Eerdmans Publishing Research Articles

Time and the Word: Figural Reading of the Christian Scriptures by EphraimRadner (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), vii + 326 pp.

Time and the Word: Figural Reading of the Christian Scriptures by EphraimRadner (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), vii + 326 pp.

Politics for a Pilgrim Church: A Thomistic Theory of Civic Virtue by Thomas J.Bushlack (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), viii + 255 pp.

Politics for a Pilgrim Church: A Thomistic Theory of Civic Virtue by Thomas J.Bushlack (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), viii + 255 pp.

Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics and Theologies of Relationality by Marcia Pally (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), + 419 pp.

Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics and Theologies of Relationality by Marcia Pally (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), + 419 pp.

Ecce Homo: On the Divine Unity of Christ by AaronRiches. Foreword by RowanWilliams (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), xv‐xxi + 279 pp.

Ecce Homo: On the Divine Unity of Christ by AaronRiches. Foreword by RowanWilliams (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), xv‐xxi + 279 pp.

Field Hospital: The Church's Engagement with a Wounded World by William T.Cavanaugh (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), viii + 276 pp.

Field Hospital: The Church's Engagement with a Wounded World by William T.Cavanaugh (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), viii + 276 pp.

Political Agape: Christian Love and Liberal Democracy by Timothy P.Jackson (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), xiii + 427 pp.

Political Agape: Christian Love and Liberal Democracy by Timothy P.Jackson (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), xiii + 427 pp.

Book Review: Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics, and Theologies of Relationality

Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics, and Theologies of Relationality. By Marcia Pally. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2016. viii + 419 pp. $50.00 (paper).Humanities and multicultural studies scholar Marcia Pally may have been tempted in latter days to congratulate herself on a disorder well diagnosed, for her 2016 Commonwealth and Covenant: Economics, Politics, and Theologies of Relationality names not only Wests swing from human into individual separability, but social and political balkanization that has all too evidently resulted. Pally seeks no pendulum swing in reverse direction, but rather a vision of human existence defined by separability and situatedness in full mutual constitution, an ontology-and theology-of that she names separability-flmid-situatedness, distinction-amid-relation (p. 7). Only by rethinking life on this fundamental, ontological level, which precedes and produces ethics and law, can unduly separated rediscover their distinctive identities in relation with one another, exchanging self-isolation and agonism for a process of mutual consideration-worthiness by which they may reclaim formation of a common good (p. 10).Differentiated as telos of human existence must also be its means, and this holds true for Pally's own method of conveying message: both portions of her work rally support of an immense chorus of voices that, by their own varying attestations of distinction-amid-relation, multiply evidence that such an is indeed ontology rather than opinion (p. 26). In an initial secular and historical survey in part 1, Pally discerns commitments to separability-amid-situatedness even within thinkers (from Adam Smith to Friedrich Schelling) claimed for one polarized side or other. Her central focus, however, is given to Jewish and Christian theologies of relationality surveyed in part 2, which, whether received as truth or as truthful metaphor (p. 24), firmly ground of by grounding it within divine distinctionamid-relation itself (p. 16).The resulting whole succeeds in inviting a paradigm shift by sheer power of demonstration, offering a range of careful and compelling historical, historical-theological, doctrinal, and scriptural attestations of relational texture that might simply be the way things are (pp. 19, 333). At same time, it is not perfectly clear just who might find this ontological and theological deep dive most persuasive. Pally takes much greater pains with internal logic of Christian theological traditions than would be needed to receive them as meaningful myth; yet same rich theological work functions at least in part to illuminate a broader of that does not rely on it (p. …

