Author Joel Robbins opens Theology and the Anthropology of Christian Life reminding the reader that attention to Christianity within the field of anthropology is a fairly recent development in the late twentieth century. Robbins argues for furthering the engagement between theology and anthropology beyond merely a dialogue, where too often each discipline acknowledges the other but then retreats to its own disciplinary corners unchanged. Instead, he proposes an authentic transformative conversation between the two, particularly through the lens of theory. Although there is a history of theology and anthropology borrowing from each other, what the author is arguing for is a more sustained and authentic exchange. The author rightly notes that both disciplines are at a key moment to do this, for they are both addressing shifts in their intellectual landscape that invite this type of conversation.

The author is an anthropologist, not a theologian, and it is clear from his selection of authors that this book will focus on a particular intellectual and practiced expression of Christianity. This limited presentation is one of the shortcomings of the text, albeit one that the author could not avoid given the complexity and diversity within global Christian theology. Similarly, the chapters’ thematic emphases: sin and salvation, prosperity gospel, and millenarianism are clearly shaped by the author's selection of very distinctive theological traditions. The book's chapter on passivity, for example, is contextualized in light of Lutheran theology. And although the book covers key twentieth-century theologians such as Jürgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg, and these scholars, as well as the thematic chapters, give us a window into a dialogue between certain theological perspectives and lived expressions of Christianity, it in no way covers Christian theology as a whole. A book should not be expected to do so, however, the title implies a breadth not found in its pages.

This book is steeped in disciplinary conversations and would most likely be more suitable for upper-division courses in theology and anthropology. Students without background in either field will find it difficult to understand and express the author's argument and become lost in some of the intellectual debates. Although the book is well written and accessible, students may struggle with some of its theoretical arguments. And although the fields of anthropology and theology are clearly distinctive, the divide between the two is not quite as pronounced as the author implies. The field of religious studies broadly conceived, under which both theology and the anthropology of religion live, has created numerous spaces for both anthropologists and theologians to listen, learn, and be challenged by their disciplinary particularities. Awareness of these conversations would greatly strengthen the author's work. Whether one is a theologian or an anthropologist, reading this text does give one a vital introduction to conversations outside of one's home field, and perhaps this is the greatest, and intended, benefit of the book. By introducing theologians to the growing field of the anthropology of Christianity and its ethnographic resources, and by introducing anthropologists to some central themes within Christian theology, the book begins the rich and transformative dialogue it calls for in its opening pages.