David Andrew Gilland, Law and Gospel in Emil Brunners Earlier Dialectical Theology (London: T&T Clark), 2014.

Appearing in T&T Clarks Studies in Systematic Theology series, Gillands book is his revised dissertation comprised of these chapters: Introduction 1. Critically Idealistic Dialectical Theology? 2. Law and Revelation 3. Theology's Two Tasks 4. Nature and Grace 5. Conclusion Bibliography Index After introducing the topic, and Brunner, Gilland launches straightway into a very thoughtful very carefully developed investigation of the concepts of law and Gospel in Brunners works prior to and including his famous debate with Karl Barth on the subject of natural revelation. Students of theology who are interested in neo-orthodoxy, Barth, Brunner, and/ or revelation would do well to lay hold of this volume and work through it. It is, it has to be said, quite demanding and those considering reading it need to know that right up front. But my how it rewards the patient. For example, did you know that Brunner wrote over 9000 pages in around 400 separate pieces, including 15 primary works, 20 larger writings and over 150 published essays, papers and talks (p. 11).

It is an intellectually challenging text which cannot be rushed through or skimmed. Readers cannot skip sections or hop chapters or they will miss the very tightly woven fabric which comprises the whole. That because Brunners propensity to wax philosophical in his theological presentations shines through on every sheet of this volume. Or, in other words, if one doesnt possess the patience to follow a carefully laid out argument based on carefully collected evidence and one does not possess an appreciation of Kantian philosophy one will not complete this book. And that would be quite a shame. I would recommend, then, that readers of this volume read it several times in the following way: First, read the conclusion of the book. Then, read the summary of each chapter found at the end of each chapter. And then, start at the beginning, at the table of contents, and read every page and every paragraph until the last page is reached. By doing so one will have some idea of what Gilland is doing and will have in hand a map, as it were, of how he will do it. To be sure, I realize that just above I urged readers not to skip chapters or segments and now Ive asked an unusual first reading of the book but I am confident that what actually results in a double reading of the summaries and conclusion will serve the reader well. Here, then, is a brief overview of what Gilland achieves: After introducing the topic, which is an authentically interesting one, G. asks whether Brunners theology is idealistic or dialectical or both. Next, having solved that problem, he discusses law and revelation in Brunners early work and then he investigates the tasks of theology as Brunner understood them: eristics and dogmatics. Finally, the issue of Nature and Grace is carefully gone through. Gilland does an authentically excellent job with his thesis and he develops a very, very complicated topic in a tremendously sensible way. At the beginning of his work Gilland suggests that he is hopeful that it will result in garnering Brunner a wider audience amongst modern theologians and students. I dont imagine that this is very likely for one specific reason: this book is by a specialist, clearly for specialists. Those interested in the work of Brunner will happily pick it up and make their way through it with a sense of wonder and pleasure. Those not familiar with Brunners work; or with his debates with Barth; or with the intricacies of neo-orthodox theology, will quickly lose their way: the terrain is too filled with crags and crevices into which the unwary will too easily fall. This wonderfully interesting book provides us with a fantastic survey of one aspect of Brunners thought. It is a microscope, examining a microscopic subject. The generation of wider interest in a field, any field, requires a telescopic view- a wide ranging glance across an entire spectrum rather than a focus on one small corner. Finally, then, this volume should be read by everyone. But it wont be. It deserves a wide audience, just as Brunner does; but it wont live to see it (as it were) any more than he did. Careful, learned, wise, philosophically bent tomes never receive the attention they deserve. Especially these days when people prefer simple and simple minded to careful and scholarly.

They prefer The Bible by the producer of reality TV shows to the actual Bible. And that is a shame, because by overlooking the Bible, and by overlooking learned volumes on biblical theology they, ultimately, learn nothing. This book teaches because it is learned. Those who read it will be learned too.

Jim West Quartz Hill School of Theology