BOOK REVIEWS
Burgess, John P. The East German Church and the End of Communism.
Hodgson, Peter C. Winds of the Spirit : A Constructive Christian Theology.
Frend, William H.C. The Archaeology of Early Christianity: A History.
Capon, Robert Farrar. The Mystery of Christ…
And Why We Don’t Get It.
Crossan, John Dominic. Who Killed Jesus? Exposing the Roots of Anti-Semitism in the Gospel Story of the Death of Jesus. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1995. 238 pp.
Leslie Zeigler
This latest book from the pen of John Dominic Crossan is written as a running debate in opposition to Raymond Brown’s two-volume work, The Death of the Messiah. Whereas Brown argues for the essential historicity of the passion narratives, Crossan basically rejects their historicity. For him the factual history regarding Jesus can be summed up as three points—"there was a movement, there was an execution because of that movement, there was a continuation of the movement" (p. 5, emphasis in original).
For Crossan, Jesus was a peasant social revolutionary whose radical criticism of the social, political, and economic order which was the basis for Herodian and Roman control of his Jewish homeland resulted in his summary execution at the hands of Pontius Pilate. The passion narratives, as we have them in the gospel accounts, are not history remembered, but essentially (80% is the figure Crossan proposes) prophecy historicized. In other words, these narratives are the result of a learned and scholarly activity, after Jesus’ execution, on the part of his followers in an attempt to answer the question, "Do we have a future?" This activity began as a careful and intensive search of their scriptures, the Old Testament, for those numerous "prophetic" texts which could serve their purpose, and ended with the eventual combining of them into a coherent passion story in which they remained as a hidden substratum (p. 12).
This final narrative includes, of course, the very significant accounts for Crossan’s "exposure of the roots of anti-Semitism in the gospel story"—the specific expression of Roman innocence and Jewish responsibility for the execution (Matt. 27:15-26, Mk. 15:6-15, Lk. 23:13-25, Jn. 18:38-40), and especially the crucial, "His blood be on us and our children!" (Matt. 27:25) As this story cannot be regarded as fulfilling anything from the Old Testament, it cannot be explained as prophecy historicized. Crossan classifies it as purely Christian propaganda, and he argues that Matt. 27:25 is the personal creation of the author of Matthew. It "bespeaks the bitterness of Matthew as a learned scribe whose vision was slowly, steadily, but surely being refused by his people" (p. 157).
Crossan concludes that one of the accounts of Jesus’ trial and execution are based on remembered history but are "popular creativity," and that it is most likely that Jesus was executed without benefit of any trial (p. 117). Likewise, the burial stories "are hope and hyperbole expanded into apologetics and polemics" (p. 188), and the resurrection stories are not to be understood as reports based on any particular events—either "ecstatic experiences or entranced revelations"—but as dramatic answers to the obvious questions of power and authority. Who, or what group, is to exercise leadership and authority in the community?
For those interested in Crossan’s position, this book is highly recommended. It spells out, clearly and in detail, his basic assumptions and his resulting conclusions. However, for those interested in the question of the historicity of the passion narratives, and who wish to arrive at a reasoned conclusion regarding the question of who killed Jesus and the implications of its answer, Raymond Brown’s The Death of the Messiah needs to be read alongside of Crossan’s work.
Burgess, John P. The East German Church and the End of Communism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 185 pp.
Tom O’Donnell
For those few scholars who have offered an opinion about the role of the church in the 1989 fall of East German communism, the intial observation is that the churches provided a place for dissidents to gather. Beyond that, theories diverge considerably. Some argue that the church was a leading agent of political change, while others suggest that it was determined to protect its already fragile political position and therefore favored only moderate change. Into this melee, John Burgess has thrown a new proposition. He states that while the church was not the only factor in the overthrow of communism, it did contribute invaluable theological guidance to the process of political change.
Though constitutionally legal, religion in East Germany was expected to remain subservient to the greater mission of establishing a communist state. Burgess notes that the church consistently tested its boundaries, however, by allowing open conversation within its walls. Because of this, the politically neutral church functioned more as a forum for alternative ideologies than as a spiritual force. How, then, did its theology help to overturn the communist juggernaut?
