Pamela R. McCarroll,
Waiting at the Foot of the Cross: Toward a Theology of Hope for Today
Foreword by Douglas John Hall
Pickwick
Publications 2014
There has been,
unfortunately so, a way of doing Christian theology that is more about success,
glory and victory than of the cross. The theology of glory tradition, when
delinked from the theology of the cross, too often panders to a politics of
power—such a Eusebian like position genuflects to empires that embody and
incarnate various forms of ruthless and subtle domination and mastery of the
other (human and non-human).
There has
emerged, gratefully so, two significant Canadian philosophical theologians, in
the latter half of the 20th century, that have dared to differ with
the dominance of the triumphalist theology of glory ideology: George Grant and
Douglas John Hall. Both men have made it abundantly clear that the dishonest
tradition of the theology of glory distorts the depths of the suffering and
vulnerable Christ: the God-Man of the Cross. The sheer beauty and rigorous
probes of Pam McCarroll’s PHD thesis turned compelling read book is the way she
accurately and accessibly renders the thinking of George Grant and Douglas John
Hall transparent and window clear to the attentive reader---there is, in short,
nothing opaque about this translucent and limpid book.
Waiting at the Foot of the Cross is about both the inner discipline of
waiting and doing so at the foot of the cross—I never easy to attentively wait
in such a graphic and raw place of gruesome suffering. Waiting at the Foot of the Cross is deftly divided into eight
readable and incisive chapters: 1) Hope at the End of Hope, 2) Luther’s
Theology of the Cross and Theological Method, 3) Grant’s Method of the Cross,
4) Hall’s Method of the Cross, 5) Theology of the Cross and Contextuality, 6)
Grant on Mastery and the Possibility of Hope, 7) Hall on Mastery and the
Possibility of Hope and 8) Toward a Theology and Practice of Hope.
The
contribution and burnished gold nature of this book is the way Pam McCarroll
has brought together the wide ranging nature of both Grant and Hall’s way of
doing philosophy and theology---she has, wisely so, highlighted how both men are
fine pointers and guides into a notion of hope that wards off a Pollyanna
optimism and a form of realism that often turns cynical and skeptical. Grant
and Hall have certainly looked into the heart of darkness and their way of attentive
waiting to the message and meaning of the cross illuminates much in the
pseudo-light yet deepening darkness of modern liberal progressivism.
The fact that
Grant and Hall are Canadians makes this book a must read. Many Canadians are
dutiful colonials—they constantly look elsewhere for the important thinkers and
activists. The USA and England are often seen as the great and good places,
polaris stars of sorts that guide woe begotten and disoriented Canadians. The fact that George Grant and Douglas John
Hall emerge from within the Canadian context speaks much about the richness and
depth of the Canadian philosophical and theological tradition, a prophetic and
countercultural tradition in many ways.
The “Foreword”
by Douglas John Hall is worth many an ample reread. Hall makes clear that, in
many ways, Grant was his teacher and guide, and the coup de foudre theology of Hall is a mature unpacking of the
philosophical coup de grace of
Grant’s undressing of liberalism in all its various forms and guises, chameleon
like changes of colour to suit situation and context.
Waiting at the Foot of the Cross is an imperative read and should be on the bookshelves of all
those interested and committed to the best of theology in its most mature form.
Pam McCarroll should be lauded for her committed sleuth work to unearthing the
mother lode of thought of Grant and Hall, enucleating their affinities and
articulating their relevance for us in these early decades of the 21st
century—do read and inwardly digest this clear diamond of a book—the faith
journey cannot but be enriched and deepened by the path provided.
Ron Dart
