KEVIN HECTOR is Professor of Theology and the Philosophy of Religions at the University of Chicago. His aim in this new book is “to understand Christianity as a way of life . . . a set of practices designed to transform one’s way of perceiving and being in the world”.

He focuses on three broad sets of Christian practices: reorientation or imitation, such as corporate worship; transformation of being in the world, as in prayer; and transformation of being with others, as in love, forgiveness, and justice. For the most part, he avoids theological jargon and writes clearly, although some might find his tendency (to which many academics, including me, are prone) to list points endlessly and to use classroom examples (as in “I tell my students”) tiresome.

For him “imitation”, the first set of Christian practices, is primarily and commendably imitation of Christ. Yet there is a heavy emphasis on sin and a version of penal substitution here in the early chapters: “Christ, having been put to death, is freed from the power of Sin precisely because he has already endured the death sentence to which sin makes humanity liable; the Law has thus been satisfied.” This leads the author to conclude that: “Persons who accept the Gospel message as fundamentally true and thus devote themselves to God will surely feel guilty for certain things they have done and, indeed, for what they have made of their lives.”

Up to this point, sin and guilt predominate rather than, say, attraction to Christ. But (from page 119 onwards) attraction begins to emerge with the helpful suggestion that in the Sunday eucharist, “singing and eating together might create unity among Christians (and so make them more at home with one another) and attune their hearts increasingly to God.” Through such “homemaking practices” we can become more Christlike and part of the Body of Christ.

He then turns (page 155) to the second set of Christian practices, “being in the world”, with reflections on prayer, vocation, laughter, and lament. Prayer is especially important, he insists, in order to “change our dispositions” so that “we become increasingly disposed to entrust all our concerns to God and thus to acknowledge all goods as God’s gifts.”

A sense of vocation flows naturally from this, but less obvious is the part played by laughter and lament. Laughter, he contends, can be important to puncture pretensions and thus to “recognize God alone as ultimately serious”; and lament can help us to respond to suffering in the world. But (as he sometimes admits) laughter, unless it is genuinely self-deprecating, can be cruel, and, for me at least, compassionate care is to be preferred to lament.

He then turns to the third set of Christian practices, “being with others”, especially Christian love and justice. He expresses this well: “to love something is to care about its well-being — for its own sake — to such an extent that one is deeply and first-personally invested in that well-being,” especially if it is an expression of our love for God and of God’s love for us. An important part of Christian vocation is to cultivate such love, especially through practising beneficence, forgiveness, and justice to others, as well as responding actively to injustice.

There is a sharp change of tone in the final chapter, with its detailed critique of the claim by the late Bernard Williams and other secular philosophers that the prospect of eternal life sounds very tedious, and the author’s own speculations about a more fulfilling eternal life.

There is much practical wisdom in the earlier chapters. I am not entirely convinced, however, that they amount to “a systematic theology”, as the subtitle suggests; and I found that his folksy prose and examples grated somewhat. More positively, much of this book is interesting and accessible.

Canon Robin Gill is Emeritus Professor of Applied Theology at the University of Kent and Editor of Theology.

Christianity as a Way of Life: A systematic theology
Kevin W. Hector
Yale £30
(978-0-300-24409-0)
Church Times Bookshop £27