By Stephen J. Binz, 150 pages, Word Among Us.
Lectio divina is a prayerful way of reading the Bible that has been practiced for centuries by Christians. Rather than intellectually approaching the Bible, the reader approaches with an open and humble heart.
The Bible is not a finished product, but something that has life. As it is inspired, it can inspire us today. When we see it as simply a collection of ancient stories, the sayings of Jesus, and the theology of Paul, we forget that we can meet God in Scripture.
Binz reminds us that "St Jerome (fourth century) wrote that the Bible must be read and interpreted YYin the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written.YY Because of this ever-present divine Spirit, the sacred text is transformed from simple paper and ink to the illuminated page."
Lectio divina opens us up to being enlightened by the Holy Spirit, according to Binz.
Lectio divina is quite a different approach to the Bible than the one practiced in universities and many seminaries, where scholars and students objectify rather than revere and listen to God's word. They do so, as just one example, by refusing to see the whole story that the Bible is telling us.
The whole story, Binz reminds us, can be easily summed up as the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Like the ancient Christians and Church Fathers, lectio divina invites us to view the Old Testament as being fulfilled in the New Testament. The Old witnesses to Christ, though in a hidden way. We can only understand the Old Testament when we realize that it speaks of Christ by prophesying and setting the ground for the Messiah.
The Bible, Binze reminds us, in therefore "not a book of information," nor a way to communicate doctrine and ethics. "Rather, the text itself is a gateway to God. Through the inspired Scripture, we meet the God who loves us and desires our response."
Friday, July 2, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
All the People in the Bible
By Richard R. Losch, 578 pages, Eerdmans.
Serious Bible readers will love this look at the vast number of characters in the Bible. Losch turns to the latest historical and archeological information to give us an excellent understanding of the multiple relationships among these people, obscure or famous to the Bible story.
Discussions on each character offers glimpses into the society of the time. Abdon, a judge who appears in Judges, was probably quite rich because he owned many donkeys, something peasants wouldn't have.
The complicated lineage of the Herod family is traced in detail, with each known member of the dynasty described. Herod Agrippa, for instance, "was well educated in his religion. He was a faithful practicing Jew, perhaps the only one in his family."
The entry on Mary of Bethany in All the People in the Bible offers the slightly different perspectives on her in Luke and John, concluding, "In either case she is an example of deep love and unquestioning commitment."
Serious Bible readers will love this look at the vast number of characters in the Bible. Losch turns to the latest historical and archeological information to give us an excellent understanding of the multiple relationships among these people, obscure or famous to the Bible story.
Discussions on each character offers glimpses into the society of the time. Abdon, a judge who appears in Judges, was probably quite rich because he owned many donkeys, something peasants wouldn't have.
The complicated lineage of the Herod family is traced in detail, with each known member of the dynasty described. Herod Agrippa, for instance, "was well educated in his religion. He was a faithful practicing Jew, perhaps the only one in his family."
The entry on Mary of Bethany in All the People in the Bible offers the slightly different perspectives on her in Luke and John, concluding, "In either case she is an example of deep love and unquestioning commitment."
The Birth of Jesus According to the Gospels
By Joseph F. Kelly, 106 pages, Liturgical Press.
This informative, scholarly study of the birth narratives found in Luke and Matthew examines the details of the biblical origins of Christmas. Kelly keeps in mind European and North American Christmas traditions, but reminds us that the writings were not intended to create a holiday with evergreen trees, candy canes, and a commercialized "holiday season."
The Birth of Jesus According to the Gospels does not offer a popular or cultural understanding of Christmas, but traces the broader points of the gospel writers, and their Christologies, or theologies of who Christ was. The evangelists' storytelling techniques hold theological significance for us today:
"The evangelists followed their Lord; they did not use miracles to engender faith but presumed that their readers had it already.... [T]he evangelists wrote as believing Christians for other believing Christians," and did not try to prove God's existence or Jesus' saving work. Members of the believing community, they wrote for others in that community.
