Evangelical Concerns:Rediscovering the Christian mind on issues facing the Church today

by Melvin Tinker

We are sometimes left with the feeling that evangelicals stand in the shadows of a collapsing culture with nothing but two alternatives open to either to retreat into a ghetto or sell out on fundamental issues of truth. Here, Melvin Tinker suggests a 'Third Way' - to develop a fully orbed biblical approach to science and socio-political issues - and so to regain the Christian mind.

272 pages, Paperback

First published May 21, 2001

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of essays, written from a Calvinistic Anglican evangelical standpoint, represents a good indirect critique of unthinking orthodoxy. The essays on the Christian mind, Calvin's view of the Lord's supper, the importance of doctrine, the Christian view of death, suffering, and the incarnation are particularly good. While I would not fully agree with some of his views with respect to science, he is correct to point out some of the silly arguments that creationists [of which I am one] have (from time to time) employed against modern science. For instance, the study of the human brain does not necessarily mean that those conducting such studies are 'fooling' with God's creation.

The distinction that he makes between the rule of God and the saving kingdom of Christ is also useful in relation to avoiding the social gospel and some of the excesses of modern evangelical social involvement without denying the need for such involvement. I did, however, think that his view of the church was at times too low, and thus I can see why some higher Anglicans get annoyed at the ecclesiology of the evangelical Anglicans. For instance, while denying Congregationalism, he tends to see denominational structures as little more than para-church structures. As a high church Presbyterian, I found this approach to things to be dis-satisfying. Still, it is a book that many of us would benefit from reading, and I have been meaning to read it for years!

[Carl Di-Palma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although nearly twenty years old, the subject matters in these essays are still relevant to the challenges both internally and externally facing those who would call themselves Evangelicals. The rating system doesn't allow for me to give it the 4.5 out of 5 stars I think it deserves.

[Todd Wilhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of papers on 14 different subjects of "Evangelical Concerns." Some I found more interesting than others. Chapter 12 on the suffering of man and the sovereignty of God was very good. Here are the chapters:

1. Battle for the Mind

2. Does The Christian View of Death Need Reviving?

3. Conflicts in Science and Faith: Minister Beware

4. Content, Context and Culture: Proclaiming the Gospel Today

5. Doctrine Matters: Anglican Evangelical Theology Today

6. Euthanasia - A Severe Mercy?

7. Justifying Justification

8. Language, Symbols and Sacraments - Was Calvin's View of the Lord's Supper Right?

9. Reversal or Betrayal? Evangelicals and Socio-political Involvement in the Twentieth Century

10. The Phantom Menace: Territorial Spirits and SLSW

11. The Priority of Jesus: A Look at the Place of Jesus' Teaching and Example in Christian Ethics

12. The Suffering of Man and the Sovereignty of God: An Examanation of the Relationship between the Problem of Evil and the Purposes of God

13. Towards an Evangelical View of the Church

14.Truth, Myth and Incarnation