EZEKIEL,by Robert W.Jenson.Grand Rapids:Brazos, 2009. Pp. 374. $32.99 (cloth).
For those used to working with the stan-dard critical commentaries of the past century,Robert Jenson’s new volume on Ezekiel will beboth surprising and familiar. While Jensondeals with many of the issues addressed in astandard critical commentary (historical con-text, textual criticism, and genre analysis), histask is primarily theological. In accordancewith the series’ goals, Jenson attempts to readEzekiel using a “Nicene theory” (25). A “Ni-cene theory” amounts to discerning “a ‘christ-ological plain sense’” (24), and taking seriouslythe church’s claims that the God present in theOld Testament is a Trinitarian God. A funda-mental conviction shared by the authors in thisseries, therefore, is that “dogma clarifies ratherthan obscures” (11).
Those familiar with the history of interpre-tation may recognize the ideological tug-of-war in which the aforementioned statementopenly engages. This commentary series, atleast according to the series general editor, R.R. Reno, represents an attempt to relocate thelocus of interpretive authority away from bib-lical scholarship and back to Christian com-m u n i t i e s : “ T h e B r a z o s T h e o l o g i c a lCommentary on the Bible advances upon theassumption that the Nicene tradition, in all itsdiversity and controversy, provides the properbasis for the interpretation of the Bible asChristian Scripture” (12; emphasis mine). Inan interesting use of bellic imagery, Reno com-pares Christian theology to war, noting that,“war is too important to leave to the generals”(12). The generals, apparently, are biblicalscholars. Thankfully, Jenson’s commentary
does not appear to share such a polemical (andfrankly, short-sighted) view on the relation-ship between biblical criticism and theologicalinterpretation, a fact attested to by the manyreferences Jenson makes to biblical scholars(esp. W. Eichrodt, M. Greenberg, G. von Rad,C. Westermann, W. Zimmerli, etc.). Appar-ently, the “generals” are not so useless toChristian theology after all!
One of the most powerful trajectories inJenson’s commentary is his use of law and gos-pel as an interpretive framework. Law and gos-pel, for Jenson, are not just hermeneuticalstrategies or lenses, but are manifestations of“the Lord’s internal conflict” (188). For exam-ple, in his reflections on Ezek 22:30, a verse inwhich God seeks someone to “stand in thebreach,” Jenson notes that “we find the Lordon both sides of Jerusalem’s walls: assaultingthe city for its evils and seeking someone tofend off his own attack” (188). God is hopingfor “a savior from his own wrath” (188). Un-fortunately, however, Jenson’s stunning use ofdialectical hermeneutics ceases when he dealswith God’s relationship to the poor and therich. Following a trend in contemporary theol-ogy, Jenson asserts (albeit subtly and qualifi-edly) that God “has a preferential option forthe poor” (187, 225). I would want to ask Jen-son why God can be on both sides of Jerusa-lem’s walls and not on both sides of theeconomic divide (rich/poor). Why must dia-lectic stop here?
Another consistent thread running throughJenson’s commentary is his pervasive polemicagainst the “omni-God” of Western Christiantheology (e.g., God is omniscient, omnipotent,etc.). He notes that God is deeply and emotion-
ally involved in the history of God’s people (see61, 63, 201) because it is God’s own history (72,188, 190, 287; see especially his comments on30:20–26). Jenson notes further that “the wordof God that determines history is itself fully in-volved amid the clashing and joining bodiesthat make history….God does not rule onlyfrom without the rough and tumble of historybut also from within it” (49). The EzekelianGod, in other words, bursts the philosophicalassumptions of much of Western Christianity.While commenting on the category of electionin Ezek 20:1–31, he writes, “We are not to thinkof a God sitting before and above all time, sort-ing fates….The church’s Christology, in whichthe temporal person of Christ is eternal God,suggests a way to a different construal: the dayof encountering Jesus is the moment of divinedecision” (156). Jenson’s comments repre-sent, to my mind, the best of what the Brazosseries can offer, namely, critical reflection onhow textual claims can positively interact withdogmatic formulations. On this point, Jensonbeautifully demonstrates that dogma can infact clarify Scripture—though, I would add,that is not always the case.
Although writing as a Protestant theologianto a Christian audience, Jenson is remarkablysensitive to Jewish interpreters. Jenson fre-quently quotes Targumic literature related toEzekiel (e.g., 98, 113, 171, 270, 282), Rashi(e.g., 24, 28, 211, 266), and contemporary Jew-ish interpreters like Jon Levenson (158, 272).While I cannot speak for Jenson, I suspect thatthis decision to include significant numbers ofJewish sources was purposeful, and reflects hisbelief (articulated provocatively in a differentwork: “Toward a Christian Theology of Juda-ism,” in Jews and Christians, ed. C. E. Braatenand R. W. Jenson, 1–13) that Christ is not fullypresent in the world without the presence ofboth the synagogue and the church. While Iam not certain that Jewish readers would ap-preciate his Trinitarian take on Rashi (306),his sensitivity to Jewish interpretation is com-mendable.
