Recent Studies In John
John: the Gospel of Life, by D. George Vanderlip (Judson Press, 1979, 144 pp., $5.95); John, by Samuel Young (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1979, 196 pp., $5.95); Deeper into John’s Gospel, by Arthur Fay Sueltz (Harper & Row, 1979, 156 pp., $4.95); and The Theology of John, by W. Robert Cook (Moody Press, 1979, 284 pp., $8.95), are reviewed by Allison A. Trites, associate professor of biblical studies, Acadia Divinity College, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada.
These four books present a wide range of material, though generally they all stand in the conservative tradition of biblical scholarship. Vanderlip handles John helpfully but nontechnically; Sueltz develops arresting sermons on selected texts; Young adopts a devotional approach; and Cook offers the most detailed and technical discussion of Johannine theology.
George Vanderlip, professor of English Bible at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, offers a clear, concise study of the fourth Gospel, enriched by useful references to Palestinian geography, archaeology, and a unique perspective of John. Dr. Vanderlip offers illuminating comments on the “I am” sayings, the role of the Holy Spirit, the use of key terms (such as “believe,” “hour,” “born again,” “Paraclete”), and the place of symbolism in John (e.g., the meaning of footwashing and the theological significance of Jesus’ turning water into wine). The book is aimed at a simple level calculated to put the deep spiritual truths of the “Gospel of Life” within easy reach of the attentive reader. This paperback is a welcome addition to the layman’s library on the fourth Gospel; many pastors will enjoy it, too.
Less rewarding is Samuel Young’s John, volume 4 in the Beacon Bible Expositions. This series seeks to provide “a systematic, devotional Bible study program for laymen and a fresh, homiletical resource for preachers.” The writers in this series are “Wesleyan in theological perspective” and “seek to interpret the gospel, pointing to the Living Word, Christ, who is the primary Subject of all Scripture, the Mediator of redemption, and the Norm of Christian living.” Young served as general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene from 1948 until his retirement in 1972, and writes with these aims in view.
The devotional purpose seems to predominate, for the author dismisses questions of introduction in four pages, consistently ignores critical problems (e.g., the woman taken in adultery, the problematic gloss in John 5:4), quotes copiously from well-known hymns, and includes an appendix with outlines on John. His exposition frequently consists in simply citing one of the modern versions or in quoting another commentator on the text of John. This commentary, unfortunately, does not live up to the stated purpose of the editors of the series, who claim that “all the benefits of the best biblical scholarship are found.” There is no recognition of the Johannine community, no concern for the use of archaeology, and no study of Johannine symbolism. It is hard to justify such books when so many fruitful studies of John are already available.
Arthur Sueltz, the senior pastor of Lake-wood First Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, California, does not try to provide a commentary on John’s Gospel in Deeper into John’s Gospel, but seeks rather to explore some of the key passages. These 22 studies are really modern sermons that challenge the average reader “to experience more fully the impact of John’s words.” The fourth Gospel packs a powerful punch, and Sueltz’s goal is to make us feel its impact. His messages are serious, thoughtful reflections on some of the central truths of our faith. A refreshing attempt is made to plumb the meaning of familiar incidents often taken for granted, and the book is punctuated with good illustrations and telling anecdotes (e.g., pp. 5, 14, 25, 66f, 103f). Occasionally Sueltz splits his infinitives (p. 83) and uses “like” when he means “as” (p. 82), but these are matters of purely academic interest. Sueltz stresses relational learning (p. 30), and writes more for the ordinary reader than the scholar. He communicates well, and some of his sentences burn their way into the memory (e.g., p. 2: we “seem to live somewhere between Eden and Gethsemane—between hiding and praying”).
W. Robert Cook, professor of biblical theology at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, Portland, Oregon, attempts to present a scholarly study of all theological truths taught in the Johannine corpus (Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation).
After an introduction to the study of Johannine thought and a discussion of his “biblioiogical assumptions,” Dr. Cook unfolds John’s doctrines of God, of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the book undertakes to study three major theological themes: John’s doctrine of salvation (developed principally in the Gospel), his teaching on the Christian life (focused primarily in the Epistles), and his view of last things (seen primarily in the Apocalypse). The book contains an extensive bibliography: four indexes of Greek words, authors, subjects, and Scripture references.
The material is well organized, and proceeds logically from section to section. There are many interesting discussions of Greek grammar, points of exegesis, and theological issues (e.g., eternal security, perfectionism, the death of Christ, the doctrine of sin). Parts 2 and 3 on “Soteriology” and “The Christian Life” were especially helpful to this reviewer. Probably the most controversial section of the book is part 4—dispensational, pretribulational eschatology without any detailed attempt to consider other hermeneutical options open to evangelicals.