Book Review: Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer

Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer. By Rowan Williams. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2014. viii + 84 pp. $10.00 (paper).Some books are a few hundred pages long and you only get a handful of helpful insights from them. Others may be short, but are so well-written that two or three pages in you are already moved and illumined. Rowan Williams's latest work falls into the latter category. Being Christian: Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, Prayer is a mature summary-reflection of the Christian Ufe from one of Anglicanism s most significant leaders in the last twenty years. Rowan WilUams, who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, has written numerous books on a variety of subjects. His writing appeals to a broad spectrum of readers, conservative and Uberal. His style is very poetic and pastoral, and in that sense, his work is inviting. It is clearly the work of a master theologian with a wealth of pastoral experience.In this short work, Williams discusses elements of the Christian Ufe, by which he means those simple and recognizable things that make you realize that you are part of a Christian community (p. vii). WilUams chooses four topics that seem to him most obvious for this exercise: baptism, Bible, eucharist, and prayer. He then gives attention to each in individual chapters. Each chapter contains much to be admired and appreciated by all orthodox Christians, although WilUams sometimes stretches the topic to its Umits in the effort to summarize all of Christian living under these headings.Baptism, for WilUams, is certainly a rite of entrance into the church. It is connected to the new creation. It means becoming God's beloved child. WilUams also uses the language of chaos moving into order, and the restoration of what it is to be truly human (p. 3) to explain what happens in baptism. These things all lead to a Ufe of Christian mission. Being baptized into Jesus will mean being led toward the world in all its brokenness to bring the presence of Christ. To be a Christian is to be affected-you might even say contaminated-by the mess of humanity (p. 6). Being a Christian is not a safe, easy Ufe. Rather, WilUams states, Perhaps baptism really ought to have some health warnings attached to it: 'If you take this step, if you go into these depths, it will be transfiguring, exhilarating, life-giving and very, very, dangerous' (p. 9). So, mission is subsumed under baptism.An additional point to highlight is that baptism, according to WilUams, brings you into the neighbourhood of other Christians; and there is no way of being a Christian without being in the neighbourhood of other (p. 10). Baptism is a communal event. It is not just about the individual being baptized. It is not a purely private spiritual exercise. It is how we enter a community. It seems to me that this understanding of baptism might be especially appreciated by Reformed churches, where baptism has covenantal significance.Bible reading (or perhaps, hearing the Bible) is also an essential aspect of being a Christian. As WilUams explains, Christians are people who expect to be spoken to by (p. 21). And the Bible consists of those texts that, from the very beginnings of the Christian community, have been identified as carrying the voice of (p. 22). Williams writes briefly on how the Bible works and how it should be read. Here is one place where some readers will disagree. Williams affirms the larger story of the whole Bible and the need for that story to shape believers' lives. However, he suggest that some events, such as the conquest of Canaan, which may appear to be divinely sanctioned, are in fact merely descriptions of what people thought God wanted them to do. They may not have heard correctly. And we can, perhaps, learn to do better now. This suggestion arguably undermines the reliability of scripture. Williams does not intend to cause doubt. Rather, he is trying to explain the offensive behaviors found in some biblical stories. …

Sensus Divinitatis or Divine Hiddenness? Alvin Plantinga and J. L. Schellenberg on Knowledge of God

Knowledge and Christian Belief. By Alvin Plantinga. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2015. vii + 129 pp. $16.00 (paper).The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy's New Challenge to Belief in God. By J. L. Schellenberg. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. vii + 142 pp. $35.00 (cloth).Both of the books under review present important arguments for a broader audience that the authors had previously made in a more technical manner for professional philosophers. Plantingas also summarizes a long, distinguished, and provocative contribution to epistemology and thus requires more background to appreciate fully, so the treatments are unequal in length but I hope equal in illumination.For the past fifty years-ever since the publication of his first book God and Other Minds in 1967-Alvin Plantinga has been considered one of the most influential philosophers of religion in the world.1 Bom in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1932 of Dutch parents and brought up in the Christian Church, Plantinga taught at Wayne State University, Calvin College, and the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in 2010. In the first of several volumes published over the past few decades engaging critically with various aspects of his thought, the editors write: Besides his landmark work in the philosophy of religion, Plantinga has authored many penetrating and beautifully crafted studies in metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. In particular, his writings in the area of metaphysics concerned with necessity, possibility, essence and accident are of profound significance.2Beginning in the mid-1980s, however, Plantinga's primary research focus began to shift from metaphysics to epistemology-both in regard to the general theory of knowledge and the rationality of religious belief. Against the common objection that belief in God is only rational if supported by valid philosophical arguments, the main assertion of Plantinga's Reformed Epistemology is that belief in God is in fact properly basic-that is, entirely rational whether any arguments support it or not.3 Such proper basicality is not unique to religious belief but also holds for memory, sense perception, and a priori beliefs regarding logical or mathematical truths. Plantinga thus argues not simply against the evidentialist objection to belief in God but against the broader epistemological framework in which it belongs, namely the classical foundationalism derived from Descartes and Locke. Along with his colleague Nicholas Wolterstorff, Plantinga was thus a signal voice in directing our attention away from exclusive concern about the validity or invalidity of specific theistic arguments to meta-epistemology, and thus to a deeper awareness that there is more than one way in which we can (and should) think about our intellectual obligations, assumptions, and capacities.In 1993 Plantinga published two substantial contributions to the general theory of knowledge, Warrant: The Current Debate and Warrant and Proper Function, which were then followed in 2000 by a massive, five-hundred-page magnum opus, Warranted Christian Belief, in which he sought to synthesize his broader epistemological concerns with his religious convictions.4 Indeed, he says that Warranted Christian Belief serves simultaneously as the third volume in his Warrant trilogy and as a sequel to God and Other Minds and his classic essay Reason and Belief in God.5 As the common element in the title of all three volumes indicates, Plantingas distinctive concern is not with the more familiar epistemological category of justification (which he believes is inevitably and unhelpfully limited to concerns about intellectual obligations) but with warrant, which he defines as the elusive further quality or quantity which, or enough of which, stands between knowledge and mere true belief.6 That is, what must be added to a given instance of true belief in order for it to constitute actual knowledge? …

