A HIGHER THRONE
Evangelicals & Public Theology
Ed. Chris Green. Apollos (IVP). 202 pages. £12.99
ISBN 978-1-84474-277-6
At last, a Daniel come to judgment — or rather three Daniels and a Danielle (!) — by which I mean the four Oak Hill lecturers whose outstanding contributions make up this important volume on public theology, with David Field easily the most trenchant and uncompromising ‘Daniel’ of the bunch.
For what Oak Hill and IVP have provided us with is a clear and uncomplicated — and long overdue — exposition of the traditional Reformed view of how Christianity relates to government. The view is unpopular in evangelical circles today and as often as not lampooned as anachronistic, triumphalist or, in a single (swear-)word, ‘Constantinian’! Hence David Field’s comment, ‘…there are few things better able to raise evangelical hackles than the idea of the confessional state…’ (p.94).