Top Academic Reads of 2014 (Updated)

UPDATE: After some reflection, I've added two more titles that definitely belong on the list. See below. 

As we wrap up 2014, I thought it would be a good idea to put together a list of some of my favorite reads of the past year. Of course, coming up with a "best of" list is painful--there were so many great books I read this year and I can't write a long post. But in order to keep this short and meaningful (a list of 10 is just going to be too long), I'm going to list 5 7 of the most important books I read this year.

Two caveats: 

1. Notice I said these are seven "of the most important books". I can't say for sure these are the most important books; I've just left too many good ones off the list. If I had to come with the list of the m seven most important books, I'd agonize over it for so long that I'd never be able to finish this post. 

2. Not all of these books were released this year. The point is, I read them this year so they are still new to me. 

With those caveats in place, here are my picks.

1. Michael Bird, The Gospel of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014). 

Bird's book, which I just recently finished, is a tour de force of Gospel scholarship and research into the transmission of the Jesus tradition. 

I can't say enough nice things about this book--in fact, expect a post or two on some elements of Bird's book in the future.

2. Nijay Gupta, Worship That Makes Sense to Paul: A New Approach to the Theology and Ethics of Paul's Cultic Metaphors (Berlin: De Grutyer, 2010). 

This year I poured myself into Pauline research with particular attention to soteriology and cultic imagery in Paul. This book by Nijay Gupta was particularly exciting. I've already posted on the book this year but I have to mention it again here. 

3. Henri de Lubac, History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007). 

De Lubac was one of the most influential patristic scholars of the twentieth century. This reprint reproduces some of his most important--and revolutionary!--research on Origen. 

Origen denigrated the value of history in favor of spiritual readings? Well, that's what everyone says--except those who have read this comprehensive study.

4. Beverly Gaventa, ed., The Apocalyptic Paul: Cosmos and Anthropos in Romans 5-8. (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013).

This book contains numerous excellent essays but the one by John Barclay takes the cake--at least, that's my opinion. Barclay demonstrates how Paul's understanding of "grace" fits well within first-century Greco-Roman attitudes regarding the nature of gift-giving. 

The soteriological implications are incredibly profound. 

I must say, Barclay's essay in this book may be one of the top five most important pieces I have ever read on Paul. No exaggeration.

5. Matthew Ramage, Dark Passage of the Bible: Engaging Scripture with Benedict XVI and Thomas Aquinas (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2013).  

I must say that I may be confused here and might have read this book at the end of last year. Either way, I'd like to give it a shout out. 

Ramage looks specifically at some of the thorny exegetical issues in Catholic biblical interpretation. Guided by Benedict XVI and Aquinas, Ramage offers a wonderfully thoughtful approach to the difficult question of how some of the challenges of historical-critical methodology can be engaged in a way informed by Catholic tradition. 

UPDATE: Even though I was going to originally keep this list to five works, I had to add two more titles that I somehow failed to include above. Even though there are still many other books I could mention here, few works have been more impactful on my thinking than the two below. Apologies to Chris and Ben.

6. Ben Blackwell, Chistosis: Pauline Soteriology in Light of Deification in Irenaeus and Cyril of Alexandria (WUNT 2/314; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011). 

How I ever left this book off of my original list, I'm not sure. It might be because I first looked through it in 2013. Whatever the reason, I couldn't possibly neglect to mention it here. This easily should have been on my list. It was certainly far more important for my thinking than even the De Lubac work.

Put simply, this book is one of the most important monographs I have ever read on Pauline soteriology--in terms of my own thinking, it might even be the most important one. And, yes, I mean that.

In sum, Blackwell shows how patristic exegesis helps unpack Paul's thought. Specifically, Blackwell focuses on the way the fathers' understanding of theosis faithfully explicates what is found in the Pauline epistles.

To sum things up, Blackwell shows that, for Paul, salvation is about so much more than merely being "acquitted"; it involves nothing less than participation in the divine life through union with Christ.

Other scholars have also argued that the concept of theosis accurately captures Paul's reading. Here, in particular, I think of Michael Gorman, from whose work I have also learned much.

