Barclay and the Bible

It has been a bit, but as promised there will be a series of reviews coming your way in the next few days. While there is a very good chance I am the only one who cares, I am treating this as a disicpline in which I practice summarizing the arguments of a work, and remembering the work itself. This time through I want to strongly endorse John Barclay's work entitled Colossians and Philemon which is a very aptly named study guide. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Barclay's work, he is an excellent New Testament scholar, currently in Brittain at the University of Durham. He has siginificant knowledge of the New Testament, early Christianity (he is one of the leading Josephus scholars), is well versed in postmodern lit-theory and looks just like this photograph: His work on Colossians is primarily focussed on the first two of these gifts, although there are hints of the third throughout. This book is tough to summarize for several reasons, first being that it is not really a commentary of Colossians. Barclay does not go verse by verse throughout the book and give us background, or his personal reading of the text. Rather, and this is the second reason this book is tough to summarize, Barclay attempts to give an overview of the scholarship surrounding Colossians while providing insight to the debates in Pauline scholarship. For example, Barclay begins by giving a very lucid reading of how Pauline Colossians really is, is Paul the author or not? Barclay while admitting that there is no real, clear cut, historically viable solution to this problem, rightly calls the entire debate into question, "Perhaps with our intense concern to demarcate a 'Paul' from 'non-Paul' we are working with an artificial or anachronistic notion of individual uniqueness..." Throughout this work Barclay is able to provide key pieces of historical research, combined with larger argument, to help his readers navigate through the scholarship. This book is an excellent resource for any pastor who wants to know where to situate the commentary's they are using, or who would like to better understand the "big picture" of Colossians. Very, very, helpful book that reads quickly and makes you wish more of this sort of work were available.

Fletch

My Take
So this is my 100th post. I struggled long and hard to male this post noteworthy or exceptional for some reason, but alas it is not to be. Instead I am going to continue my series of book reviews no seems to care about. The books this time are three parts of the series of mysteries centered around "Fletch" created by Gregory McDonald. I have read a total of four Fletch mysteries, and also son of Fletch. The film version only vaguely resembles the books, while Flitch Lives is entirely outside the scope of McDonald's work. On the whole, McDonald is gifted, his second Fletch novel was the first sequel to ever win the Edgar Alan Poe Mystery Writer's Award after the original had one. To give a bit more sense, I read the first three Fletch novels in a span of about 72 hours, or approximately a book a day. Good, fun, fiction with a likable (by almost everyone) hero.

Summary
The Fletch novels are John Grisham novels with better dialog. They are fast paced, involve conspiracies, plot twists, foreign affairs, scandals, the government and serve as an insider's critique of the press (particularly print media). McDonald has a knack for dialog. He is capable of writing the way people speak which is quite a gift. You do not get long, flowing accounts of setting or character, but you do get the terse, rapid description of a former journalist. It seems that any writer who has worked as a journalist, or as a printer, has a more innate sense of the value of words. They are surprisingly efficient. McDonald is adept at juggling more than one story line at time and allowing the reader to slowly unwrap the mystery. None of the Fletch novels end with a twist that was unforeseeable, but they all end with a twist that males good sense with the rest of the story. As a reader you never feel cheated because all the information you need is there all along.

Reflection
The books, not surprisingly are far superior to the movies, although I must confess that Chevy Chase was almost the perfect casting choice for Fletch. If I were going to recast it now I think perhaps Topher Grace, of he could pull of the sense of cool necessary to be Fletch. It turns out there are nine total Fletch novels, and I hope to get through the rest at some point. For now I will just have to enjoy the one's I've got and watch clips on you tube. I thought you might all enjoy this trailer at the top, funny how these have changed.

The Urge to Post

I have not posted in a few days, and suddenly I feel the need. I really have nothing spectacular or insightful to post, but that has not stopped me before. It has been a while since I reviewed a book, and it looks like that trend will continue. I am working my way through Repentance in Christian Theology, which is a fairly lengthy collection of essays by some quite gifted scholars. Also in the loop right now are Colossians Remixed which started strong, but is starting to weigh me down, Robert Jenson's Systematic Theology, which is brilliant but slow going for me so far and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction which I am reading with an amazing group of college students. All of this reading at the same time insures two realities, 1. No book reviews for a while, and 2. Once one of the reviews posts, there will two or three more shortly thereafter. In the meantime two quotes I found particularly insightful:

1. In describing the emergence of post-modernism, Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat give the best, succinct account of the motivating forces:
"We live inside the future of a shattered past because that past told grand stories proved to be destructive lies. The grand story of a Marxist utopia collapsed with the Berlin Wall. The heroic tale of tecnological progress blew up with the Challenger explosion. The progress myth of democratic capitalism that promised economic prosperity and social harmony strains under the weight of economic contraction, ecological threat, and an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, both domestically and internationally. The postmodernist ethos insists that stories such as these- stories that have so shaped our lives- are not stories of emancipation and progress after all but stories of enslavement, oppression, and violence." Colossians Remixed, 23.