Book Review: Emblem of Faith Untouched: A Short Life of Thomas Cranmer

Emblem of Faith Untouched: A Short Life of Thomas Cranmer. By Leslie Williams. Library of Religious Biography. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2016.192 pp. $18.00 (paper).Hero or villain? Saint or sinner? Predictably, Cranmer's biographers have polarized on the issue, with only Diarmaid MacCulloch succeeding in portraying the archbishop in his full humanity, weaknesses and all. In Emblem of Faith Untouched, Leslie Williams follows MacCulloch s lead; however, in the end she too succumbs. Her Cranmer is heroic figure, despite some questionable actions and his initial recantations when faced with death. Ultimately, all his sins and shortcomings are fully redeemed as he withdraws his recantations and plunges his hand into the fire of glorious martyrdom. Cranmer is a man who lost his life but not his legacy (p. 153)-or, presumably his unblemished faith.Emblem of Faith Untouched is the latest in editor Mark Nolls Library of Religious Biography series. This series is intended for wide audience, for seminarians, priests, and interested lay students of the Reformation and Anglicanism. Williams says her approach is primarily anecdotal in nature (p. 1), but this is to sell the biography short. She provides clear and concise account of the tangled events of the only partially successful Reformation in England. She also provides enough of an account of the doctrinal and political issues driving events during this period to allow readers to follow what was at stake. As Williams demonstrates, the doctrinal and political were intertwined, making it exceedingly difficult for public servant such as Cranmer to walk the fine line between serving and trying to slowly educate his stubborn, headstrong king, while maintaining his own integrity.Williams's account covers Cranmer's life, beginning with his education at Cambridge where he first was exposed to the humanistic New Learning, through his service as one of Henry's theological advisors, his time in Europe as the king's ambassador to the imperial court of Charles V, his many years as archbishop, and his final demise. She portrays man whose lifelong behavior reveals chameleon-like personality (p. 30). Cranmer's gentle, cautious nature shrank from conflict and confrontation in an age excelled at-and demanded-both. He is said to have lamented, There never was man more unwillingly to the bishopric than I did to that (p. 34). Still, Cranmer was quick study in the art of survival (p. 24). Williams credits his ability to evade the plots of his numerous enemies to his natural diplomacy, his reputation for personal kindness and forgiveness, and, most importantly, the protection Henry invariably afforded. …

Book Review: The Authority of the Gospel: Explorations in Moral and Political Theology in Honor of Oliver O'Donovan

The Authority of the Gospel: Explorations in Moral and Political Theology in Honor of Oliver O'Donovan. Edited by Robert Song and Brent Waters. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2015. xxi + 294 pp. $45.00 (cloth).In his foreword to this festschrift Rowan Williams describes Oliver O'Donovan as of the most serious thinkers the Anglican family has nurtured in the last century or so (p. viii). Although Reinhold Niebuhr and Stanley Hauerwas may have had wider general influence, if one considers the field of Christian ethics, then in terms of erudition in scholarly languages, theological insight, historical engagement, and the sheer range of issues of concern to which O'Donovan brings his illuminating analysis, he is without peer.This festschrift is reflective of the broad range of O'Donovan s interests: political theology, of course (historical and contemporary), ethical theory (practical reason, natural law, virtues), detailed engagement with the application of moral principles in complex situations (for example, just war), and the life of the Christian in the world and in the church (preaching and liturgy).There are several essays on the intersection of church and world, of public and private morality, an area where the insights of Augustine are still bearing fruit. Eric Gregory has a fine essay on the civic virtues. Brian Brock has a helpful essay on What Is ?the Public'?, interacting with Augustine, O'Donovan, and Bonhoeffer and reflecting, for example, on the misguided French authorities banning forms of Muslim dress in public on the basis of false universals. Jonathan Chaplin also deals with the challenge of pluralism in modern society, and how governments can make judgments about controversial issues in the context of a variety of fundamental moral and religious convictions. The complexity and diversity of the world itself should be reflected in the complexity of such judgments.Christian character and moral virtue, supported by sound theology, is foundational to the effective witness of the church in the world. In fact, the festschrift underscores this point by bracketing the entire collection with treatments of Christian love: in the first essay Bernd Wannenwetsch explores the dialectic of faith and love in Augustine and Luther. And in the final essay we have O'Donovan himself returning to the theme of self-love, its degeneration to material self-interest, and the problems with modern notions of equality.The virtue of prudence is in large part a form of seeing things correctly (as well as making good judgments), and Hans Ulrich brings Old and New Testament material to bear on the importance of discernment. The late John Webster has a very helpful analysis of the role of sorrow in the Christian life, largely based on interaction with Thomas Aquinas.Moving from the Christian individual to corporate life in the church, we have Shinji Kayama and Joan O'Donovan. Kayama, a pastor in Yokohama, Japan, writes on preaching as moral pedagogy, drawing lessons from the different (and sometimes questionable) ways in which Augustine dealt with the challenge of re-incorporating the Donatists in the Catholic Church, and how he developed the central concept of pax ordinata. There are many valuable insights in Joan O'Donovan's reminder of the Tudor reformers' theological intentions in framing the Anglican liturgies, such as this part of her conclusion: Only the eschatological renewal of human moral agency and action through the church's practice of proclamation, centred in her common worship, can overcome the tyranny of the law . …

