Carson’s writing style is eminently readable, quite an anomaly in the field of theology.  Subtitled “Christianity Confronts Pluralism”, this work has proven to be a magisterial treatment of all theological issues concerning soteriological inclusivism, postmodern hermeneutics, and a wide range of related issues.

“The wide range of related issues” is the main reason the book is so thick.  Yet one is grateful to hear from such a thoroughly biblical thinker as Carson on the subjects he addresses.  For instance, while Mark Noll has addressed the anti-intellectualism among the evangelical rank and file, Carson is more alarmed by the abandonment of conservative theology by so-called evangelical intellectuals:

In other words, I worry less about the anti-intellectualism of the less educated sections of evangelicalism than I do about the biblical and theological illiteracy, or astonishing intellectual compromise, among its leading intellectuals. Evangelicalism has many sons and daughters whose primary vocation is the life of the mind: writers, thinkers, scholars, academicians, researchers — in field after field. They are not inferior to other thinkers in similar fields. But with rare exceptions they have not made the impact they might have because their grasp of biblical and theological truth has rarely extended much beyond Sunday school knowledge. In the main, they think like secularists and bless their insights with the odd text or biblical cliché. They cannot quite be accepted by the secular guilds (unless of course they keep their mouths shut completely about heir faith), and they cannot revolutionize intellectual life in the West because they do not think like consistent Christians who take on the status quo and seek to replace it with something better.

This raises serious questions for academics who seek to integrate their faith and discipline.  The Gagging of God does not answer all such questions, but on the issues of pluralism, postmodernism, and biblical interpretation, it is a splendid resource.

Reviewed by: Patrick Rist