The result of Jenson’s study is a creativeand rich Christian reading of Ezekiel that ex-emplifies the theological aims of the Brazoscommentary series. Jenson’s work should finda home on the desk of any pastor, minister, orlay person who is interested in serious theo-logical engagement with Ezekiel. While thefiner points related to history, textual criti-cism, and cultural background must be soughtelsewhere, Jenson’s work brings clarity to thisoften confusing and under-preached pro-phetic book.
Michael Jay ChanEmory UniversityAtlanta, Georgia
THE WORD OF LIFE: A THEOLOGYOF JOHN’S GOSPEL, by Craig R. Koes-ter. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008. Pp. 245.$21.00 (paper).
The introductory chapter sets the contextin which the Gospel of John is to be heard andread today. Writers on the Gospel have oftenfocused on the literary complexity and not em-phasized its theological integrity in presentingthe story of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.In contrast, Koester’s response states that “thepresent text coheres very well, and we will in-terpret the Gospel in its present form” (3).
This chapter also includes a comprehensivesurvey of the history of theological questionsthat have faced the interpretation of the Gospelfrom the early church to the present. This sur-vey provides a way forward from which Koes-ter will develop his response to a theology ofJohn’s Gospel in the following chapters: God;The World and Its People; Jesus; Crucifixionand Resurrection; The Spirit; Faith, Presentand Future; Discipleship in Community andWorld.
At the outset, Koester identifies theologicalpresuppositions that will guide this volume.From the opening prologue of the Gospel, the
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Word (logos) is the means of engagement andis God’s act of communication to make the un-known God known (John 1:18). The evangelistassumes that God is known through Israel’sScriptures and that this communication takesplace through Jesus of Nazareth. This com-munication continues through the Holy Spiritafter Jesus’ earthly ministry has ended:“The Spirit does not bring new revelationbut conveys the meaning of what God revealedthrough the life, death, and resurrection of Je-sus” (30).
This order serves well the explication of atheology of the Gospel, and moves in a Trini-tarian progression covering the central themesand their interrelatedness. Each chapter iscomprehensive, drawing upon the applicablebiblical texts and the author’s careful exegeti-cal and interpretive work. Attention and en-gagement with the scholarly conversation isalways present, either in the text itself or in thecarefully annotated references to articles andsecondary literature in the endnotes.
Within the New Testament, John’s Gospelhas long been recognized for its uniqueness,and because of this the Gospel has always beenan interpretive challenge. The early churchgave it the symbol of the eagle among the gos-pels; it is a gospel that soars to the loftiestheights among the Canonical Gospels. The in-terpretive challenge has been to interpret howits talons reach into the earthly story of Jesusof Nazareth. Koester’s chapter on Jesus is agem, drawing upon all the various identitiesthroughout the Gospel that present the personand work of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.
The chapter on “The World and Its People,”centered between the chapters on “God” and“Jesus,” begins with the theme of life, stated asthe purpose of the Gospel (John 20:31). Thechapter identifies problems that threaten life:suffering and death, sin, evil. Each of thesethemes takes the reader into the texts of theGospel set in “the world” that God loves and forwhich God “gives his Son for the world that re-jects him” (81).
The chapter on “The Spirit” serves as thelink between the chapters on “Crucifixion andResurrection” and “Faith, Present and Fu-ture,” that lead into the theme of “Discipleshipin Community and World.” Koester unfoldsthe relationship between these themes, devel-oping how they complement one another. Thetheological integrity of the Gospel becomesevident in the ongoing work of the Spirit thatmakes Jesus known, that is the source of faithand life, and that is the abiding presence andfuture hope of discipleship and Christian com-munity in a pluralistic world.
The breadth of coverage in each of thesechapters is reflective of the author’s commit-ment to the teaching and proclamation ofJohn’s Gospel. The volume is written for boththe teaching ministry of the academic class-room and the proclamation and teaching min-istry within the Christian community. Thisvolume represents the maturity of one who hasgiven his life of study to a faithful exegesis, in-terpretation, and proclamation of the Gospel.In this volume, Koester is attentive throughoutto the theological intention and purpose of theevangelist: “that you may believe that Jesus isthe Messiah, the Son of God, and that believingyou may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
As Koester moves through each chapter, heinvites the reader to see the unitary way inwhich a theology of John’s Gospel unfolds in amajestic and artistic way. The interrelatednessof the chapters is seen in references to otherchapters and to where a theme might be cov-ered in a more comprehensive way. A subjectindex that holds this cross-referencing to-gether concludes the volume, but one doesmiss a comprehensive verse index that wouldidentify the exegetical and interpretive workon specific verses throughout the volume.
In our pluralistic world of the twenty-firstcentury, how can the particularity of John’swords of Jesus, “I am the way, and the truth,and the life” (John 14:6), enter into a world thatthe Gospel proclaims is the object of God’slove? The interpretive perspective that Koester
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brings to this question is an eloquent word oflife for the witness of the Christian communityand life in the world:
John can speak to the pluralistic world inwhich his readers live because he hassomething particular to offer. To make themessage less particular would mean mak-ing the love of God less radical, since theevangelist understands that divine love isdefinitively conveyed through the cruci-fied and risen Messiah. At the same time,John understands that God’s love is givenin this particular way for the sake of theworld (3:16). (214).