What I particularly like about Blackwell's work is his command of patristic sources. Contemporary exegesis often distances itself from Christian interpretive tradition. Either modern scholars convince themselves that we have simply moved beyond ancient Christian writers (and so, conveniently, we need not read them) or, worse, they simply dismiss their works, imagining that the earliest Christian thinkers grossly misunderstood the New Testament writers (implying a kind of scholarly triumphalism--no one really read the New Testament correctly until we can along).

While it is certainly true that the fathers do not engage certain important critical issues that contemporary scholarship has helped to shed light on, I believe we lose much by ignoring them. Ignorance is certainly not bliss.

Let me be clear: it is true that contemporary biblical scholarship has helped shed important light on the biblical texts. Among other things, materials like the Dead Sea Scrolls have made it possible for us to have a much more nuanced understanding of certain aspects of the Judaism of Jesus' and Paul's day than the fathers could have attained. 

At the same time, recognizing the strengths of contemporary exegesis does not necessarily mean that the fathers had nothing valuable to say. Indeed, they are often far more helpful in illuminating the biblical text than modern exegetes recognize. (Here I am getting into the very issues Ramage deals with in his important contribution mentioned above.)

This shouldn't be surprising. For example, the Greek fathers knew the biblical language extremely well--after all, it was their native language!

I could go on and on about specific aspects of Blackwell's important work but let me just say that it demonstrates the advantage of retrieving patristic readings in spades. If you pick up just one book on Pauline soteriology, let it be this one.


7. Chris Tilling, Paul's Divine Christology. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, forthcoming 2015). 

I also originally left this off the list. That was also a major mea culpa. 

Suffice it to say, this book is, in my opinion, the definitive work on Paul's Christology. Well-researched, carefully nuanced, and convincing, this book tackles a very complex subject with clarity and thoughtfulness.

Whereas other treatments of Paul's Christology focus on titles or limit their analysis to a handful of passages, Tilling looks at Paul's Christology against the larger matrix of his overall thought, examining numerous themes and facets of the Pauline corpus. At the same time, Tilling drills down into specific issues with exegetical rigor, offering numerous insights.

Perhaps my favorite part of the book is his analysis of Paul's Christology against the backdrop of Enochic literature. I won't spoil the surprise but let's just say he makes some tantalizing suggestions, which I find quite compelling.

Tilling's monograph, a revision of his doctoral thesis, was originally published by the prestigious German publisher, Mohr Siebeck. Unfortunately, although Mohr Siebeck is about as respectable as you can get when it comes to academic publication, the titles in their catalogue are not cheap. This meant the book was out of the price range of most readers.

Yet, despite the hefty price tag, the book has received a great deal of attention and praise--and rightfully so! I'm therefore delighted that it is being republished by Eerdmanns, an American publisher. Eerdmans is doing a nice roll out for the book, giving it the attention it deserves. Their reprint will also make the book much more affordable and help it find a wider audience.

The book's significance is also underscored by the fact that the new release will also feature a Foreword by Doug Campbell. In sum, expect to hear the name Chris Tilling a lot in the coming years as this seminal work is establishing him as one of the most important names in the future of Pauline scholarship.

As with Blackwell's book, I can't say enough about Tilling's. It easily should have made it into the top five above. The reality is, since I worked through it prior to this year it simply didn't come to mind as a "new find" for this year when I first wrote this post.

Nevertheless, I had to rectify the situation by updating this post. Suffice it to say, this was definitely one of the most important books I worked through this year.

Did Jesus deliberately misquote the Old Testament?

This is the second post in a few days in which I'm "exploring our matrix"--that is, interacting with a blog post by James McGrath.

In a post, "Was Jesus Wrong on Purpose?," James looks at the story in Mark 2 where Jesus appears to misremember the Old Testament.

In particular, Jesus defends his disciples' action of plucking grain on the Sabbath by referring to a story recorded in 1 Samuel:

And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” (Mark 2:25-26)

The problem is, the story Jesus references involves Ahimelech, not Abiathar.

Were the titles of the Gospels added later? The implications of the genre question

James McGrath has kindly linked over to a post I wrote a while back in which I briefly mention an article by Simon Gathercole. Gathercole meticulously examines the extant manuscripts of the Gospels and demonstrates that there is no textual evidence--not a shred!--to support the commonly held scholarly theory that the titles of the Gospels were added later.