Many common and not-so-common elements of contemporary Christmas culture are discussed. For instance, while most people find genealogies in the Old and New Testaments to be boring and meaningless, Kelly explains the theological meaning. In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, they meant to establish Jesus as following David's line, even if Joseph was not his biological father. In those times, it was sufficient for a man to recognize a child as his legal child for the son to be considered as following the genealogical line.
The author's insights into the ancient world in which Jesus and then the evangelists lived are interesting and help us understand many things, such as why Luke has to dedicate his writings to a certain Theophilus (because a writer needed the financial support of a nobleman during an era of no bestsellers, where most people were illiterate).
Kelly also contrasts Catholicism's veneration of Mary as a white aristocratic Nordic woman with the reality that she would have been a dark-skinned peasant woman with callouses on her hands and feet from all her labor.
The Birth of Jesus According to the Gospels offers nothing to the sentimental Christian, but many fruitful insights for those with historical or archeological interests.
This informative, scholarly study of the birth narratives found in Luke and Matthew examines the details of the biblical origins of Christmas. Kelly keeps in mind European and North American Christmas traditions, but reminds us that the writings were not intended to create a holiday with evergreen trees, candy canes, and a commercialized "holiday season."
The Birth of Jesus According to the Gospels does not offer a popular or cultural understanding of Christmas, but traces the broader points of the gospel writers, and their Christologies, or theologies of who Christ was. The evangelists' storytelling techniques hold theological significance for us today:
"The evangelists followed their Lord; they did not use miracles to engender faith but presumed that their readers had it already.... [T]he evangelists wrote as believing Christians for other believing Christians," and did not try to prove God's existence or Jesus' saving work. Members of the believing community, they wrote for others in that community.
Many common and not-so-common elements of contemporary Christmas culture are discussed. For instance, while most people find genealogies in the Old and New Testaments to be boring and meaningless, Kelly explains the theological meaning. In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, they meant to establish Jesus as following David's line, even if Joseph was not his biological father. In those times, it was sufficient for a man to recognize a child as his legal child for the son to be considered as following the genealogical line.
The author's insights into the ancient world in which Jesus and then the evangelists lived are interesting and help us understand many things, such as why Luke has to dedicate his writings to a certain Theophilus (because a writer needed the financial support of a nobleman during an era of no bestsellers, where most people were illiterate).
Kelly also contrasts Catholicism's veneration of Mary as a white aristocratic Nordic woman with the reality that she would have been a dark-skinned peasant woman with callouses on her hands and feet from all her labor.
The Birth of Jesus According to the Gospels offers nothing to the sentimental Christian, but many fruitful insights for those with historical or archeological interests.
Friday, June 18, 2010
World Religions: What Every Christian Needs to Know
By Gerald R. McDermott, 144 pages, Bakerbooks.
McDermott's World Religions breaks away from the current bland multicultural reading of religions, and gives the various belief systems a Christian-based judgment. The history, theology, ethics, and varieties of each religion is explained, before McDermott offers the Christian view of what these various religions lack. This honesty and integrity is important for inter-religious exchange. World Religions contains some information about inter-religious dialogue.
McDermott respects the various faith traditions by, for example, showing how each one has many diverse groups and traditions. He suggests that Hinduism, in its vast diversity, be called Hinduisms, since its broad diversity means that it cannot be called one religion.
McDermott's World Religions breaks away from the current bland multicultural reading of religions, and gives the various belief systems a Christian-based judgment. The history, theology, ethics, and varieties of each religion is explained, before McDermott offers the Christian view of what these various religions lack. This honesty and integrity is important for inter-religious exchange. World Religions contains some information about inter-religious dialogue.
McDermott respects the various faith traditions by, for example, showing how each one has many diverse groups and traditions. He suggests that Hinduism, in its vast diversity, be called Hinduisms, since its broad diversity means that it cannot be called one religion.
Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements
Edited by Peter B. Clarke, 686 pages, Routledge.
Editor Peter Clarke points out that our anti-tradition, individualistic, internet age (what some call "post-modern") has led to the creation of countless new religious movements (NRMs). Traditional religions around the world are being uprooted because of aggressive capitalism, which radically re-structures societies. Religions are not geographically tied, as they once were, but have become global phenomena, meaning that everyone in the world has access to Islam, for instance. Previously, Islam was principally a Middle Eastern, African, and south-east Asian belief.
