McMaken, who teaches religion at Lindenwood University, believes that those questioning the natural pairing of capitalism with American Christianity will find a trove of theo-political treasures awaiting them in the relatively unknown life and work of Helmut Gollwitzer. McMaken's central claim is that white American Christianity faces today a kairotic moment into which Gollwitzer can make a valuable contribution. The book endeavours a modest introduction (and is the first book-length treatment in English) to the many contributions of Gollwitzer's political theology and theological politics, including a brief sketch of his life.
Gollwitzer is situated squarely within the dialectical theology movement, and, McMaken argues, presents a unified position between Barth and Bultmann's approach to dialectical theology. For those unfamiliar, ‘[d]ialectical theology's enduring contribution … is affirming that Protestant theological epistemology must be decisively shaped by Protestant soteriology so that just as Christians can in no way merit saving grace, theologians can in no way merit revelation by finding it already embedded in the structures of human intellect or creation as a whole’ (p. 55). McMaken suggests, and repeats throughout the book, almost to a fault, the three-step logic at work throughout Gollwitzer's dialectical theology: the priority of God's nonobjectifiability; theology's resulting inherently contextual nature; and finally, the inevitable political ramifications of all theology.
As there is still relatively little understanding in English-speaking theology of a version of dialectical theology in which Barth is not the hero and Bultmann not the villain, some of the finer details McMaken presents on Gollwitzer's theological position vis-à-vis Barth and Bultmann will be most significant for specialists or those familiar with David Congdon's scholarship on Bultmann. What cannot be missed is the clear articulation that ‘[t]heology actually arises only through the collision of the gospel with concrete situations’ (p. 73).
Gollwitzer not only demonstrates ‘how some of the fundamental concepts of Barth's theology establish a trajectory toward liberation theology’ (p. 75), but also ‘engages with the concept of liberation and concretizes that engagement with reference to black theology’ (p. 76). He humbly accepts the sharp criticism black theology levels against white theologies, churches and Christians. Following James Cone, he suggests that white theologians must try to ‘become black’ by way of ‘concrete and radical metanoia’ (p. 78) and ‘[p]ractical solidarity’ that takes the side of the oppressed in the political realm (p. 80). Just knowing that there existed, in the past, a white European theologian who learned from the work of James Cone should serve as a major encouragement for current theologians yearning for theology to be done differently by white theologians.
But Gollwitzer will not please everyone. Indeed, some who find themselves variously within the stream of dialectical theology may be challenged by Gollwitzer's very direct political theology. For Gollwitzer, ‘Christian faith cannot exist without the affirmation and confirmation of social and political responsibility’ (p. 85). While the gospel does not prescribe any one particular, political programme, his doctrine of God provides a direction and orientation for envisioning Christian political responsibility. In particular, that God has revealed Godself to be a God of peace, a God who loves justice and a God who mercifully forgives, creates for Gollwitzer a concrete trajectory of political love.
McMaken deftly lays out Gollwitzer's support for democratic socialism, showing not only the nuanced developments to his position throughout his life, but also highlighting the problem with a Christian focus on charity and finally, Gollwitzer's firm insistence in the failure of capitalism to uphold distributive justice. Disciples of Jesus Christ, having been justified by faith alone, are each called by God to use whatever privileges they have to serve their neighbours. Furthermore, in the new community of the Spirt, unjust privileges are to be renounced as they work actively for social structures no longer to be determined by social privileges. Gollwitzer's challenging vision for Christian engagement, indeed for their ‘permanent revolution’ (p. 120), stems from his insistence that true socialism is located in the kingdom of the God. In this way, Gollwitzer's claim that Christians must be socialists is a ‘logical one that grows out of the twin factors of the direction and orientation given to Christian political existence by the gospel and a rational, clear-sighted analysis of social conditions’ (p. 122).
In addition to including translations of two important essays, McMaken concludes the book by showing how Gollwitzer works out an ecclesiology on the basis of his dialectical theology. Now the three-step logic is applied to the church: it cannot be objectified; it is contextual; and it is political. The faithfulness of the Christian community to its commission by God is measured by the degree of active solidarity with its neighbours. Gollwitzer calls on the church to take sides, even suggesting it function as a ‘political lobby’ as well as taking direct, political action at all levels of the political system (pp. 162–3). Because ‘the wholly other God wants a wholly other society’ (p. 166), the church must actively confess its faith in the God who loves justice.
In 2019, there are many who would argue that any Christian theology book whose cover features a black and white picture of a pipe-smoking white male is not important. And I would almost agree. But if ever there was a European male theologian whose work can and should be put in fruitful dialogue with liberation theologies, Gollwitzer may indeed by the one. At the very least, he should serve as a model for the kind of real engagement white Christian theologians should be undertaking with liberation theologies today. Furthermore, his vision of discipleship and ecclesiology has much to offer for church practitioners dissatisfied with ‘doing church’ as usual. For this reason, McMaken has done a great service to the theological academy and the church in introducing Helmut Gollwitzer.