James' post also includes a link back to a previous one he wrote on the topic. Although I missed it, I noted that he had written on the article long before I had.

In his earlier piece, James expresses openness to the possibility that the titles were original. He says,

It seems that, when the earliest texts are considered and both types of titles are considered, it may be that the widespread idea that the Gospels were originally anonymous may need to be discarded.

I have enjoyed reading James' thoughts on this.

There is one key dimension of the issue of the authorship question he doesn't mention though that I'd like to raise here.

"The Second Annunciation": The Gospel Reading for the Feast of the Holy Family

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. There are a number of options available in the lectionary for the first and second readings, and so, to simplify matters, I am just going to offer a brief post on the single Gospel reading that we will all here. 

GOSPEL: Luke 2:22-40

When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
They took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
He took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
—and you yourself a sword will pierce—
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.

Much could be said about this reading. Here let me offer four thoughts.

1. The story stresses the Holy Family's obedience to Torah. 

According to the Old Testament, after a woman gave birth she was ritually unclean (cf. Lev. 12:1-5). In order to be purified, a sacrifice was required (Lev. 12:6-8). By telling us that they went up to Jerusalem, Luke is actually depicting Mary and Joseph as Torah observant Jews. The Holy Family, therefore, is presented as the model of obedience to God's Law.

Stephen: The Christ-Like Martyr

Yours truly at the traditional site of
St. Stephen's tomb. 

Happy Feast of St. Stephen! I have always loved the story of St. Stephen in the book of Acts - so much so, in fact, we named our second son after him: Matthew Stephen.

The book of Acts describes Stephen as a "Christ-like" figure.

As I have explained elsewhere on this blog, this coheres with a larger theme of the book of Acts--Luke describes the life of the early Church in terms similar to the life of Christ in the Gospel of Luke. The message is clear: Christ is continuing to live in his Church. (Go here for more on that).

Like Jesus, then, Stephen is arrested, made to stand before the ruling council, accused by false witnesses of claiming Jesus would destroy the temple (a charge leveled against Jesus at his trial in Matthew and Mark), questioned by the high priest, and executed.

The climactic moment of Jesus’ trial is Jesus' response to the high priest in which he explains that Caiaphas will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven (Luke 22:69–70). After this, of course, he is condemned to death (Luke 22:71).

In the book of Acts, Stephen’s trial climaxes with a similar statement: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56).

After this, Stephen is martyred.

Moreover, Stephen is even described as being like Jesus in death. Just before dying Jesus prays, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46). Stephen likewise prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).

Furthermore, when Jesus is crucified he prays, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Similarly, Stephen prays for his accusers: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). Notably, Acts goes on to describe the conversion of one of those who was involved in his murder, namely, Saul/St. Paul (cf. Acts 7:58; 8:1).

St. Augustine famously attributed great efficacy to Stephen's prayer, saying, “Had Stephen not prayed, the Church today would have no Paul” (Sermon on the Nativity of St. Stephen 6, 5).

I'll end this post with a quote from Benedict XVI:

The life of St. Stephen is entirely shaped by God, conformed to Christ, whose passion is repeated in him; in the final moment of death, on his knees, he takes up the prayer of Jesus on the cross, trusting in the Lord (Acts 7:59) and forgiving his enemies: "Lord, do not hold this sin against them" (60). Filled with the Holy Spirit, as his eyes are about to close, he fixed his gaze on "Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (55), the Lord of all, who draws all to him. 

On St. Stephen’s Day, we are called to fix our gaze on the Son of God, who, in the joyful atmosphere of Christmas, we contemplate in the mystery of his incarnation. . . Allowing ourselves be drawn by Christ, like St. Stephen, means opening our lives to the light that calls, directs and makes us walk the path of good, the path of humanity, according to God’s loving plan. (Angelus address, December 26, 2012)[source]

"For unto us a child is born": Readings for Christmas Mass at Midnight

The lectionary readings for the Christmas mass at midnight focus on the coming of the glory of God in the person of Christ.