Japan's post-World War II society has produced many NRMs, mostly based on Buddhism or Shintoism, helping people in that country follow traditional beliefs and practices in the modern world. Many of these new movements were started by women, and followers typically feel strong ties to the leader, and venerate them after they die.
India's many meditation- or neo-Hindu-based religious movements often had much to do with the struggle over national identity occasioned by the British Raj. Many Hindus wanted to purify the old beliefs, or use them as a way to kick out the Brits.
The various entries also examine Western religious movements of the last 150-odd years, including the teachings of Carl Jung and their religious implications. He was drawn to many eastern mystical practices, such as yoga or the Chinese i-ching divination practice. Like most Western movements, Jung favored the individualistic over the societal, communal view.
The New Age movement and its predecessors in psychology, shamanism, and Western writings on eastern mysticism tended to emphasize individual empowerment and self-fulfillment at the expense of family, duty, and honor.
Some movements give traditional Christian language and symbolism new meanings. A Course in Miracles "uses traditional Christian language and imagery, such as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, truth, grace, and forgiveness, but modifies traditional meanings to fit an idealist, neo-Gnostic worldview."
The Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements includes entries on recent developments in old traditions. Thus Focolare and Opus Dei are included, though the entry for Opus Dei is, predictably, biased. Its bibliography only lists 1 book, by an author critical of the movement.
The encyclopedia is useful for those who want an academic approach to religion, though like any other undertaking nowadays, it has its biases.
Editor Peter Clarke points out that our anti-tradition, individualistic, internet age (what some call "post-modern") has led to the creation of countless new religious movements (NRMs). Traditional religions around the world are being uprooted because of aggressive capitalism, which radically re-structures societies. Religions are not geographically tied, as they once were, but have become global phenomena, meaning that everyone in the world has access to Islam, for instance. Previously, Islam was principally a Middle Eastern, African, and south-east Asian belief.
Japan's post-World War II society has produced many NRMs, mostly based on Buddhism or Shintoism, helping people in that country follow traditional beliefs and practices in the modern world. Many of these new movements were started by women, and followers typically feel strong ties to the leader, and venerate them after they die.
India's many meditation- or neo-Hindu-based religious movements often had much to do with the struggle over national identity occasioned by the British Raj. Many Hindus wanted to purify the old beliefs, or use them as a way to kick out the Brits.
The various entries also examine Western religious movements of the last 150-odd years, including the teachings of Carl Jung and their religious implications. He was drawn to many eastern mystical practices, such as yoga or the Chinese i-ching divination practice. Like most Western movements, Jung favored the individualistic over the societal, communal view.
The New Age movement and its predecessors in psychology, shamanism, and Western writings on eastern mysticism tended to emphasize individual empowerment and self-fulfillment at the expense of family, duty, and honor.
Some movements give traditional Christian language and symbolism new meanings. A Course in Miracles "uses traditional Christian language and imagery, such as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, truth, grace, and forgiveness, but modifies traditional meanings to fit an idealist, neo-Gnostic worldview."
The Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements includes entries on recent developments in old traditions. Thus Focolare and Opus Dei are included, though the entry for Opus Dei is, predictably, biased. Its bibliography only lists 1 book, by an author critical of the movement.
The encyclopedia is useful for those who want an academic approach to religion, though like any other undertaking nowadays, it has its biases.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Billy Graham, His Life and Influence
By David Aikman, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 339 pages.
Billy Graham's immense influence and success as an evangelist came from his deep yet simple piety and his need to be liked, David Aikman argues convincingly in his biography of "America's Pastor."
Rather than a fawning account of the evangelist's life, Aikman never shies away from the weaknesses. Graham was perhaps too close to certain presidents, including Johnson and Nixon. The author shows how the preacher's straightforward approach to people crossed into naivete. Graham was, perhaps, used by Nixon, giving to this president a spiritual aura and religiosity that Nixon never developed on his own.
