Constantine The Great - York's Roman Emperor Recenzja

HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY
OF RELIGION
Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia,
Allan Anderson and Edmond Tang (eds.), Regnum Studies in Mission/
Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies Series 3, Regnum Books Interna-
tional, 2005 (ISBN 1-870345-43-6), xiv + 596 pp., pb 29.99
This recent release is a compilation of the presentations given at a 2001
conference convened by the Graduate Institute for Theology and Reli-
gion at the University of Birmingham on Asian Pentecostalism, as well
as a few additional essays commissioned for this publication. It is a
most valuable addition to the bibliography of world Pentecostalism
and one that raises and extends many issues of discussion concerning
Asian Pentecostalism in particular and our understanding of this behe-
mothic movement on the whole.
The volume opens with an introduction by Allan Anderson which is
followed by ve sections. Part One: Thematic includes essays by
Walter Hollenweger, David Martin, Hwa Yung, Wonsuk Ma, Amos
Yong, Julie Ma, and Allan Anderson. These essays cover topics ranging
from the broad historical questions of Pentecostalism in Asia to the role
of Asian women in Pentecostal ministry to the demonic and the Chris-
tian consciousness in Asia. Part Two: South Asia includes three essays
on Indian Pentecostalism from Michael Bergunder, Roger Hedlund,
and Paulson Pulikottil. Part Three: South East Asia has chapters on
Pentecostalism in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore,
and Myanmar. These essays by Chin Khua Khai, Tan Jin Huat, Gani
Wiyono, Mark Robinson, Joseph Suico, Lode Wostyn, and Jeong Jae
Yong present the ourishing movement in the Philippines and Indone-
sia and the smaller, yet relatively successful, movements in the other
nations. In Part Four: East Asia, there are three essays on China by
Gotthard Oblau, Deng Zhaoming, and Edmond Tang, one on Japan by
Paul Tsuchido Shew, and three on Korea by Lee Young-Hoon, Hyeon
Sung Bae, and Jeong Chong Hee. One of the interesting tidbits from
this section is the discussion by Edmond Tang of the Yellers of China.
This offshoot of Watchman Nees Little Flock is centered on the idea of
Reviews in Religion and Theology, 14:1 (2007)
2007 The Authors. Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ,
UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
publicly yelling the name of the Lord in repentance as a means of
releasing the Spirit. Tang utilizes this group as a test case in showing
the difculty in establishing the bounds of Pentecostalism in China
because of the groups similarity of practices and yet doctrinal diver-
gence with more accepted forms of Pentecostalism.
The nal section of the book, Part Five: Summation, includes an epi-
logue by Allan Anderson preceded by a well-argued essay by Simon
Chan that discusses the strengths and weaknesses of certain trends rep-
resented in the articles presented at the conference. He outlines the
difculties surrounding the term Pentecostal, the need for theological
criteria in the delimiting of the overall category and, in a direct rebut-
tal to Hollenweger, the distinction between syncretism which Chan
sees as antithetical to Pentecostalisms value placed on being in the
world but not of the world and the theological and ethical contextu-
alization that is inherent in world Pentecostalism. In this general
response, Chan has called for discernment (quite Pentecostal) con-
cerning the co-opting of theological fads in Pentecostal studies. In his
mind, one must be careful that while doing the vitally important work
of addressing new and important questions (e.g. colonialism, ecology,
and sexism), one does not uncritically accept the assumptions, ver-
biage, and methodologies of others, but rather develops the tools of
rigor necessary with the tradition and ethos of the Pentecostal move-
ment in play.
One of the primary issues raised early in the work and carried
throughout is the position that the Pentecostal and Charismatic move-
ment is a conuence of various streams of religious innovation and
practice beginning in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and
decentered throughout the world. With little dissent, the authors of the
articles in this volume are arguing against the traditional view that
Pentecostalism is an American movement begun in Topeka and Los
Angeles in the early years of the twentieth century which then spread
to the rest of the world.
Another important issue that is spread throughout the volume is the
question of the relationship between Pentecostal movements and
the indigenous cultures wherein they are found. It is easy to see that
the majority of the authors, Hollenwegers call notwithstanding, are
painting a picture that Pentecostals throughout Asia are indeed inter-
ested in the social issues of the common people, the primary demo-
graphic of the movement, while taking strides to distance themselves
from certain elements of the surrounding cultures whether it be the
shamanism of Korea or the communism of China.
One of the primary problems with the volume (and one that jumps
out to one who has spent the last few years in an editorial ofce) is the
poor copyediting that was done. This burden needs to be laid on the
publishers and not the authors, for many of whom English is not their
22 History and Sociology of Religion
2007 The Authors. Journal compilation 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
primary language. Yet, many of the errors can not be found in that
source: half-nished footnotes, misspelled running titles, etc. If it were
a minor problem, with only a couple of incidents, my comments would
be needless nitpicking, but occurrences are throughout. Editors
and publishers please take note: good scholarship like that which is
included here needs to be presented with better care.
Another issue of note is the periodic disagreement between contrib-
utors writing on similar topics. For example, the dating of the beginning
of Pentecostalism in India is placed at different times due to the differ-
ent claims of the authors concerning nineteenth century activity: were
the charismatic experiences of tongues, healings, dreams, and being
slain in the Spirit that were found in a few places in India in the nine-
teenth century the beginning of the movement or were they simply
antecedent activity that set the stage for the arrival of the (so-called) true
Pentecostal missionaries in the 1900s? The ideological positioning of
the author determines the denition and the labeling. This is obviously
the result of the nature of the projects beginning in a conference, yet
because of issues like this, one may not be able to turn to this volume in
order to nd the denitive answer on some issues (if such a thing is pos-
sible), but rather to nd at least some of the variant positions taken on
specic issues. As Anderson recognizes in the epilogue, the book has
raised more questions than it has provided answers. Nevertheless, this
is precisely what is needed at this stage in the historiography.
At the end of the day, this is one of the most important contributions
to the study of Pentecostalism given in recent years. It serves as both
a clearinghouse of (mostly internal) ideology concerning an attempted
postcolonial interpretation of world Pentecostalism at the beginning of
the twenty-rst century and as a valuable source book on the histori-
cal and theological development of the movement throughout Asia,
most of which has gone unnoticed in all but the smallest local or
denominational venues.
D. E. Gene Mills, Jr
Florida State University

The Church and Economic Life: A Documentary Study 1945 to the
Present, Malcolm Brown and Paul Ballard (eds.), Epworth Press, 2006
(ISBN 0-7162-0600-5), xii + 468 pp., pb 25.00
This excellent book tells the history of Industrial Mission in Great
Britain from its inception in 1941 to the present day. Industrial Mission
History and Sociology of Religion 23
is the name for the Christian Church consciously and specically
working in factories, plants, and ofces to create a more just and caring
Christian society. It all began in the 1940s during World War II when
an Anglican priest named Ted Wickham in Shefeld, England and
his Bishop Leslie Hunter, came up with the concept of conducting
workday visitations to the workplaces (Shefelds steel mills) as well
as the homes of parishioners. The books authors, Malcolm Brown and
Paul Ballard, write that Bishop Hunter challenged the Church to over-
come the rift between it, with its predominately middle class ethos, and
the world of industry and the urban working classes.
Dr Brown is Principal of the Eastern Ministry Course within the
Cambridge Theological Federation, and formerly Executive Secretary
of the William Temple Foundation in Manchester, England and Dr.
Ballard is Professor Emeritus in the School of Religious and Theologi-
cal Studies at Cardiff University. Brown and Ballard have done an
excellent job of weaving a coherent story line through Industrial
Missions history, a history they illustrate by Readings, mostly from
historical church documents. They divide their study into ve parts:
the rst looks at the economy as a place for Christian mission; the
second explores the context that birthed the industrial mission starting
from 1918 and going through the war to 1945; the third examines the
political and social consensus, established across the political spectrum,
which developed from 1945 to 1979; the fourth introduces the crisis
brought about by Mrs Thatcher; and the last section takes the reader
from 1985 to the present.
The book makes clear the great impact which Mrs Thatcher (elected
in 1979 and reelected in a landslide in 1983) and her reforms had on
British Society. Unemployment in the UK rose from something over a
million to well over three million individuals. The churches generally
opposed these reforms and the book implies this is still the case. This
reects the left of center bias of the church. A contrary view, however,
comes from Thomas L. Friedman in his latest book The World Is Flat
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, NY, USA, 2005) where he writes approvingly
of the reforms by a small handful of leaders in countries like China,
Russia, Mexico, Brazil, and India and by Margaret Thatcher when she
took on the striking coal miners union in 1984 and forced reform
wholesale onto the sagging British economy. Today both the United
States and the UK show the same unemployment statistic 6.2%
average annual rate of unemployment from 19952003 (according to
The Economists World in Figures 2006 edition). And 6.2 percent is well
below todays unemployment rates for the rest of Europe. Contrary to
the views of the authors, my instincts are with Friedman; these reforms,
although painful, were necessary.
The book connes its history to Great Britain. It would have made
the book too large to deal with all of Europe and the States. However,
the contrast with the United States experience would have been inter-
esting because it exposes the complex relationship between Industial
Mission and the Establishment. Industrial Mission came to the United
States in the late 1940s when Hugh White, an Episcopal priest whose
parish was in Detroit, having met with Ted Wickham, started the
Detroit Industrial Mission to do the churchs work in the automotive
plants of Detroit. Hugh White eventually became the Executive Direc-
tor of the Board for Industrial Mission in the United States and this
reviewer became the Chair of his Board.
At the movements peak, there were Industrial Missions in fteen US
cities. In those days of Industrial Mission, we were proud of the fact
that we were independent of all of the Christian denominations. Free
standing and unfettered, we thought we would go farther and last
longer than our British, German, French, and Polish cousins, all of
which were tied into the church hierarchy.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. Today Industrial
Mission is still a viable force in a number of European societies, as
Brown and Ballard make clear. In the United States, none of the Mis-
sions that once were in the fteen different US cities are still alive. We
learned too late that a good thing about being part of a large religious
body is that manpower and funds can continue to be provided to work
the hierarchy supports.
The last to close was the Boston Industrial Mission, started by Scott
Paradise, formerly a member of the Detroit Industrial Mission. Norman
Faramelli took over from Paradise when he retired, and the mission
was active until it closed in 2005 (with Dietrich Bonhoeffers Fianc,
Maria Weller, a remarkable woman, now deceased, on its governing
Board).
One reason why I enjoyed this book so much is that this was a history
that I lived and, to a limited degree, participated in. I attended the rst
European Industrial Mission conference in September of 1966. It was
held at Bad Boll, near Stuttgart, Germany. It was the rst time that the
giants who started industrial mission twenty in the 1940s previously
in England and Germany, such men as Wickham, Muller, and
Symanowski, had ever met, along with forty others of us from eleven
countries to discuss the work. I was delighted as a forty-year-old Amer-
ican veteran of the World War II Pacic Theater to be part of a Euro-
pean postwar gathering of people from a broad group of Christian
faiths. We enjoyed each others company, particularly in the informal
gatherings after dinner.
At one of those evenings, our Polish representative, a vivacious
woman, told of a hypothetical contest in which an American, an
Englishman, and a Russian are asked to demonstrate their countrys
methods of creating social change by getting a cat to eat mustard. The
brash American says no problem and taking some mustard on a butter
knife, spreads it on the cats tongue, but the cat spits it out immedi-
ately and the American loses. The Englishman then spreads a little
mustard on a piece of liver and offers it to the cat. The cat no sooner
takes a bite of the liver than it spits out liver, mustard, and all, and the
Englishman loses. Now the Russian, she said. He takes some mustard
on the butter knife and spreads it under the kittys tail, whereupon
the kitty immediately licks off the mustard. Note, she said that this
is how the Russian government gets people to do its will, and . . .
voluntarily!
Worth Loomis
Hartford Seminary

