Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry

Seeing that the author held the J.I. Packer Professor of Theology chair at Regent College made me optimistic enough to buy this and consider the author as a serious theologian. We now see how Packer was an oddball at Regent, not fully endorsed by the minimalist 8 sentences defining their doctrine, for the legacy of Packer's namesake chair and what his theology stood for has been lost in one generation!This book reads more like a historical theology PhD thesis on the nouvelle theologie of Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac submitted to a liberal faculty examination committee that would denounce overt appeal to biblical authority in evaluating such historical theologians. As such he fails to properly present opposing views or substantial biblical and Reformed orthodox views that would allow proper critique of their views. For example, what is the Reformed view of a sacrament, such as chapters 27-29 of the well-respected and widely accepted definitions in the Westminster Confession of Faith and how does the view of nouvelle theologie and a "sacramental ontology" compare with that? Instead he relies on straw-man caricatures of alternate or opposing views, or sweeps other historically biblical views away with his magic wand of the so-called loss of the platonic-Christian heritage, making all Reformation definitions suspect, since they are blinded by sola scriptura as a nominalist chasm between sacramental reality and formal doctrine, against which his view supposedly avoids the dangers on both sides. What is striking in the total impression of a 3 hour read is that final appeal for all the themes praised in the book come from various historical authors. Use of Scripture to directly make his points is minimal and fits with his overall thesis that Scripture must be interpreted within the tradition of the church. The author gives verbal assent to the primacy of Scripture in theological formulations in some Roman Catholic authors and assumes it in Evangelical traditions, which he claims he is part of, but writes most of the book interpreting, not Scripture, but praising a rather narrow strain of 20th century Roman Catholic authors (Yves Congar, Henri de Lubac) he believes helps us recapture a heavenly participation analogously pictured through a revised understanding of earthly Eucharist. Boersma endorses the traditional Roman Catholic view of isolated transubstantiation of the elements themselves, but then says this is too narrow of a focus, so augments the view to extend to corporeal participation as a body of Christ as we take it (1 Cor 10:17), such that the takers of the Eucharist are transubstantiated into Christ's body. This Eucharistic interpretation is then given normative status as the hermeneutical analogy that extends to the rest of human experience in the created world, such that all of life has a sacramental ontology or subsistance of being that needs to be recovered.According to Boersma, the Reformed doctrine of the total depravity of man is supposedly partly responsible for the loss of this sacramental ontology: it pessimistically teaches man that he is unable to see the divine in the world, which he apparently does have the faculties to see if the feuding divided church would just embrace nouvelle theologie and tell him to "see". The Reformed doctrine of judicial/declarative justification by faith is also loosely condemned as not fitting nicely into this nouvelle sacramental ontology, not surprising if one adopts Roman Catholic view of justification as both judicial and transformational. Also, for rhetorical shock? he prefers to use "divinization" as a way to describe the change that Christianity bring to its followers, though he would nuance that as meaning we do not become gods. What have we Evangelicals gained by reading Boersma's claims to "recover" something lost when he cannot demonstrate that what we have lost is biblical or what he has recovered is biblical? His logic is glossed with a bait-and-switch methodology: he claims the high moral ground of fidelity to church-history and church fathers, but then switches his terms, meaning we should all show our allegiance and fidelity to the tradition of the church's sacramental ontology of the living, Eternal Word as developed by Congar, de Lubac and given a christo-centric anchor by Barth.First, for readers looking for a biblical view of heavenly participation through the experience of earthly analogies, carefully read the book of Hebrews and the way it uses comparisons between the OT shadows and the NT realities fulfilled in Christ. Careful students of Hebrews will see the hermeneutical anchor is not strictly Christ, but the new covenant realities accessed through Christ, already begun in this age of suffering discipline, but not yet finally realized (Heb 12:1-14, 22-24, 28). Ephesians 5:23-33 gives another picture of how the heavenly reality of the marriage of Christ to the church is an earthly shadow reflected in Christian marriage, and to which earthly marriage should conform/reform (see John Piper's This Momentary Marriage, or his two chapters in Sex and the Supremacy of Christ). Scripture is filled with such analogies, as I first had my eyes opened with James B. Jordan's excellent classic Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World, and Vern Poythress's book God-Centered Interpretation.Rather than get lost in Boersma's conflated and dubious historical explanation for why Christians have lost a God-reflecting view of the world, and supposedly how a platonic-Christian view is able to recover it, study Romans 1:18-32 for a more straightforward answer, seeing that created thing reveal God's eternal power and divine nature (as in Psalm 19:1-2), but that man has suppressed this knowledge through all kinds of historical "isms" and philosophies disguised as wisdom, and worships the creation instead of the Creator (see also Colossians 2:1-3:4 and context for similar philosophical blindness). What we need is Gospel-kingdom light in Christ to deliver us from the domain of darkness (Col 1:13-14).For some great biblical studies of how creation reveals the glory of God, check out Jonathan Edward's Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World, or John Piper's recent editing and commentary on that work in God's Passion for His Glory. Or look at chapter 11 in John Piper's When I Don't Desire God, on how to use created things to enjoy God, or the excellent source quoted by Boersma, Augustine, On Christian Doctrine. Book 1 on the difference between use and enjoyment of things (All are free reading online), or Consider the Lillies: A Plea for Creational Theology by T.M. Moore or Dane Ortlund Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God, or Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edward's Vision of Living in Between by Stephen Nichols. If you want to understand the history of what happened to a God-centered view of the created world, read the somewhat heady, but rewarding with gems to those with patience, G.K. Berkouwer's General Revelation.Pilgrim's Progress couldn't capture all that seeking the Celestial City entails, so we do need the good books of our Reformed tradition to help us understand "union with Christ" and what that means for our earthly and our heavenly citizenship, such as Raised with Christ by Adrian Warnock, or Pauline Theology by Herman Ridderbos, Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray or just sit down and study Colossians 3:1-4 in its rich biblical context.For those looking for a biblical explanation of the heavenly life of the believer integrated with the earthly, Boersma's book will be sadly disappointing, and those reading it all the way through hoping for some glimmer of useful truth will be sparsely rewarded. His neglect of the best of Evangelical sources on this topic (see above) and of serious biblical exposition leaves his appeal for the Evangelical side of the Catholic-Evangelical divide to seek common ground for dialog ringing truly hollow. Any author seeking to persuade an Evangelical to agree with tradition must also show that tradition agrees with Scripture, which in his main theses, Boersma dismally fails to do. Any author seeking to persuade a Reformed reader to abandon his theology in favor of nouvelle theologie without seriously engaging the best that the Reformed tradition already has to offer on these topics in comparison is not worthy to sit in any faculty chair position named after J.I. Packer, unless he and his school both are merely nominalists who fail to understand sacramental participation with J.I. Packer's God and his God's jealousy to have us spend time writing books that reveal God's truth. Boersma has wielded his own scissors, with the blades of nouvelle theologie and the tradition of the Roman Catholic church to sever the beautiful tapestry of J.I. Packer's Reformed legacy from Regent College.

