Kevin W.Hector, <i>Christianity as a Way of Life: A Systematic Theology</i>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2023, 328pp. $40.00

A flurry of recent books has proposed that theology, philosophy, and scriptures are best approached as a way of life or as offering versions of the good life. I myself have recently tried to make the case that the project of Pauline theology is most helpfully set forth when the interpreter consistently bears in mind the practical consequences Paul's theologizing has for every facet of human existence (Joshua W. Jipp, Pauline Theology as a Way of Life: A Vision of Human Flourishing in Christ [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2023]). So too, Kevin Hector has argued that Christian theology can profitably be seen as a treasure trove of wisdom for ‘how to conduct one's life well in the face of success and failure, of risk and loss, of guilt and shame, of circumstances within and beyond one's control, and of loved ones and hard-to-love ones’ (p. ix). Christian theology offers this wisdom through a variety of ‘spiritual practices that train persons to conduct themselves well in these circumstances’ (p. x). In ‘The Good of Theology’ (Chapter 1), Hector argues that Christianity, understood as a set of practices, is capable of offering a vision of how one views the world—that is, as a way of life ordered toward what is ‘ultimately true, ultimately good, or ultimately important’ (p. 10). In particular, he suggests that there are types of practices Christianity offers: Being Reoriented, Being in the World, and Being with Others (these practices correspond to Chapters 4–6). But, first, it is necessary to understand something of the problem or the challenges to which the practices are offered as wise retraining of how one views the world. So, in ‘The Way of the World’ (Chapter 2) and ‘Deliverance from Sin’ (Chapter 3), Hector examines how Christianity promises to both ‘free us from sin and from our old orientation’ (p. 29). Sin is a matter of being improperly ordered to the world and treating it, rather than God, as if it were of ultimate good. Sin is primarily a matter of an orientation whereby humans have a disordered love and a misplaced trust in something that is not truly an ultimate good end. And this also has problematic consequences for human relationships in that valuing (or not valuing) persons based on a worldly standard (instead of God) produces broken and even violent relationships. Christianity claims that Jesus is capable of providing humans with a new orientation to the world as he delivers them from the powers of sin and death. One of the ways Jesus does this is through the incarnation: ‘If Jesus is the enactment of God's will, and God wholly identifies with this will, then Jesus is the incarnation of God: at every moment, Jesus perfectly embodies God's will and, just so, embodies that which is definitive of God's identity, which means that at every moment and in his life as a whole, Jesus incarnates God’ (p. 77). Jesus draws us into community with God and thereby makes humanity capable of orientation away from the world and to God and God's standards. Hector also draws on the Apostle Paul's claims that Jesus himself, as God incarnate, came under the power of sin and death and was raised to new life in order to lead humanity to resurrection life and a new orientation toward God (see Romans 6:6–7; 7:4; 8:1–3). Humans are capable, then, of responding to God with repentance and enjoying new life. Having shown how God rescues humanity from sin and the world, Hector is now prepared to show how Christianity is a way of life by articulating three sets of transformative practices. In ‘Being Reoriented’ (Chapter 4), Hector looks at the three sets of practices. First, ‘homemaking practices’ are those that help us understand that our current situation is one of exile or pilgrimage as we anticipate being with God in our true home. Christians express this by means of eating together, spending time with one another, and corporate singing. Christians are also reoriented toward God by means of imitating those whose life is ordered toward God. And Christians practice spiritual friendship in community whereby one can grow in a proper orientation toward God. In ‘Being in the World’ (Chapter 5), Hector looks at how prayer and wonder, vocation, and laugher and lament, can ‘transform our experience of the would-be ultimacy of various life circumstances’ (p. 155). Prayer, for example, is a practice that can transform our evaluations as we habitually entrust our concerns and needs to God. Lament does something similar but with respect to our sufferings as we entrust them to God. The final sets of practices (‘Being with Others’, Chapter 6) are designed to reorient how we relate to one another which takes its bearings from the command to love one another. Here Hector explores how we might do this through beneficence, looking for the image of God in one another, forgiveness, and activism for justice for the oppressed and wronged. Hector concludes his book with some eschatological reflections (‘The End’, Chapter 7) whereby he encourages us to think of eternal life as ‘abundant life in communion with God’ that is in continuity with our present longings for divine communion. Christianity as a Way of Life represents an important attempt to help Christians overcome the division between theory and practice, thinking and acting. Hector makes a powerful argument about what systematic theology is actually for and does so by relating familiar doctrines toward humanity's ultimate goal of sharing in the life of God. But his emphasis on practices also enables him to draw out the theological and practical importance of such commonly existential practices as singing, eating, imitation, and lament—topics that are not often treated in most systematic theologies. As a New Testament scholar, I appreciated Hector's frequent engagement with the biblical text and found him to draw upon, to give one example, Pauline concepts of participation in Christ, atonement, and enslavement to sin in ways that truly illuminated his theological claims. At times I could not always understand exactly what Hector thought of some of the difficult ontological claims of Paul (and the other biblical authors). He so effectively draws upon easy-to-understand analogies in order to illuminate the claims of the biblical texts, and at times I wondered if he was quickly attempting to translate them into another more easily palatable discourse.