The Inter-Faith Encounter: Grosvenor Essay No. 3, The Committee for
Relations with Peoples of Other Faiths and the Doctrine Committee of
the Scottish Episcopal Church (eds.), 2005 (ISBN 0-905573-71-4) 48 pp.,
pb 3.00
This is the third in a series of essays produced by the Scottish Episco-
pal Church meant to speak to issues that concern its membership and
addresses a topic that is of growing importance to many Christians
around the world: interfaith encounter. Western Christians who are
dealing with the practical realities of diversity that come with immi-
gration and globalization are looking for answers to the questions of
how to live their faith and be respectful, if not welcoming and inclu-
sive, to their non-Christian neighbors. In response, some denomina-
tional structures are attempting to provide guidance in the form of
tracts such as this Grosvenor Essay.
The essay begins with contextualization of Scottish religious diver-
sity with statistics from the 2001 census. These data outline the ratio of
Christian-to-non-Christian populations in Scotland and briey touch
on demographic information for particular populations. It is important
to note that over a quarter of respondents on the census claimed no
religious afliation, thus making the top three religious responses
on the survey Christian (65%), no religion (28%), and Muslim (84%).
When talking about dialogue with people of other faiths, Christians
in Scotland are likely to be referring to the 1.87% of the population
comprised of Muslims, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, and Sikhs. The con-
tributors to the essay are quick to point out, however, that the secular
world should be considered to be an important . . . potential dialogue
partner for all the religions and faiths of Scotland (p. 3). Dialogue in
Scotland, as in many other Western countries, takes place in an atmos-
phere of declining participation in institutional Christianity and with
a need for (adj.) self-identity in the face of growing diversity. The
authors recognize the Scottish Parliaments example of inclusion of
non-Christians and highlight the world of the Scottish Inter-Faith
Council.
Part Two briey outlines the history of diversity within the Christ-
ian Church. It touches on exclusive claims within Christianity draws
attention to a handful of verses in scripture that point to interfaith
encounter. While many have used selections from the Christian Bible
to promote separation from people of other faiths, the Church of Scot-
land advocates reading the texts with an eye for engagement and sees
in scripture a mandate for inter-religious dialogue (p. 13).
The meat of the volume comes in Part Three. Here the reader nds
personal reections from those who have been touched by interfaith
encounters. These are focused on interactions with specic traditions
as well as practical avenues of dialogue. They include individuals
interactions with Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism; an interview of
Christian workers in a social service organization; and an account of
interfaith marriage and the joys/challenges of raising children in an
interreligious household. These reections combine to offer a fuller
understanding of the ways in which Scottish Christians are engaging
interfaith questions. While these contributions are not necessarily
scholarly or instructive, that is, they do not offer advice on ways of
conducting interfaith encounter, they are illustrative of the types of
encounters people are having and the ways in which these people inter-
pret such encounters. The tract ends with an annotated bibliography
with some excellent suggestions for further reading.
The essay, as a whole, is not a statement of belief by the Scottish Epis-
copal Church. Rather is it an exploration of issues. It touches on the
history and context of the church and listens to the voice of those
involved in interfaith dialogue on a lived level. This method of com-
municating an interfaith understanding is helpful because it allows
readers to interpret the material as it is relevant to their own lives.
While an ofcial church statement might carry the weight of theologi-
cal doctrine, they are often too cumbersome to be embraced by the
general population. An essay such as this, however, publicly engages
a weighty topic such as interfaith encounter and afrms its relevance
for the church.
Christy Lohr
Hartford Seminary

Sex in the Bible: ANew Consideration, J. Harold Ellens, Praeger, 2006
(ISBN 0-275-98767-1), xxiii + 183 pp., hb $44.95
This book is part of a series on Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality,
of which J. Harold Ellens is also the series editor. Ellenss goal in this
book is to consider how biblical texts address aspects of human sexu-
ality by critically examining what their original authors intended and
how their original audiences understood them. He does not address
challenges in contemporary scholarship to the notion of authors inten-
tions. This book is intended for a popular audience: the author writes
in a style that is accessible and at times quite colloquial, and he keeps
endnotes and discussions of scholarly debates to a minimum.
Ellens claims that understandings of what the Bible says about sexu-
ality tend to be misguided, theologically biased, and repressive. The
Bible itself does not moralize sexual play between consenting adults.
In examining Genesis 1:227, Ellens argues that Gods own nature is
reected in human gender and sexuality, which he denes as maleness
and femaleness. He does not engage contemporary critiques of binary
gender, nor does he address the evidence that some cultures have
allowed for the expression of more than two genders. Having connected
Gods image in humanity with sexuality, he then presents a description
of the neurochemistry involved in falling in and out of love.
Ellens next addresses the purpose of sex. He reads the Songs of Songs
as a celebration of sexual play between two consenting adults who
seem not to be married, which suggests that making love is the
primary purpose of human sexuality. He then considers the story of
Onan in Genesis 38:710, which suggests that making babies is the
primary purpose of sex. He argues that levirate marriage was a means
of social welfare for women in antiquity and does not apply in con-
temporary society. He also argues that Onan may have known that
Tamar would be a lousy wife and a bad mother. He concludes that
Roman Catholic prohibitions of masturbation and birth control based
on this text are unbiblical, and he concludes that the Bible does not
present reproduction as the primary purpose of sexuality.
Ellens continues by examining two texts which seem to connect sex-
uality with the fall of humanity into sin. He argues that the story in
Genesis 6 describing sexual relations between the sons of god and the
daughters of men was about the violation of the boundaries between
the heavenly and earthly realms. He then argues that the story of Adam
and Eve in Genesis 3 is a metaphor of the human maturation process.
The process of differentiation it describes is inevitable, the question is
whether Adam differentiated in ways that were self-afrming or self-
defeating.
Ellens then turns to the issue of women and the Old Testament sex
laws. He argues that in the older Deuteronomy Sex Texts, women are
viewed as the property of fathers and husbands. In the newer Leviti-
cus Sex Texts, on the other hand, they are viewed as agents who are
responsible for their own purity. Although women are marginalized in
both sets of texts, Ellens sees a kind of progress here. While he afrms
contemporary progress in afrming women as agents, he is critical of
the ways in which the feminist movement has alienated men and
women from each other.
Ellens next examines two issues related to marriage. First, he argues
that the Bible condemns adultery because it violates the marriage
contract. Ellens seems to be especially concerned about contemporary
notions connecting adultery and male midlife crisis. He claims that
midlife crises are caused not by men, but by the fundamentally differ-
ent psychological needs men and women bring to marriage. He then
asserts on the basis of New Testament texts that adultery is a sin which
can readily be forgiven. Second, Ellens argues that the Bibles model
of marriage is not monogamy, but polygamy, which addressed the
issue of the social welfare of women in antiquity. While he believes that
human beings are polygamous by nature, he argues that monogamy
does serve benecial purposes in contemporary society.
Ellens then turns to homosexuality. First, he argues that the issue
in Genesis: 19.129, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, is hospitality,
not homosexuality. He does, however, believe that the men who came
to Lots door had homosexual interests, and therefore he reads Lots
offer to give them his virgin daughters as an ironic insult. Second, he
argues that the issue in Leviticus: 18 and 20 is the violation of Israelite
worship practices, especially by adopting the homosexual cult prac-
tices of the Canaanites. Ellens does not address contemporary schol-
arly criticism of the hypothesis that cultic sexual practices were part of
the religion of the Canaanites and others in antiquity. Third, Ellens
examines what he identies as three Pauline references to homosexu-
ality: Romans: 1.267; 1 Corinthians: 6.910; and 1 Timothy: 1.10. He
again argues that the issue is sexual behavior connected with pagan
worship. Ellens believes that science has conclusively proven the
inborn nature of homosexual orientation, and therefore, Pauls con-
demnation of exchanging the natural for the unnatural means that
it is not ethically or morally permissible for homosexual persons to
go against their homosexual natures. Ellens does not address con-
temporary critiques of essentialist notions of sexuality or proposals that
sexualities be analyzed as social and cultural constructions, produced
in particular times and places.
Ellens concludes that the Bible identies six forms of bad sex: incest,
pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, rape, and sodomy, which he denes
as anal intercourse with a male or female. He challenges the inclusion
of anal intercourse on this list and argues that the Bible condemns it
when it is used to abuse another human being, not when it is part of
sexual play between two consenting and committed adults. Finally,
Ellens argues that the Bible forbids promiscuity, or fornication. As God
is sexual and God is love, sex and love must go together in healthy
human sexual relationships.
I think Ellenss call for a new consideration of the treatment of
human sexuality in biblical texts is extremely important and timely.
Issues of sexuality are currently quite divisive, both in religious com-
munities and in societies at large. The major weakness of this book,
however, is that the author fails to engage important bodies of schol-
arship on the Bible, gender, and sexuality produced in recent decades.
In terms of biblical scholarship, his bibliography includes very few
works written after 1967. In terms of scholarship on gender and sexu-
ality, the only works in his bibliography written after 1977 are articles
on homosexuality in dictionaries of psychology and pastoral care and
articles from science magazines on supposed links between genes and
homosexuality. I think that in order to produce a new consideration
of sex in the Bible today, it is vital to engage the work of contemporary
biblical scholars, especially those working from feminist and queer per-
spectives, as well as the work of contemporary theorists of gender and
sexuality.
Sean D. Burke
University of the Pacic