A serious weakness is that Professor Cook shows no detailed acquaintance with much recent work on the fourth Gospel, the Johannine Epistles, and the Book of the Revelation. He ignores recent studies by Oscar Cullmann, Louis Martyn, and Raymond Brown, C. H. Dodd, Howard Marshall, G. R. Beasley-Murray, G. B. Caird, and R. H. Mounce. However, Dean Cook does isolate many Johannine themes in a profitable way, offers useful comments on translation problems, and presents his views with straightforward candor.
This reviewer would have appreciated a more extensive treatment of John’s use of witness concepts. This is touched on in the Gospel, but is largely overlooked in the discussion of the First Epistle and the Apocalypse. The hermeneutical questions involved in the use of biblical numerology and a futuristic approach to the Apocalypse were other important issues that were not discussed very adequately. Moreover, the fact that the Apocalypse is an example of apocalyptic literature was minimized. Nevertheless, when due allowance has been made for all these caveats, it must be said that this is a challenging, thought-provoking book.
Opening Some New Vistas
Encounter with the Text: Form and History in the Hebrew Bible, edited by Martin J. Buss (Fortress Press, Philadelphia, and Scholars Press, Semeia Supplements, No. 8, 1979, 224 pp., $5.95 pb), reviewed by Peter C. Craigie, dean, faculty of humanities and professor of religious studies, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
A task group was formed within the Society of Biblical Literature in 1971 to address the topic “Methodology and Its History.” This volume, edited by Martin Buss and containing essays from 11 contributors, is the principal outcome of the work of the task group.
Part 1 contains two major essays. The first, by Martin Buss, is entitled “Understanding Communication”; it is on the one hand the most scientific article in the collection, and on the other hand the most obscure essay in the entire volume. The second, by Hugh White, conveys a clear account of the possibilities of structural analysis for biblical studies. Part 2 contains three clearly written essays pertaining to relatively new methods in contemporary biblical criticism: sociology (Norman Gottwald), redaction criticism (John Willis), and rhetorical criticism (Roy Melguin). In part 3, there are two linguistic and literary studies: Wolfgang Roth, following the path of Paul Ricoeur, develops a linguistic approach, while John Gammie employs a literary approach involving theological reflection. The fourth and final part of the book contains four essays by younger scholars, developing what are described as “human issues” in interpretation.
It is difficult to review a book with 11 different contributors, and inevitably an element of subjectivity creeps into the reviewing process. My subjective response to the first half of the book was probably one of boredom; the essays were generally clear and consistent, but did not grasp my attention, nor did they open up new vistas for interpretation. (Such an observation no doubt reflects more negatively upon the reviewer than the reviewed!) But I mention this initial reaction by way of background to my response to part 4; at last my interest was aroused, and the possibility of new vistas and new understanding emerged. Dale Patrick writes on “Political Exegesis,” with an admirable concern for the contemporary relevance of the Old Testament and a fine sensitivity to the problems inherent in any approach toward political exegesis. And implicitly he raises questions about the whole nature and role of criticism.
Patrick’s essay is followed by Stephen Reid’s “Violence and Vengeance,” in which (from a more philosophical perspective) the possibility of a black hermeneutic is considered. And Christine Allen (“On me be the curse, my son”) takes into account feminist considerations in an examination of the Rebekah story in Genesis 23–29. These three essays I found particularly stimulating and interesting, opening up the possibilities inherent in the book’s title—Encounter with the Text.
Much of this book will not be easy going for the general reader, but parts of it will be important for the student, scholar, and pastor who desire to keep up with some of the trends in Old Testament scholarship.
Focusing On The Death Of Jesus
What Really Happened When Christ Died? by Moret H. Dinsmore (Accent Books, 1979, 159 pp., $3.95); The Man Who Died for Me, by Herbert Lockyer (Word Books, 1979, 160pp., $6.95); The Cross: Tradition and Interpretation, translated by Elke Jessett (Eerdmans, 1979, 162 pp., $6.95); are reviewed by Robert W. Lyon, professor of New Testament interpretation, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.
Here are three very diverse books on the Cross of Christ. Dinsmore, a Baptist pastor, has written a book that is marked by excessive literalism and a curious imagination on historical matters, but also by undoubted passion to proclaim the story of the Cross. His reconstruction of “history’s most lifeshaking week” will hardly convince any except those who will feel comfortable with his use of Scripture.
According to Dinsmore, Jesus was crucified on Wednesday afternoon, rather than on Friday, and was buried before sundown that evening; he was raised on Saturday evening at 6 P. M. and was thus dead for three days and three nights. His basis for this is found in Matthew 12:40 when Jesus said that the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and in John 11:9: “Are there not twelve hours in the day?” The book is occasionally harsh, as when he refers to the “sign seekers” meaning, apparently, the charismatic movement.
