Sola Scriptura Sacramentaque

For those Free church Protestants who have always placed a high value on Scripture, Meeks provides the encouragement to see Scripture as fundamentally joined to the sacraments as an indelible part of the church's life. His argument is informed and persuasive.

This book shows what would happen if Protestants were more true to their founding spirit, thinking word and sacrament together. Charles Meeks allows a constructive dialogue between Hilary and Jenson to emerge, uncovering the basis for a renewed sacramental grammar located in the body of Christ. He shows that Protestants may have something to gain by intensifying the identity between Christ and the church. In a creative reading of Jenson and Hilary together, he grounds sacramental thought in hermeneutics, and vice versa. Indeed, in taking the sacraments more seriously, one might become more profoundly Protestant.

Whatever else it is, theology, for Christians, is a conversation between friends about Jesus. The theologian's job is to welcome us into that long, lively back-and-forth, to give us a seat at the table, introducing us to friends of Jesus we've never met or not known well who in turn share stories about Jesus we've either never heard or always misunderstood. Meeks, thankfully, is an excellent host. And in the heat of the exchange he provokes, we (Protestants, in particular, but not only Protestants by any means) have the chance to learn how we've misjudged Jesus, mistaken his intentions, and neglected his gifts, largely because we've underestimated his strange delight in us and his devotion to our good.