Constantine the Great: Yorks Roman Emperor, Elizabeth Hartley,
Jane Hawkes, Martin Henig, and Frances Mee, York Museums Trust
and Lund Humphries, 2006 (ISBN 0-905807-21-9), 280 pp., pb 25
via the website http://www.constantinethegreat.org.uk or through the
retail manager Margaret Gibb on: margaret.gibb@ymt.org.uk Tel: 0044-
(0)-1904-650357
It was as part of a business trip to nearby Harrogate that the opportu-
nity was taken to visit the Yorkshire Museum. The museum itself is
redolent of Roman history being situated adjacent to the famous
Roman wall around York with one of the grandiose defence towers
visible. This had run an exhibition on Charlemagne in 2001, and with
the formation of the York Museums Trust (http://www.yorkmuseum-
strust.org.uk) and at the suggestion of Elizabeth Hartley, Curator of
Archaeology, it was decided to mark this anniversary in this tting
fashion, the exhibition, and catalogue being regarded as equal and
symbiotic parts of the project. A signicant amount of sponsorship
activity was necessary whereby 270 objects were obtained from thirty-
six museums across the UK and Europe.
This was part of a series of three exhibitions on the same theme, but
differing in focus and content, such that few objects will be seen in all
three, but one unifying object is the marble head of Constantine from
York. The exhibition was held in Rimini in Italy in 2005, and will appear
in Trier, Germany in 2007. This impressive exhibition celebrates the
1700 year anniversary of the accession of Constantine as emperor fol-
lowing the death of his father the emperor Constantius on July 25, 306
in York. Both had been ghting against the Picts in northern Britain and
had scored victory. Although I visited prior to the actual anniversary
date, it happened to be the Queens birthday and so there was full mil-
itary band and twenty-one gun salute in the beautiful gardens in front
of the museum which run down to the river Ouse. Given the tradition
to celebrate every year imperial accession, with special magnicence
for years ve, ten, twenty, and thirty, I assumed this might also be the
least one should do for the remote precursor of Queen Elisabeth II.
Constantine had effectively been held hostage against Constantius
having pretensions to become sole emperor. He had been in Nicome-
dia with the other emperor Galerius and his predecessor Diocletian.
However, on hearing of his fathers illness, he managed to escape and
arrived rst in Boulogne in Gaul to ght alongside his father and estab-
lished a reputation which led to the imperial troops supporting his
crowning when his father died. Thus began a momentous period fol-
lowed by the famous Battle of Milvian Bridge conversion to Christian-
ity experience in 312, and the extension of Constantines powers such
that by 324 he had become the sole emperor. By his death in 337, he
was the longest serving emperor since Augustus, the rst Roman
emperor, and on whom, together with Alexander the Great, Constan-
tine chose to model himself. Starting at York and with Constantine, the
transition began from the late third century imperial ideal to the new
Christian empire of late antiquity (p. 28). Churches were built in Rome
and elsewhere, with Judaism tolerated and a modied paganism per-
mitted to continue, leading to a rich cultural tradition. Coin evidence
suggests that he revisited Britain, and certainly Britain enjoyed wealth
and prosperity through the peace achieved by Constantine and his
father.
The publication contains 114 pages of specially commissioned arti-
cles, followed by the exhibition catalogue, both parts having abiding
value and being lavishly illustrated in color. The 276 items are each
photographed in color and accompanied by full text which acts as a
supplement to the scholarly articles, which provide a context for
understanding them. There is also a glossary of terms and bibliogra-
phy. The rst essay considers the self-publicity inherent in Constan-
tines presence in York to assist his elevation to emperor, having been
passed over previously as emperor, whereby he could have served
alongside his father and father and son emperors in different localities.
He must have realized his best hope was then to join his father prior
to his fathers demise. The second essay considers the likely site for
the imperial palace in York, as well as early fourth century renovations
to the buildings inside the fortress, especially the headquarters
building.
The third essay covers the intriguing topic of emperor and citizen in
the Constantinian era. It starts with the most unusual judicial exchange
in the Theodosian Code between and female litigant (in Greek, proba-
bly from Egypt) and the emperor (in Latin) with a nding in favor of
the litigant with the order to the miscreant administrator to pay an
appropriate price for the property he had purloined. Religious disputes
now became the preserve of the emperor to resolve, with bishops trying
to limit the incessant stream of clerics visiting the court who wearied
the ears of the emperor. The Donatist schism in Africa was one press-
ing issue he had to deal with. The fourth essay deals with those in the
pay of the emperor as revealed through the discovery of the coins treas-
ure in Arras, France in 1922 with the catalogue of 1977 charting the dis-
persal of the coins across Europe and the United States. The fth essay
follows on by considering who were the owners of the treasure. The
sixth presents Roman art during this period equally critical as a turning
point in art as religion, as art was in transition to the Byzantine. Not
only was there a return to Classical ideals but there was also innova-
tion in the use of intricate patterns and abstraction, as well as the use
of rich colors and abstraction. Pagan deities continued as themes in this
art. The next essay introduces the Crocus Conundrum. An Alaman king
called Crocus was present at Constantines elevation according to one
account, and this raises the question of what a barbarian was doing
there.
The eighth essay is on the fascinating topic of religious diversity, the
Edict of Milan being apposite. It is better to think of Christianity as
having obtained the status of most favored cult forget about Ben Hur
and even the biased accounts of Eusebius and some other commenta-
tors. Mithraism was never a threat as it was small and select and
excluded women, but nevertheless it was part of the religious panoply
to be preserved. Given the centrality of the emperor in pagan religion,
it would be a brave and no doubt stupid emperor who would chose to
dispense with it. Sol Invictus-cum-Apollo (strangely the rst is
indexed, the second not) were vital parts of this and easily conated
with Christian themes and, indeed, the emperor himself. There was no
turning back from the Christian element as we see in Justinian, the last
emperor from the Constantine clan, and his failed attempt to de-
Christianize the empire. However, it would take two centuries from the
York crowning for Christianity to reach a more exclusive ascendancy.
At the end of the fourth century, Theodosius I imposed religious penal-
ties against adherents of other religions, but this was more easily
enacted than enforced. Justinian was still legislating against pagans
in the sixth century. Nevertheless, the event at York put all this in
motion.
Maybe York thinks it should have the mother church of the Angli-
can communion, although Canterbury has good claim, and at least
York has an archbishop and is seeded number two. The penultimate
chapter zooms in on Constantine himself and Christianity. His
deathbed baptism is best taken not as indicating doubt or hedging bets,
but as a surer way to go straight to heaven. The nal chapter consid-
ers the abiding legacy of Constantine in Anglo-Saxon England. Cer-
tainly to the turn of the ninth century, Constantine was regarded as
integral to Anglo-Saxon Christianity. Perhaps it is time for the UK to
begin to realize the contribution of Constantine to the development of
English culture and religion. This truly landmark exhibition and pub-
lication has done its job and put Constantine back on the European map
that he once predominated. This is a labor of love that has paid off
handsomely.
Gerald Vinten
Royal Society of Health and Royal Society of Arts

Muslims in Spain: 1500 to 1614, L. P. Harvey, University of Chicago
Press, 2005 (ISBN 0-226-31963-6), xiii + 443 pp., hb $40.00
Shortly after September 11, 2001, many devastated Americans were
asking the same question: Why do they hate us so? L. P. Harvey in
his recent book, Muslims in Spain 1500 to 1614 helps to shed light on
that question. The book really begins on December 18, 1499 when
Muslims in Granada, Spain revolted against the government ofcials
who sought to suppress their right to live and worship as followers of
Islam. Harvey meticulously chronicles the systematic attempt to elim-
inate Islamic culture and religion from Spain during the following
century. For many Americans, 400 years might seem a long time ago,
but for our Muslim brothers and sisters, the indignities and humilia-
tion of their people in Spain is still very much alive.
Harvey is emeritus professor of Spanish at the University of London
and a fellow of Kings College, London. His previous book, Islamic
Spain, 1250 to 1500 documented the struggle of Muslims to preserve
their life and faith in medieval Spain. This book demonstrates the
attempted conversion of all Muslims, called Moriscos, to the Roman
Catholic faith in bold attempt of ethnic cleansing. Many Moriscos
sought to assimilate into the Spanish culture, others sought to
hide their Islamic identity, and those who refused to cooperate were
expelled culminating in 1614.
A fascinating part of his book is Harveys examination of the
sources and the writings of the Moriscos, themselves. Beginning
with a key theological document called the Oran Fatwa, a response of
Middle Eastern religious leaders to Muslims subjected to oppression in
Spain, Harvey examines the intellectual life of Spains clandestine
Muslim community, who wrote in aljamiado, Spanish written in
Arabic characters. Most of this literature was devotional, connected in
one way or another to the Koran. However, Harvey also looks at
polemical literature, open, but discrete criticism of Christianity and
Judaism.
At one point in the book, Harvey tells the fascinating story of
Fray Anselmo Turmeda, a Franciscan missionary to Tunisia where he
became a convert to Islam. In one of his polemical treatise against
Christianity he writes, What thing which is not absurd to having to
believe in this festering, imbecile crass and calumnious faith, which
would not commend itself even to the intelligence of a child, which
evokes laughter from people of intelligence who know anything about
it. This is very strong coming from a Muslim living his religion in
secret!
Harvey traces the three key crises in the closing period of the history
of the Muslims in Southern Spain. The rst was the initial revolt in
Granada in 1500, the second was also in Granada from 1569 to 1570,
and the last crisis was the Expulsion in 1609. Harvey shows how the
second Granada revolt resulted in the elimination of all but a remnant
of the Granadan Muslim community, the last bastion of Islamic culture
in Spain. Harvey documents how secrecy was an essential feature of
the Inquisition, especially after the second revolt. He vividly reveals
the lives of both the victims and the oppressors.
Harveys book is a scholarly analysis and interpretation of Spanish
history as the Middle Ages were closing, but is accessible to anyone
who is interested in the relationship between Islam and Christianity.
Drawing from the major documents of the time and including the latest
Spanish and Islamic studies, Muslims in Spain 1500 to 1614 will be the
denitive work in this genre for years to come.
James Brooks-McDonald
Saint Stephens Episcopal Church

