theologiaviatorum's reviews
226 reviews

The Philocalia is a collection of excerpts from the works of Origen compiled by St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzus. As a result of the later Origenist Controversy many of Origen’s complete works were destroyed/lost, so these excerpts are exceptionally valuable. This varied book addresses many topics including inspiration, free will, hermeneutics and interpretation, gnosticism, astrology, the goodness of God, etc. Particular sections were certainly more interesting than others but overall I enjoyed the book. Despite the controversy surrounding him, his influence over the church is inestimable. Any student of patristics or early church history will find be interested in this work.

Dei Verbum or The Word of God is one of the Dogmatic Constitutions of Vatican II. This English translation also contains brief commentary on the constitution by Ronald Witherup who is editor of the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible. It is a brief 76 pages with a helpful glossary for technical terms. Dei Verbum is arguably one of the most significant and influential results of the council. It encourages the return to the study of scripture as a central practice for Catholics and Catholicism. It states “[The Church] has always regarded and continues to regard the scriptures, taken together with sacred tradition, as the supreme rule of its faith ... It follows that all the preaching of the church, as indeed the entire Christian religion, should be nourished and ruled by sacred scripture. In the sacred books the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them. And such is the force and power of the word of God that it is the church’s support and strength, imparting robustness to the faith of its daughters and sons and providing food for their souls” (VI.21). In addition, the constitution discusses inspiration, the relationship between scripture and tradition, as well as the Old and New Testaments. Since Vatican II the Church has experienced a revival in the study of scripture, including the development of biblical resources like The Little Rock Catholic Study Bible. Please God, may this be one more step towards the reunification of the churches.

Seeing the Word is an interesting attempt to refocus New Testament study (hence the subtitle). He reviews recent scholarship which favored an attempt to be “objective.” This necessarily excludes faith commitments. As a result, Biblical Studies moved away from the Church and towards the university, away from theological interpretation and towards a historical-critical interpretation. Even believers had to “suspend” their faith in order to fit the “objective” criteria of academia. Bockmuehl attempts to show why this is insufficient. Every communicator considers his audience and speaks in appropriate language. There is always an implied and ideal hearer/reader. If someone outside of that group seeks to understand the message the particular language will not be best suited to his understanding. Bockmuehl makes the case that the “implied reader” of the New Testament are those who are “converted, or converting” (232). In other words, the writers *assume* faith instead of excluding it. Our author does not want to forfeit historical studies all together. In fact he shows appreciation for their work in recapturing the Jewishness of Jesus. He believes the implied readers are those who see the Word taking on specifically Jewish flesh. In nuce, he contends that while exegesis ought to be ecclesiastically located it also must reckon with Jesus’ historical particularity as a Jewish man in the first century. This is the assumption of the Bible writers and therefore describes the ideal/implied reader. This book was helpful in some areas but not a show stopper. The best work, I think, was in chapter two when he discusses the idea of the implied reader/exegete.

"Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer” is the last book C.S. Lewis wrote and was published posthumously in 1964. These are letters written to an imagined character named Malcom, which means “Disciple of St. Columba” (one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland). Of course, these letters are such that one would not think Malcom imaginary if not told. These letters address a number of the “problems” or “mysteries” of prayer which present themselves to those who reflect on it. In here is wise counsel, humble confession, and good theology (despite his admission that he is not “good enough at Theology”). I was encouraged to find even so great a man as Lewis admitting, “Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish” (Letter XXI). One here finds much that delights and much that surprises. (Many are shocked at Lewis’ bare confessions, “I believe in purgatory” and “Of course I pray for the dead”—Letter XX). While one of his lesser known works, you can never go wrong with Lewis. I will always affectionately call him, “Jack.” I imagine when we meet that he won’t mind. Indeed, I think he’ll insist.

My love affair with William Shakespeare began in middle school when my favorite teacher showed us how fun he can be. She affectionately called him “Bill” and I’ve been hooked ever since. Hamlet is the longest of Shakespeare's tragedies. From this we get such quotes as “To be or not be”, “Frailty thy name is Woman,” and “To thine own self be true.” Such a great work defies simple summation but here you will find the themes of love, sex, death, gender, power, God all wrapped in a story where sadly nearly every character dies. While Hamlet’s uncle-father and aunt-mother see death as “common” and therefore largely a matter of indifference, he is nearly destroyed by the significance of death in its particularity, namely the particular death of the good king, his father. Eventually he navigates his way between these two extremes. He is able to accept the commonality and equalizing effect of death without forfeiting the significance of each individual life (and death). In the face of his own fate he seizes the interim between the death which stalks him behind and the dying which lies in front. He makes peace with his dying but insists on showing that a life is strong enough to say “One,” that is, to present oneself as an individual against a “sea of troubles.” Carpe interim! “The readiness is everything.”

I’ve been thinking about the inspiration and interpretation of the Bible and reading a lot of patristics. So when I found this little book that combines them all I knew I had to get it. This book is a gem. At only 147 pages this carefully footnoted work packs in a wealth of information. Graves looks at what Early Church Fathers believed about the inspiration of the Bible and how those convictions influenced the way they interpreted it. One discovers how important the spiritual meaning of the text was to the Church Fathers, how they viewed the historicity and factuality of the Bible (it may surprise you), how they dealt with passages they deemed “unworthy of God,” and so on. A mosaic of characters each contributes their part to this varied masterpiece. You read of saints Athanasias and Ambrose, saints Gregory Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa, saints Jerome, Augustine, Basil the Great, Didymus the Blind, John Chrysostom and so on. You even hear from those whose reputation is in question for various reasons, like Origen and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Though there are some differences in how they interpreted and in the details of how they conceived inspiration they all agreed that the Bible is a trustworthy and useful guide to the Christian life which does not contradict itself (though it often seems to) or any other truth which may be discovered “out there.” This book is a favorite. Enjoy!

