church, via its commitment to an authoritative allegorical interpretive methodology interactive with its theological and philosophical "Tradition," asserted Scripture to be imperspicuous apart from the interpretive framework that was the Catholic Church itself, thereby affirming the preeminence of the Church over Scripture. By the seventeenth century, however, the burgeoning diversity of competing Protestant theologies arising from perspicuous Scripture made clear the irony of variant theologies uniformly arguing for scriptural perspicuity in the midst of their contrasting and even contradictory positions. The Clarity of Scripture rehearses these and other developments in its historical survey of the doctrine of scriptural perspicuity (part one), then attempts to develop a contemporary statement of scriptural perspicuity (part two). James Callahan's development of this irony begins with an attempt to clarify clarity by clearly defining his terms; this includes an excellent analysis and later critique of the concept of authorial intent. He argues for an interactive and interlocking unity of text, reader, and reading that rejects the innate perspicuity of the textwhat he terms "textual clarity." For Callahan, the original meaningwhat Scripture meantis no more important than what Scripture means to the reader. With the truths of Scripture not resident solely in Scripture but dependent on Christian readers ("one finds clearly in Scripture what is most congenial to the reader"; p. 207) and their varying perspectives ("our reading circumstances"; p. 207), Callahan's "clear" definition of terms results in a statement of scriptural perspicuity that is so obfuscated that each verse of Scripture may have an infinite number of meanings and truths all relative to the readers and the readers' response. Obviously, Callahan rejects the medieval and Reformation conviction that meaning and clarity reside innately in Scripture independent of its readers. Callahan's historical survey provides a much-needed framework for the theological study of the doctrine of scriptural perspicuity. The weakness of this survey is that it is written in such a way as to obscure the differences and emphasize the correlatives that support Callahan's opaque contemporary statement of scriptural perspicuity. Although the perspectival and selective use of historical theology to prepare the ground on which one builds a doctrinal position is not new to theology, this approach lessens the usefulness of Callahan's historical survey as a framework for understanding the development of claritas Scripturae Sacrae and the role it played in the development of variant dogmatic, biblical, and systematic theologies within Christendom in general and Protestantism in particular. An example of Callahan's selective history is seen in his discussion of the "letter" sense of Scripture versus the "spirit" sense of Scripture. He sees a growing de-emphasis

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