How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about
Earliest Devotion to Jesus, Larry W. Hurtado, Eerdmans Press, 2005
(ISBN 0-8028-2861-2), xii + 234 pp., pb $20.00/11.99
In recent years, Larry Hurtado has carved out something of a niche for
himself within New Testament studies. His interest has been in the
historical evidence for early Christian devotion to Jesus, and he has
robustly argued that this developed both earlier and more Jewishly
than was generally supposed in much twentieth century Christology.
In essence, devotion to Jesus as uniquely and inseparably linked to the
one God can be seen to be a development of Jewish religious tradition
already within the Second Temple period. The key works, which set
out the evidence and his interpretation, are One God, One Lord: Early
Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism (Fortress 1988, 2nd
edn. T&T Clark 2003) and Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest
Christianity (Eerdmans 2003).
This present volume is not really a further development of his thesis,
but rather an accessible summary presentation of it. There are eight
chapters. The rst four represent the Deichmann Lectures at Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev, delivered in 2004 (and subsequently
in some other settings that year have lectures, will travel). They were
formulated for an audience made up largely of educated and inter-
ested people . . . who might well not have much acquaintance with
either the early Christian texts or the approaches and conclusions of
the scholars concerned with them. Given the consistent lucidity of
presentation, these chapters would also be good for undergraduate stu-
dents seeking access to Hurtados work or to rst century Christolog-
ical debate more generally.
The other four chapters are lightly revised republications of journal
articles which give a more fully worked-out support for key theses in
the earlier chapters. These essays are First-Century Jewish Monothe-
ism, Homage to the Historical Jesus and Early Christian Devotion,
Early Jewish Opposition to Jesus-Devotion, and Religious Experience
and Religious Innovation in the New Testament. There are also two
short appendices, by Horst-Heinz Deichmann and Roland Deines,
which give the content of two short addresses, delivered when Hurtado
gave the Deichmann Lectures, which make the case for the study of
early Christian texts in that Jewish context.
Hurtados approach is to bracket the theological question of the legit-
imacy of devotion to Jesus, ancient or modern, and to concentrate on
devotion to Jesus as a phenomenon of ancient history. There are clear
gains in such an approach, not least in making the issues accessible
and interesting to a Jewish audience without the overtones of religious
apologetics or polemics. Moreover, the tenor of Hurtados writing
shows no existential distancing from those questions which he chooses
to bracket, and his historical conclusions have congenial potential for
those who wish to engage the theological questions in a way continu-
ous with classic Christian belief.
One general reection. It is always good to read a work in which the
traditional disciplines of philology and history are well utilized. And
the creating of dialogue space through the bracketing of religious com-
mitments is a well-known, and rightly valued, strength of historical-
critical work on the Bible. Nonetheless, the widespread contemporary
raising of ideological and cui bono questions may make possible and,
in some contexts, require a renewed handling of the question of
whether or not there is life-transforming truth at stake in the subject
matter of these scholarly debates. If Hurtado were perhaps to turn his
attention to questions other than the ancient historical, in a mode that
moved beyond modernitys characteristic ways of setting up issues of
religious truth, we would be even further in his debt.
Walter Moberly
Durham University

Post-Missionary Messianic Judaism: Redening Christian Engage-
ment with the Jewish People, Mark S. Kinzer, Brazos Press, 2005 (ISBN
1-58743-152-1), 320 pp., pb $24.99
In this book Mark Kinzer, as professor and ordained rabbi, argues the
case for post-missionary messianic Judaism. By this theologically inno-
vative term, he is describing a movement consisting of Jews who have
accepted Jesus as the messiah and yet wish to remain within the tra-
dition of Judaism and follow basic Jewish practice. He seeks to demon-
strate how this movement can speak to both Christian and Jewish
communities in order to bridge the gap between the two traditions that
historically has generated needless pain and suspicion.
The work represents a sustained reection on the part of Kinzer.
Although at one level his thoughts came with disarming ease as they
have also preoccupied him professionally and personally for more than
fty years. His chief aim is to offer a way in which the schism between
Judaism and Christianity can be healed, resulting in a bilateral ekklesia
in solidarity with Israel that afrms Israels covenant, Torah, and religious
tradition (pp. 30910, his italics). Key to achieving this is a repudiation
of Christian supersessionism (the idea that Christianity replaces
Judaism rendering the latter a purposeless religious system), and a new
understanding on the part of the global church in relation to Judaism
as a religion and the Jews as a people. Central to this transformation is
a renewed appreciation of the Jewishness of Jesus.
Kinzer sets out his arguments over nine well-written chapters begin-
ning with an exegesis of New Testament texts that permits and afrms
the old Covenantal ways of Abraham and his people even when it
fails to embody explicitly a commitment to Jesus. On his reading,
both Jewish practice and the Covenant are essentially unaffected by the
coming of the messiah in the person of Jesus Christ. His interpretation
of the gospels and epistles (and he does not shy away from the hard
Pauline and Johannine texts) concludes that all Jews are actually, obli-
gated to follow basic Jewish practice (p. 23), and that the covenant and
Gods love remain binding for the Jewish people. Such a conclusion
could only be realized in an ekklesia, of two distinct but united cor-
porate bodies (p. 23), one being Jewish and the other Gentile in nature.
He then turns to the historical growth of Christian supersessionism
and argues that the subsequent Jewish response a rm no to Jesus
actually afrmed God and the Covenant and as such afrmed Jesus
own positive afrmation of God. Despite the Jewish no to Jesus, both
Jews and Jesus were still proclaiming God.
To further afrm the validity of Judaism in the new Christian era,
Kinzer goes on to argue that later rabbinic tradition is, despite some dif-
ferences, actually compatible with the fundamental teaching of the New
Testament. Many will nd such a claim contentious and will no doubt
nd his exegesis equally problematic. But we no longer suppose that one
reading of a text reveals denitive authorial intent and contemporary
hermeneutics continually surprises us with unexpected conclusions. In
the nal chapters, Kinzer traces the emergence of nineteenth century
Hebrew Christianity, and twentieth century Hebrew Catholicism and
Messianic Judaism and highlights how these initially missionary-based
movements could become vital components of his desired bilateral ekkle-
sia of those who have faith in Jesus as messiah. His concern at every point
as the nal chapter heading makes clear is to heal the schism. Until this
is done, and here Kinzer draws on a telling metaphor of Pope John Paul
II, the church breathes with only one lung (p. 310).
Kinzers arguments and scholarship command respect and bring a
welcome clarity to the often controversial eld of ChristianJewish
relations. Structurally the book is well organized. It contains a useful
introduction which locates his concerns and provides a concise
overview of his general arguments. Kinzer also clearly explains his ter-
minologies. This is particularly useful in a book that refers to Jesus as
Yeshua and both Christians and Jewish Jesus believers as Yeshua
believers. He is meticulous in separating his idea of post-missionary
messianic Judaism from missionary messianic Judaism in order to
avoid any colonial, or supersessionistic implications. Some may nd
his terminology distracting or frustrating, but the demarcations are
neither arbitrary nor superuous. They represent a genuine attempt
to help bring Christian and Jewish traditions closer together through
the reality of postmissionary messianic Judaism. Kinzer succeeds in
putting this relatively new movement on the theological map in a con-
vincing and powerful way. Future ChristianJewish dialogue without
reference to this movement will be incomplete or impoverished at best.
The real value of his work is that it offers an important bridge
between Christian and Jewish traditions through his close examination
of messianic Judaism. The three practical steps forward that he advo-
cates in his concluding chapter make possible a healing process
without full agreement over the messianic identity of Yeshua or all
the implications of the Incarnation. His plea for greater respect for
the Jewish community among Christians will also be welcomed in all
Jewish circles. More than this, however, such a stance enables two great
monotheistic traditions to realize their deeper continuities and origins
rather than their differences. Kinzer follows Michael Wyschogrod and
challenges the Christian community to recognize the implications of
the rejection of supersessionism. This is surely one of the most press-
ing needs in the ChristianJewish relationship today. There can be little
headway in dialogue between both communities if Christians continue
to insist that Judaism is rendered obsolete by the New Israel predicated
on Christ. Finally, Kinzers call for the churches to, engage the
Messianic Jewish movement in serious conversation and encourage
(its) development in a post-missionary direction (p. 309), is a vital step
toward greater understanding and mutual appreciation of both tradi-
tions through the recognition of and dialogue with a movement which
links the two religions in a more profound way. The encouraging of a
move toward a post-missionary perspective in Messianic Judaism will
also help to allay Jewish suspicions of attempted conversions directed
toward their door.
Kinzer aims the book primarily at Christians, but Jewish readers with
an interest in the eld will also nd it a rewarding experience that is
both provocative and constructive in its approach. Although this con-
sidered work is unlikely to convince Orthodox Jews or conservative
Christians, it will, I suspect, unsettle them as Kinzer anticipates in his
introduction (p. 11). Much to his credit, he has succeeded in creating
promising new space in the ChristianJewish conversation that may
enable both partners to see themselves bound together to the person
of the messiah.
Daniel Garner
University of Manchester