Book Review: The Intolerable God: Kant's Theological Journey

The Intolerable God: Kants Theological Journey. By Christopher J. Insole. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2016. x + 176 pp. $30.00 (paper).In this more accessible book, Insole reprises much of what he argued at length from primary sources in his and Creation of Freedom (2013). A revision of Insoles McDonald Lectures given in 2013, this book has a more conversational approach for an audience who is less familiar with Kant's work and (most likely) less interested in incessant production of secondary literature on same.Insole's retrieval narrative is that young Kants untroubled compatabilist theism gave way to doubts which were gadfly of Critical project, transcendental idealism, and Kant whose influence is still felt today. Specifically, was increasingly troubled by idea of Gods total causal determination and defended human agents metaphysical independence in order to secure human freedom for moral responsibility. In this book, this narrative is reprised as a journey through pedagogically-minded conceptual rooms which chart changes in Kant's thinking alongside changes in his thought-environment.Insole is a quick but careful guide through these rooms, covering a remarkable amount of philosophical ground with an eye to highlighting essential figures and concepts without bogging down general audience in a morass of unfamiliar names and jargon. Insole is both pedagogically astute in his choice of analogies and an adept writer with surprising humor for a book on Kant. His analogy of the best possible rummage box for possibilities in divine understanding stands out as an example of both (p. 20). Another highlight is his ability to give a sympathetic analysis of divisions of scholarship on tricky concept of noumena and what we can think about them, while demonstrating his own commitment and its basis in a concise and admirably clear ten pages (pp. 95-105).It is tempting to call this a popular theo-biography of Kant, but it is not nearly broad enough in its discussion of Kant's life or work to be a satisfying account of Kant's theological life. Human freedom and divine action are not merely at center; they eclipse other ideas of theological importance or interest in Kant's work. The title of book comes from Lectures on Philosophical Doctrine of Religion (LPR), where says that concept of can neither be resisted nor tolerated (p. 7). While Insole shows how intolerability surmounts irresistibility late in Kant's life, his positive characterization of Kant's belief in during Critical period seems implausibly thin. Insole interprets practical postulates clearly, but they do not reveal character of Kant's beliefs so much as how he warrants those beliefs. They show how vital thought belief in was to stability of a moral life, but fail to otherwise distinguish Kant's living God from blind workings of deists eternal nature. There is substantial room between audacious Swedenborg and metaphysical skepticism of Hume. Insole's failure to draw out more of appeal of implicit and explicit doctrine of from LPR weakens book. …