Of course, in scripture, God's glory is often associated with the imagery of "light" and "splendor".

As we celebrate the eucharist in the middle of the night ("midnight"), we reflect on the coming of the one who is the "light of the world".

The darkness of night helps us reflect on the state of humanity before the Incarnation. As our first reading explains, we "walked in darkness".

In Christ, we have "seen a great light".

Yet the lectionary selections are also meant to lead us to reflect upon the way Christians are still awaiting the dawning of the day when the fullness of Christ's glory will be revealed; as the Second Reading reminds us, we await "the blessed hope of the appearance" of Christ at the end of time.

The light "has come" yet it is also "still to come" in its fullness. The darkness has not yet been finally vanquished. (Anyone who has been to the mall this season is painfully aware of that!)

With all of this in mind, let us turn to our readings.

Christmas Readings for the Day

It's almost here!  I thought I would post on the Readings for Christmas Day at Dawn and Noon:

Mass at Dawn

1. Reading 1 Is 62:11-12

 

See, the LORD proclaims
to the ends of the earth:
say to daughter Zion,
your savior comes!
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
They shall be called the holy people,
the redeemed of the LORD,
and you shall be called “Frequented,”
a city that is not forsaken.

Mystery Now Revealed: The Fourth Sunday in Advent

In this fourth Sunday of Advent, the Church calls us to contemplate the mystery kept secret from ages past that is now revealed. In fact, while this mystery was kept secret, it is also paradoxically found within the pages of the Old Testament, including in our first reading from 2 Samuel 7.

FIRST READING: 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16

When King David was settled in his palace,
and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side,
he said to Nathan the prophet,
“Here I am living in a house of cedar,
while the ark of God dwells in a tent!”
Nathan answered the king,
“Go, do whatever you have in mind,
for the LORD is with you.”
But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said:
“Go, tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD:
Should you build me a house to dwell in?’ 

“It was I who took you from the pasture
and from the care of the flock
to be commander of my people Israel.
I have been with you wherever you went,
and I have destroyed all your enemies before you.
And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth.
I will fix a place for my people Israel;
I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place
without further disturbance.
Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old,
since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel.
I will give you rest from all your enemies.
The LORD also reveals to you
that he will establish a house for you.
And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his kingdom firm.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.”

In 2 Samuel 7, the Church puts before us one of the most significant passages in the Old Testament, for in it God enters into an everlasting covenant with the house of David. While the term “covenant” is not found in the passage, the content of a covenant is, and in this case, a certain kind of covenant.

In the Ancient Near East, covenants established kinship bonds between previously unrelated people by means of solemn oath taking and ritual enactment. While covenant making could take different shapes, Scott Hahn has helpfully suggested that covenant making falls into three basic categories: kinship (between equals), treaty, and grant.[1]

Christmas as a retelling of Egyptian Mythology? Maybe not (VIDEO)

H/T JP Catholic student Anna Rossi on Facebook

Congratulations to Michael Bird!

Michael's book, The Gospel of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus (Eerdmans) has just won Christianity Today's 2015 book award in the category of biblical studies.

This is great news. And it couldn't happen to a better scholar.

Michael's has done some excellent work on the historical Jesus and I hope the attention this book is getting will also inspire others to pick up his other books as well.

His monograph, Jesus and the Origins of the Gentile Mission (Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2007), is a learned study and a model of academic erudition. In addition, his book, Are You the One Who Is to Come? The Historical Jesus and the Messianic Question (Eerdmans, 2009), is a wonderfully balanced study.

So I must confess that I am praising these works because I have not yet read his latest. It has been sitting on the top of my guilt pile but because my recent work has focused more on Pauline studies I haven't been able to get to it.

Brant Pitre, in particular, has been urging me to read it.

And so I look forward to reading it though over the Christmas break. It'll be my reward for finishing grading.

Get your copy, here and let me know what you think.

All I Want For Christmas. . .

UPDATE:
Thanks to two anonymous readers I've been able to cross two books off my list. Thanks so very much! 

This time of year a number of internet sites and blogs run lists of gift ideas for "men".

For the record, I definitely don't want a flask or a knife or a pipe.