Lockyer’s book strikes a different note entirely. It is simply a series of devotional meditations on the death and resurrection of our Lord. One will not go to the book for exegetical help, yet there are moments of profound insight into the mystery of Christ. Lockyer is an avid advocate of alliteration (example: his magnetic person; his magnetic passion; his magnetic power), and at times his efforts are strained, hence distracting. This type of literature is a constant reminder of the inscrutable depths of the mystery of the Cross and of our need always to read with the heart as well as the head.
The third book is by the long-time director for biblical studies of the World Council of Churches, and while it is intended to be a technical and academic study of how the Cross was understood in the early church, the book also reveals the author’s own authentic commitment to the message of the Cross. After an opening chapter on what is known historically about the crucifixion of Jesus, the three following chapters discuss the various ways by which the early church discovered and expressed its significance. There is first an inquiry into the earliest, precanonical traditions, then an examination of two Pauline texts (“case studies”), and finally the redactional activity of the four evangelists.
The entire book reveals an intimate, firsthand knowledge of the biblical texts as well as the critical literature related to their investigation. One finds brief summaries of such diverse problems as the work of form critics, the (to us, surprisingly) limited use of Isaiah 53, the north and south Galatian theories, and much more. Throughout the book, reverence and an inquiring mind walk hand in hand.
At the end of his study, Weber offers a quite useful bibliography of 22 pages, listed topically. Only one thing mars the book: there are no footnotes and no indexes, in spite of the fact that numerous authors and studies are referred to and even quoted. The book can be so useful to students that if a second edition is ever offered, this omission should be cared for.
Understanding Our Evangelical Past
The Gospel in America: Themes in the Story of America’s Evangelicals, by John D. Woodbridge, Mark A. Noll, and Nathan O. Hatch (Zondervan Publishing House, 1979, 286 pp., $9.95), is reviewed by Richard L. Troutman, head, Department of History, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green.
Evangelicals take pride in the fact that Christianity is a religion deeply rooted in history. For the most part, however, that pride has not been translated into the time and effort necessary to understand the historic context out of which their faith has emerged. Furthermore, American evangelicals have little or no understanding of the evangelical experience in America. If one holds to the enlightened position (as historians do) that only by studying the past can one understand the present, then this book, written primarily for the layman, is a must for every informed evangelical.
The three authors identify themselves as belonging to the Reformed-Presbyterian-Baptist traditions. All three are evangelicals as well as historians, and their faith shines through.
As the subtitle implies, the authors have not written a definitive history of American evangelicals, but rather have presented certain broad themes that are crucial to an understanding of the movement. These include theology, attitudes toward the Bible and the church, and the evangelical interaction with American culture.
In the chapters devoted to evangelical theology, the authors have attempted not only to present clearly and simply what major evangelical theologians have thought about God, but to show how these theologians were influenced by the intellectual currents of their day. In similar fashion they have traced evangelical attitudes toward the Bible. In response to those who argue that the idea of inerrancy dates only from the 1880s, the authors observe that although the idea may be expressed by a number of terms, it has been “well grounded in Protestantism since the Reformation.”
In dealing with evangelicals and the church, the authors have focused upon three main themes: revivalism, Americanization, and separation. Although revivalism is treated sympathetically as a means of bringing large numbers of people to commit their lives to Christ, the authors note that it has suffered from the “demagoguery and showmanship” of some revivalists.
The authors offer some thoughtful observations on the Americanization of the church and separation. They point out that in contrast to the Puritans who correctly saw the church as the “primary agent of God’s meaningful activity in history,” American Christians since the early nineteenth century have had difficulty in understanding the church as a significant institution. Revivalism, individualism, and denominationalism have been largely responsible for this relatively low view of the church. On the matter of separation, the authors state that the splitting of denominations has been due primarily to conflicts over the essence of the faith as well as over specific doctrines and practices, and to the influence of powerful leaders.
Two concluding chapters deal with evangelical attitudes toward the nation and society.
The Gospel in America is a good book. In general it is well conceived and well written. The authors have handled controversial issues with eminent fairness and obviously have a deep appreciation for our evangelical heritage. On occasion, a statement is overdrawn as, for example, the observation that in 1776 the blacks in America “already knew by experience the kind of slavery that patriotic Americans went to war to avoid for themselves.” Also, as historians the authors should know better than to take direct quotations from secondary sources (in one case an American history text) when, with a little effort, the quotations could have been found in printed primary materials in any good research library. Nevertheless, the authors are to be commended for making such an important contribution to our understanding of the evangelical past.
A Balanced Presentation
The Trauma of Transparency, by J. Grant Howard (Multnomah, 1979, 235 pp., $7.95), is reviewed by Em Griffin, associate professor of communications, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.