Book Review: The Mediation of the Spirit: Interventions in Practical Theology

Mediation of the Spirit: Interventions in Practical Theology. By Mark J. Cartledge. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2015. xvi + 174 pp. $29.00 (paper).Mark Cartledge has produced a lucidly written, closely argued, and highly engaging volume considerably exceeds its stated purpose. Writing primarily for students and scholars of (p. 164), and seeking (in the spirit of the Pentecostal Manifestos series of which it is a part) make a distinctive contribution to the discipline of theology from a P/C [Pentecostal/Charismatic] perspective (p. xii), Cartledge does all of this and considerably more. Cartledge writes from within the P/C tradition, but also as a member of the larger theology community (he amply demonstrates a broad knowledge of and respect for the literature across the theological spectrum), and as an Anglican priest. His book will be a welcome addition to the library of students and practitioners of pastoral care and counseling, congregational leaders (lay and clergy), and a general audience of readers of theology, along with his intended audience.What makes the book so helpful and important is in bringing a P/C perspective, with its particular emphasis on pneumatology, to bear on the field of theology, Cartledge brings the other emphases of classical theology into the conversation, too. This is because, as Cartledge states, The restoration of pneumatology does more than bring the Spirit back into the conversation; it inevitably restores a discussion of the doctrines of the Trinity and Christology as well (p. 117). In addition, a very thorough survey of the theology literature finds practical theology seems either reluctant to use Scripture or under the spell of social science (p. 44). Cartledge brings a close exegesis of biblical texts, particularly from Acts, along with a proposal that theology engage more consciously and rigorously with systematic theological loci (p. 141), in a way expands the vocabulary and resources of the field without in any way diminishing the importance of the emphases he thinks have characterized it. He finds much of value in the contributions of liberation theology, feminist theology, and old-line liberal theology as they have informed the field. His concern, though, is without closer attention to close biblical exegesis and systematic theology, theology runs the risk of engaging in anthropological discourse under the guise of (p. …

History of the World Christian Movement by Dale T. Irvin, Scott W. Sunquist, and: Faith and Order in the U.S.A.: A Brief History of Studies and Relationships by William A. Norgren

Reviewed by: History of the World Christian Movement by Dale T. Irvin, Scott W. Sunquist, and: Faith and Order in the U.S.A.: A Brief History of Studies and Relationships by William A. Norgren Timothy T. N. Lim Dale T. Irvin and Scott W. Sunquist, History of the World Christian Movement. Vol. 2, Modern Christianity from 1454 to 1800. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012. Pp. 503. $40.00, paper. William A. Norgren, Faith and Order in the U.S.A.: A Brief History of Studies and Relationships. Grand Rapids, MI, and Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2011. Pp. 97. $20.00, paper. Norgren provides a remarkably short and informative booklet on the origins and development of Faith and Order in North America (F&O, U.S.A.) by the first executive director of the National Council of Churches’ Commission on Faith and Order, and not found in The Faith and Order Commission Handbook (National Council of the Churches of Christ U.S.A., 2005). In three chapters, he registers the accomplishments and trajectories of F&O, U.S.A., with the corresponding world-level initiatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC) as its backdrop. He locates historic and mainline Protestant churches’ growth toward ecumenism, union, and mutual recognition between churches in American and Europe. Though I did not expect a carefully accounted progress of ecumenicity in Congregationalist ecclesial communions such as Quakers, Brethren, Mennonites, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Holiness, and Adventist churches in periods when these groups have not yet appeared on ecumenical radar screens, I was pleasantly surprised that the book discusses nondenominational Protestant agencies, the Roman Catholic Church’s ecumenical contributions, and Orthodox ecumenical participation. It did, as I anticipated, review some of the Faith and Order (both WCC and National levels) and WCC’s milestone-efforts in combating racism, ethnic discrimination, and sociopolitical tyrannies, even as this ecumenical body engages theological loci, spirituality, gender, sexuality, bioethics, justice, peacekeeping, ecology, religious pluralism, and Muslim-Christian and Jewish-Christian relations. The appendix [End Page 197] on a 1969 finding of the National Faith and Order Colloquium on “Salvation and Life” conceptions between communions remains helpful as ecumenical officers build on recent decades of development, including Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (WCC, 1982), The Church (WCC, 2013), convergences on justification between communions, and From Conflict to Communion (LWF-PCPCU, 2013). The Irvin and Sunquist volume is a sequel to a groundbreaking history (Orbis, 2001; 8th repr., 2007). Together, both volumes differ from the multi-authored A World History of Christianity edited by Adrian Hastings (Eerdmans, 1999). Irvin, president and professor at New York Theological Seminary, and Sunquist, dean for intercultural studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, are ordained ministers in American Baptist Churches U.S.A. and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) respectively. The text contains six chapters in Part I’s major transformations in 1454–1600, seven chapters in Part II’s global religious and secular encounters of the seventeenth century, and six chapters in Part III’s independence, liberation, and awakenings of the eighteenth century. Here is finally a volume on global Christian history, covering Africa, America (North America, the Caribbean, and South America), Asia (Eastern Asia, South Asia), and Europe, which engages topics of church reforms and renewal (Catholics, Protestants, Congregationalists), and denominationalism, empire, enlightenment, and politics in the period 1454–1800. The authors acknowledge that their undertakings could not be possible without support from innumerable local and international colleagues they have consulted for over a decade. Timothy T. N. Lim London School of Theology, London, U.K.; and King’s Evangelical Divinity School, Broadstairs, U.K. Copyright © 2017 Journal of Ecumenical Studies