In years past, some very kind readers have amazingly sent gifts on Christmas. Those gifts have all been  helpful and, of course, very much appreciated.

To be honest, I've got a number of academic projects I'd really like to finish this coming year and I require a number of resources to realize those goals. And what I need isn't going to be cheap.

I don't mean to be presumptuous but if anyone is planning on helping out a young Catholic scholar with four little children this Christmas, this is what I would put on my wish list.

I've put in some links below but a quick check on www.Bookfinder.com is always the recommended way to find books at the lowest possible price. You can also check out my Amazon Wish list - see the panel on the right.

Martha Himmelfarb, Between Torah and Temple. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2013. 

Markus Bockhmuehl. The Remembered Peter. Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2010. Price: ~$112

Ben Cooper. Incorporated Servanthood: Commitment and Discipleship in the Gospel of Matthew. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2013. Price: ~$30

Holly Beers. The Followers of Jesus as the 'Servant': Luke’s Model from Isaiah for the Disciples in Luke-Acts. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015. Price: ~$112

Jonathan Knight, The Open Mind: Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2015. Price: ~$112

Stefanos Mihalios. The Danielic Eschatological Hour in the Johannine Literature. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2012. Price: ~$30

Karen Wenell. Jesus and Land: Sacred and Social Space in Second Temple Judaism. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2012. Price: ~$125

R. Timothy McLay. The Temple in Text and Tradition: A Festschrift in Honour of Robert Hayward. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2012. Price: ~$115

Jens Schröter. Jesus of Nazareth: Jew from Galilee, Savior of the World. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2014. Price: ~$50

L. M. Morales. The Tabernacle Pre-figured: Cosmic Mountain Ideology in Genesis and Exodus. Leuven: Peeters, 2012. Price: ~$87

L. M. Morales, Cult and Cosmos. Leuven: Peeters, 2014. Price: $140

If there is any kind soul out there interested in sending me something, books can be sent to the following address:

Dr. Michael Barber

c/o JP Catholic University

220 W. Grand Ave.Escondido, CA 92025

If anyone does plan on sending something my way, thanks so very much. And please leave a comment and tell me what I can cross of the list.

Peace!

"I Am the Very Model of a Biblical Philologist"

H/T Nathan Eubank and Michael Thomson

Rejoice! The Readings for Gaudete Sunday!

 

Rejoice, everybody!  This Sunday we light the rose-colored (not pink!) candle of the Advent wreath, as a sign of our joy that we have passed the mid-point of Advent.  During this penitential season (are you practicing a small penance?) in anticipation of the coming of Our Lord, we take a break from our practices of self-denial this Sunday in order to celebrate that Christmas is drawing near!

The Readings for this Sunday are unified by the theme of rejoicing, and they provide a good meditation on the role of joy in the Christian life.  Perhaps a line from the first Reading best sums up the message of the Scriptures this Sunday: “God is the joy of my soul.”  How true this is!  How often we are tempted to put something else into the “God” slot in that statement: “________ is the joy of my soul.”  How do we fill in the blank?  Money?  Success?  Caffeine/Alcohol/some other drug?  Sex?  Football?  Some other sport? A hobby?  This Sunday is time to rejoice for all those who put “God” in the blank.

1. Our First Reading is Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11:

The Readings for the Immaculate Conception

This Monday is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  It is a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics in the United States, since it is the patronal feast day of our nation.  (Have you ever pondered that the irony in the fact that our capital is a little square of territory nestled in the heart of “Mary-land”?)

The Readings for this Solemnity are extremely rich, and include two famous passages (the account of the curses of after the fall in Genesis 3; and the Annunciation in Luke 1) that are pivotal in salvation history and touch on mega-themes in biblical theology.  Mary is at the heart of the story of salvation; understanding her and her role properly entails understanding the divine economy (salvation history) properly as well.

The First Reading is from Genesis 3:

Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Advent

 

Well, the season of Advent is here once again! Of all the liturgical seasons of the year, for me, Advent is certainly the most stressful, and it may be the most confusing.  We often seem to have a good grasp of Christmas, Lent, and Easter. But what is the deeper meaning of Advent? And how can understanding this season help us better prepare for Christmas?

