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The Lord’s Supper in Anabaptism.

John Rempel, 1993, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        The World Council of Churches’ Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (1982) brought communion to the ecumenical fore, especially with the Anabaptist emphasis in the 16th century. “The eucharist is the pinnacle of the communion of the church and the Christian, yet its transcendent reality is affected by the rudimentary elements of earthly existence, bread and wine. . . . The eucharist forces us to think about communion with a spirit, unbounded in any way yet mediated by the earthbound elements of natural existence” (p. 25). “In Jesus G-d took flesh.” Rempel explores how the doctrine of the eucharist was developed by each of three radical reformers: Marpeck, Hubmaier, Dirk, keeping a balance between sacramentalism and spiritualism, being more than just an act of remembrance.

        Rempel stresses the commonalities of the three theologians: Christian life is primarily a life of relationship with G-d, i.e., a visible expression; connection between spiritual and material dimensions; the gospel of John was their major gospel; holding together faith and Spirit (Trinitarian emphasis) (pp. 199-201).

        Rempel also summarizes four contemporary Anabaptist theologians: J.C. Wenger, Gordon Kaufman, Robert Friedmann and Thomas Finger. Key quotations focus the issue. “The community’s action of sharing bread and wine is transformed into a sharing of the body and blood of Christ” (p. 222). Rempel regrets that for Anabaptists the Lord’s Supper has all to often been an isolated point of doctrine. Anabaptist ecumenical theology emphasizes the Lord’s Supper as reconciliation with G-d and with each other, a sense of community and mission.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Earth and Word: Classic Sermons on Saving the Planet

David Rhoads (ed), 2007, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        ‘The degradation of nature is not a problem with a short-term solution…. The ecological crisis is a spiritual crisis…. Most of us no longer have a sense of belonging to the earth, an experience of solidarity with plants and animals, such that we deeply desire for all forms of life to thrive along with us.’ (p xiv) With this as the prompting issue, Earth and Word presents a spectrum of sermons that force us to look again at the bible and its message to and for us. There’s a richness in the spectrum of presentations here; virtually none of the ‘sermons’ are superfluous: Wendell Berry (‘Christianity and the Survival of Creation’), Ted Hiebert (‘First Things First’), Cynthia Moe-Lobeda (‘Dry Bones’), Larry Rassmussen (‘First and Everlasting Covenant’), Rosemary Radford Ruether (‘The biblical vision of Eco-Justice), Joseph Sittler (‘The Care of the Earth), Barbara Brown Taylor (‘Rest for the Land’), to name only a few entries.

        It is impossible to summarize the riches of these sermons, but typical is Ched Myers’ ‘The Cedar has fallen: the Prophetic Word versus Imperial Clear-Cutting’; Myers traces the ecological disaster of the clear cutting of Lebanon’s cedars with a moving litany from the bible itself, with the political implications (‘there was blood on the cedars that figured so prominently in Solomon’s temple and his own royal house’ (p 217), the cedars a metaphor for empire itself. ‘The bible takes sides on behalf of the trees’ (p 222).

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Prophecy Without Contempt

Cathleen Kaveny, Harvard UP, 2016, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Moral differences (on issues such as abortion, capital punishment, immigration and civil rights) make it difficult to seek the common good. The western world has been influenced by the examples of its Jewish-Christian past where the Hebrew prophets were seen as pointing to the identifying and seeking to correct social evils. In our pluralistic society, the prophetic method employs ‘the fiery rhetoric of indictment.

        These Jeremiads (identifying Jeremiah’s fiery denunciations) have been a major influence on public discourses (Martin Luther King Jr who used prophetic rhetoric to facilitate reform and reconciliation rather than revenge.’ True prophets believe they must do as G-d commands and condemn the practices G-d tells them to condemn’ (p 8). But is it possible to incorporate a lively sense of humility into the practice of the jeremiad?”(p 9).

        'The greatest danger associated with the practice of prophetic indictment is arrogance [and Kaveny] uses Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address for insight about how to combine a strong commitment to combating social evil with a vivid sense of the inadequacy of one’s own grasp of divine plans for dealing with that evil. [Lincoln] offers a lesson on how modern day jeremiads might integrate self criticism into their thought and speech.’ (p 9). Kaveny does a fascinating study of Jonah as one reminder to those who issue prophetic indictments when they know so little about G-d’s plan….and that the biblical tradition offers ample room for the cultivation of humility and self criticism’ (p 10).

        Kaveny’s is a wonderful treatment that calls on jeremiahs to differentiate between ‘contempt’ and ‘condemn’ as we function in our pluralistic society. ‘The virtue of humility will become an increasingly important quality for those who want to deploy prophetic rhetoric successfully’ (p 421).

