Evangelicals Now
<< February 1999 >>

Grappling with God on the M25 - A Theology for Everyday Life

Grappling with God on the M25
A Theology for Everyday Life
By Frank Topping
Hodder & Stoughton. 184 pages. £7.99
ISBN 0 340 67851 8

There is something truly liberating about grappling with God while driving a car. It would simply be too dangerous to open a Bible at the same time to check one's deductions.
If this book is 'Theology for Everyday Life', it has been produced with minimal reference to the Divine disclosure in Scripture. This may be due to the author's own view of the sacred writings. Mr Topping feels it is inappropriate to ask of the Bible: 'Is it true?' One can only ask: 'Does it contain the truth?' For we have obviously come of age since those unsophisticated Hebrews wrote what the Spirit gave them. For example, they allegedly wrote about God in the masculine form, because 'they found it difficult to conceive of a God who was vulnerable, or a God who had attributes related to femininity'.
We are treated to Lord Soper saying: 'Of course Paul was afflicted by this bug of rationality, part of his Greek background, I suppose. There's a lot of Greek thought in the Acts of the Apostles . . . and I think it's a waste of time, I really do.' Topping himself says: 'I know some argue that when humans fell, nature fell also, but I must confess that I find this meaningless.' I seem to recall the apostle Paul as being one of the first to engage in this meaningless argument!
The book is largely about the travels of the author and his wife, and their encounters with a rich variety of famous people, whose opinions and experiences are recounted here. His own musings (whether about baptism, the Lord's Supper, or heaven) seem to be more influenced by human reasoning than divine revelation.
To obtain a safe theology for everyday life, it would be advisable to turn to Bruce Milne's Know the Truth, for it regularly appeals to Scripture as the basis for its claims. But Topping does come with Terry Wogan's recommendation.

Malcolm Jones,
Crockenhill, Kent