To unravel this paradox, Burgess cites the East German church’s implicit belief that a society must examine itself in order to improve its situation. The author traces this idea to the work of theologians like Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, both of whom stressed the importance of active participation in worldly affairs. The East German church, particularly inspired by the Sermon on the Mount, also held fast to the possibility of a better society. Therefore, as Burgess explains, "[the church] found its primary purpose in serving its society, rather than in opposing the Marxist-Leninist government." By allowing the idealistic dissenters to congregate freely, the East German church did not lead the revolution but did allow it to follow its inevitable course.
Burgess also examines the church’s role in establishing the new democratic state, and he discusses how East German theology has evolved in response to the political changes. The thought-provoking questions he suggests in this book are part of the timeless interplay between church and state. What is the church’s political role in society? How far should it go in resisting an oppressive government? What alternatives should it offer?
While Burgess does see the role of religion as conspicuously more essential to the East German revolution than other studies have (for example: Peter Voss, "The Role of the Church," in Origins of a Spontaneous Revolution, University of Michigan Press, 1995), his use of previously unavailable German documents and his personal observations before and after the revolution offer a credible and unique perspective on an aspect of recent church history that is still very open to debate.
Hodgson, Peter C. Winds of the Spirit : A Constructive Christian Theology. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994.
Leslie Zeigler
For anyone who wishes to see what a "revisioned" theology looks like—a theology which has "taken seriously" the challenge of "postmodernity"—this book is undoubtedly one of the best signs that "modernity" has run its course, and we find ourselves in a new situation with its own particular "crises."
Foremost among these signs are such events or developments as the current scientific understanding of the universe and the place of human life in it, the ecology issue, feminist and gender issues, and the issue of the relation of Christianity to other world religions. These issues overlap in their influence in producing our "present day" view—a way of thinking which, for Hodgson, requires a revisioning of the traditional Christian faith. He does not consider the possibility that the Christian faith may be the source of a legitimate critique for evaluation of these current perspectives. Rather, accepting their validity, the challenge that presented is seen as that of the possibility of reconstructing the faith to accord with them.
Since the present scientific understanding gives us a universe which is all of one piece, dualistic conceptions such as body and spirit, or human and divine, no longer make sense for us. Combined with ecological issues, this requires that we see ourselves as integral parts of the natural world, rejecting any perception of our having a hierarchical relationship with nature. Current feminist views reinforce this rejection of hierarchy, including any hierarchical view of God, and also require the elimination of masculine names for Deity. Hence such terms as "Father" and "Son" must be dropped, requiring a radical reconstructuring of the understanding of the Trinity. The shift from a monarchial to a democratic view of human society necessitates the elimination of the presumed patriarchal structure of traditional theology, and makes the concept of the kingdom of God obsolete. The relationship between God and ourselves must be reconstructed to reflect mutuality, companionship, and friendship. And, of course, an unrestrained dialogue with religions other than Christianity requires the rejection of traditional views of the "superiority" of Christianity and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
In carrying out his reconstructuring project, Hodgson begins with faith derived from "revelatory experiences" based on the present situation, and then proceeds to express his understanding of this faith—a procedure, he believes, to be in accordance with Anselm’s description of theology as "faith seeking understanding" (p. 14). He relies heavily upon Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology, and expresses regret that Tillich’s work no longer enjoys the influence it once did, as "no subsequent work in systematic theology is remotely comparable to Tillich’s in originality, range, and analytic power" (p. 23). (Karl Barth, for one, probably turned over in his grave!) Tillich’s thought, however, is revised and supplemented with Hegelian perspectives, and Hodgson brings it into "correlation" with current issues by means of considerable help from process philosophy as well as liberation and feminist theologies—the latter especially in the form espoused by his colleague, Sallie MacFague.
The reconstruction of the Trinity is central to Hodgson’s work. The Trinity represents the "wholeness" of God, differentiated for purposes of our understanding into "moments" in the life of God. These moments represent:
the dialectical pattern of thought that replicates the movement of life itself: identity-difference-mediation, or, unity-separation-reunification… [T]he triune God is the relational process of identity, difference, and mediation that constitutes spiritual personal being as such and is intrinsic to the life process… This [process] is a spiraling triad that never simply returns to its starting point but moves ahead into novelty (p. 153).
The dependence here upon Hegel and Whitehead’s process thought is obvious.
The first term of this triad cannot be called "father," or course, and the term "One" is rejected as unsuitable, particularly for liturgical purposes, so Hodgson settles on the term "God" as representing the figure of identity— "the one upon whom all things are utterly dependent and in whom they find their final fulfillment" (p. 163).