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

In Search of the Good Life

Rebecca Peters, Continuum, 2004, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Globalization has a mixed press. One version lauds its success as technology draws the world closer together; another blames globalization for destroying cultures, promoting the dependency of ‘developing’ countries, and decimating the environment. We make decisions that have remarkable ramifications regarding the shape of commerce, labour and culture. What we buy and where we buy it are important ethical choices that affect the pathways that globalization will take in our world (p 3).

        Peters writes from a convinced Christian theological perspective; ’the bible remains a critical foundational resource….a living document to how G-d is calling humanity to live in the face of a changing world’ (p 19), eg what is the telos of human life? (p 25), what constitutes human flourishing? (p 28). The answer? To strive for social justice for the entire earth community! She critiques these perspectives from a reformed feminist liberationist epistemology.

        Peters sketches four theories of globalization: growth (neoclassical economics a la Adam Smith and David Ricardo, self-proclaimed value free; social development, with agencies, institutions and non-governmental organizations holding to common assumptions of how development of the two-thirds world should take place; ‘earthism’, taking earth’s care and redemption seriously; post colonialism, groups and coalitions working to ‘effect transformative social change in their settings’ (p 140). We need to rebuild community, whichever of the models of globalization we commit to.

        This is an insightful treatment of economic options; our values shape and inform our decision making, ‘making sure that we envision a future that offers justice for all of G-d’s creation’ (p 208).

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Disturbing Divine Behaviour: Troubling Old Testament Images of G-d

Eric Seibert, Fortress, 2009, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        ‘The Israelites found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And the LORD told Moses to kill the man; all the people were to stone him. (Nu 15:32-36) A rather stiff penalty for gathering sticks on the Sabbath

        Seibert looks at stories in the common scriptures (=Old Testament) that show G-d as a hostile, tyrannical being: patriarchal, genocidal (the Canaanites, the Amalakites; Joshua 6-11, Genesis 22, 1 Samuel 15); there is tension in using the bible as a resource for peacemaking when G-d’s actions are an obstacle in this regard (p 7). Seibert develops a framework that allows the careful reader to reject certain common scripture portrayals as unworthy of G-d without recording the passages in which they reside as theologically useless’ (p 12).

        Seibert provides two appendices: how to deal with Jesus’ comments about end time divine violence, and the inspiration and authority of scriptures (pp 243-261). The bile is not a flat book; there are glaring differences of level of religious awareness. He develops two notions: a dual hermeneutic (‘to resist harmful aspects of a text while appreciating those aspects that are helpful (p 212), and the textual G-d (the difference between the textual G-d and the actual G-d, p 170). ‘All portrayals of G-d should be brought into conversation with the G-d Jesus reveals…. This is not a cheap reductionism but careful complementarian probing.

        A wonderful book for peace theology.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

In Praise of Mixed Religion: the Syncretism Solution in a Multi-faith world

William Harrison, McGill-Queens, 2014 reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Harrison believes religions should engage in syncretism, the blending of religion, incorporating wisdom from one religion into another. Syncretism can bend to creative transformation in many fields—religious, practical, ethical, ecological and political. He gives several examples where syncretism was a good phenomenon and when the opposite was evident. Eg, synchretism is a helpful description when religions grow, a strength that comes from the melding of viewpoints.

        Christianity has grown and developed by incorporating insights and rituals from traditions as diverse as Judaism, Greek and Roman thought and European folk religions’ (p 7). We all live in mixed religious contexts—no amount of historical digging will enable us to reach some sort of pure religious uninfluenced by other traditions’ (p 17).

        Syncretism is a good thing when particular statements are more consistent with the data, when the new statement is genuinely helpful in our world, when it sustains and even expands some important part of the religious convert. He points out that synchronicity of Buddhism and Taoism (p 97), of Islam and Greek thought (p l06), Christianity and the ancient Celtic forms (p 115-124). (Here he makes a sad mistake: it was Theodosius, not Constantine, who made Christianity the empire’s official religion (p 117). An example where syncretism has not been helpful is in the prosperity gospel, a syncretism that emphasizes self interest over communal interest (p 131).

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

St Paul: the Apostle We Love To Hate

Karen Armstrong, Amazon Publishing, 2015, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Armstrong’s book is not a theology of Pauline thought but a biographical treatment of key events in his life that affected his theology and related to the historical issues of his social experiences. Eg, what were the major issues in Antioch? In Corinth (especially)?

        Armstrong’s attention to the biographical details of Paul’s work helps us to see better what personal issues focused on matters of faith. It is a sketch of early church life. Paul was a diasporan Jew; of the 13 letters attributed to Paul in the New Testament, seven are usually seen as authentically Pauline, while the remaining six tried to reduce Paul’s radical teachings to make them more acceptable to the Greco-Roman world.