2. Terence Fretheim in his essay makes this very crucial point about repentance in the OT: "[T]he former prophets understand that repentance is possible, finally only because of God's promise. Human repentance constitutes a gift of God in view of the promise; indeed , repentance is not possible without the promise being understood as directly applicable to the one who would repent." Repentance in Christian Theology, 33.


More to come.

Rediscovering the Triune God

My Take
This is an excellent example of the work of the late Stanley Grenz. Rediscovering the Triune God is complete with all the helpful insight and generous spirit Grenz is well known for. This work demonstrates an overall breadth of knowledge and an acute sense of the pulse of contemporary theology. Like much of Grenz' work, what he lacks in rhetorical power or nuance he more than makes up for in research. Not a fun or easy read, but an excellent place to begin an informed discussion of trinitarian theology.

Summary
The book is split into five chapters and an epilogue. Grenz moves the reader briskly through a history of trinitarian theology before the 20th century in chapter one, focuses in on Barth and Rahner in chapter 2, and then moves into more contemporary theologians in 3-5. On the whole, the structure of the book is methodical and makes good organizational sense, but it leaves the book feeling a bit like an extended syllabus on the Trinity. On the whole though this is a broad stroked treatment of a number of key figures in theology and the import they continue to play.

Reflection
This is one of those books that I can only recommend with a huge disclaimer, if you are not a theology nerd you will hate this book. If on the other hand you have some background with the material and want a way to fill in some of the blanks in your own reading, and want a systematic overview or large map of the theological landscape, then this book is quite good. As I read through this book, I was time and again struck by two alternate thoughts: 1. It is amazing to read someone who devoted so much of his life to a particular field. Grenz never accidentally stumbles onto this material. He is clearly a skilled and generous thinker, teacher and reader. I know this not simply from this book, but also from taking classes with some of his previous students, who share these same marks of academic integrity. Grenz is the epitome of an envagelical scholar who actually does the work, which is far to rare. 2. Grenz for all his brillance, generosity, insight, and ability (not to mention his genuine humility as a person) is almost unreadable. I keep running into this problem with his work. He is clearly passionate and encyclopedic in his knowledge, but this does not translate well to his writing. It sort of makes me wish he had found a friend who was a gifted writer who could help make his work more accessible (in fact he did do this from time to time but I can't speak to the results). In the end what you get with Rediscovering the Triune God is an excellent theological history/ manual which will hopefully spur on creative, faithful thinking and preaching on the Holy Trinity.

Improvisation

My Take
Improvisation is a fantastic, challenging, helpful beginning to questions surrounding Christian ethics and basic Christian discipleship. Samuel Wells does an exceptional job of summarizing the current academic environment, and repeatedly demonstrates his knack for quality, pastoral, biblical imagination. This is as good a primer on the field of Christian Ethics as you are likely to run across.

Summary
The book is split into three major sections borrowed from the parables of Jesus. The initial section is what Wells entitles "Plowing." It is in this section that Wells "shows off" to other academics. He has an amazing handle on the discipline, and seemlessly highlights the strengths and weaknesses of dominant positions. Even more impressive is his ability to tease out of us our genuinely un-Christian views of the world around us, and shed light on a number of our hidden assumptions. Of all the sections, this one is neccessary, but also dangerous. By taking time to prepare the terrain, Wells makes sure we will not miss his point in future sections, but I suspect one has to have some background in these discussions to fully enjoy the plowing.
Next, Wells begins his section on "Planting" which is the section in which Wells begins to really connect the discipline of Christian living, with the practices and habits of theatrical improvisation. On the surface, the connection seems a bit contrived, but Wells very carefully teases out the interplay between the two arenas. For Wells, the disciplined, practiced, habit formed life of excellent improvisers is precisely the sort of life the Church has been called to. This section, for my money, is far and away the most important and creative piece of Wells work. The disciplines of assessing status, accepting and blocking, over accepting and reincorporating lost elements serve as a helpful aid for narrating how one lives as a Christian in the world.
As you may have imagined, Wells final section is called "Reaping" and is an excersise in applying the previous section to particular, contemporary, ethical questions. In this section Wells has the chance to let go and actually improvise a bit, and the results range from helpful to beautiful. He is able to model the way a church may make difficult decisions, and as well point out specifically what makes them difficult. His chapter on suffering, disease and disability is worth the price of the book by itself.

