Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life Review

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Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life ReviewThere is little doubt that from a purely dogmatic standpoint, this is one of the more thorough and exhaustively documented treatments of spiritual theology available today. It is highly intellectual, extensively documented (and I do mean extensively), and a top work of scholarship. As I will discuss below, it is an improveable effort in at least two ways, but from the standpoint of scholarship and depth, this book pretty much blows away most everything that's passing for spiritual theology and spiritual discipline development in Christian bookstores these days.
For those interested in Chan's theological perspective, I would classify him, for lack of better terminology, as being in the left wing of Reformed theology. Chan does seem to be in the Calvinistic camp on the question of man's condition and status before God, and it is this Reformed perspective that tends to lay the groundwork for much of the book. Having said this, the book is quite ecumenical, and it is really amazing the sheer volume of Christians, both past and present, that Chan interacts with in this book. If there's one thing that's beyond debate, in my view, it's that the scholarship exhibited by Chan here is breathtaking and will be much appreciated by those looking for a very in-depth and substantive read.
The book attempts to lay out a systematic approach to spiritual development, and urges readers to develop and adopt a rule of life that integrates individual and corporate spiritual development with an eye towards connecting the global Christian community more closely. Chan spends a good deal of time not only developing many familiar (though some unfamiliar) spiritual disciplines, but also interacting with far more than the Western spiritual experience. In a book like this, Chan's extensive interaction with Eastern and Asian forms of Christian spirituality is very informative and most helpful.
Chan is clearly and rightly concerned about the lack of spiritual development that seems to be dominating much of Protestantism today. In our zeal to adopt individualistic spiritualities that spurn the institutional church and particularly ecclesiastical heirarchy, Chan believes that Protestants have lost a very important aspect of spiritual development - community and global development of a distinctively Christian spirituality. He's right. This book is clearly aimed at getting mainly evangelical Protestants to take another look at the spiritual disciplines not as things to check off on a purely personal 'to do' list, but as the truly life transforming disciplines they are, and to see such spiritual development not purely as individualistic or personal, but as corporate and communally interactive. This mentality is mostly welcome, and it is something evangelicals need to reexamine. The medieval church in particular knew a lot more about spiritual development than many of us today, and Chan very properly has no hang-ups about interacting and incorporating their views and practices into a contemporary rule of life for spiritual development, and neither should we - though this is an area where theological discernment is called for, as Chan himself argues. His remark that 'if Christians today were to learn discernment in large numbers, most television evangelists would go out of business' is spot on, in my view.
I will mention 2 regrets that compel me to the 4 star rating. First, Chan's dogmatic and historical scholarship are impeccable, but his interaction with Scripture is not. The reader will find that Chan seems to quote from just about everything and everybody - with the exception of Scripture. His interaction with Scripture is sparse and surface level. Thus, this book deals much more with how the church has pursued spiritual development then with what Scripture actually says about such things. Big weakness. Secondly, it surprised me that in a book on spiritual development via the spiritual disciplines, little to no mention was made of fasting. This strikes me as a rather glaring omission, particularly since fasting is the one spiritual discipline that has been most abandoned within evangelicalism and is the least understood in terms of its purposes and goals.
With these critiques in mind, I nonetheless recommend the book as a very substantive and needed survey and development of spiritual theology. This is not a book for the beginner, or for someone looking for fluff and a light read. This book 'definitely ain't that'. But it rewards careful study and contemplation.Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life Overview

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