Book Review: Retrieval for the Sake of Renewal: Timothy George as a Historical Theologian
I first met Chris hanna over lunch at Taziki’s upon first moving to Birmingham. I told him what I told many others before coming to Beeson Divinity School: “I want to be a Timothy George kind of Baptist.” Historically orthodox Christian, Protestant, Evangelical, and Baptist, in that order in terms of unity, and vice versa in terms of practice.
That was enough for him to excitedly share with me about his dissertation on Timothy George which had long sparked my interest. I don’t remember if he had announced his forthcoming book by then or not, but when it was announced I knew I needed to pre-order it. The desire to read Retrieval for the Sake of Renewal only intensified after taking Patristic History and Doctrine. Little did I know that Hanna would go on to explain to me why History and Doctrine is taught the way it is at Beeson in this fantastic book.
In six accessible chapters, Retrieval for the Sake of Renewal addresses the central question of Timothy George’s understanding of historical theology in terms of its significance (chapter 1), biographical context (chapter 2), conceptual formation (chapters 3–5), and definition (chapter 6).
Dr. George recalls the first time he met with Hanna to present the idea of the dissertation (127). George proposed that the research focus on the great scholars that influenced George, namely George Huntson Williams (1914–2000) who greatly affected George’s view on historical theology at Harvard Divinity School, David Steinmetz (1936–2015) whose pioneer work helped George edit The Reformation Commentary on Scripture, and Jaroslav Pelikan (1923–2006) who George said was “the best church historian America had ever produced.” Hanna did outstanding research and writing to highlight them and the impact they had on George’s life and methodology as a church historian. Additionally, Hanna’s research of these three men serves as a great study launchpad for any aspiring church historian.
The great advantage of writing a biographical work on a living subject is the often missed detail that can be documented. Hanna interweaves lively details seamlessly especially in the second chapter, though he does not go into too much length about George’s life. Details about George’s upbringing, his days in the public library, and lively debates with his Mormon uncle are all gems worth enjoying. Being mostly interview quotes, I can imagine it might not have been written with such animated detail otherwise.
Though Retrieval for the Sake of Renewal might read a bit more like a dissertation than I’d like, one cannot contend that it is not well-researched, well-documented, and clearly written. This book not only documents one of the greatest “remembrancers” of the last generation, but will hopefully inspire the next generations of the Lord’s “rememberancers” as David Dockery remarked. It has inspired this young aspiring historical theologian. Now, I am off to read the works of George, Williams, Steinmetz, and Pelikan that are included in the two appendices. Any aspiring historical theologian should take advantage of those two resources Hanna graciously provides.
