Gregory D. Wiebe, Fallen Angels in the Theology of Saint Augustine (Oxford: OUP, 2021), pp. xvii + 258. $100.00

Abstract

privilege the constellation of historical criticism, epistemology and phenomenology in service of apologetic aims, but instead engages diverse conceptual tools ad hoc to articulate the church’s own hermeneutics, Christology and mission in the world. Collins then introduces Frei’s five types of theology in chapter 4 and tests its usefulness by pairing each type with a specific theology of religions that emerged in the ecumenical assemblies of the twentieth century in the following way: Laymen’s Foreign Mission Inquiry (1932) as type one, WCC Missionary Structure of the Congregation (1967) as type two, IMC Assembly of Jerusalem (1928) as type three, IMC Assembly of Tambram (1938) as type four, and the Wheaton Declaration (1966) as type five. In the closing chapter, Collins draws upon Peter Ochs, Willie James Jennings, and Frei to propose how a theology of religions may be hospitable to the comprehensiveness of God’s concern for creation in light of the particularity of Jesus Christ. There are at least three obvious contributions to be noted. First, Collins offers a comprehensive and insightful analysis of Race’s presuppositions, rationales and priorities that fund his pluralist theology of religions. Second, while ‘postliberal’ theologians already have contributed to the development of theology of religions, this is the first substantive treatment that has brought Frei’s work to bear upon the topic. And lastly, while these two trajectories of inquiry are significant in their own right, utilising Frei’s typology for illuminating theologies of religions embodied in the ecumenical assemblies is especially creative and useful. Collins has rendered a great service in these regards, though the relevance of Frei’s work to inter-religious and comparative theology remains to be explored. He demonstrates throughout the book remarkable knowledge of a wide range of primary and secondary resources, a deep reservoir of expertise needed in addressing the major questions in Race’s typology, Frei’s project, and the various ecumenical theologies of religions with enormous clarity and depth. Without doubt Frei’s contribution to theology is immense and continues to remain relevant and useful to contemporary theology as this work nicely demonstrates. Collins has taken Frei’s hermeneutics, Christology and theological method and extended them in a creative way to think about theology of religions, indeed a welcome addition to Frei scholarship.