Cambridge History of Christianity Volume I; Christianity Origins to
Constantine, Margaret M. Mitchell and Frances M. Young (eds.), Cam-
bridge University Press, 2006 (ISBN 0-521-81239-9), xlv + 740 pp., hb
$180.00
The Cambridge History of Christianity is a most ambitious project
planned to span nine volumes and, by extrapolating the volumes pub-
lished to date, a total of some 6300 pages. The volumes are produced
independently, and not in sequential order. The full collection is
intended to blend sociological, demographic, cultural, and institutional
historical perspectives with the development of worship and liturgical
traditions and theological development.
Given the goal of the series, Cambridge History of Christianity Volume
I; Christianity Origins to Constantine is a major success. Professor
Mitchell (New Testament and Early Christian Literature, University of
Chicago, USA) and Professor Young (Emerita Professor of Theology,
University of Birmingham, UK) have successfully combined their vast
talents to edit a compendium of essays rich in detail and true to the
objective of avoiding revisionist history. There are twenty-eight con-
tributors, including the editors, representing a very diverse collection
of perspectives from a widely dispersed geography.
It is the position of the editors, carried through by the contributors
that the history of Christianity begins with the crucixion and resur-
rection of Jesus. By carefully constructing the environment in which
this edgling movement gained momentum, by carefully recording the
loyalty and self-sacrice of those who carried the word, by depicting
the inter- and intra-community disunity over which the earliest believ-
ers had to prevail, this volume projects the strength of Christianitys
foundation laid in those initial 335 years.
Frances Young states the intent of this initial volume when she closes
her Prelude with:
The physical is sanctied as the vehicle of the divine presence, whether
it be the actual living and dying of saints and martyrs, who themselves
become types of Christ, or the concrete reality of the eucharistic bread
and wine received in communion. Being in touch with the one who was
God incarnate meant the assimilation of divine life, and the articulation
of Christian doctrine, in the period of this volume and beyond, was
shaped by the need to guarantee this reality. The incarnation is what turns
Jesus into the foundation of Christianity. (p. 34)
There are six discreet sections to this volume. The rst two sections
cover The Political, Social and Religious Setting and The Jesus
Movements. These sections reinforce the understanding that, while
the Christian movement was of one origin, the participants were
extraordinarily diverse. In her chapter Gentile Christianity, Margaret
Mitchell makes the point that the wide divides in congregational tra-
ditions and practices were quite evident, and much energy of the early
leaders was devoted to resolving disputes. Using Paul as an example,
she states Pauls own perspective was from the start catholic in the
sense of universal, for he set his sights on the broadest possible arena
of activity and put in motion structures for each ekklesia to relate to
the wider network of churches (p. 123). But, she points out that, with
Pauls recognition as an apostle, a shift began from self-governing com-
munities toward a monarchial structure where both Paul and his peer
group appointed local leadership of their choosing. Wayne Meeks
(Social and ecclesial life of the earliest Christians) continues the theme
by explaining the need to develop the position of epiikopos or bishop,
explaining that, while such a trend was difcult to implement in the
face of such complex social and cultural differences, it was necessary
to control deviant behavior and belief (p. 155). If greater uniformity
were to be attained, greater structural authority needed to be
developed.
Sections Three and Four cover Community Traditions and Self Def-
inition and Regional Varieties of Christianity in the First Three Cen-
turies. Here the editors and contributors continue developing insights
into traditions and increasing community tensions. The concept of the
written word is introduced, which, in turn, opens the arguments of
authenticity. In addition, the Graeco-Roman inuence is explored and
philosophy (particularly Platonism) is debated. Denis Minns (Irenaeus)
explains the conict as between the Gnostic position that the spark of
divinity (p. 271) was all that mattered versus Irenaeuss counter that
it was precisely the esh that did matter: it was this that God had
formed from mud by his own hands. The conicts in traditional values
were amplied by differences in geography.
The contributors to the Regional Varieties section portray an excel-
lent sense of the demographic development of the early Christian
movement, as well as cultural inuences that will shape future theo-
logical debate. Of particular interest is Markus Vinzents contribution,
Rome, in which the seeds of the unied Roman Church were planted
when Cyprian of Carthage handed Stephen a tool which the Roman
bishop would turn to his favour the most prominent scriptural text
in Roman church history . . . [afrming] the importance of the one
church that was built on Peter, the rock. Stephen in return insisted he
was the one occupying the seat of Peter at Rome. He therefore [laid]
an important scriptural foundation for the later development of Papal
authority (pp. 41112).
Section Five, The Shaping of Christian Theology, introduces the
practice of worship, ministry, the concept of apostolic succession,
and many other theological precepts that continued into the later cen-
turies where original sin, baptism, redemption, and additional, often
contentious ideologies were debated. Perhaps the most volatile issue
of this early period was equating monotheism with the Trinity, par-
ticularly the living Son of God. Frances Young (Monotheism and
Christology) has done a magnicent job in developing the multiple
approaches surrounding this issue, arguably the most critical theolog-
ical argument of this period. The conclusion is The divine triad must
be gathered up into one, who is the Almighty, the God of the Universe.
The Son must not be regarded as a work, one who came into being
like other creatures. Rather he is in the Father as Word, wisdom and
power (pp. 4667).
The last section, Part Six, Aliens Become Citizens: Towards Impe-
rial Patronage, covers the nal days of Roman resistance, persecution,
some relaxation of intolerance, and then renewed persecution by the
Valerian. It is extremely well presented as a history of the pre-
Constantine period, the struggles to accommodate church and state,
and nally the conversion of Constantine. Though Constantine did not
designate Christianity as the Roman religion (as he is sometimes cred-
ited), he most certainly was the catalyst that provided the stepping
stones that fullled the fruits of labor expended by the preceding
martyrs and saints. The very act of conversion, whatever the motive,
combined with freedom for Christians, the organization of both the
Council at Arles, which condemned Donatism, and the creed agreed
upon at the Council of Nicaea, propelled the growth of Christianity at
an unprecedented rate.
This volume is a must-read for all interested in the early church. It
is written for an academic or professional audience and is a required
addition to any well-equipped library. While each reader will nd
areas where more material would be of great interest, the extensive
bibliographies (ninety-two pages) provide a wealth of supplemental
resources.
John Lang
Drew University Caspersen School of Graduate Studies

John Howard Yoder: Mennonite Patience, Evangelical Witness,
Catholic Convictions, Mark Thiessen Nation, Eerdmans, 2005 (ISBN 0-
8028-3940-1), xxiii + 211 pp., pb $20.00
Mark Thiessen Nation, associate professor of theology at Eastern Men-
nonite Seminary, has written a book that stems from where too few
books these days nd their source friendship. His John Howard Yoder:
Mennonite Patience, Evangelical Witness, Catholic Convictions is a timely
introduction to the life and thought of the twentieth centurys leading
voice for the centrality of nonviolence in Christian discipleship. The
books thesis is simple but important: whereas John Yoder drew deeply
from the convictions of his own Mennonite tradition, he has often been
misunderstood and labeled as sectarian despite being dedicated to
vigorous ecumenical encounter. This book should be welcome reading
for newcomers to all things Yoder, as well as to those more practiced
in engaging this important scholar.
Of particular importance are the biographical chapters that set
John Howard Yoders publications in the context of his family tree, the
broader Mennonite church, and the ecumenical engagements that were
his particular calling. By taking us into Yoders life story, Nation pro-
vides a real gift to non-Mennonite readers unfamiliar with this history.
Nation reects on Mennonite historian Harold Benders inuence on
Yoders search for a usable Anabaptist past. Readers are introduced
to Yoders emerging leadership role in the Mennonite Church and
especially his part in the Concern group a regular gathering of
American Mennonites studying in Europe seeking to translate the
Anabaptist past into a faithful Christian present. Nation takes us into
Yoders doctoral studies and ponders the inuence of his teachers like
Karl Barth, Oscar Cullman, and Walther Eichrodt. Most of all, Nation
shows how Yoders doctoral research on sixteenth century disputations
involving Anabaptists exhibits his lifelong concern for how Christians
talk to one another, and how the church needs perpetual reform so that
it can embody true unity.
The biographical context sets up Nations primary task to establish
Yoders special ecumenical vocation. He describes the constitutive
elements of Yoders project by way of three phrases: Mennonite
patience, evangelical witness, and catholic convictions. By Mennonite
patience, Nation identies what Yoder thought to be a particular strug-
gle in being Mennonite in the world of theological discourse. Because
of the historical paucity of concern for free church ecumenism, Yoder
was convinced that to gain a hearing before mainline Protestantism
and Roman Catholicism would take a special patience. False under-
standings and misconceptions had to be endured. Yoder persisted in
order to testify to the need for a Christian dialogic community that
values the giftedness of each member. By evangelical witness, Nation
emphasizes the central place Yoder gives to the visible life of the body
of Christ. This body is comprised of those who freely articulate faith
in Jesus Christ and therefore renounce Constantinian uses of power
because such forms of might deny the non-coercive nature of the gospel
and the true efcacy of cross-bearing as means to world change. This
life of freely articulated faith in cruciform community exists to give
witness to the wisdom of the cross and expose the folly of the wisdom
of the world. Church witness is visible, public, and a signpost to the
reign of God. Yoder found this vision for the church articulated in scrip-
ture and Christian tradition, and thereby not the property of any one
geographical, ethnic, or political party. The public witness of the church
is based upon catholic convictions what Christians everywhere can
share.
Nation provides convincing argument for why John Yoder cannot
be set aside as just a Mennonite theologian, or worse, a sectarian.
Rather, he is a Christian scholar with a particular call to engage the
whole church in reection on what it means to be a faithful disciple of
Jesus Christ. The author accomplishes his task by way of an astonish-
ing knowledge not only of Yoders principle publications, but of the
more obscure writings, published and unpublished, as well as personal
articles. No small task!
However, I am not convinced by Stanley Hauerwass statement in
the foreword that Nation does not write in a hagiographical mode
about his friends life and work (p. xi). Nations critical eye could be
more focused. For example, at the conclusion of the biographical
sketch, Nation addresses in a footnote the allegations regarding inap-
propriate sexual activity for which Yoder submitted to church disci-
pline through the years 1992 to 1996. He relegates this important issue
to a footnote and thus dismisses it too readily. Nation would have
readers think that the controversy resolves itself simply by noting that
Yoder lived consistently with his own views on church discipline
as articulated in several essays (p. 25). The facts of the matter are
that Yoder did not immediately submit to church discipline. It was a
long and painful road to get to that point. While refusing to provide
tabloidesque fodder, Nation misses an opportunity to explain the
events surrounding the controversy and address the process of restora-
tion. Chapter 5, Toward a Theology of Conict Transformation, would
have been an appropriate place for this task.
Nation includes a Considered Criticisms section at the end of the
book. But it is only two pages long. He raises the right issues, particu-
larly the claim that Yoder reduces the churchs existence to social ethics.
His theology of the Eucharist is prone to this interpretation. Yet, Nation
does not nd it necessary to address this issue other than simply men-
tioning it. On a similar note, Yoders propensity to discount Roman
Catholic Eucharistic understanding as superstitious and magical,
may have been, in Nations words in ecumenical bad taste (p. 197).
It is more than bad taste, I argue. Nations so-called brilliant polemi-
cist (p. 124) offers an uncharitable reading of the Catholic tradition
because of an undue allegiance to the rhetoric of sixteenth century
Anabaptism. When Yoder himself perpetuates this language, it makes
it harder to take seriously his other claim that Anabaptism is not a
century, but a hermeneutic (p. 49).
This tendency to dismiss non-Anabaptist forms of ecclesial life is
exhibited further in Yoders work on church ministry and his insinua-
tion that Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox congregations are less
faithful because they do not exhibit delity to the Pauline vision for
universal ministry in the same way that Yoder understands it. Whereas
Yoder taught in a Roman Catholic university for more than twenty
years, his comments ring more as disrespectful guest than proper critic.
One might go so far as to say that he uses a form of rhetorical violence
that he himself ought to have been more cognizant of. Nations account
of Yoders ecumenical vocation would have been richer and more
trustworthy, had he dealt with these matters.
Nation laments that Yoder did not write more on issues other than
violence and that he did not read more widely in political philosophy.
I have two responses. First, those inuenced by Yoder can carry the
mantle on these matters. Second, Yoder himself would have been
pleased to write over a broader eld of issues. However, his choice of
subject was not so much the result of a self-envisioned career plan, but
an assessment of what the church and world needed to hear about fol-
lowing Jesus Christ as Lord in the twentieth century. In other words,
his agenda was none other than the end product of a discerning process
about what is required to encourage Christian delity in our age. I do
not lament this. I celebrate how Yoder operated well outside patterns
of academic publication that value self-advancement over world
enhancement. In the end, Nation provides a sound and valuable intro-
duction and summary of John Yoders life and work.
Brett Royale Dewey
Bethel College