Koester’s writing represents a significantpublication and is a unique and comprehen-sive contribution to the Gospel of John for ourtime. This volume will also provide an excel-lent resource for years to come. His contribu-tion will lead readers of the Gospel into a fullerunderstanding of the inspiration and literarygenius of the evangelist, who has fashioned aGospel that presents the story of Jesus of Naz-areth in an engaging way. Koester brings theGospel of John into our world in a way that isfaithful to the evangelist’s intention and pur-pose and leads the reader into a faithful en-counter of the Gospel in our world.
Paul S. BergeLuther SeminarySaint Paul, Minnesota
THE PASTORAL EPISTLES WITHPHILEMON & JUDE,by Risto Saarinen.Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2008. Pp. 272. $29.99(cloth).
The Brazos Theological Commentary onthe Bible is a grand experiment in theologicalhermeneutics. A series of commentaries writ-ten by theologians rather than biblical schol-ars, it “advances upon the assumption that theNicene tradition, in all its diversity and contro-versy, provides the proper basis for the inter-pretation of the Bible as Christian Scripture”
(11). All authors in the series assume, in oneway or another, that doctrine is a clarifyingagent that amplifies the living voice of Scrip-ture.
Risto Saarinen’s contribution is salutary.He makes two opening moves in his reading ofthese texts that, like the opening moves in achess match, set the board for how his theo-logical commentary will play out. The firstmove is a standard opening. He does not “setany hermeneutical method or agenda in ad-vance, but simply expound[s] the text with thehelp of available means” (225). Saarinen termsthis form of close reading “catch-as-catch-can.” Instead of reading the text while inten-tionally employing certain hermeneuticalconstructs, Saarinen takes a grammatical-linguistic approach. He identifies certain sub-ject and predicate pairings, and elucidatesthem. This grammatical approach allowsSaarinen to identify certain subjects (akin todoctrines) and the predicates that describe thesubject. The predicate in each case has a medi-ating role, navigating as it does the distance be-tween the subject under consideration and theconceptual world of the reader.
Saarinen’s commentary is peppered withillustrations of this approach. For example, inhis commentary on 1 Tim 1:8–11, Saarinentakes as the “subject” the uses of the law (ususlegis). The “predicates” that mediate this doc-trinal category or “subject” (what might alsobe called a locus or topos) include the distinc-tion between law and gospel, close readings ofeach individual sentence in the section underconsideration, reading of the text in compari-son with other uses of the law in Romansand Galatians, as well as contextual issuesthat differentiate the community that isreading 1 Timothy from other communitiesreading Paul’s reflections on the uses of thelaw. All of these considerations lead Saarinento argue that, in light of 1 Tim 1:8–11, “the Lu-theran distinction between law and gospelshould not be interpreted in terms of radicalseparation” (38). Instead, 1 Tim 1:8 and other
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texts make room for a positive understandingof “good law,” and an understanding of thegospel that encompasses something like thenotion of “healthy” or “sound” doctrine, thatis, doctrine that issues in right, moral conductrather than a set of verbal sentences per se.
Saarinen’s commentary is a lively interplayof theological reflection and biblical exege-sis. He may be reading the Pastoral Epistles“catch-as-catch-can”—but he catches a lot,and he is clearly going somewhere as he movesalong. Saarinen knows his endgame strategy aswell as his opening gambits.
The endgame, in this case, involves a fewtheoretical novelties. These are summarized inthree important appendixes, which readerswould do well to read first before reading thecommentary itself. Saarinen continually refersto these appendixes in the course of writing hiscommentary. Although the book is verse byverse commentary on 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus,Jude, and Philemon, Saarinen cannot help butdiscern certain leitmotifs that course through-out these epistles.
Appendix A offers reflections on the “mod-eration of emotion.” This is, essentially, a mid-dle way between excessive radicalism and lazyaccommodation. We are called neither toeradicate emotions nor to completely give in tothem. In the appendix, Saarinen traces the de-velopment of the term metriopatheia in philo-sophical and Christian tradition, and suggeststhat the Pastoral Epistles encourage the use ofright judgment in order to moderate the emo-tions. Self-control, which might also be termed“gentleness,” is, in the Pastoral Epistles, notthe complete eradication of emotion (contraryto much of monastic and patristic tradition),but rather the moderation of emotion and the“proper display of positive emotions” (241).
Appendix B fascinates, for it examines thetheme of “mental disorders.” Again, Saarinentraces the development of the concepts inphilosophical tradition, this time in order toshow that Paul is not simply being argumenta-tive or polemical in these epistles. Instead, “he
is presenting a portrayal of healthy and sickminds” (243). His presentation of this topic iscompelling, especially because it encouragesreaders to think of mental disorders from adoctrinal, and not simply a psychological,point of view. Given the close connection be-tween extreme doctrines and mental disorderin the modern world, Saarinen’s reflections onthe topic are worthy of sustained attention.