There seems to be very little middle ground when evangelicals write on interpersonal communication. The author is either an unabashed apostle of openness and honesty (Bruce Larson, The Relational Revolution) or an avowed skeptic toward anything that smacks of a humanistic emphasis on self-actualization (Paul Vitz, Psychology as Religion: The Cult of Self-Worship). Dr. Howard does a good job in presenting a balanced position as he deals with the thorny issues of face-to-face relationships.
He presents a well-thought-out rationale for a positive self-concept that avoids the extremes of the “I am a worm” school on the one hand and self-idolatry on the other. He has an equally healthy emphasis on the lost practice of Christians confessing their sins one to another after the scriptural pattern set forth in James 5:16. Unfortunately, there are some significant problems with the book that mar this good effort.
First, Howard assumes that it’s possible to synthesize a communication theology from the biblical witness, but this is a shaky assumption. He ends up drawing a number of horizontal man-man communication principles based upon the vertical God-man model. But is there sufficient scriptural data to warrant this method? Jesus’ teachings went in the opposite direction. He illustrated mysterious God-man relations in terms of the familiar human bridegroom, father-son, master-servant bonds.
Second, if a theology of communication is possible, it should be based on the sound hermeneutical principle of drawing on portions of Scripture that deal systematically with interpersonal communication rather than patching together proof texts. That might prevent us from making the kind of questionable pronouncement that Howard makes: “A bold authoritative confidence is the picture of the biblical communicator.” In other words, it’s a sin to be shy.
Third, the book is written in a style that is lively—sometimes catchy, sometimes cute. The reader will wish the author would illustrate his many didactic statements. For instance, “Christians have resources to draw on that non-Christians don’t.” The statement obviously is true. But what are they?
On the other hand, I did particularly appreciate two things. At the end of each chapter, Howard puts the reader in touch with a number of excellent Christian writers, such as John Powell, Paul Tournier, Ray Stedman, Reuel Howe, and David Augsburger, who speak to the questions of transparency. He also capsulizes the trauma the conservative church has experienced concerning relationships. We have often been more orthodox in handling God’s Word than we have been in dealing with God’s people.
Daniel For Today
The Lord Is King: The Message of Daniel, by Ronald S. Wallace (InterVarsity Press, 1979, 200 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Raymond B. Dillard, associate professor of Old Testament, language and literature, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Prophecy buffs would find this volume on Daniel devoid of much serious, detailed exegesis, while those who are a bit weary of prophecy buffs would find the volume a positive delight. Prophetic schemes complete with charts of eschatological events, the latest reckoning on the chronology of the 70 weeks, the answer to what is represented by the toes of the image or the 10 horns of the beast, the role of the United Nations and the European Common Market in the end times—if this is what you are looking for in a book about Daniel, you had best look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a study of those things that are central and clear in Daniel for both his own day and ours, this volume is a good place for some help.
As with other volumes in “The Bible Speaks Today” series, Wallace treads the middle ground between commentary and sermon; and the author’s position on matters of date, authorship, and unity are traditionally evangelical (pp. 16–22, 165, 187–190). Short summaries relate Daniel to other genres of prophetic, apocalyptic, and wisdom literature (22–29).
One temptation in showing how “the Bible speaks today” is for an author or preacher to make his points on the basis of his assessment of the psychological state or motivation of the characters in the narrative. The obvious danger is that this subjective assessment of psychological state easily becomes the basis for moralizing that is not clearly anchored to the intent of the text; it makes for vivid writing and immediate application, though often at a tangent to the central concern of a passage. Wallace succumbs at this point on occasion (pp. 50–51, 62–64, 70–71, 146).
Too often writers on the book of Daniel are carried away either by preoccupation with details of eschatological expectation or the necessity of answering the pronouncements of higher criticism. Wallace provides a well-written and happy alternative that concentrates on Daniel’s central thrust toward the concerns of his audience and those concerns as they translate to our own day.
Book Briefs
Church History: American Colonial Period
Law and Society in Puritan Massachusetts Essex County, 1629–1692 (University of North Carolina Press), by D. T. Konig, is an incisive new study of Puritan life. A somewhat Freudian look is The Language of Puritan Feeling: An Exploration in Literature, Psychology, and Social History (Rutgers University Press), by David Leverenz.
An excellent collection of essays is Puritan Influences in American Literature (University of Illinois Press), edited by Emory Elliot. From Wilderness to Wasteland: The Trial of the Puritan God in the American Imagination (Kennikat), by Charles Berryman, traces the transformation of religious dogmatism to skeptical humanism. An extremely valuable guidebook to this period (and later) is American Prose to 1820: A Guide to Information Sources (Gale Research). There are 3,000 annotated entries here, covering 83 major authors of the period and others.