For All Peoples and All Nations. Christian Churches and Human
Rights, John Nurser, WCC Publications, 2005 (ISBN 2-8254-1415-8), xix
+ 220 pp., 11.50
The ecumenist, historian, and canon emeritus of Lincoln Cathedral
contributed greatly to the debate on religion in the public square with
this critical study of the very much forgotten Christian involvement in
the production of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
Nurser laments this common amnesia and the takeover of human
rights by legal professionals, and his agenda is to reclaim the debate
for the religious sphere. The Declaration was part and parcel indeed of
the ambitious project of designing a postwar order and, specically, an
order that would be peaceful and could survive the end of colonialism
as well. Based on meticulous research in the World Council of Churches
(WCC) and numerous American and other archives, however, Nurser
is able to show that a relatively small group of high-caliber, well-
connected (and mainly American Protestant) ecumenists, theologians,
and laypeople, in particular the Lutheran educationalist O. Frederick
Nolde who later founded and led the Commission of the Churches on
International Affairs of the WCC, was able to convince interest groups
as far apart as the American evangelicals bent on a new form of global
Christendom, the neo-orthodox continental Europeans who ques-
tioned any merger of gospel and culture, the Soviet block with its
antireligious stance as a matter of principle, or the Gandhian inde-
pendence movement which rejected all three, to accept that at the heart
of the United Nations, there would be a universal declaration of human
rights which would presuppose a secular context.
This story of religiouspolitical brinkmanship is surprising enough,
but Nurser has some more arrows in his quiver: he discovers that the
initial push for human rights came from the lobby of Christian missions.
Their interest was genuine, though not totally altruistic, for human
rights to them meant in the rst place religious freedom, that is the right
of any person to change and/or advocate their religion, preconditions
not only for any kind of missionary work in a postcolonial world, but also
for the survival of any indigenous church in a hostile environment.
Noldes great achievement was to convince this lobby that religious
freedom (article eighteen of the Declaration) was only acceptable to all
within a base that was broader than that offered by religion, namely as
part of a secular human rights package, and the other groups that no
such package was complete without the freedom of religious expres-
sion. Seen in this perspective, Human Rights were the continuation
of the age-old Christian missionary agenda by other means, namely a
new strategy that was in line with the terminology, politics, and modes
of thought of a postcolonial and pluralistic age. But there is a lot more
to ponder: here are religiously committed people working for peace
and justice and discovering that the principle for establishing peace
and justice cannot be found in the universalizing of ones own tradi-
tion, but rather in the search for a moral basis that can be shared by
all Nolde called it secular. This secularity is an uneasy one, for its
location is so close to home: between the surrender of the faith and
the idolatry of an ever victorious Christ.
Werner Ustorf
Birmingham

Consecrated Religious Life: The Changing Paradigms, Diarmuid
OMurchu, Orbis Books, 2005 (ISBN 1-5707-5619-8), x + 259 pp., pb
$16.00
Although Diarmuid OMurchu has directed this book to vowed Reli-
gious and his concerns regarding future directions for vowed Religious
life in the twenty-rst century, there is much of merit in his discussion
for those who are not among that group. Indeed, one of his main con-
cerns is the manner in which these rapidly declining numbers of Reli-
gious will interconnect with lay members of the church and with those
in the wider creation. It is his intention to outline the major paradigms
shaping Religious life currently and to suggest the ways they must
change in order that the original prophetic voice of this life may be free
to cocreate with the Holy Spirit for the well-being of the whole creation.
He begins his discussion with overwhelming basic facts about vowed
Religious in the Catholic Church. It is the precipitous decline in their
numbers from 1,300,000 in the year 1960 to 900,000 in 2000 (p. vii). More-
over, he reminds the reader that throughout the history of vowed life,
women have been the vast majority of members of these communities
as they continue to be today. He continues with an explanation of the
reasons why certain long-held paradigms are relevant to Religious. In
his view, the model which holds that: God rules from on high, gover-
nance is mediated through hierarchy, information ows from teacher
to student, genes control behavior, progress is through survival of the
ttest, formal religion (the church) is responsible for morality, Chris-
tianity is based on revelation and its truth is beyond question, the
wisdom of science is more reliable than that of religion, and that we earn
money by working for it is far too restrictive, harmful, and awed in
serious ways (p. 2). Further, the assumptions of patriarchy and anthro-
procentrism are so ingrained in Religious culture, as indeed they are in
the general Western culture, as to make it extremely difcult to under-
stand the profound need for wholesale change in the way Religious will
need to construct their role in the world of the twenty-rst century.
It is OMurchus contention that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is inher-
ently subversive. This quality needs to be recognized and he believes
it is one of the primary functions of the vowed life to honor and
reclaim that Gospel subversiveness (p. 15). In his view, this is crucial
to the prophetic role of the Religious life. Further, he denies the essen-
tially masculine model which has inclined Religious to a view that
includes the following assumptions: the world is essentially a sinful
place, that Spirituality is a battle in this dualistic world, that the spiri-
tuality of the vowed life is an essentially ascetic one, that fulllment of
ones vocation is judged by the observance of the Rule and the Con-
stitutions (p. 16). He suggests that a radical letting go of these assump-
tions is required in order for the necessary paradigm shift to occur. By
the nature of the hierarchy in much of Religious life, the change will
come, he believes, from the bottom. The demographics of the Catholic
Church suggest this is inevitable. As he points out, 99.5 percent of the
membership of the church consists of lay people. Amodel based on the
needs or assumptions of ordained clergy the 0.5 percent will no
longer function in a meaningful way (p. 89). OMurchu recalls the early
history of Religious life and suggests that much of what has come to
dene Religious life for the relatively recent past was the result of deci-
sions made at the Council of Trent which privileged the priestly role
over the prophetic role. His estimate of the probable impact of the shift
in study of theology from the clergy to the laity in the last three decades
is also important. He cites the projection that by the year 2015, 60% of
theologians in the Catholic Church will be lay people and an estimated
three-quarters of those will be women (p. 91).
One of the most thought provoking parts of the book is his discus-
sion of the basic vows of the Religious life. He suggests a renaming for
each in an attempt to reimage the import of the traditional vows of
poverty, celibacy, and obedience. For the vow of celibacy, he would
suggest one renamed the vow of relatedness. It would empower us (Reli-
gious) to form deep connections that beget fruitful relationships (p.
192). He reminds the reader that Gods covenantal relationships were
with the entire created universe not just with one people. In a like
manner, he suggests the vow of poverty might be reshaped as a vow
of mutual sustainability or a vow for justice-making (p. 210). OMurchu
reminds the reader that creation is prodigious. There is enough for all
to live richly if the paradigm for living is not based a maurading
plunder of patriarchal dominance.
As to the third vow of obedience, OMurchu suggests that the
meaning of this vow has been even more distorted over time than the
other two. Obedience has often been thought of as the supreme virtue
of the vowed life based as it has been in a patriarchal model. Once
again, it is the underlying assumptions that he sees as the cause of this
twisting of the intent of the vow. The assumptions relate to an incom-
plete image of God, sexist ideology, dualistic governance, and the cap-
italist model of competition (p. 227). It is his proposal that a renaming
of this vow should incorporate the focus Jesus gave to Gods desires as
revealed in the entire creation in Jesus description of the nature of the
New Reign of God. Thus, this vow might be reframed as the vow for
mutual collaboration in the sense that the governing wisdom is highly
amorphous and multifaceted in nature and can only function mean-
ingfully through a sophisticated cooperative endeavor (p. 230).
Throughout this book, as in many of his other books, OMurchu
is concerned to re-envision relationships in this case the vowed
Religious one in a holistic rather than a hierarchical manner. He is
convinced that the inherent liminal nature of the vowed life can be
refocused and returned to the prophetic role rst demonstrated by
early monastic foundresses and founders. He is focused on the inter-
connected needs of the entire creation as well as the life-afrming call
for Religious to recognize a plurality at work in creation not a series of
false and necessarily limiting dualities. He is at pains to point out the
limits of the world models fashioned in the last few centuries. He is
attempting to have the reader step outside the limits imposed by the
last 5000 years of civilization and to remember the long existence of
creation in a way that allows for the reclamation and honoring of the
wisdom God has imbedded in that entire creation.
Mary Coleman
Hartford Seminary

The Handless Maiden: Moriscos and the Politics of Religion in Early
Modern Spain, Mary Elizabeth Perry, Princeton University Press, 2005
(ISBN 0-6911-1358-0), xix + 180 pp., hb $37.95
Mary Elizabeth Perry has once again written a book of compelling
interest. The topic of Moriscas is one sure to engage whether the reader
is a specialist in sixteenth century religious history or a generalist
interested to learn more about this intriguing period in early modern
Spanish history. This volume is another in the Princeton University
Press series on Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the
Modern World.
Perry opens with a riveting description of the November, 1570 arrival
of twenty-four ships in the Seville harbor. These ships were laden with
over 5000 Moriscos expelled from Granada. Moriscos was the name
given to converts from Islam to Christianity . . . whether their conver-
sion was out of personal conviction and sincere or forced and super-
cial. In either case, just as with the case of the Jewish converts to
Christianity (conversos), converts were suspect. The suspicion took
many forms and often had appalling consequences as Perrys discus-
sion so ably demonstrates.
She details the growing response to the problem of the Moriscos fol-
lowing the ofcial surrender of the last Muslim outpost in Granada in
1492. Although Muslims who remained in Iberia were guaranteed the
freedom to practice their religion by the terms of the surrender, the
authorities of both the Catholic Church and the monarchy were sur-
prisingly quick to ignore their promises. By 1500, there were forced
mass conversions of Muslims. Within the next decades, restrictions
were in place to control the daily life of the Moriscos with the clear
intent of eliminating their distinctive Islamic culture. While there were
those within the aristocracy and church who protested the regulations,
Perry makes the case that the requirements of the newly emerging cen-
tralized monarchy were such that a common enemy needed to be iden-
tied and the Moriscos became that enemy.
Perry details the types of argument she will be making in this volume
while making clear the methodology she will employ. It will be a
methodology that looks for the particular and values the differences (p.
15). She focuses on the experiences of the women of this persecuted
minority group . . . providing a broader denition of power, a better
understanding of the dynamics of difference and deviation, a closer
examination of the politics of religion and a deeper appreciation for
how ordinary people both men and women become active players
in the drama of human history (p. 18).
The book is greatly enhanced by her use of many specic stories of the
Moriscas. The methodology of using the particular to make real the
general is most effective. The reader begins to develop a sense of who
Madelena Morisca, Leonor Hernandez, Maria Hernandez de Zorzala,
and many others were as sisters, wives, mothers, and members of their
community. The wealth of detail regarding daily events in the home and
religious ritual is fascinating. While the records with which Perry builds
her narrative are, for the most part, those of persons outside the Morisco
community, the insight she has as to the layers of meaning within the
records is most helpful. Perry is clear as to what her bias is as to these
women. She prefers to see them as strong determined women rather
than as victims to be pitied (p. 73). It is difcult not to respond to the
drama of the individual circumstances she describes. To read of the cases
of women brought into court because of their clothing or bathing habits,
the types of foods they prepared or the manner of eating those foods, of
cases of women prosecuted because they were accused of teaching their
children prayers not to mention the case of the children orphaned and
left in warehouses by parents who were required, as part of the expul-
sion order, to abandon their infants and children in hope that they might
be spared the rigors of the journey and be cared for by Old Christians as
the parents were promised by the Christian authorities is to begin to
understand the anguish of their forced choices. And yet, we also see
through Perrys lens the myriad ways in which the Moriscas did respond
forcefully with subversive tactics as well as with outright rebellion to the
ongoing ofcial oppression.
The footnotes are particularly useful for readers not familiar with the
sources Perry has employed. Those found on pages 66, 75, 100, and 134
are of especial interest as is the fact that she quotes extensively from
the original documents. Abrief chronology of the Moriscos at the front
of the book is very handy when tracing the events of the narrative and
the various plates showing the distinctive dress of the Moriscos scat-
tered through the text are a delight as well as being highly informative.
One minor drawback for a general reader is that there is little attempt
to set the circumstances effecting the Moriscos within the larger context
of the sixteenth century. For readers unfamiliar with the events of
sixteenth century religious and political history both of Iberia and of
Europe in general, this might prove a difculty. In a like manner, the
relatively sketchy map inserted late in the book (p. 159) might be more
helpful if it were found earlier and showed more of the locations men-
tioned throughout the text.
Finally, the reader is left with the sense that this volume may be more
a collection of individually valuable and enlightening essays rather
than a coherently planned extended exploration of the topic. There are
several places in the text where documents are referenced in the same
manner and to the same point repeatedly (i.e. pp. 93, 137). Despite the
emphasis implied in the subtitle, it is not until page 135 of the book
that Perry begins to focus directly on the political factors so very impor-
tant to the particulars of the various edicts which effected the lives of
the Moriscos. However, even with these few limitations, this book is
an insightful and worthwhile exploration of the intersection of religion
and politics in early modern Spain.
Mary Coleman
Hartford Seminary