        These later writers insisted on women’s subservience to men, on slaves being obedient to masters, and spiritualized Pal’s concept of the power and principalities (p 13). But Paul’s radical stance remains on some issues that are relevant today. One, he was an opponent of the structural injustice of the Roman Empire. Two, he tried to transcend barriers of ethnicity, class and gender (pp 13,14). I found Armstrong’s chapter dealing with the Corinthian opposition particularly helpful in understanding what early ecclesial life was like.

        Paul’s passionate identification with the poor is unheeded by those Christians who preach the Prosperity Gospel. His determination to eradicate the ethnic and cultural prejudices that divide us from one another, his rejection of boasting based on a spurious sense of privilege. We would do well to heed Paul’s warning to the ‘strong’ who intimidate the weak with their overbearing certainty (cf Kaveny’s Prophecy Without Contempt).

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Ministry in an Oral Culture

Tex Sample, Westminster-John Knox, 1994, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Sample, professor church and society in St Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, holds that many Americans live and work in an oral culture, drawing on the folklore of their family and community, and suggests how pastors can better deal with questions of morality and social change by people who think in terms of communal relationships rather than in the abstract methodology used in academic settings and theoretical discourse.

        An oral culture makes use of proverbs, lives by story telling and emphasizes relationships. ‘An issue will be considered in terms of the family and communal ties. Social change will need to be grounded in relationships and religious beliefs will be understood much more in relational than discursive ways (p 5).

        Pastoral care recognizes the need for storytelling, gatherings, giving and receiving gifts, call things into question, class solidarity and eschewal of the political process. Sample presents a listing of eleven indigenous practices for a contextual ministry (p 72).

        Undergirding this analysis is Sample’s emphasis on the need to recognize the use of encoded language (‘words mean more than they say’ p 76), and he identifies three phrases: born again, washed in the blood of the Lamb, heaven, that are part of oral culture and how such phrases can be more helpfully incorporated into pastoral care.

        A helpful treatment of making pastoral communication more relevant for people more in tune with oral culture.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

From the Exile to Christ

Werner Foerster, Fortress, 1964, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        It’s an old book, but it remains one of the best sources of ancient inter-testamental Jewish history (the first German edition came out in 1940!). Foerster gives quick snapshots of Jewish social cultural and religious developments from the first major exile (587 to Babylon) to the occupation of Palestine by Romans in Jesus’ time.

        This summary of life of the Jewish community under Babylonian, Persian, Syrian, Greek and Roman forces shows the strength of the Jewish community in maintaining their religious and cultural identity in the face of nationalistic oppositional forms. Foerster also summarizes major Jewish initiatives (the Essene community of the Dead Sea Scroll family, the Pharisees, the Zealots) and the role of the Hasmonean dynasties (Herod and his sons). Chapters briefly sketch the Palestine of Jesus’ time (Roman administration, the social system, the economic situation). Of special interest is his summary of Messianism and its relation to Torah.

        Foerster does a good summary of G-d’s mercy and grace; ‘Judaism cannot let go of the divine compassion’ (p 221). And his brief reference to Jamnia underscores the role that the Jamnia conclave played in granting insight and strength to the community (particularly with reference to the canon) after the shock of the 70 CE war and the destruction of the temple. ‘Even after Rom’s victory the expectation of its imminent fall and the hope of Israel’s elevation remained as strong as ever’ (p 115). A good book deserving continuing attention.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

The Changing Faces of Jesus

Geza Vermes, Penguin, 2000, reviewed by Vern Ratzlaff

        Vermes, professor Jewish studies at Oxford, attempts to consider Jesus, the primitive church and the New Testament as part of first century Judaism and seeks to ream them as such rather than through the eyes of a theologian conditioned and subconsciously influenced by two millennia of Christian belief and church directives

        The Greek New Testament is a ‘translation of the genuine thoughts of the Aramaic thinking and speaking Jesus, a translation not just into a totally different language, but also a transplantation of the ideology of the gospels into the completely alien and cultural and religious environment of the pagan Graeco-Roman world’ (p 3).

        A key example is ‘Son of G-d’, in Hebrew or Aramaic a metaphor of ‘a child of G-d’, whereas in Greek addressed to Gentile Christians grown up in a religious culture filled with gods, sons of god, the NT expression tended to be understood literally as a ‘Son of G-d’, as source of the same nature of G-d. Vermes also demonstrates how differing descriptions of Jesus are found in the NT writings eg messiah figure or stranger from heaven, lamb of G-d (John), son of G-d and universal redeemer of mankind (Paul), prophet, lord and Christ (Acts), charismatic healer, teacher and eschatological enthusiast (synoptic gospels).

        Vermes points out the shock of incipient cannibalism in the eucharist (p 292). A summary of pesher (interpretation) is also very helpful (133,168,230,231,270). A clear exposition of the different emphases of Jesus the Jew.

Vern Ratzlaff is a pastor and professor of historical theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.