Graham was hurt personally and in the public view, at least for a while, by Watergate.
The biography portrays well Billy Graham's gifts as a preacher. Readers get a sense of the great successes of the 1950s crusades, when Graham became a much-loved national celebrity. The book also covers the evolution in the pastor's theology, from the fire-and-brimstone fundamentalism of the 1950s to a more ecumenical, sometimes peace-oriented dignified world Christian leader of the later decades.
By this time, Graham had long been working with mainstream Protestant ministers and even the Catholic Church, much to the dismay of the fundamentalists, who remained suspicious of both groups of Christians.
Aikman doesn't seem to grind any axes in this well-balanced biography, making the book a good introduction to a central figure.
Billy Graham's immense influence and success as an evangelist came from his deep yet simple piety and his need to be liked, David Aikman argues convincingly in his biography of "America's Pastor."
Rather than a fawning account of the evangelist's life, Aikman never shies away from the weaknesses. Graham was perhaps too close to certain presidents, including Johnson and Nixon. The author shows how the preacher's straightforward approach to people crossed into naivete. Graham was, perhaps, used by Nixon, giving to this president a spiritual aura and religiosity that Nixon never developed on his own.
Graham was hurt personally and in the public view, at least for a while, by Watergate.
The biography portrays well Billy Graham's gifts as a preacher. Readers get a sense of the great successes of the 1950s crusades, when Graham became a much-loved national celebrity. The book also covers the evolution in the pastor's theology, from the fire-and-brimstone fundamentalism of the 1950s to a more ecumenical, sometimes peace-oriented dignified world Christian leader of the later decades.
By this time, Graham had long been working with mainstream Protestant ministers and even the Catholic Church, much to the dismay of the fundamentalists, who remained suspicious of both groups of Christians.
Aikman doesn't seem to grind any axes in this well-balanced biography, making the book a good introduction to a central figure.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Primary Source Readings in Christian Morality
Edited by Thaddeus Ostrowski and Robert Smith, 237 pages, St. Anthony's Messenger Press.
This excellent introduction to Catholic ethics as taught by the magisterium offers the primary writings of popes, academics, and pastors all reflecting on good and evil.
The authors don't shy away from sin, and especially original sin, but instead warn about the depth of this in our individual and social lives. The book takes on social sin and justice issues, even linking justice work to the Eucharist.
In following the Ten Commandments, this book is easy for the novice who wants a good introduction to the general issues. It is also beneficial to well-read Catholics who want engaging writing. Rather than a legalistic view of ethics, the authors in this book try to get at the spirit of relationships as well as of the individual. We must fulfill our responsibilities to others and to see the spiritual rather than outward and legalistic character of our actions. Good and evil have spiritual dimensions to them that go far beyond their immediate effects.
Just as importantly, readers will get a sense of the link between theology and ethics, which was one of the most urgent issues in John Paul II's moral teachings. He wanted moral reflection to be grounded in a person's relationship with Christ rather than coming from abstract ideals divorced from the biblical and Catholic theological tradition. Our actions must reflect our belief in God.
This excellent introduction to Catholic ethics as taught by the magisterium offers the primary writings of popes, academics, and pastors all reflecting on good and evil.
The authors don't shy away from sin, and especially original sin, but instead warn about the depth of this in our individual and social lives. The book takes on social sin and justice issues, even linking justice work to the Eucharist.
In following the Ten Commandments, this book is easy for the novice who wants a good introduction to the general issues. It is also beneficial to well-read Catholics who want engaging writing. Rather than a legalistic view of ethics, the authors in this book try to get at the spirit of relationships as well as of the individual. We must fulfill our responsibilities to others and to see the spiritual rather than outward and legalistic character of our actions. Good and evil have spiritual dimensions to them that go far beyond their immediate effects.
Just as importantly, readers will get a sense of the link between theology and ethics, which was one of the most urgent issues in John Paul II's moral teachings. He wanted moral reflection to be grounded in a person's relationship with Christ rather than coming from abstract ideals divorced from the biblical and Catholic theological tradition. Our actions must reflect our belief in God.
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