For those hoping to read more of Saarinenon giving and the gift, Appendix C does notdisappoint. Saarinen reads these epistles inlight of contemporary reflection (his and oth-ers) on theories of inalienable and alienablegifts, and the phenomenology of giving. Thecommentary may whet readers’ appetites forfurther reading in contemporary phenome-nology and theology of the gift.
Finally, since many preachers and teachersare looking for exemplary expositions of “diffi-cult” texts in the Scriptures, it is worth notingthat Saarinen offers one of the most exemplaryreadings of 1 Tim 2:8–15 (How Men andWomen Should Behave) this reviewer has everread.
THE KINGS AND THEIR GODS: THEPATHOLOGY OF POWER, by DanielBerrigan. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.Pp. 202. $20.00 (paper).
Father Daniel Berrigan has provided uswith a brilliantly wrought midrash on thebooks of Kings. Though critical, Berrigan’swork here is not damning, but is a highly read-able, winsome, and accessible pastoral offer-ing. It provides a way for important, serious,and overdue rethinking of the meaning of “re-ligious history” in the Old Testament. This elo-quent, yet unconventional book breaks all therules of a traditional biblical commentary.There is no eager whitewash of kingly sins,
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past or present. On the contrary, Berrigan re-tells the story of the “kings” in a way that hitsdisturbingly close to home. Saul, David, Solo-mon—none are spared by Berrigan’s uncom-promising pen. His inquisition exempts nonefrom interrogation—prophet, priest, king, orcitizen. Throughout this imaginative, cholericexploration, Berrigan does not exonerate pastor present leaders, nor offer an apologia forempire, but provides the reader with a valuableglimpse at the under-told story of the “kings,”and subsequently gives new meaning to the“American Way.”
Berrigan sets the stage for his book by call-ing into question the celebration of the booksof Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Maccabees as“religious” or “biblical” or “divinely inspired”history. The opening paragraphs of his bookpen a resounding no to this seemingly oxymo-ronic tradition:
A question has lingered for centuries.What instruction from Yahweh may beconveyed in these accounts, steeped asthey are in mayhem, slaughter, betrayal,intrigue, and bravado; rife as they are withfractious sons and foolish fathers, broth-ers betraying and killing brothers, womendeprived of status as dignity, predatoryenmities periodically erupting, and warsbreeding wars that breed wars? “Religioushistory,” this brimstone brew? (1)
Berrigan’s work has a tripartite manifesta-tion: commentary on Kings, apt prose and po-etry, and prophecy about the “AmericanEmpire.” He spells out his message loud andclear: the lines between past and present arecloser than we would like to think. The reader,moreover, begins to question whether or notsuch lines are mere fiction in the first place. Inthe initial pages, he invites the reader to con-nect present “kings” and empire with thewords spoken by prophets past:
Let us pause in wonderment as the kingscontrive an image of their god. They makeof the deity a king of glorified ventrilo-quist’s dummy, placing in his mouth
words by turns cunning, ferocious,calamitous, and vengeful, words that pro-ceed from the darkness of their ownhearts. (4)
His own words, not unlike those of theprophets, reach across the centuries to help usto connect past and present reality. Berrigan’sinterpretation is frighteningly real, disturb-ingly true. Most readers will find this encoun-ter too close for comfort, yet that distanceechoes the reception of the prophet in his owntime by his own contemporaries. Therefore,Berrigan begins his commentary with a des-perate, guiding prayer:
Grant us knowledge of our crimes. Helpus take our true bearing in the world, toconfess how rarely, in public life and pri-vate, in religion and statecraft, in templeand marketplace and home—how rarelyauthority is joined with virtue. Grant usknowledge of our plight, that we may cryout for relief, and be drawn forth. (5)
Through this masterfully written explora-tion of Kings, Berrigan places both past andpresent under a scrutinizing, fiery lens. Thereader finds immediately that there is no dis-tant, disconnected autopsy on a dead Scrip-ture, but rather a conversation with living,breathing word. Through an investigation ofthe Deuteronomistic history and the biblical“kings” of yore, we find ourselves engrossed ina world not much different from our own. ForBerrigan, we are all held accountable for to-day’s “kings”—our intrepid leaders. Theblood on our leaders’ hands is also on ours.Ours is a tradition of inherited violence: a leg-acy of blood. Passivity is not an option—norhas it ever been; never before has this beenmanifested so clearly in writing. This “relig-ious history” is an ever-percolating, brimstonebrew—it is our past, present, and future.
Though Berrigan’s book is a highly read-able glimpse at “religious history,” it is by nomeans an easy one. If you’ve read Berrigan be-fore, you know what to expect. Read it withScripture. Read it with a newspaper. Read it
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with a dictionary. Though Berrigan’s “shameon you” rhetoric is at times laid on a little thick,it is refreshingly different from the apologetictendencies of traditional biblical commentar-ies. Prepare to be humbled, and to do some im-portant and serious rethinking of the meaningof “religious history.” Once you do, you’llcome to realize how far from mere “history”these books are and how close past and presentcan be.