In the Bible study Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Advent, I tried to show how a deeper understanding of the biblical prophecies of the Messiah can help unlock the hidden meanings of the season. It covers topics like:

The Sunday Lectionary Readings for Advent (Years A-C): The entire Bible study revolves around the Sunday lectionary readings for this season, which are (in my humble opinion) some of the richest and most fascinating passages in the Bible.

(NOTE TO PREACHERS: if you're preaching homilies for the Lectionary, the Bible study goes into readings from all three years, so that it can be useful for Advent preaching any year.)

The Second Advent of Christ: What will happen at the end of time? Why does Advent begin with end-time prophecies about the Tribulation, the Final Judgment, and the second coming of Christ?

Biblical Prophecies of the Messiah: How do we know that Jesus is really the Messiah and not just one more religious leader? What are the most important Old Testament prophecies about the first “coming” of the Messiah?

The Mystery of John the Baptist: Who was John the Baptist? Why did Jesus call him the greatest of all the prophets, and why does the Church spend so much time on him during the Advent season?

The Jesse Tree: What are the biblical roots of the Advent custom of the Jesse tree? Where does this tree come from in the Jewish Bible?

The Virgin Birth: Why was Jesus born of a Virgin? What should we say to those who are skeptical about this great miracle? And what does it mean for our lives as Christians?

And lots of other stuff. If you're preparing for Christmas and would like to dig deeper into the biblical roots of Advent, consider checking it out.

Have a blessed Advent.

"Already and Still More": The First Sunday in Advent

In this first Sunday of Advent, the Church invites us to prepare in a rather urgent manner for God’s coming in the person of Jesus Christ. If you are anything like me, it is tempting to view the Advent Season as celebrating something that is “in the rear view mirror”, that is, a definitive event of the past that defines the salvation we can now rejoice in as believers in Christ.

While this is true, it is nonetheless incomplete at best and dangerous at worst, for the coming of God in Christ requires an ever-present vigilance, one that is always ready for the coming of God.

FIRST READING: Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7 

You, LORD, are our father,
our redeemer you are named forever.
Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
with the mountains quaking before you,
while you wrought awesome deeds we could not hope for,
such as they had not heard of from of old.
No ear has ever heard, no eye ever seen, any God but you
doing such deeds for those who wait for him.
Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways!
Behold, you are angry, and we are sinful;
all of us have become like unclean people,
all our good deeds are like polluted rags;
we have all withered like leaves,
and our guilt carries us away like the wind.
There is none who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to cling to you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered us up to our guilt.
Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.

In this first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks of the coming of God in rather apocalyptic terms, that is, that Yahweh would “rend the heavens and come down” and bring salvation. In context, Yahweh does indeed come down and bring salvation, for he comes and liberates Judah from Babylon and brings them back to Canaan.

However, as Loren Stuckenbruck rightly notes, apocalyptic salvation in the faith of Israel entails an “already and still more,”[1] and this dynamic can be seen within Isaiah itself, for reading the book as a whole helps to reveal that not all aspects of Isaiah’s promised salvation is completely fulfilled with Judah’s return from exile.

Solemnity of Christ the King: The Readings

Congratulations, everyone!  God has seen fit to let us live to complete another liturgical year!  We have journeyed with Our Lord from his birth through his ministry, passion, death, resurrection, and into the growth of the Church and the spread of the Gospel to all the nations.  Now, at the end of the year, we reflect on the Final Judgment, when Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, will pass sentence on each and every human being, establishing justice, punishing evil and rewarding love and self-sacrifice.  The Feast of Christ the King is a profession of our faith that ultimately there is a moral standard to the universe, that all is not in flux or random, that the Good, the True, and the Beautiful triumph in the end over darkness, ugliness, and selfishness. 

Our First Reading comes from Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17:

What is the Church? Readings for the Feast of the Lateran Basilica

This year we have a special treat in the month of November, in that the Feast of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the City of Rome and Mother Church of Christianity, falls on a Sunday.  Usually only week-day mass goers get exposed to this wonderful feast and its Lectionary readings.