In Our Time: Nostra Aetate—How Catholics and Jews Built a New Relationship by James M. Barrens, and: Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, before the Rainbow ed. by Alan L. Berger, and: Seeking Shalom: The Journey to Right Relationship between Catholics and Jews by Philip A. Cunningham, and: The Holocaust and Nostra Aetate: Toward a Greater Understanding ed. by Carol

Reviewed by: In Our Time: Nostra Aetate—How Catholics and Jews Built a New Relationshipby James M. Barrens, and: Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, before the Rainbowed. by Alan L. Berger, and: Seeking Shalom: The Journey to Right Relationship between Catholics and Jewsby Philip A. Cunningham, and: The Holocaust and Nostra Aetate: Toward a Greater Understandinged. by Carol Rittner Eugene J. Fisher James M. Barrens, In Our Time: Nostra Aetate—How Catholics and Jews Built a New Relationship. St. Petersburg, FL: Mr. Media Books, 2015. Pp. 114. $5.99, paper. Post-Holocaust Jewish-Christian Dialogue: After the Flood, before the Rainbow. Edited by Alan L. Berger. Lanham, MD, and London: Lexington Books (Rowman & Littlefield), 2015. Pp. 162. $39.99, paper. Philip A. Cunningham, Seeking Shalom: The Journey to Right Relationship between Catholics and Jews. Grand Rapids, MI, and Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2015. Pp. 268. $30.00, paper. The Holocaust and Nostra Aetate: Toward a Greater Understanding. Edited by Carol Rittner. Greensburg, PA: National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, Seton Hill University, 2017. Pp. 239. $15.00, paper. These four books celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of what was has been called the most revolutionary document of our times, Nostra aetate( NA), promulgated by the Second Vatican Council on October 28, 1965. Barrens's In Our Timesuccinctly summarizes for the general reader the significance of the document, especially its fourth section on Jews and Judaism, and subsequent Catholic Church documents expanding its implications. NArejected two millennia of Christian teaching of contempt against Jews and Judaism in favor of acknowledging the ongoing validity of God's covenant with the Jews as the People of God. Barrens summarizes the tragic history of accusing the Jews collectively of killing Jesus and of claiming that Judaism (the revelation by God to the Jewish People in the Hebrew Scriptures [HS]) had been superseded or replaced by Christianity. The teaching of contempt led to persecution and massacres of Jews, to their marginalization and being forced into ghettos, and to blood-libel charges and expulsion from numerous European countries beginning with England in the twelfth century. The teaching of contempt laid the groundwork for the development of modern racial Antisemitism and the Holocaust/ Shoah, the founding of the State of Israel as a refuge for Jewish survivors, and the Catholic examination of conscience led by such figures as Saints John XXIII and John Paul II, French Jewish historian Jules Isaac, Cardinal Augustin Bea S.J., and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Barrens presents the teachings of NAand the fruits of Catholic-Jewish dialogue since the Council, concluding with Pope Francis and the future of the relationship. Appended are key texts and a short bibliography. It is an excellent book for beginners in the field and for local parish/synagogue dialogue groups. [End Page 352] Cunningham's lengthier study will be richly rewarding for those who wish to delve more deeply into the re-thinking of Catholic understandings of the HS and the New Testament (NT), as well as the new theological understandings and insights precipitated by NAand subsequent Catholic-Jewish dialogue, with regard to both Judaism and our understanding of the nature of the church and of many of the central elements of our faith. He makes full use of the relevant Catholic documents, both of the Holy See and the U.S. Catholic Bishops, especially God's Mercy Endures Forever: Guidelines on the Presentation of Jews and Judaism in Catholic Preaching(Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy, 1988). Cunningham surveys biblical scholarship, in which Catholic scholars were allowed to engage by Pope Pius XII's classic encyclical, Divino afflante Spiritu(1943), how historical-critical biblical scholarship laid the groundwork for NA, and how NAaltered our understanding of the Bible in general and of the NT—especially the epistles of St. Paul, the Gospels' presentation of Judaism, the passion narratives, and Christology. Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism are seen as intertwining branches from the root of Second Temple Judaism (see Romans 9–11). NAand subsequent official documents, which in turn have been based upon the best of Catholic biblical and theological scholarship developed in...

