The spring issue of the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology is out. Kyle and I have 
reviews in it, but I guarantee neither of us said anything remotely as cheeky as Oliver O’Donovan in his review of John Milbank’s latest book, The Future of Love. Ouch!
Given how much Milbank’s thought revolves around the themes of beauty, art, and the poetic work of thought, it is strange that he should constantly express himself in prose that is ill-formed, congested, and inexpressive, giving the appearance of being simply spilled onto the page. `One should exhibit and offer a ruin’, he tells us, justifying the incomplete character of his thought. As those who live in Scotland have reason to know, ruins may be beautiful; Milbank’s, most of the time, are not (p. 107).
Other reviews of note are D. Stephen Long’s devastating review of Jay Richards Money, Greed, and God, Kim Fabricius’ punchy review of Michael Pasquarello’s We Speak Because We Were First Spoken, and I. Howard Marshall’s review of a new introduction to the New Testament.
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Hear, hear, Kyle
Sounds like a lot self-congratulatory graby-grab going on in this neck of the woods. Book reviews = the kiddy table. That place at the party where the food is cut up nice and neat and where the kiddos sit around and giggle and the adults peek over every once in a while to make sure they’re behaving.
I hope that “peter van heitigen” isn’t the pseudonym for John Milbank.
Uh oh, the kiddos are starting to bicker and some even have spilt their tang juice – wah wah.
Peter, this is the kind of nasty blogging we have no interest in here. It serves no one, and degrades the medium. Happy to have you around, but not if this is characterstic of your comments.
Any table including a theologian is automatically the kiddie table in my book.
The kiddie table is always more fun . . . I thought the kingdom was made up of kids anyways ;-) .
Looks like the kids had to call in mother kent to protect them. poor little book reviewing bambi boys cant handle Milbank. Read some and let’s get into a proper exchange rather than hiding behind some other dude’s thoughts about him.
Ok, please unveil yourself. There is no way you are an actual human being…who are you? Seriously. No one is that pompous and elitist. Justin? Don? Francesca?
I smiled at ‘mother Kent’, I chuckled at ‘bambi boys’ – but calling Oliver O’Donovan a ‘dude’? You just crossed the line van Heitigen.
But I still like you because you’re sassy and possibly Dutch.
Quote: Other reviews of note are D. Stephen Long’s devastating review of Jay Richards Money, Greed, and God
Me: I just read through Long’s review. Now I have NOT read through Richard’s book and I do NOT have an axe to grind in this debate (though I am intersted in it). But I am not sure why Long’s review is described as devastating. Without having read Richard’s book I can think of a few different ways that he could respond to Long’s criticisms that seem initially plausible. Perhaps you could clarify the above remark for me?
Thank you,
David