Abstract
In this latest volume on ministry in a secular age, Root explores evangelism as a practice of consolation. The series draws on Charles Taylor’s theory of secularization, notably the idea that our secular age is not the absence of religion, but the result of a long process of change in how human beings understand themselves. Root, engaging with Taylor and others, addresses challenges facing the contemporary Church, such as innovation, decline and pastoral care, through the lens of practical and pastoral theology. He asks how we might reframe our pastoral theology for today, as the Church faces both immense challenges and a lack of confidence in its responses.
From the outset, Root clarifies that his volume is not a five-step guide to evangelism, but rather an invitation to see evangelism as the ‘practice and theology of consolation’ (p. 1), rooted in the cross. He moves from an ‘instrumentalized’ approach – reducing evangelism to signing up to a statement of belief or an antidote to decline – and instead sees evangelism as journeying alongside others in their sorrows. He returns to a helpful format in which the theology is accompanied by the story of a fictional church community, illustrating complex ideas through narrative.
The first half of the book (Chapters 1–5) is a genealogy of how society – and the Church – now measures human life by fulfilment and happiness. Root argues that French essayist Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) initiated a revolution in human understanding, in which ‘what truly matters is the contentment of self-reflective happiness’ (p. 116). Human beings are to find fulfilment not in that which is beyond themselves but by an ‘immanent’ turning inwards, cultivating our own fulfilment and happiness. Root explores how this leads to a culture where happiness becomes the measure of a successful life, with little space for sadness, and where the demands of happiness – and its absence – become a source of discontent themselves. For Root, contemporary evangelism has often bought into, rather than resisted, this framework. This section will interest those beyond the Church, exploring implications for contemporary politics, consumerism, wellness culture, mental health and our ‘Age of Anxiety’.
The second half of the book (Chapters 6–9) pivots, drawing on the work of Blaise Pascal, Gregory of Nyssa and Macrina the Younger, Jean Gerson, Johann von Staupitz and Martin Luther. Root shows how their experiences of sorrow became sacramental encounters of consolation (‘the real presence of Christ comes in the ministry of the sorrowful’, p. 240). For each of these writers, we are travellers on a journey ad Deum – to God – accompanied by a theology of the cross, walking with others through sorrow. The focus on the passibility of God, and the weight placed on suffering, may not convince all, but the argument is compelling.
Although aimed at a US mainline Protestant context that is often hesitant about evangelism, the themes will interest Christians of any tradition. Root’s storytelling makes the work very readable and engaging, and even as he critiques modernity, he avoids any sense of nostalgia. The book draws on a diverse range of authors; however, few women or global majority heritage voices appear. One might ask how, for example, womanist theologian Delores S. Williams’ critique of the valorization of suffering in the lives of Black women could offer a unique voice in discussions of suffering. There are also few quotations from original works, limiting engagement with the original sources.
Root is right that this volume does not offer a silver bullet for decline or programmes of evangelism; this is a strength, as he argues that strategy often follows the logic of a secular age. Instead, the work offers a profound, realistic and fruitful exploration of how the Church might reshape its life in an ‘Age of Despair’, focusing more on meeting people in the reality of their lives and offering consolation through the cross. Additionally, his discussions of the roots of the current mental health crisis are in themselves a valuable contribution to the life of the wider Church.