This festschrift, presented to Professor Tim Gorringe of the University of Exeter on his retirement, fittingly reflects and celebrates his own concerns and passions: namely, the theological exploration of a range of topics not always considered ‘theological’, including education, art, politics, ecology, economics, criminal justice and urban planning. Gorringe has spent an academic career considering the matter of human flourishing, how it might be understood through multiple forms of learning such as the social sciences, and what theology might add to (and learn from) such engagements. The fruit of this lifetime is seen in this rich collection of twenty short essays.
Many of the chapters are drawn from associates alongside whom Gorringe has taught, from Tamil Nadu Seminary, to Oxford University, to his present post at Exeter; others are drawn from colleagues across the theological disciplines (such as Walter Brueggemann and Stanley Hauerwas). While some of the essays involve more biographical detail about the author's relation to Gorringe, each bears the unmistakable mark of gratitude to Gorringe for conversations and collaborations past and present.
One essay in particular stands out as being not only a fitting tribute to Gorringe but a valuable contribution to students of the field, and that is the initial essay by Mike Higton, one of the editors. In it Higton provides an overview of Gorringe's thought, by means of several central themes which have animated his work throughout his career: eucharist, creation, history, politics, community and the poor. These themes provide a framework for exploring Gorringe's major publications and show the coherence of his thought across the wide variety of topics he has considered. Higton even suggests a reading plan for those new to Gorringe's work. This essay and the extensive bibliography at the back of the book serve not only to honour Gorringe, but also to introduce him to a new generation of theology students; this constitutes a real strength of the collection.
The remainder of the essays take up themes and intersections found in Gorringe's work, serving conversationally to advance those ideas. Space allows only scant notice of a few. Two essays pick up and expand on strands of ecological concern in Gorringe's work. Rachel Muers reads the prophecy of Hosea as offering a prophetic way forward on matters of the environment and sustainability, neither inducing paralysing anxiety nor overpromising ultimately unsustainable ‘grand solutions’. David Horrell constructs a Pauline ecological ethic, in order to raise up a broader vision of creational flourishing.
Several chapters explore locality and particularity and their relationship to theology. Included among these are Graham Ward's chapter which, in service to a larger envisioned project on the relationship of social context and intellectual endeavour, shows the relationship of Schleiermacher's theology to the context of Prussia and specifically Berlin at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Also, Dyanch and Carr consider the question of whether undeserved suffering can be redemptive in light of the history of the Tamils and their struggle for independence (and the recent violent end to that struggle).
Throughout this collection, one comes away with a vision of theology which is deeply engaged with humanity in all its particularities and intensely concerned for human flourishing, yet also a theology which never loses sight of God, and never allows God to cease being the ultimate horizon of human meaning. Such a theology is refreshing, vital and timely – and to the extent that this volume not only celebrates Tim Gorringe and his career, but makes available this mode of theologising for the next generation of the church, it will have rendered a great service to the academy, the church and the world.