I first read T.S. Eliot in 2013 (?) and I wasn’t very impressed. Regardless, I could not ignore the consistent praise for his Four Quartets. So I gave him another try and I enjoyed this much more than my previous go at him. I wouldn’t know how to offer an intelligent epitome of the work so instead I’ll share some of my favorite quotes. • “Words, after speech, reach into the silence.” • “Words strain, crack and sometimes break, under the burden, under the tension, slip, slide, perish, decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, will not stay still.” • “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.” • “To arrive where you are, to get where you are not, you must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy. In order to arrive at what you do not know you must go by a way which is the way of ignorance. In order to posses what you do not possess you must go by the way of dispossession. In order to arrive at what you are not you must go through the way in which you are not.” • “For us, there is only trying. The rest is not our business.” • “We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. Through the unknown, remembered gate when the last of earth left to discover is that which was the beginning.”

I’ve never been asked to review a particular book before but there's a first time for everything.  A friend asked me to review How to Think Theologically by Howard Stone and James Duke. It just so happens that I had the book so I was happy to oblige. I had read it once in 2014 (?) and have just reread it. They suggest that theology is in some sense like language. We learn to speak before we learn grammar. Our first theology—what they call our embedded theology—is like our first language in that we learn it “from countless daily encounters with [our] Christianity—formal and informal, planned and unplanned” (15). This books tries to get us to move from embedded theology to what they call deliberative theology. This is like learning the grammar of a language. It’s not only being able to use it but knowing why we use it in particular ways. It’s about being able to defend why we worship the way we do and why we make the ethical choices we do (like one may argue for or against the oxford comma or in favor of using the contraction “y’all”). In other words, “Deliberative reflection questions what had been taken for granted” (18). In order to help guide us through the deliberative process the writers suggest different lenses through which to analyze an issue. They suggest that we consider the meaning of the gospel, the human condition, and Christian vocation. They also suggest that theology be done in conversation with Christian community and always permeated by spiritual disciplines. The book provides a number of test cases which spur deliberative reflection. It also includes questions for discussion at be end of each chapter. It was a good introductory text and its difficulty level would probably be suitable for undergraduates in college. The content was good but not particularly inspiring. It wasn’t a book I “couldn’t put down,” nor was it especially dry or boring. Overall I would give it a “B-.”

This is St. Augustine's brief treatment of hermeneutics (the science of interpretation) and homiletics (the art of preaching). His own concluding summary of the work says, "I have discussed with whatever slight ability I could muster, not the kind of man I am, for I have many defects, but the kind of man he ought to be who seeks to labor in sound doctrine, which is Christian doctrine, not only for himself, but also for others" (169). As he discusses how one should learn and how own should teach, love is the guiding principle, both the love of God and that of neighbor. "Whoever, therefore, thinks that he understands the Divine Scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all (30). Charity is so much the goal of interpretation that one does not err if he mistakes the author's intent, so long as he still exhorts the hearers to love. "Whoever finds a lesson there useful to the building of charity, even though he has not said what the author may be shown to have intended in that place, he has not been deceived, nor is he lying in any way" (30). When he comes to discuss oratory Augustine borrows from his secular training in rhetoric. He exhorts speakers to use three different "styles" that the hearers may learn the truth, that their attention may be rapt throughout, and that they may be persuaded to obey. Even here, love reigns supreme. "For charity itself, which is the end and fulfillment of the Law, cannot be right if those things which are loved are not true but false" (166). This is an invaluable insight into patristic exegesis and would be of interest to anyone who loves biblical hermeneutics, patristics, or to someone who is merely a fan of St. Augustine of Hippo.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book but it is much more about faith than it is about the benefits of doubt. In this book he redefines the way we think about faith. First, faith is not an emotional or psychological sense of certainty. Second, it is instead a conviction based upon evidence which leads one to act. It doesn't have to be certain for us to act. "In every area of our lives we find we must commit to a course of action without absolute proof" (47). For example, we go through traffic lights without being certain others will stop at their red lights. We take medicine without absolute certainty that those creating it did so properly. We eat food at restaurants without knowing with certainty that it was prepared properly. We get married without absolute certainty that our partners have been honest with us. "The truth is we could do very little if we weren't willing to act on faith" (47). So Boyd places faith in a covenental context focused on Jesus, not a psychological one. So long as we have faith enough that Jesus is God in the flesh who died and was resurrected then we can commit to a life with him. No matter what other questions or doubts we have, if those remain true then we can continue the life of faith. If the Bible has errors, we may need to rethink what we believe about inspiration but Jesus is still Lord. If evolution is true then we may change how we read Genesis 1-11, but Jesus is still resurrected. If this or that moral question seems ambiguous, the tomb is still empty. So long as we are convinced of the cross-resurrection event then we can live with all other doubts. In Calvary "we are seeing *all* of God's *true* character" 193) and that is where our faith lies. So "faith isn't about striving for certainty. It's about striving to remain faithful in the midst of uncertainty" (213). I love his Christocentric faith and I recommend it to any Christian struggling with questions concerning Christianity.