Reflection
I anticipated this book being good, and I sort of put off reading it to a time when I could focus in on it a bit more, and I think this decision paid off. By reading this book in a couple of large chunks I was able to get a real sense for the craft and care with which it was written. While this book does not often read as one long, sustained, attack, it is precisely that. In one short book, Wells has thrown down the gauntlet to both the Church and the academy. To the academy Wells rightly reminds them to take seriously their Christian practices as the only legitmate way of reflection and to the Church the challenge is to remember who they are. We must not give up our distinct habits, language and disciplines, for it is exactly these things that make us the sort of people who can recognize grace.
As a Hauweras sympathizer I am drawn to arguments like Wells' (who is one of the leading Hauweras scholars) almost existentially. There is something that is simply right and faithful about being formed over the course of your life by God's grace in community. With this in mind, here are a few of the spots where Wells "nails it":
"The practice of the moral life, meanwhile, is not so much about being creative or clever as it is about taking the right things for granted." (76)
"The church's response to both kinds of unpalatable offers should be to tell a much larger story and to stretch its imagination to the full dimensions and cosmic scope of the Christian story." (151)
"Discipleship is not simply a matter of replicating Scripture, but of being moved to learn from others' mistakes, and to tell a truthful story that reflects the truth the Bible displays." (63)
"Faithfulness is but effectiveness measured against a much longer timescale...humans are not the creators, nor the finishers, of God's story." (56)

Excellent book, particularly if you have some background in this field, and there is way more to be reaped from this work than what I have started with here. I may post once more on a couple of Wells' tangent arguments (Heroes and Saints, and Strategy and Tactics) but this is enough for now. Next week look for Grenz' "Rediscovering the Triune God."

Gilead

In an effort to both spice up my blog, and keep me accountable to reading, this is my first installment reviewing books. There is going to be a steady diet of Trinitarian theology, as well as some sin and repentance books, in the coming weeks, but today we begin with a novel.

Synopsis

Gilead is really a masterfully told memoir of an aging minister written for his young son. John Ames is aware that he will die soon, and embarks on sharing some of who he is through these letters. Gilead is the name of the small town in Iowa where Ames has spent almost his entire life. The book deals throughout with themes of fatherhood, sonship and grace, and on the whole is amazingly crafted. Robinson has a knack for wrapping you in nostalgia, and then quietly leaving you to ruminate through other people's memories. This is not a fast paced, plot driven, action infused novel, but rather feels more like an afternoon on your porch listening to a grandfather tell you stories.

Reflection

It is the disarming method of story telling that really is the trick to Gilead. At the moments when you are least ready for insight, reflection, and honest revelation, we are opened to new possibilities. I read through this book while I was in the hospital and recovering from an illness, so perhaps I was more open to questions of mortality and nostalgia than I normally am, but there were some very clear resonances for me throughout out. Ames' love affair with baseball, particularly on the radio as opposed to TV (because TV is too two-demensional), his recounting of jumping to catch a line drive as grace, and teaching children to play, was a welcome backdrop throughout the book.

I first heard about Gilead from Will Willimon, who quotes Hauweras as saying this is the first truly Barthian novel, and this takes some explaining. I think Hauweras is right, but it takes a long time to understand why. The general Barthian thrust is the need for God to be other than us, the need for God to be holy, but the peculiar Barthian slant of this work is the reliance on God speaking, and our unfaithfulness or faithfulness to that speech. The ability for Ames to look over his entire life, to see the death of a wife and a child, to never travel the world, to be willing to discard all of his sermons and books, to honestly struggle with doubt, to be estranged from his father, to witness three wars, the Depression and plagues and to still see it all is grace, as God's unproportioned gift is the Barthian core of Gilead.

I can pretty strongly reccomend Gilead with the caveat that it is not easy to read. It is a book that is so well written, you often feel cheated if you read a page to fast. Marilynne Robinson rewards her reader's patience and challenges us to savor all of it. This of course is no easy task, but doubtless there is grace in the practice.