Abstract

Though the individual chapters appeared as essays in various journals, their cogency and urbane scholarship make them particularly noteworthy in book form. In the chapter "Social Problems in the Early Church" Ehrhardt suggests an important methodological principle: the history of theological development cannot ignore the social conditions of the little people who accepted the Christian message. The most demanding chapter of the book, "Creatio ex Nihilo," is also the most unsatisfactory. Ehrhardt has command of the historical sources, but his treatment of the relevant philosophical problems is less than clear. It need only be added that the first chapter, "The Theology of New Testament Criticism" is a devastating attack on unenlightened faith.—D. J. B.