Abstract
On the face of it there is something strange about this collection, which largely reprints essays and chapters written between 1989 and 2020, following Hans Frei’s death in 1988. The strength of the individual essays, rightly drawing attention to Hans Frei’s originality and achievement, makes it highly readable and, as a testament to the legacy of a theologian, succeeds in drawing the reader back to Frei’s own work. Despite numerous assessments of Frei as one of the most significant theologians of his generation, it avoids hagiography, most effectively in George Hunsinger’s own essay on Frei’s early Christology, which is unafraid of showing where Frei is unconvincing, despite Hunsinger’s clear admiration for the man and his work.
As you would expect, the focus of the essays is on Frei’s relation to Barth, narrative, Christology and above all theological method. There is also a personal aspect to this work. An interview illuminates something of Frei’s character and background; elsewhere we get a sense of Frei’s own ecclesial journey and the importance of the Church in his theology. There are many anecdotes and memories, a wonderful essay that is both strikingly personal and theological by Garrett Green, as well as occasional revealing personal comments such as William Placher remarking ‘He was the only person I have ever known who both loved gossip and totally lacked malice’ (p. 17). In particular, there is a very warm sense of how hospitality and generosity were marks both of the man and of his theology.
The final section of the collection would seem to have a particular significance. Mike Higton, who has done a great deal to secure Frei’s legacy, mounts a solid defence of the objectivity of Scripture in his work (and that of George Lindbeck). This is a key point in understanding Frei, especially in what he refers to as the ‘literal sense’ of Scripture, which Higton connects with the practice of Christian reading – how the Church has learned to read. Hunsinger’s later chapter discusses truth in relation to evangelical preoccupations with factuality. This is illuminating in identifying an account of truth in Frei that is not just propositional, does not relegate story beneath doctrine, but does better at maintaining the ‘sufficiency of Scripture’. The final chapter by David Ford figures Frei as a Moses-like figure in preparing the way – working out what theology is really about – returning to the question of method and the work that is the touchpoint of this collection – Types of Christian Theology. As befits a final chapter addressing Frei’s legacy, Ford uses Frei’s types to ask further questions, in particular relating them to a consideration of the place of theology in the university.
Throughout this work there is an evident genuine affection for a wise and gifted teacher and theologian, and a deserved effort to ensure that Frei’s legacy is maintained and his work continued and read by the next generation of theologians.