Theology in a Global Context: The Last Two Hundred Years, Hans
Schwarz, Eerdmanns, 2005 (ISBN 0-8028-2986-4), 610 pp., pb $39.00
The overused phrase tour de force describes this book without exag-
geration. Theology in a Global Context: The Last Two Hundred Years makes
available to English-speaking audiences an overview of the theologi-
cal inheritance bequeathed to todays students and educators by voices
from diverse contexts around the world. Schwarz leads the reader on
an enthralling tour through two turbulent centuries. His extensive
travels are organized both chronologically (from Immanuel Kants
discernment of the limits of rational enquiry to the emergence of
new voices from Africa, Asia, and India) and thematically (to include
responses to cultural Protestantism, the challenges of the industrial
revolution, scientic materialism, modern historical biblical research,
Process thought, Scottish Christo-centrism, Scandinavian revivalism,
and much more). The book is further organized thinker by thinker. So,
for instance, the section entitled Darwinism, American Style is subdi-
vided to consider Asa Gray, John Fiske, and Louis Agassiz. The section
entitled English Conservative Criticism, with a subsection entitled
The Biblical Basis, is further subdivided to consider C. D. Dodd,
Charles F. D. Moule, and D. E. Nineham. The section entitled Voices
out of Africa is subdivided to consider Desmond Tutu, John Mbiti and
Kwesi Dickson, and Mercy Odyoye. And so forth. There is inevitably
a price to pay in terms of narrative style and passionate intensity for
this kind of precision-organization. The unkindly critic might compare
the book to an enlarged Whos Who in Theology? Anyone who has
attempted to prepare similar materials for students, however, is more
likely to sigh with relief that, here at last, is a reliable map to guide the
explorer.
The tour begins with Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schleiermacher
and there are inevitably some oversimplications. The opening sen-
tence of Chapter 1 Stemming the Tide of the Enlightenment is:
Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Schleiermacher are opposites (p. 1). No
account is taken of similarities in the structure of their thought, for
instance, the role played in their work by the a priori conditions of
knowledge and the universality of religious feeling, respectively, which
led Wilhelm Dilthey to designate Schleiermacher the Kant of Protes-
tant theology. This said, biographical information is meshed with lucid
introductions to their philosophy, anthropology, politics, and theology,
that seek to meet each on their own terms. Kant is said to have pro-
claimed a rational faith instead of the historically manifested faith of
the Judeo-Christian tradition (p. 7), and to have subsumed everything
under the moral imperative. Readers might baulk at the comment that
Kant succeeded in rescuing the Christian religion and with it God,
human freedom, and immortality from becoming empirically unten-
able (p. 7). Nor is there much space for critical analysis of differing
interpretations and/or receptions of Kants writings, or that of the
other selected theorists. Even so, Schwarz typically encompasses the
vast range of the relevant issues raised by his selected theorists in a
sober and judicious manner.
The tour continues in the early nineteenth century with G. W. F.
Hegels Christian synthesis of reason and revelation (p. 16), his inu-
ence on D. F. Strauss, Bruno Bauer, Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, and
Friedrich Engels, followed by the (right-wing Hegelian) New Testa-
ment scholar F. C. Baur, and the (left-wing Hegelian) theologians
Richard Rothe and Isaak A. Dorner. Schwarz omits the most arcane dis-
putes and quarrels and tells in less than thirty pages the story of how
Hegels ideas took varied theological form. The pace is fast but well-
judged and will guide undergraduate students through these impor-
tant discourses in historical theology. Attention shifts rapidly to the
United States with an introduction to Ralph Waldo Emerson and later
(Chapter 3) to so-called bridge-builders between German theology
and American Christendom, including Philip Schaff and John Nevin.
The Calvinist confessionalism of the Princeton theologians Archibald
Alexander, Charles Hodge, A. A. Hodge, and B. B. Wareld is
recounted with personal touches such as Alexanders birth in a log
house to Scotch-Irish parents and Hodges friendship with the German
biblical exegete F. A. G. Tholuck. Chapter 4 covers Romanticism and
the Pietistic Awakening (including Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the
Oxford Movement). Chapter 5 treats Cultural Protestantism (Albrecht
Ritschl, Wilhelm Herrman, Adolph von Harnack, and Martin Rade).
Karl Barths comments about this period thread like blue veins
throughout both chapters and prepare readers for the magisterial
gures yet to come.
Despite mention of context in the title, the book devotes relatively
little space to socio-political considerations, and concentrates instead
on religious movements and academic trends. Every entry could, of
course, sustain multiple treatises and it would need more volumes than
this book has entries to satisfy all reader requests though my personal
preference would be for a little more information about the socio-
political backdrop against which the selected thinkers worked. This
said, Chapter 7 is a nely tuned account of British and American con-
troversy over Darwin. It charts what Schwarz describes as journeys
from hesitancy to enthusiasm and thence to conservative backlash
(p. 226). The trial of high school teacher John Scopes of Dayton, Ten-
nessee, for violating a recently passed State statute prohibiting the
teaching of evolution in tax-supported schools, is recounted and allu-
sions made to controversies surrounding creationism today. Chapter
8 treats the History of Religions School and the impact of this move-
ment on the critique and assessment of religions with a revelatory
heart. Chapter 9 treats the rise of historical criticism with reference to
Johannes Weiss, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Khler, Rudolph Bultmann,
et al. Every chapter is held together by sets of issues that are interest-
ing both for their own sake and for the theological challenges that face
us in our own time. While Schwarz describes relatively little of the
socio-political hinterland against which these stories are set, he is suc-
cessful in comparing diverse European and American perspectives on
issues of shared concern. He works hard to imagine himself into the
minds of his subjects and the result is an ordered and informed guide
for students that will speed their theological studies and direct further
reading.
The best tour guides do not date. Yet, no tour guide of modern his-
torical theology can be told without bias. Schwarz presents his guide
as many of us learned our modern theology. Beginning with an account
of the Enlightenment, he traces its impact on liberal Protestantism and
recounts responses to its challenges by predominantly Protestant
thinkers. Roman Catholic and Orthodox theology in the period is
included but under the somewhat unfortunate title Theology is More
than Protestant (Chapter 13). Voices from Africa, Asia, India are gath-
ered together under the heading The Emergence of New Voices
(Chapter 14). In other words, and if my own experience is indicative,
the broad sweep of the landscape is described in familiar terms that
will give many a sense of continuity with their own patterns of learn-
ing without disrupting established viewpoints or norms. Like any good
guidebook, however, Theology in a Global Context gives warnings about
prejudice and overly narrow perspective. Despite a familiar layout that
never shifts perspective sig-nicantly from a Euro-American Protestant
outlook, Schwarzs tour includes informative accounts of eighteenth
and nineteenth century Roman Catholic thinkers, for example, Hugues
Flicit Robert de Lamennais, Matthias Scheeban, Johann Baptist Hein-
rich, and Johann Adam Mhler, as well as reformers from the twenti-
eth century, notably Jacques Maritain and Antonio Rosmini. While little
attention is given to the teaching ofce of the pope, relatively detailed
accounts are included of progressive movements such as those found
in the Roman Catholic Tbingen School, as well as at Mnster and
Mnich. The story of Hans Kngs loss of approval as a teacher of
Roman Catholic theology is told with aplomb and followed by an
account of the various phases of Edward Schillebeeckxs work. The role
of Orthodox thinkers in helping Western theology toward fresh appre-
ciation of the Orthodox tradition is told with reference to Makarii Bul-
gakov and Vladimir S. Solovyev, in addition to relatively full accounts
of the life and works of Sergius Bulgakov, Vladimir Losskii, and George
Florovsky as Russians in exile.
Theology in a Global Context thus presents a map of the last 200 years
of theology. Despite its global reach, the book does not fundamentally
disrupt the scholarly preoccupations of those schooled in Protestant
Western traditions. Yet, its clear guide to these resources not only
recounts the past but helps us understand better where we are today.
Speaking personally, I caught again the sense of excitement that rst
drew me to the discipline, was impressed by Schwarzs topography,
and learned much from of his descriptions of noted thinkers. I shall
most denitely recommend to students as one of the best, if not the
best, travel book(s) on the market.
Esther D. Reed
University of St Andrews