The Spirituality of Wine by Gisela Kreglinger

Reviewed by: The Spirituality of Wine by Gisela Kreglinger Thomas McElligott The Spirituality of Wine. By Gisela Kreglinger. Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016. 257pp. $24.00 Is this some kind of joke? We know that drinking wine can lighten our spirits, but can it make us “spiritual”? Does the fermentation of grapes actually do more than make the drinker gently intoxicated? (98) Sommeliers often compare the taste of wine to fruits, vegetables, chocolates, and other foods—but to the spiritual? How would one taste the “spirituality” of a wine? [End Page 271] Kreglinger divides her study into two parts: “Sustenance” and “Sustainability.” She supports her argument for the spirituality of wine in the five chapters of the first section of her book by arguing that the spirituality of wine grows out of an understanding of the role of wine in the Bible, the history of the development of the use of wine in the life of Christians, the centrality of wine in the Eucharist, and the presence of wine at Christian festival days to enhance joy in celebration. Finally, she explores the important roles that the senses of taste and smell play in identifying those qualities in a well-crafted wine that invite a contemplation of wine as a gift of God’s creation (118). Kreglinger interprets her study of the multiple biblical references to wine and the history of the integration of wine in the life of Christians as an appreciation of all of life as being in “a profound relationship with God and in deep fellowship with God’s creation” (35). She appreciates the Lord’s Supper as the prayer that employs the mind, the senses, and the imagination to accept Christ’s redemptive presence in the bread and wine as “the fruit of the very earth that God made . . . and anchors our spirituality in creation” (67). Our five senses, Kreglinger states in the fifth chapter of Part One, are “an extravagant gift from God” (100). She describes how to use these senses to savor the flavors of a sip of well-crafted wine as it enters the mouth and awakens the palate. It “reveals to us something of God’s abundant generosity” and savoring it “can become a prayer” (110). Does prayer here mean thoughtfully partaking of a glass of wine in a kind of “mindfulness” in which the taster recalls the work of the vintner, the work of nature, and finally, God? She does not say. The “sustenance” of the spirituality of wine discussed in Part One depends upon the attentive taster who brings to the enjoyment of a glass of wine the biblical, historical, and sacramental connections of wine and human life. That seems to be a theological appreciation of wine. In fact, Kreglinger understands spirituality as “a strain of Christian theology”(1). The second part of Kreglinger’s argument, summarized below, shows how the vintner comes to the spirituality of wine through a careful dedication, almost devotion, to every aspect of the craft of the vintner. Kreglinger develops her argument in these final five chapters of Part Two, “Sustainability,” by introducing the reader to the kind of attention several vintners from Germany, France, and the United States pay to every aspect of the crafting of their wine. They regard their work as a vocation because every aspect of their work presents them with questions and challenges about how they need to live in relation to what they are doing (121). These vintners live the spirituality of wine because of the way their work transforms them. The German vintner Armin Störrlein described his work as “a cooperation with God’s creation” in which the wine he produces respects the God-given natural environment of the vineyard from which the resulting wine is a gift of God (133). Jason Lett, an Oregonian vintner, offered that the crafting of his wine brings him “a deep sense of the interconnectedness of life” (136). Russ Raney, another Oregonian vintner, understands “the land and the vine is a God-given mandate and calls him to a life of gratitude.” He conceives of the vintner as the responsible custodian of the land so that the wine that eventually...

The Education of Gerald Ford. By HendrikBooraem V.Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016. 251 pp.

Presidential Studies QuarterlyVolume 46, Issue 4 p. 951-952 BOOK REVIEW The Education of Gerald Ford. By Hendrik, Booraem V. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016. 251 pp. Benjamin René Jordan, Benjamin René Jordan Christian Brothers UniversitySearch for more papers by this author Benjamin René Jordan, Benjamin René Jordan Christian Brothers UniversitySearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 September 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12330Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume46, Issue4December 2016Pages 951-952 RelatedInformation

Book Review: The Wisdom of the Liminal: Evolution and Other Animals in Human Becoming

