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East, Brad. The Church: A Guide to the People of God. Christian Essentials. Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2024. xxii+198 pp.; Hb.; $18.99. Link to Lexham Press
This volume in Lexham’s Christian Essentials series focuses on the nature of the Church. Brad East is associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University. He has previously published The Doctrine of Scripture (Cascade, 2021), The Church’s Book: Theology of Scripture in Ecclesial Context (Eerdmans, 2022), and Letters to a Future Saint: Foundations of Faith for the Spiritually Hungry (Eerdmans, 2024).
Lexham’s Christian Essentials series offers short meditations on Christian doctrine to open up the meaning of the foundations of Christian faith. Brad East’s book on the Church has twelve chapters intended to be read as devotional exercises. Chapters include a series of prayers and other liturgical elements, which make the book useful for personal spiritual reading or part of a small group Bible study. Between each chapter is a short prayer adapted from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. East intends his book to “feel at once biblical and theological, Jewish and catholic, evangelical and ecumenical, ancient and contemporary” (17).
Chapters 1-2 serve as an introduction to the book. First, the “mystery of the church” invites readers to consider the miracle and mystery of the church. In this first chapter, East is clear that the church is the Bride of Christ. Citing Jonathan Edwards, God created the world “to provide a spouse for his Son Jesus Christ, [who] might enjoy him and on whom he might pour forth his love.” He states, “This is a book about the bride and body of Christ, the blessed mother of all God’s children” (14). “I will refer to the bride of Immanuel as ‘Israel-Church.’ The awkwardness is intentional: it forces us to come to grips with the challenge of the simultaneous unity and duality of God’s people, without letting either crowd out the other” (93).
Chapters 3-10 trace the idea of church throughout the Bible. East picks up on the theme of election from the story of Abraham, redemption from the story of the Exodus, holiness from the Jewish Law, leadership from Samuel and Kings, the incarnation from the Gospels, and mission from the book of Acts.
Chapter 11 is different. Here, East makes twelve theological statements about the church. The first several statements clearly state that Christ is only found in the church and salvation is only in Christ. The church’s apostolic mission is to faithfully transmit the gospel and teach Christians the “doctrines and duties of discipleship” (139). Following John Calvin, East says, “The mission of the church is to proclaim the gospel in word and sacrament” (141). These statements made a good outline for another book.
Conclusion. Setting aside art pages, endnotes, works cited, and indices, the book’s body is only about 120 pages. Like all the Christian Essential series, it is an attractive 5×7 hardback. The book is well-written and ought to appeal to a church small groups and individuals who want to think more deeply about the Church and their role in it.
NB: I appreciate Lexham Press’s generous offer of a review copy of this book, but this did not influence my thoughts about the work.
Reviews of other volumes in this series:
English (US) · 