Berrigan’s poetry is knotty and at times dif-ficult to decipher, but his message is clear frombeginning to end: our world is not unlike thatof yesteryear, our leaders are not unlike thebiblical kings of yore, and we, not unlike thecommunities in the books of Kings, are in seri-ous trouble with God and neighbor alike.Whether we like it or not, Berrigan’s penspeaks of terrible things. And we, like the pro-phet’s contemporaries, are likely not preparedfor this word. But ready or not, it comes, andthrough it, the grace of God.
Daniel J. StarkLuther SeminarySaint Paul, Minnesota
THE CHILD IN THE BIBLE, edited byMarcia Bunge. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,2009. Pp. 493. $30.00 (paper).
References to children occur all through thepages of the Bible. Sometimes these childrenhold prominent places in plot and metaphor,but just as often, children in the Bible are over-looked or relegated to token status. In TheChild in the Bible, an array of authors offer alook at Scripture through a lens that focuses onchildren. According to general editor Marcia J.Bunge, the bulk of previous work in this areahas been done with an emphasis on children’sministry or Christian education, with aca-demic work largely treating the theme of chil-dren as a side issue (xv). The denominationallydiverse group of authors who have contributed
to The Child in the Bible lift up the theme ofchildren without giving short shrift to otherimportant details in the biblical text or ignor-ing previous work in their particular area.
While the editors do not seek for this bookto be an exhaustive study of children in the Bi-ble, the three sections of the book—Old Testa-ment, New Testament, and Thematic Essays—cover a wide array of biblical content. Thisbroad survey serves as a beginning point forthe field. With this in mind, many of thecontributors offer suggestions for furtherstudy.
The authors were asked to contemplate sixspecific questions as they addressed their par-ticular topic. The first was that of terminologyand metaphor. How is it that a specific authoror genre refers to children? Secondly, the authorswere asked to comment on the status of chil-dren within the book or genre that they stud-ied, and how that status compared to the rolesof children in other communities within theAncient Near East. A third question centeredon the responsibilities that adults held withrespect to children in their midst. Fourthly,the authors were asked to pay attention to anymention of education or passing on faith to thechildren of a new generation. A fifth questionasked what responsibilities and roles childrenthemselves held within the community. Fi-nally, the authors were asked to comment onways that this study, with the lens focused onchildren, might impact broader biblical schol-arship. Understandably, some texts lent them-selves more easily to some of these questionsthan others, and the various essays reflect this.
The majority of the chapters address a bookor genre, using broad strokes to generalize therole of children within that specific area beforefocusing on one or two specific texts. For in-stance, Terence E. Fretheim offers an overviewof children in Gen 1–11 and 12–50 beforespending significant time addressing the en-dangerment of Ishmael in Gen 16 and 21, andthe near-sacrifice of Isaac in Gen 22.
The book includes articles concerning
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nearly every part of the Bible. The Old Testa-ment section includes three essays on the Pen-tateuch as well as selections on Proverbs,Isaiah, and the biblical metaphor “Israel, mychild,” a phrase often found in the propheticbooks. In the New Testament section, authorscontribute essays on Mark, Luke, John, andActs, two on the Pauline epistles, and one onthe disputed Pauline books of Ephesians andColossians.
In the Thematic Essays section of the book,Keith J. White addresses the gospel of Mat-thew, a noticeable omission from the New Tes-tament section, in the essay “He Placed a LittleChild in the Midst: Jesus, the Kingdom andChildren.” Esther M. Menn’s essay on theyoung David as depicted in 1 Sam 16–17, andthe young servant girl who advises Naaman theleader of the army in 2 Kings 5, addresses theOld Testament historical books that wereskipped over in the Old Testament section.Other themes addressed in this section of thebook are adoption in the Bible, children andthe image of God, and human obligation to-ward vulnerable children.
One may question whether every genrewithin Scripture bears study concerning chil-dren. In fact, several authors noted that chil-dren were not often specifically mentioned in aparticular book. Just as often, however, theseauthors commented that children were in-cluded in metaphors or imagery within thebook. Jacqueline E. Lapsley, for instance, inher chapter on Isaiah, notes that children inthat book “are signs of and, in an importantway, constitutive of the flourishing that Godwould have for Israel, and by extension, for allhumanity” (82). Reider Aasgaard, in a discus-sion of Paul, notes that Paul uses metaphorsfrom the world of childhood as a rhetorical de-vice and even at points puts himself in theplace of a child. Through these devices, Paulboth mirrors a typical attitude toward childrenin his context and challenges that attitude byproclaiming the power inherent in vulnerabil-ity, one of the characteristics of childhood.
The Child in the Bible is an excellent begin-ning to a burgeoning topic in biblical study. Aswith any book of essays, the chapters vary instyle and readability. The book as a whole,however, is accessible to one familiar with thetext of the Bible and with a modicum of knowl-edge of biblical criticism. It will be especiallyhelpful for those serving in the area of children’sministry and for those who care about the role ofchildren in the church and the world.
Kristin J. WendlandLiving Hope Lutheran ChurchEttrick, Wisconsin
INHABITING THE CRUCIFORMGOD: KENOSIS, JUSTIFICATION,AND THEOSIS IN PAUL’S NARRA-TIVE SOTERIOLOGY, by Michael J.Gorman. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.Pp. 194. $24.00 (paper).