Thesis: Until the late middle ages people looked at the world as a mystery (Boersma 21). By mystery Boersma means a sacramental link between creation and God, that creation participates in God. In other words, the connection, though not identical, is real. Mystery, so Boersma reads the “Platonist-Christian synthesis” (hereafter PCs) refers to the “reality behind the appearances.”Boersma structures his book around the (neo)Platonic movement of exitus and reditus (the departure from and return to), except exitus now refers to how the church lost the PCs and the reditus on possible steps for regaining it.It is not Boersma’s goal to defend Platonism as such. Rather, he seeks to combat the "antiheaven rhetoric among Evangelicals" (187).For Boersma--and for the earlier Tradition--Created realities point beyond themselves (carry extra dimension to them). A Sacramental world not only points to God but participates in him. The signum points to and participates in the res. The end of created being lies beyond itself (30).The Fathers were able to weave a sacramental tapestry around Christ: Christ contains the heavenly and creaturely universals in which we participate. Our particular humanity depends on the participation of humanity in Christ (51).Sadly, this garment came unwound in the late middle ages with an increasing extrincisim of the Church. Scripture and Tradition, Eucharist res and Eucharistic signum, were now be defined in opposition to one another. With Occam and Scotus the unwinding became a cutting. No longer was there a higher realm of being in which created being participated. Rather, God and man were subsumed under the generic categor of being.How do we return (reditus)? Boersma examines the implications of Henri de Lubac and the Nouvelle Theologie. In their works we see a real transubstantiation, but it is when the congregation is changed into the body of Christ. This leads de Lubac to posit a threefold body: the bread, the congregation, Christ. Further, we see that sacramental time is when past, present, and future coincide (124). Chronological time thus opens up to eschatological time. Thus, “eschatological realities are able to enter into time” (125). God inserts mystery into time. Earthly events become sacraments of eschatological mysteries. Time participates in God’s eternity.ConclusionThe painting, or tapestry rather, was awe-inspiring. Boersma gives a convincing picture of how Platonism can be modified to serve Christianity. One can question, of course, the finer points of his readings on Scotist, but it seems more or less accurate.

A challenging (in the best way) and edifying read to reconsider how to engage Scripture from an approach that was appreciated for many centuries.I'm not sure I agree with everything, but I was glad to have read it.

I don't agree with some of what is being written, but I get Dr. Boersma's main emphasis that both sides - Catholic and Evangelical tend to fall on the extreme sides of over spirituality vs. the here and now. I would not recommend this book for the average layman. At times it got very complicated. I would recommend this book for those who are specifically seeking out this subject in their research on the impact of Plato on the mindset of pre-modern, modern and post-modern life. I took off a couple of stars because it seems like he uses his own vocabulary at times. Using phrases like weaving sacramental tapestry are not needed. At times I felt he was speaking over his audience. I do think his work is great contribution to the overall discussion of the sacramental life.

Not every day does a book lead you to question ways of understanding the world that have long seemed obviously true, and seriously consider that there might be important truth and benefit in a way of thinking that seemed like fuzzy headed fancy not so long ago. For me as a member of Boersma's target audience, a young evangelical disaffected with many of the predilections and thought patterns of the modern evangelical church, the book is hitting its mark.Does he answer all the important objections? Probably not. But the book opens a door to investigating things not previously on the radar for most of us.

A thought provoking and searching read for evangelicals.Have evangelicals 'thrown out the baby with the bath water?' This makes for a very good read - it will take some work but it's worth it.It needs to be read with an open heart and mind, and an ear to listen for what the author is saying not what he is not saying. Then examine the scriptures and see for yourself - You might be surprised. It certainly challenged and changed some of my thinking.

Important book for evangelicals to read!

A bit of a revelation of a book. This became the core of an essay I wrote on the sacraments. For someone as evangelically "sound" as the holder of J.I.Packer chair, this is a surprisingly and refreshingly open book on the crucial importance of a sacramental understanding of reality. (that all of creation participates and points to God). The earlier chapters on the history of this doctrine and its attacks from the growing nominalism following on from Ockham are particularly good. Really excellent book.

Heavenly Participation offers a great introduction to participation in theology (or, more technically, the theme of sacramental or participatory ontology) for anyone interested in this theme and its implications, which are considerable. The Fellowship of the Beatific Vision: Chaucer on Overcoming Tyranny and Becoming OurselvesThe Fellowship of the Beatific Vision: Chaucer on Overcoming Tyranny and Becoming Ourselves