Although God does reveal himself in history, this is not the sole domain of revelation. He reveals himself also “in the things that have been made.” God’s law reveals his character. These dimensions of revelation point to a need to synthesize the ways God reveals himself—historical, natural, and written—and to order that revelation in a manner conducive to the knowledge of God.

Note: McDermott’s central claim is surely right. In everything and in every place, God is providentially at work to effect redemption. If engaging with his work can foster this awareness in us as readers, then that is precisely a “dimensional difference” that will be all to the good, raising to greater consciousness the wonder and beauty of God’s work.

In a celebrated essay, philosopher Robert Sokolowski observes that a “dimensional difference” can arise from Christian theological reflection. Such an alteration is “a new way of taking things” and it “introduces a new way in which the world as a whole, and everything in the world, can be interpreted.” Sokolowski’s topic was the doctrine of creation, but the revolution in personal understanding that he described may be a helpful analogy for appreciating the significance of Gerald R. McDermott’s newest book, A New History of Redemption: the Work of Jesus the Messiah through the Millennia.

The book’s title alerts the reader to three things central to McDermott’s project. The first is that this is a capacious account of the work of redemption through time. Second, the portrait he sketches is arranged not biblically or topically, but historically. The third feature is that this is not just a history of redemption, but a new history of redemption. McDermott is reprising an unfinished project commenced by Jonathan Edwards that attempted to trace the work of redemption throughout history.

McDermott’s central premise is that God is best understood when known through the chronological unfolding of his acts in history. The broad contours of the book move from prehistory—the covenant of Redemption—through the earliest stages of created history and on to the first chapters of human existence in the narratives of Genesis. From this point, McDermott sketches the early work of redemption in history, narrating the fall, the creation of the nations, the call of Abraham, the formation of the people of Israel, and their eventual Exodus and pilgrimage to the promised land. After recounting the rest of Israelite history, McDermott depicts the arrival of the Messiah, his life and passion, and the formation of the church. This section is by far the longest and consists of nineteen chapters, from the Resurrection to the present day. It addresses topics including Christ’s ascension and the church’s mission to the Gentile, the early monastic movement, the iconoclast/iconodule controversy and the rise of Islam, the Oxford Movement, and much more. Woven throughout the account is ample evidence of McDermott’s own considerable and wide-ranging expertise. The reader encounters a good deal on the place of Israel within God’s work, as well as the significance of other religions.

Much of the volume is delightful. McDermott focuses intently on how history manifests the beauty of God. He emphasizes the value of liturgy and sacramentality in worship, both historic and contemporary. Swaths of the prose are deeply fascinating and benefit from a full career’s worth of reflection and maturity. The accounts of Hellenistic philosophy, for instance, are particularly helpful and accurate. McDermott usefully notes the role of the logos in enlightening natural human understanding, and his descriptions of world religions and their theological significance are well-drawn and far from oversimplified. McDermott has produced a highly readable, warm, and encouraging account taking in both biblical and world history. The book is well written, even elegant in its prose, gently drawing the reader along. It is enormously ambitious, of course, but in many ways, this is a strength. 

Some of the strengths come to the fore in McDermott’s carefully depicted accounts of biblical typology. Yet these form only a part of the vast endeavor. Its scale inevitably involves certain limitations. Perhaps most obviously, any task of this magnitude—a theological accounting of all of history—will probably include not only robust conclusions solidly drawn, but also a range of inferences, methods, or arguments with which readers may disagree. At times, the volume’s approach is delightfully unfashionable, a product, no doubt, of a seasoned scholar comfortably clear about his convictions. At others, however, he advances potentially controversial arguments with greater confidence than some will find warranted.

Among the more intriguing comments is one found at the outset of McDermott’s work. He writes that “because God is a God of history—revealing himself not in one blinding flash but successively through history—history must be the best way to talk about God and the world.” Two points invite comment. 

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