Enlightenment, Ecumenism, Evangel, Theological Themes and
Thinkers 15502000, Alan P. F. Sell, Paternoster, 2005 (ISBN 1-84227-
330-2), xviii + 421 pp., pb 24.99
Here is a good book. Professor Sell knows his subject well; he loves his
subject; he has a clear, organized, and organizing mind. So, from his
own certain standpoint, he has produced a most informative and
clearly arranged book which radiates enthusiasm and commitment.
His own specialisms are history, theology, and philosophy. He is
steeped in the polemicists of the Reformed Churches from the seven-
teenth century on, and through him we meet many colorful people.
Sure, this subject is not everyones enthusiasm, but as Sell handles it,
his book will stimulate others if only to clarify their own position.
But he also frequently relates his material to topical and practical con-
cerns. He also supplies us with a wealth of information which will be
of use to many, whether they agree with Sells views or not.
His book is one in a series, Studies in Christian History and Thought,
for which the publishers claim a high academic standard combined
with lively writing. They certainly have it here. In his area, Sells
knowledge is encyclopaedic. Better: he is a connoisseur of facts and
gures, which he relates with wit and interest.
The thirteen chapters present his interests and concerns, carefully
arranged in a natural progression which comes to a head in an essay on
the Cross. Because their coverage is wide, it is appropriate to indicate
their different contents here; because they are packed with documented
information, it is only possible to give the barest outline of their material.
The opening two are principally historical. The rst covers the Cam-
bridge Platonists. Sell brings out their stress on spiritual experience and
their attractiveness. He compares them with the Quakers of the time, and
continues this theme in the second chapter, which covers the life of John
Gratton a Quaker star of the seventeenth century, whose life and views
Sell sets in the midst of many colorful controverting characters of the
time. The third chapter is headed Some Theological Aspects of the
English Enlightenment Calmly Considerd. Sell afrms the strongly
rational tone of much of the debate but is no less keen to show that it is
accompanied by a deep piety in which natural and revealed theology are
held together. The fourth tackles Deism. Sell points out that there was no
unanimity among the Deists that God, having once created the world,
left it to its own devices. Indeed, he distinguishes between shades of
deism and isms galore. His two principal examples, Thomas Paine and
Andrew Fuller, clash. Paine holds the Bible to be immoral; so, to know
God, search not the book called the Scripture, which any human mind
might make, but the Scripture called the Creation (p. 133). Fuller dis-
agrees: in the Bible, he says, be sufcient marks of divinity . . . to render
it evident, to every candid mind, that it is of God (p. 136).
Chapter 5 notes the dilution of Calvinism between the seventeenth
century and the twentieth. With some humor, Sell notes how, in hymns
of their time, the imagery has changed and with it the theological
emphases. Thus, what worthless worms are we has given way to
being a sunbeam for Jesus. He has critical views on both extremes.
A related theme follows in Chapter 6: the development of doctrine.
Drawing on his experience of ecumenical discussions, Sell notes how
development means different things to different people. He considers
how, and on what authority, judgment can be made as to the legitimacy
of a doctrine, illustrating the point by reference to three divines: from
the eighteenth century, the Unitarian, Joseph Priestly; and from the
nineteenth century, the Congregationalist, Robert Vaughan, and the
Anglican/Roman Catholic, John Henry Newman whose thoughts on
development are linked to Sells own understanding of the role of the
Magisterium.
The Perennial Peril of Pantheism heads up Chapter 7. (The
alliteration as in the title of the book itself could betray a preacher at
work, and/or someone deeply versed in older polemical pamphlets?)
Sell is understandably critical of the notion of pantheism, but takes care
to distinguish various meanings in which the term has been used.
However, in one form or another, pantheism is ever with us, and Sells
aim here is to bring out the main thrust of the anti-pantheistic case (p.
219). It made me wonder how he would deal with Thomas Trahernes, I
nothing in the World did know / But twas Divine but Traherne, an
Anglican mystic/romantic, is not in his purview. The eighth chapter
covers Christian spirituality which, he wisely insists, must be intimately
related to Christian doctrine. This could make Christian devotion sound
cold, but here, as much as, if not more than, anywhere else in the book,
the authors own discipleship comes through. Indeed, this chapter
reminded me of J. V. Taylors review of J. A. Bakers seminal book The
Foolishness of God which went something like, If those responsible for
training ministers would chain their pupils to their desks with this book,
we might be spared much of the nonsense which comes from pulpits.
The ninth chapter is a bibliography of Reformed twentieth century
theological writings. If the previous chapter revealed Sells devotion,
this one reveals the vast breadth of his reading. I imagine it will be
invaluable to anyone wanting to explore or access this area.
The following two chapters describe various examples of ecumeni-
cal dialogue over the past thirty years between the Reformed tradi-
tion and other Christian bodies. Sell has been personally involved in
such meetings. The precision of Sells thinking is again evident: I can
imagine that he is a tough partner in any dialogue. It is also becomes
apparent here where church division hurts him. Continuing the ecu-
menical theme, Chapter 12 tackles some of the slogans with which
Christians have labeled themselves and others. In the course of this
discussion, Sell makes clear his own position on issues such as the
world setting the churchs agenda (e.g. Tillich reected later in
Gaudium et Spes, though we get no mention of this latter text); contex-
tual theology with particular reference to liberation theology (e.g. Gut-
tirrez et al); inclusivity versus exclusivity (with much reference to
Calvin); church discipline (mostly divines from the Reformed tradi-
tion); and nally the topic of the day: the churchs attitude to gay
people, where the author adopts a moderately conservative line.
The nal chapter brings together all that has gone previously in an
article insisting on the centrality of the Cross in the Christian life
where Cross (capital C) is understood not just as a gallows but as a
whole complex of thoughts relating to our redemption, rebirth, and
sanctication, all of which make this the primary and central Christian
truth. He eschews theologies which are more forensic than personal
yet to this reader Sells approach at least in this book remains mostly
cerebral, and contrasts starkly with the more contemplative, unknow-
ing style of many of the saints. Indeed, in this chapter, more than
before, I missed the contribution of catholic (small c) and mystical
theology or that of writers of the stature of, for instance, Donald
McKinnon (whom he cites earlier in the book) who grappled endlessly
with the mystery (not a word I think Sell ever uses) of the Cross.
For the most part, Sell is eirenic though he can be, and occasion-
ally is, SCR tart. There are many pithy aphorisms of his own. He clearly
suffers fools, or those who have in his view simply got it wrong,
badly. At one point, he trounces a former student of my own, whom I
too found and nd difcult.
For whom is this book? Well, clearly anyone concerned about the
history and theology of churches in the Reformed tradition. The
immense number of well-annotated and indexed references and the bib-
liography make it a well-nigh essential tool for any such. Then, too, those
engaged in ecumenical dialogue with the Reformed churches would
nd it invaluable. And, third, as I have said above, anyone teacher or
pupil concerned to deepen their awareness of the nature of Christian
spirituality could do a lot worse than read Sell (along with others).
Sells hero is clearly P. T. Forsyth. (He gets far more index references
than any one else.) So it is appropriate to end this review with a quo-
tation from him which Sell calls the single most important sentence
in the whole of twentieth-century theology, The atonement did not
procure grace, it owed from grace. (p. 380).
John Armson
Herefordshire

Religion in World History: The Persistence of Imperial Communion,
John C. Super and Briane K. Turley, Routledge, 2006 (ISBN 0-415-31458-
5), vii + 182 pp., pb 13.99
Recent world events show how religion is used by extremist groups to
justify acts of violence and hatred. These groups are so convinced of
their own righteousness that they readily consider those who oppose
them as enemies to be combated. Understandably, many people nd
their reasoning appalling and question their interpretation of religion.
While this radicalism is an extreme example of how religion affects
individuals and communities, religion is certainly a deeply consuming
reality for its followers. This is why Supers and Turleys book, Religion
in World History, comes at an opportune moment and is a welcome con-
tribution to the present discourse on religion in society.
In a readable manner, Super and Hurley show how religion has been
and still is a crucial factor that inuences the course of history. They
explore the value of religion as it gives meaning to life and serves
as the lens through which believers interpret reality. Crucially, the
meaning and interpretative lens are seen differently in and among reli-
gions, a fact which becomes a source of tension and conict within a
religion in particular and in society in general. Moreover, the authors
offer an account of the relationship between religion and cultural and
political processes by citing interesting examples of religions role in
history which, in turn, suggest a particular pattern. While it may be
difcult to pinpoint the exact inuence of religion, the book makes it
clear that one cannot understand history without considering religion
and that religion has much hold and sway over its adherents.
An important aspect of Supers and Hurleys approach is that their
study of religion is not conned to a specic religions ofcial doctrines
and practices, however important these may be, but necessarily tackles
its concrete historical manifestations in the lives of its believers. In other
words, Super and Hurley consider religion in all its historical messi-
ness. Consequently, the historical approach avoids the danger of reduc-
ing religion to merely its theological formulations and takes seriously
how believers interpret and live their faith.
The rst four chapters of the book serve as an overview to religion
and its study. The book begins with a presentation of the basic terms
and concepts to the study of religion as well as a brief account of the
different interpretations of this phenomenon (Chapter 1). This is
followed by an overview of the worlds major religious traditions
(Chapter 2) and an exposition of the sacred texts of several ancient and
contemporary religions as well as the meaning and interpretation given
to them by their faithful (Chapter 3). The next section is concerned with
concrete human expressions of sacred places, which may have religious
identication, cosmic signicance, or cultural importance (Chapter 4).
The following three chapters are analyses of the relationship between
religion and politics, particularly as to how religion impacts political
processes. This section shows how religion has been and is used as a
political weapon to promote imperialism, maintain the status quo or
change the system. Chapter 5 discusses how religion inuences colo-
nization and state formation, for example, the Christian and Muslim
expansions, and state Shinto in Japan. Chapter 6 deals with the role of
religion in resistance, repression, and revolt, for example, the Boxer
Rebellion in China, the repression of religion in atheistic regimes, and
the role of religion in the toppling of communism. Chapter 7 focuses
on the peace tradition of religion and is concerned with its stories and
teachings that promote social harmony, for example, the just war tra-
dition in Christianity and Hinduism.
Chapter 8 looks at how religion has responded to social questions
like slavery, liberalism, poverty, and injustice. A religion is not insu-
lated from the social issues of the times and for many of its faithful,
constructively responding to these concerns is an integral part of faith.
Chapter 9 deals with the issue of good and evil within the context of
a religious tradition, specically, how cultures produce saints and
sinners and how they in turn inuence them. This chapter also explores
discords within a religion which at times leads to schisms. Chapter 10
discusses the relationship between religion and art from its earliest
expression in the caves of Lascaux and Altamirano to contemporary
artistic expressions of religion in folk or popular art. Chapter 11 serves
as the books conclusion where the authors stress the complexity of reli-
gion in history while highlighting the need for understanding among
and between different religionists. The crucial question on the role of
religion today remains open: will it be a cause of more conict or will
it be an instrument of peace and justice?
As a whole, I have found the insights and implications of this
book as particularly interesting and relevant for it has conrmed and
thematized many of my own musings about religion. It has made me
better appreciate and be more circumspect in my view of religions
place in our cultures and histories. Indeed, a remarkable characteristic
of the book is the authors balanced appraisal of the place of religion
in history. The book makes a compelling case for the inclusion of reli-
gion as an important element in conict-resolution and peace-making
processes. It seems to me that more than ever, there is a need to harness
the peace tradition within each religious tradition so that the world
may become a safer, more peaceful, and more just place for all human
beings. I think that a very important implication of Super and Turleys
study is the need for interreligious dialogue. The sad reality that many
situations of conict and violence in the world are committed by self-
proclaimed religious people makes intra-religious dialogue just as
important. One can only hope that through dialogue, peoples of
different faiths will come to a deeper knowledge of and respect for one
another.
This book serves as a wonderful introductory study with regard to
the role and inuence of religion in history. It would be worthwhile
pondering what role religion can play in the years and decades to come
and the book can serve as a solid starting point in further deepening
our understanding of its place.
Ruben C. Mendoza
Ateneo de Manila University

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