There is a debate today amongst biblicalscholars and theologians over the doctrine ofjustification. The dividing line in this debateis drawn between those who profess thathumans are justified solely by God’s gracethrough God’s declaration of their righteous-ness for Christ’s sake alone and those who seehumans as somehow participating in God’sgrace in justification. In Inhabiting the Cruci-form God, Michael Gorman enters the fray dis-tinctly on the side of the latter, and presents aconstructive, systematic understanding of jus-tification as participation in which he draws onmany sources, but particularly upon the workof Richard Hayes. Gorman’s intent in this bookis to use the thought of the Apostle Paul to in-terpret justification as consisting of kenosisand theosis and leading to a new, nonviolentexistence among humans (1–2).
Gorman begins this project by relating howhis understanding of justification as kenotic,participatory theosis is rooted in his interpre-tation of what he sees as the heart of Paul’s the-ology. He approaches all of Paul’s theological
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writings—indeed, all of Scripture—throughthe lens of the Christ hymn in Phil 2:6–11. Inthis passage, which he calls “Paul’s masterstory” (9), Gorman sees the apostle here notonly as describing human humility that emu-lates Christ’s humility, but as defining the veryessence of God’s being. Paul, according to Gor-man, understands God in terms of kenosis.God is the one who is God (almighty, all-powerful, etc.), but who chooses to give up theprerogative of being God. Such divine humilityis displayed in the cross of Christ, which is to beunderstood as the communal, kenotic actionof the Triune God advancing the kenotic mis-sion of God. God’s mission in the world, ac-cording to Gorman’s interpretation of Paul, isto foster communal, counter-imperial, non-violent living amongst humans. This is whatGorman means when he says that God is cruci-form (32–39). Gorman claims that any differ-ent understanding of God or God’s mission isidolatry (34–35).
Gorman understands the work of JesusChrist as God’s display to humans of the exam-ple of kenosis that they are to emulate, and inwhich they must participate if they wish to besaved. Paul’s call to imitate Christ in 1 Cor 11:1is “not an option” for those who wish to besaved, but “a mandate” that must be fulfilledby imitating Christ’s humility, which leads to aperson’s transformation into the divine (23).Combining Hayes’s understanding of Paul’sconcept of saving faith as imitation of Christ’sfaithfulness to God with his own view of Paul’stheology, Gorman describes faith as humansconforming themselves to the cruciform Godthrough obedience to the command to imitateChrist’s humility, given by Paul in the Christhymn of Philippians (23, 58, 60–62, 71, 124,167). Saving faith is thus not, as the Reforma-tional view states, the passive reliance uponGod’s promises and Christ’s work for salva-tion, but the active emulation of Christ’s hu-mility through the ethics of nonviolence,
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which Gorman describes as participatory “co-crucifixion” with Christ and “inhabiting thecruciform God” (60–63, 67), and which he seesin the believer’s public act of faith in baptism(79). In defining justification and faith in thisway, Gorman combines command and gospel,justification and sanctification, salvation andethics, into a narrative whole of kenotic theo-sis—the human’s imitation of Christ’s humil-ity through the ethics of nonviolence, whichbrings the human into conformity with the di-vine (126–128).
There are certainly aspects of Gorman’s ar-gument that many readers from various theo-logical and ecclesiological backgrounds willappreciate. Some of these aspects include thathe seeks to derive his view of justification fromthe writings of St. Paul, his attempt to linkbaptism and faith in Paul’s theology, and hisemphasis on nonviolence as a mark of theChristian community. Most notable, however,is Gorman’s attempt to construct an under-standing of justification from Paul’s writingsthat seeks to interpret salvation through aTrinitarian understanding of the cross.
Yet, the final product of Gorman’s work isone that is impossible for those who believe inthe Reformational view of justification toshare. Although he begins his theory of justi-fication with the act of God in the humility ofthe cross, he ends with the human’s activity ofimitating Christ as the means by which the hu-man comes into justification. Even baptism,which the Reformational view emphasizes asGod’s gracious and saving activity, is seen byGorman as an act of humility performed by thehuman (79).
Gorman is not ignorant of the fact thatthose of the Reformational viewpoint will notagree with him, and admits as much, acknowl-edging that his proposal is “controversial” tothose who embrace a more traditional view ofjustification than he does (2). Moreover,though Gorman expresses that his project is anecumenical endeavor, and even though hegives some mention of the New Finnish
school’s understanding of Luther’s doctrine ofjustification, it is apparent from his book thatLutherans are not to share in this work, andLutherans are markedly absent from the list ofthose Christians who he feels can contribute tothe project (8). Moreover, Gorman actually ex-presses hostility to the Reformational view-point. Such hostility is particularly acute whenhe expresses his hope that his work will helplead Protestants into a reunion with RomanCatholicism (8), as well as when he describesthe Reformational tradition’s understandingof justification as “legal fiction” (82). Thus,while many Christian theologians and pastorsmay gain certain beneficial insights from Gor-man’s work, it is unlikely that those of the Ref-ormational tradition will be able to embracehis overall proposal.
