June 17 1996

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A Passion for Truth: The Intellectual Coherence of Evangelicalism,by Alister McGrath, (InterVarsity, 256 pp., $19.99, hardcover). Reviewed by Roger E. Olson, professor of theology at Bethel College in Minnesota and editor of the "Christian Scholar's Review."

With "A Passion for Truth," British evangelical theologian Alister McGrath presents a promised and long-awaited statement of evangelicalism's intellectual credibility--indeed, its superiority over other Christian traditions. Markedly missing, however, is any triumphalistic note, such as one might have detected in McGrath's earlier "Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity" (IVP, 1995). In the present volume, the Oxford scholar presents evangelicalism as sufficiently mature and confident to learn from other contemporary schools of theology without compromising its distinctives. A Passion for Truth has its weaknesses, and critical readers will notice them without much effort. Nevertheless, it represents the strongest statement of evangelical intellectual vitality and competitiveness that has appeared in at least two decades. This is the book to give to nonevangelical, theologically minded friends, colleagues, and relatives. It will go far toward unburdening them of misconceptions about evangelicalism.

"A Passion for Truth" is not a work of systematic theology. McGrath calls it a "prolegomena for the foundation of an evangelical mind" and explains that its purpose is to explore evangelical Christianity's intellectual foundations with a view toward establishing its inner consistency while exposing the contradictions and vulnerabilities that beset rival traditions.

The first half of the book contains McGrath's vision of what constitutes "evangelicalism" and his explication ...