The second term of the triad—the figure of "difference"—is "World." God, the first term, "gives birth" to the World, the second movement in the life process. "God goes out from Godself," positing a world, yet enters into relation with that world, becoming incarnate in it, "making it God’s own ‘body’ " (pp. 163-164). Human beings are a part of this world, and God attempts to "lure," but does not coerce us, to "love Godself" and others. Concepts of God as sovereign must, of course, be rejected as leading to domination and oppression.
The third term of the triad, that representing the reunification, is "Spirit." Spirit represents the reunion and fulfillment of God and the World, and thereby constitutes the "redemption" of creation. It is the "moment" of God becoming whole, and thereby creatures also becoming whole.
Thus, Hodgson proposes, is the formulation for the Trinity, God-World-Spirit, representing a process in which he sees God and the World emerging as a "whole" ("fulfilled") community in Spirit. In this process human beings are redeemed to live freely, openly, and without fear in a Spirit community.
A basic question, however, remains. To what extent does Hodgson’s reconstructed theology give us an understanding of the Christian faith, and to what extent is it an apology for the "spirit of the times?"
Frend, William H.C. The Archaeology of Early Christianity: a History. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996. 412 pp.
Mark Richardson
This survey of Christian archaeology begins with the discovery of the "True Cross" by Helena in 326. Frend’s focus, however, is on the development of Christian-oriented archaeology from the Renaissance to the present. He describes how the pace of discovery accelerated with Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt and then more with the ensuing competition between the powers in Europe.
The regions central to this account are French North Africa, Asia Minor, and the Nile valley. Frend also uses the increasing sophistication applied to the study of Rome’s catacombs as a tool to illustrate the advances in methodology that succeeding generations of scholars brought to their task. He discusses manuscript finds, like those at Nag Hammadi and Qumran, which helped reveal a Christian history that is richer than the story of "orthodoxy and heresy." The voices of Montanism, Donatism, Manichaeism, and Monophysitism are again speaking for themselves through long lost documents and material remains.
The author ends with warnings about the challenges future researchers will face as sites are lost to urban sprawl and shrinking research budgets. The chapters are well documented and a valuable bibliography is provided.
Capon, Robert Farrar. The Mystery of Christ… And Why We Don’t Get It. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1993. 195 pp.
Leslie Zeigler
This book will, of course, delight Robert Farrar Capon’s fans. Written in his usual exuberant, intriguing, combative style, it uses various dialogues—counseling sessions, a cocktail party conversation, and a series of group discussions—to offer nourishing food for thought concerning the task of the pastoral counselor, as well as juicy tidbits to inspire excellent sermons.
Regarding the theological view that Capon espouses, however, some reservations must be expressed. His theme, stated frequently and emphatically, is that God’s grace is free. Redemption is not a "transaction," he says, and God is not a "score-keeper" requiring good behavior on our part before we can be saved. While opposing this transactional view of redemption, he reminds us how hard it is for Christians to "get it"—to escape this view and accept that God’s forgiveness is free with no strings attached and cannot be earned.
In this respect, of course, Capon is quite right. God’s grace is a gift. It cannot be earned. However, considering the gospel message as a whole, he is only half right. While a transaction refers to an objective exchange of some type, God’s grace involves personal interaction, an on-going relationship with all the accompanying responsibilities. The gospel speaks with equal strength of both God’s grace and God’s judgement. According to the gospel, a Christian life cannot escape the Cross.
Capon’s neglect of—or in some instances his refusal to even consider—both sides may be illustrated by his treatment of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He rejects Bonhoeffer’s "cheap grace" with the comment that Bonhoeffer "was having a day off" when he came up with that phrase (p. 79). Capon insists, "Grace isn’t cheap: it’s free." Bonhoeffer, of course, completely agrees with Capon that grace is not a transaction and cannot be earned. However, Bonhoeffer has a great deal to say about the personal relationship resulting from forgiveness—the cost of that discipleship—which Capon would apparently like to have for free also, at least free from its reality as a personal relationship with our Redeemer. Instead, Capon tells one of his counseling subjects, "I think your acceptance of all your difficulties is discipleship." A good statement of stoic humanism, Bonhoeffer would respond, but hardly one of Christian discipleship.