Joshua C. MillerLuther SeminarySaint Paul, Minnesota
TRANSLATING THE MESSAGE: THEMISSIONARY IMPACT ON CUL-TURE, revised and expanded second edi-tion, by Lamin Sanneh. Maryknoll: Orbis,2009. Pp. 324. $30.00 (paper).
“No Christian worships and prays in thelanguage of Jesus” (4). On one level, this factseems mundane. However, the central thesisof Lamin Sanneh’s book, Translating the Mes-sage, first published over twenty years ago, isthat “translation,” i.e., where local language isthe locus of proclamation (33), is at the heart ofthe Christian message and mission. Simplyput, Translating the Message is a rare classic ofmission history; and Sanneh just improved it!After sixteen printings of the first edition, thissecond edition represents more than merecosmetic changes to the original. As professorof missions and world Christianity and profes-sor of history at Yale Divinity School, Sannehboth repacked and revised this second editionto strengthen his original argument. Every
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chapter has been revised. Most striking, a newchapter on the King James Version of the Bible(KJV) has been added. The King James Ver-sion, in Sanneh’s understanding, is a transla-tion project that instructs us about whathappened to Christianity in a northern Euro-pean vernacular cut loose from the Roman im-perial legacy. From its origins, Christianityidentified itself with the need to translate out ofAramaic and Hebrew, and to contextualize itsmessage in the vernacular of the people. Un-derstood in this way, missionary translationinto other languages characterizes the spreadof Christianity. One major consequence of thisbook is to reopen the subjects of mission andcolonialism, Christianity and Islam, and mis-sion history from the side of those who re-ceived the faith.
Sanneh’s argument about the relationshipbetween Christianity and colonialism is a realsurprise and contrasts to secular versions ofmission history. Protestant missions madelocal tongues the centerpiece of mission. Thisinvolved the abandonment of European lan-guages vis-à-vis the language of faith. It alsoresulted in the bifurcated impact of the West inits secular and religious thrust. Coastal areasformed the secure rim of the Western colonialadvance, with their port cities as seats of tradi-tional learning and culture. Meanwhile, hin-terland regions became the heart of Christianexpansion. The seeds of vernacular renewalwere sown in hinterland and rural areas, withmissionaries recasting classical idioms intomother-tongue ideas. As a result, popular re-ligious movements arose and thrived. A piv-otal difference soon emerged between the logicof colonial rule and the interest of the emerg-ing churches. Whatever their motives, mis-s ionaries empowered mother-tonguespeakers by undertaking the systemic docu-mentation of their languages. Language wascritical to the outcome of the missionary en-counter with the world, and Bible translationfavored local languages.
Thus the seeds of mission undercutting co-
lonialism were sown with the translation enter-prise. While the colonial system represented aworldwide order, mission represented thecommissioning of local agents and agency. Lo-cal Christians apprehended the significance ofworld events, and as such the purposes of God,through the validation and familiar medium oftheir mother tongue.
Sanneh also uses “translation” as a herme-neutic guide for contrasting the missionarydynamic of Christianity and Islam. In spite oftheir common missionary ambition, there arestriking differences between Islam and Chris-tianity, but none is more revealing for Sannehthan their contrasting attitudes to the translat-ability of their respective Scriptures. Scripturaltranslation marks Christianity. In contrast, Is-lam remains distinctive for its universal adher-ence to the non-translatable Arabic Qur’an.This fact alone helps to define how both relig-ions view mission and pluralism, as well as thenature and purpose of conversion. Christianityhas no single revealed language, and historicalexperience traces this fact to the Pentecostevent, when the believers testified of God intheir natural tongues.
Bible translators are changing the world.Once they introduced vernacular literacy,translators could not turn back the clock.Translatability ushered in a revolution in bothreligious and cultural spheres. The history ofmissions, therefore, is more than the accountof missionary efforts from Europe and NorthAmerica. It is also about the actual reception inthe field. If one accepts this shift of focus, asSanneh suggests, then it makes sense thatscholars who propose to study the missionarymovement should pay attention to the forceson the ground. For example, although scrip-tural translation has been undertaken in 2,426languages, nearly 1,400 languages are cur-rently being developed in over 97 differentcountries. Furthermore, Sanneh points outthat cultural creativity in much of Africa andelsewhere coincides almost exactly with devel-oped interest in vernacular translations. As a
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force, translatability endows persons and so-cieties with the reason and language forchange.
Sanneh’s argument is unique and compel-ling. The erudition is impressive, even if, attimes, overwhelming. Furthermore, the lan-guage of the text is beautiful. When does oneread a theological book with such gorgeousprose? But Sanneh’s argument is the key. Thefact that Christianity has continued to surgebeyond its Western colonial phase suggests adeeper force at play. What we see revealed inChristianity’s postcolonial and post-secularawakening is a religion of unprecedented di-versity and vigorous expansion, in spite of na-tionalist reaction against vestiges of colonialrule. Thanks to its vernacular transformation,Christianity has become, in effect, “too local toconsign it to the colonial limbo” (251).
