Ronald Allen is the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Preaching and New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. He is the author of numerous books and in this one he focuses on faith as a living and evolving thing. Or as he puts it: "a faith is not something you put in a box and tape shut . . . [it] is a living set of relationships and ideas that sometimes change in response to new circumstances." The author believes that an ongoing conversation about the Bible, tradition, and present values and behaviors is a helpful and hopeful process.
In a rousing chapter, "Resources for Developing a Faith," Allen takes a cue from Helene Russell and suggests using the term "embedded faith" to describe beliefs that we take for granted. They may come from direct communication with God, reading the Bible, reflection on experience (wisdom or natural theology), and discerning God's purposes through dialogue with tradition, a scientific worldview, philosophy, or popular religious expression. In successive chapters, Allen covers various elements of the Christian faith: God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, God's ultimate purposes, the church, evil, and Christianity and other religions. Each chapter is divided into three parts: the ways the topic is understood in the Bible, in history since the Bible, and in contemporary perspectives. There are also questions for reflection and discussion.
Allen states that an understanding of Christian faith should satisfy the following four criteria: continuity with the Bible and Christian tradition, logical coherence, seriously believable, and moral treatment of all people and elements of nature. He ends with a suggestion that each reader respond to these elements of faith by designing his or her own credo using a framework set up in the paperback.
