John Milbank’s Theology of the Gift and Calvin’s Theology of Grace: A Critical Comparison
By J. Todd Billings Modern Theology 21:1 January 2005 For about a decade, John Milbank has been developing a trinitarian theology of grace using the language of “gift” and “gift-giving”. In the first part of this essay, I examine a series of his early articles which articulate his gift theology, as well as his account of opposing viewpoints.2 In these early works, the Reformed tradition as such is never referred to, but Reformation thinking in general is an invisible opponent which exemplifies a “donative” or “unilateral” view of grace. Milbank criticizes doctrines in which grace is “passively” received, along with its corollary in Anders Nygren’s “unilateral” portrait of agape.3 After presenting Milbank’s early gift theology, I give a possible response in terms of Calvin’s theology of grace. The second part of this essay continues the same task with Milbank’s more recent book, Being Reconciled, published as the first in a series of books...