The idea of the church, rooted in a culture’ssoil, that is self-propagating, self-reliant, and,furthermore, reared on the vernacular Scrip-tures, diverges sharply from the idea of a localChristian society sustained by Western cul-tural transfusion. In light of Translating theMessage, history books may have to take an-other look at the missionary impact on worldculture.
Richard BlieseLuther SeminarySaint Paul, Minnesota
LOVE: A BRIEF HISTORY THROUGHWESTERN CHRISTIANITY, by CarterLindberg. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008. Pp.195. $23.95 (paper).
To heaven, to earth, or to the neighbor:which direction does Christian love flow? Thisis the question that Carter Lindberg’s booktackles. Lindberg runs readers through a fast-paced historical survey of the concept of love asit has been experienced, discussed, and taughtfor the last twenty-five hundred or so years.Love, in both its divine and human experi-
ences, is repeatedly discussed in terms ofGod’s descending love for us, our ascendinglove for God, concern or care for the neighbor,and sexual love between humans.
For the Christian in particular, say Lind-berg and the historical figures he references,love is multidirectional, flowing from God tous, us to God, and between each other. Love isboth a matter of faith and an ethic to be livedout. Lindberg is more than willing to view lovethrough Martin Luther’s lenses, calling God’slove a freedom. Basing his assertion on Paul’sletters in the New Testament, Lindberg de-clares that “Love is at the same time God’s ac-tion toward humankind and the humananswer to it” (33).
Related to this question of direction, theother most evident thread tying this work to-gether is the relationship between agape (com-passionate) and eros (sexual) love, countingthe question of love as not only a question of di-rection but also of language. On this topic,Lindberg is heavily influenced by Anders Ny-gren and his significant text on this compari-son between rival types of love, Agape andEros. This influence comes out as Lindberg isexamining thinkers throughout history, andhe shapes his own writing with a good numberof quotes and ideas from Nygren. Weaving inthe dichotomy of agape and eros throughoutthe conversation, Lindberg’s book goes backand forth in portraying love as a matter of char-ity and love as a matter of sexuality.
Centering on these topics of ascending anddescending love, as well as agape and eros, thebook is arranged in chronological order, eachchapter dealing with how love is understoodduring a specific era or historical movement,with the addition of an important and helpfulstrictly biblical chapter as well. In this biblicalchapter there is, naturally, an emphasis onSong of Songs, and certainly many of the theo-logians and Christians he features in otherchapters wrote commentaries on this portionof Scripture.
Particularly in his exploration of love in the
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Greco-Roman and pre-Christian eras, Lind-berg focuses on the violence and struggle oflove. Giving much attention to Ovid’s under-standings of love, Lindberg quotes him, declar-ing, “Love is a kind of war, and no assignmentsfor cowards” (12). Lindberg’s telling of lovewanders from the classical understanding oflove as a relationship, with the Greek and Ro-man gods, to love in the early church (he de-clares that love for neighbor was instrumentalin the spread of early Christianity), to Augusti-ne’s reflections on love. Lindberg gives a quitetouching portrayal of Augustine, and one mayfind that the chapter centered on this giant ofthe church is the most accessible and devo-tional of the book.
The hunt for love in the Medieval Era turnsup sexual love, with many having relationshipsoutside of marriage. Lindberg credits Augustinewith injecting a sense of shame around sexualforms of love, with his emphasis on original sinas passed down though procreation, and cred-its Luther with pushing love itself back intomarriage.
Lindberg readily wanders into the territoryof sexuality, unafraid to quote quite sensualmystics, and even those Christians that chal-lenged the institution of marriage, such asAbelard and Heloise. There is a real sense thatthroughout history the topics of love and mar-riage have undergone changes in their rela-tionship. Along these same lines, there seems
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to be a link that grows up between passion andsuffering, that is, moments of love can oftenalso be moments of torment, self-sacrifice, orthe suffering of unrealized passion.
Moving into the Reformation Era, Lindberggives special attention to Luther; the entirechapter centers on Luther’s view of love as firstand foremost descending from God to humansand then upon Luther’s work in the area of so-cial welfare and love as caring for the neighbor.While the Reformation chapter is an homageto Luther, the Pietism chapter contains astrong survey of a variety of influential figures.
In these pages, it is fascinating to have allthe favorites of Western history strung to-gether not by geography, era, theology, or in-fluence, but rather by their musings on sucha common topic as love. The author alsolinks his historical and scholarly treatmentof love with the many appearances it makesin our more mainstream culture. References
to Shakespeare, Carmina Burana, AnnaKarenina, and even modern soap operas allmake his work a bit more accessible to a widerreadership.
Filled with layers of differing voices, Lind-berg’s book can get a bit confusing at times,with his extensive use of not only primary, butalso secondary source quotations. One gets thefeeling that this text is better read as a conver-sation among theologians and historical fig-ures, or at least a lecture series featuring thebest of the best. Love: A Brief History throughWestern Christianity is a delightful refresher inthe basics of Western Christian history. It is aquick read, with many historical illustrationsto inspire the parish pastor, casual theologian,or thoughtful Christian.