The Wisdom of Liminal: Evolution and Other Animals in Human Becoming. By Celia Deane-Drummond. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, xii + 346 pp. $35.00 (paper).This is a remarkably comprehensive journey by one of major scholars of contemporary science-religion debate. Celia Deane-Drummond is currently Professor of Theology at Notre Dame, though some of this work can be traced back to her work at University of Chester (where she collaborated with David Clough) and to her leadership of a year's program at Princeton Center for Theological Inquiry (where she was influenced by Agustin Fuentes). The book is a mine of information for classes of final-year undergraduates and above, and for all researchers in theological anthropology, animal theology, and interface between evolution and theology.Deane-Drummond's interest is in liminal space between ourselves and other animals, and she brings to exploration of this space many compelling ingredients: her own scientific understandings, augmented by those of others, especially Fuentes; her (impressive) grasp of Aquinas and secondary literature on him; and her interest in theo-drama as a way of doing justice to dynamic, particular, intimate, more than a grandnarrative approach will tend to do. The latter, of course, goes back to her work on von Balthasar.On her way Deane-Drummond covers very important and muchcontested subject of evolutionary psychology of religion. Then comes a series of chapters on reason and cognition, freedom and agency, morality and virtue, and language and communication, together with work on niche construction and the drama of kinship. Each one of these chapters is a feast of learning and insight. Deane-Drummond s ability to enter into critical dialogue with such a range of thinkers is remarkable. In each chapter, Aquinas's thought is used as a kind of ground bass from which Deane-Drummond improvises. It is not at first evident why Aquinas is asked to serve this role, but I became persuaded that a pre-modem thinker of his stature can indeed be a very helpful starting point from which to consider contemporary contestations, especially given Aquinas's willingness to see traces of Trinity, and even a likeness of God, in creatures other than humans.Deane-Drummond's desire for an expansive account of what it means to bear image of God, understood in terms of performance in a drama shared with other creatures, seems absolutely right. …

Creative Adaptations in an Interdependent World: Recent Studies in Religion and Ecology

The Earth in Gods Economy: Creation, Salvation and Consummation in Ecological Perspective. By Emst M. Conradie. Studies in Religion and Environment. Wien: LIT Verlag, 2015. 368 pp. $69.95 (paper).The Future of Ethics: Sustainability, Social Justice, and Religious Creativity. By Willis Jenkins. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2013. 352 pp. $34.95 (paper).Preservation and Protest: Theological Foundations for an EcoEschatological Ethics. By Ryan Patrick McLaughlin. Emerging Scholars. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2014. 460 pp. $49.00 (paper).A Political Theology of Climate Change. By Michael S. Northcott. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing, 2013.345 pp. $30.00 (paper).Systematic Theology and Climate Change: Ecumenical Perspectives. Edited by Michael S. Northcott and Peter M. Scott. London: Routledge, 2014. 180 pp. $49.95 (paper).Earth-honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key. By Larry L. Rasmussen. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. 480 pp. $47.95 (paper).The relationship between human beings and ecosystems that both threaten and sustain us has always been complex, but thresholds that have been crossed by human technological intervention in age of Anthropocene (our current age in which human activity has become leading influence on environment) have turned that relationship into a problem. Wicked problems are problems that cannot be treated with linear, analytic approaches. They are often difficult to clearly define, have many interdependencies, and are multi-causal. Attempts to address them often lead to unforeseen consequences. They are often unstable and have no clear solutions. They are socially complex and rarely responsibility of a single organization. They involve changing behavior. For all of these reasons they are frequently characterized by chronic policy failure.1The challenges of managing complex adaptive systems that make up planet Earth are not only scientific, or only technological, philosophical, political, ethical, or theological. They are all of these. The truth of Anthropocene is that consequences of human actions have grown ever larger through combination of population growth and advances in technology so that human action now must be understood to be a causal contributor to functioning and malfunctioning of systems that keep Earth habitable. This truth challenges modernity's assumptions about relative stability of natural world and division between realms of nature and culture. The crumbling worldview of modernity stands in need of something more than cosmetic repairs, and ecotheology is turning to resources of world's religions in search of an alternate worldview that can enable us to navigate wicked problems we now face.Do we need a new politics? A new economy? A revised theology or a new religion? New practices or new ethics? This review of six recent contributions to conversation indicates that answer is yes to all of above. These texts all offer their own improvisations on themes of modernity, technology, climate change, religion, and ethics, developing different approaches to interrelated aspects of problems we face. Although none possesses the to our current environmental challenges, nature of wicked problems means that a single comprehensive solution does not exist. Instead, each offers a piece of solution in their visions of ethics, politics, economy, and theology that we need today.A Theological EnsembleIn Systematic Theology and Climate Change: Ecumenical Perspectives, editors Michael S. Northcott and Peter M. Scott bring together theologians from Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions to critically retrieve Christian doctrine in light of climate change. The main point of consensus among these theologians is that anthropogenic climate change is a real threat to flourishing, and possibly survival, of both human beings and other forms of life. …

Christians in South Indian Villages, 1959–2009: Decline and Revival in Telangana. By John B. Carman and Chilkuri Vasantha Rao . Studies in the History of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014. xvi + 242 pp. $35.00 paper.

Christians in South Indian Villages, 1959–2009: Decline and Revival in Telangana. By John B. Carman and Chilkuri Vasantha Rao . Studies in the History of Christian Missions. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014. xvi + 242 pp. $35.00 paper.