Reenchanting Humanity: A Theology of Mankind by Owen Strachan. Ross-shire, UK: Mentor, 2019. 418 pp. $39.99.
Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian Theology and Director for the Center for Public Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has provided the conservative evangelical church an important, up-to-date conversation on the doctrine of anthropology. Reenchanting Humanity is well-written and deals with some of the most pressing anthropological issues of our day. Strachan examines his subject around ten key terms, divided into nine chapters—Image, Depravity, Work, Sexuality, Race and Ethnicity (one chap.), Technology, Justice, Contingency, and Christ. He writes from a Calvinist viewpoint, arguing for the total depravity of humanity, the limited nature of the atonement, and for the eternal security and perseverance of the believer. “Sin reaches into every aspect of the human person…(although) we are not as bad as we could be” (86). “We see a demonstration of what God will do to the ungodly whose sins were not covered by the blood of the Son of God. Christ has not made atonement for the vessels of wrath” (307–8). “No believer will fall away from the Lord…the believer—anchored by the grace of God—must take care to ‘remain’ in Christ, and thereby yield ‘much fruit’” (376).
The foil for much of Strachan’s argument is the “antiwisdom” of “neopaganism” (4, 44, etc.). It is this serpentine “antiwisdom” (54, etc.) that causes humanity, originally made in the imago dei discussed in fine detail in chapter one, to reject the divine path set forth and plunge itself onto its sinful pathway. Strachan takes a literal approach to creation in six days, the historicity of Adam and of the Fall, discussing the creation of humanity in God’s likeness with all that it may entail, treating the substantive, the relational and the representative views (26–27), opting for the image “as an ontological reality that leads to function” (29). The second chapter discusses depravity in careful detail, recognizing that the “Christian vision of humanity is exalted…though in Adam we have lost sight of this precious truth” (53). Adam’s sin became the sin of all humanity (84). To “reenchant humanity,… we must know that from every angle—intellectual, ethical, personal, and otherwise—mankind is straining to shut its eyes to the realities of indwelling sin” (93). In chapter three, Strachan talks about our vocation and avocation as humans. God wants us to be neither workaholics nor consumed with trivialities. Work is important but so is rest. For the believer, all of life is doxological in its goal.
Strachan’s fourth chapter on sexuality, his longest chapter, covers the gamut of issues facing the Church today from male headship and women’s functional subordination, to gender dysphoria and the significant challenge of rising gender debates, concluding with a discussion on homosexuality. Engaging these categories, Strachan anchors his argument to the text of the Scripture in a careful, yet winsome way. As a former president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, it comes as no surprise that he holds a very conservative understanding of manhood and womanhood, e.g., the Greek term κεφαλή signifies authority rather than source (150). Many contemporary evangelicals will be offended by Strachan’s reiteration of historic Christian views, yet he writes with a light tone so as to give hard truth fresh insight.
Strachan’s fifth chapter “Race and Ethnicity” also offers new and contemporary perspectives on issues currently agitating the church. He gives no quarter to the racist ideology found in much of American history, yet he tries to press through the past to offer biblical help to find biblical understanding. He urges repentance where necessary or reentrenchment where appropriate. Humans are one “race,” “the human race is unitary” (219) and “the Bible begins with the oneness of humanity” (207). The Bible ends (Rev 5) with a discussion of humanity’s oneness in Christ (208ff). What lies between the early pages of Genesis and the promise of reunification in Christ in Revelation is the record of human sinfulness that uses ethnic diversities to divide the humanity that God has created.
Strachan has an interesting chapter on technology, especially given our technologically advanced and driven world. God is the God who gives humanity the capacity to produce technological advance because God himself, starting with creation, has shown himself to be technologically like no other. As an example, Strachan gives a scientific discussion of the human eye and the explanation of just how it is that humanity can “see.” God is the author, the originator, and the inspiration of and for technology. So, humanity’s capacity to create and use technology comes from God, yet sin corrupts technological advance (e.g., abortion). In critiquing this corruption, Strachan refutes the posthumanism of the 1960s and 1970s that does not see humans as a special creation of God and transhumanism which strives for immortality through technology (271ff).
The next chapters discuss justice and contingency. Justice is a pressing topic for today as the world is confused about what it is and how to attain it. Only in Jesus and his crucifixion can justice be seen and accomplished. In the chapter on contingency, Strachan reminds the reader that humanity with all of its advances, is now and always shall be, contingent beings, dependent upon the God who created. This can be seen clearly in the example of Nebuchadnezzar, who though he thought he had reached the pinnacle of greatness, was laid low by God Almighty (315ff).
The apex of the book is “Christ,” the final chapter, who is rightly seen as the apex of humanity. The first Adam sinned, plunging humanity into sin, but the second Adam was impeccable and shows humanity what it is meant to be. Strachan’s book is a refreshing, insightful, Scripturally-robust, and contemporary discussion. It deserves a wide read and it is to be hoped that Reenchanting Humanity will help the church regain a vision for what God, through his Word, intends humans to become, that is, Reentrenching Humanity.