The Temple of the Whole Christ: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica and the Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome

On the Thirty
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Church celebrates the dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, one of the principal sanctuaries in the entire Catholic Church. While it would be tempting to suggest that the Church is thereby suggesting that we are to simply celebrate the construction of central sacred buildings within the Church, there is something deeper at work here; something that includes the actual building yet transcends any one structure.

In the readings for this week, the deeper mystery at work is able to be viewed by means of the mystery of the temple.[1]

FIRST READING: Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

The angel brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the façade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the southern side of the temple, south of the altar. He led me outside by the north gate, and around to the outer gate facing the east, where I saw water trickling from the southern side. He said to me, “This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

The importance of the temple in the covenantal life of Israel is hard to overestimate. Among the many important aspects of the Temple that we could mention here, the most pertinent point to emphasize is that many Old Testament texts envision a new (renewed) temple cult in the future age.

One important text is Isaiah 2:2–3:

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths” (Isaiah 2:2–3; cf. Micah 4:1–2).

While Isaiah contains other texts related to this hope for a renewed temple (Isaiah 25:6-9, 28:16, 56:4-8, 66:20-23, etc), the prophet Ezekiel also has pivotally important things to say about the renewal of worship and the temple in the coming age. For example, in Ezekiel we find an extended prophecy concerning the renewal of the people of God for a renewed cult (cf. Ezekiel 36–37), with the book concluding by means of an extended and detailed account of the eschatological temple and its sacrificial cult (Ezekiel 40–48).

In this temple, we discover a table that appears to also be an altar (Ezekiel 41:21-23), an altar that is described as having a mercy seat for its ledge (Ezekiel 43:14-27), and a prince who will provide sacrifices, which strikingly include peace and grain offerings that are described as having “atoning” significance (cf. Ezekiel 45:15).[2]

In our text for this Sunday, the prophet describes life-giving waters flowing from the eschatological temple and bringing life to anything it touches. In light of this prophecy, there is some evidence to support that during the feast of Tabernacles, large amounts of water were poured down the southern side of the Temple in a kind of liturgical anticipation of Ezekiel’s Temple.[3]

In summation, due to the nature and place of the Temple in the faith of Israel, the hope for a glorious Temple in the end times makes good sense, and in the responsorial Psalm, we are able to see just how important the Temple was in the faith of Israel.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

R. (5) The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore, we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.

There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.

The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,
the astounding things he has wrought on earth

In Psalm 46 we find an excellent example of the preeminent place the Temple played in the covenantal life of Israel. In direct contrast to the rather unstable nature of life, the life of the Temple is secure, for within it dwells the God of Israel. In fact, it is from the Temple that God reigns over the nations.

In fact, the temple and its very furniture were closely identified with divine realities. For example, while it is well known that in Exodus 33:20 God tells Moses that “you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live,” it is less well known that Numbers 4:20 says something very similar regarding the furniture kept within the Tabernacle, “they shall not go in to look upon the holy things even for a moment, lest they die.”

As a result, it is possible to describe the sanctuary itself and its furniture as something akin to a physical manifestation of God. As the great Old Testament scholar Gary Anderson suggests, “these texts exhibit ancient Israel’s deeply held view that God really dwelt in the Temple and that all the pieces of that building shared, in some fashion, in his tangible and visible presence.”[4]

In other words, to behold the glory of the Lord in the Temple was life and peace for Israel. However, when Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, it was as if life itself for Israel had ended. This can be seen in Ezekiel’s famous “dry bones” prophecy, for Israel in exile without the Temple is likened to a valley of dry bones in need of new life (Ezek 37:1-14).

When Judah returned from exile in the latter part of the sixth century B.C., the Temple was rebuilt, yet it was clearly not the glorious end-times Temple prophesied by Ezekiel. Even after Herod’s restoration projects, the second-Temple was not the meeting place of the nations wherein life-giving waters flowed and brought healing to those who came in contact with it.

In turning now to the second reading, the Apostle Paul makes a rather startling claim: the promised Temple is at last being built.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 3:9c-11, 16-17

Brothers and sisters:
You are God’s building.
According to the grace of God given to me,
like a wise master builder I laid a foundation,
and another is building upon it.
But each one must be careful how he builds upon it,
for no one can lay a foundation other than the one that is there,
namely, Jesus Christ. 

Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.

In one of the more remarkable statements in his entire corpus, the Apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth that they are the temple. In light of the temple’s profound participation in the divine presence and life, Paul’s identification of the church with the temple would appear to entail a rather startling statement about the community’s participation in divine realities.

As N.T. Wright concludes, “If the spirit of the living God dwells within his people, constituting them as the renewed tabernacle (or the new temple. . .), then the work of this transforming spirit can and must be spoken of in terms, ultimately, of theōsis, ‘divinization’.”[5]

Moreover, it also appears correct to suggest that Paul viewed the church as the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel regarding the promised end-times Temple (cf. 2 Cor 6:14-7:1, Eph 2:20), one in which the nations would come to Mount Zion and be renewed by life-giving waters.

In coming to the Gospel reading for this week, we are able to gain a clearer rationale as to how all of this fits together, for in John’s Gospel Jesus begins his public ministry at the Temple, an event that can be seen as the key to unlocking John’s Gospel.

GOSPEL: John 2:13-22

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money-changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money-changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said,
“This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his Body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.

In writing his Gospel, John is clear that his purpose is to elicit belief in Jesus as the Son of God (John 20:30-31). In particular, John makes use of signs from Jesus’ life that point to his divine identity, climaxing with the last and greatest sign of the cross and resurrection.

Here in our reading we discover an important aspect in the disciples coming to believe: after the resurrection, they believed the Scripture and Jesus’ words. However, can we say more about what they come to believe in light of the overall context of our passage?

In order to answer this, it is important to take a closer look at this passage within the context of John’s Gospel as a whole.

When Jesus enters the Temple precincts, he casts out the money changers and then declares himself to be the temple. Yet it is important to ask: why? Is he simply upset about making money in the temple? Is he speaking hyperbolically to make a point?

Rather than hyperbole, it appears that Jesus is stating something essential to his life and mission, namely, that He is the promised temple. In fact, in John’s Gospel this can serve to unlock the inner purpose of the book, for John places this story at the very beginning of Jesus ministry, suggesting that Jesus identity as the temple is central to his life and mission, as well as the literary theme of the Gospel.

In John 1, Jesus is the Word made flesh who “tabernacles” among us (John 1:14), as well as the “lamb of God” who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:36) Beyond this, in the same chapter Jesus tells Nathaniel that he will see angels ascending and descending on him, implying that he is the new Bethel, the house of God (John 1:51, cf. Genesis 28:10-22).

Coming to chapter two, before our passage is the wedding at Cana (John 2;1-11), wherein the symbolism points to Jesus being the bridegroom who marries the people of God. Yet in Isaiah in particular, God promises to both marry his people and feed them with choice wines. Where does this occur? In Isaiah 25:6-9, Yahweh defeats death on Mt. Zion and offers his people choice wines, while in Isaiah 62 it is Yahweh who comes to marry his people

This brings us to the reading for this week, a passage that serves to make explicit what has been implicit in John 1:1-2:12: the fourth gospel is about the life of the new temple, that is, of Christ and his church. With this being said, it is important to ask: how does one participate in the liturgical life of this new temple?

John’s Gospel offers some important clues, perhaps even “signs” as to how one joins the worship of the new temple. In John 3:5, Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born again through water and the Spirit in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

While some suggest that Jesus is simply speaking about the Holy Spirit in two interrelated ways, this interpretation fails on a number of fronts, not the least of which being this would mean that when Jesus states that one must be baptized by water and the Spirit, he would be saying that one must be baptized by the Spirit and the Spirit.

With this being said, it is clear that in John 7:37-39 the living water that Jesus gives is the Spirit. However, rather than seeing baptismal water and the Spirit as mutually exclusive, it appears best in light of John 3:5 to take them as directly connected. In fact, it is particularly interesting to note that when Jesus offers living water in John 7:37-39, it is during this is during the feast of Tabernacles, the same feast where it appears that at the time of Jesus water was poured down the southern side of the temple in anticipation of the coming of Ezekiel’s temple.[6]

All told, it appears valid to suggest that it is through the life-giving waters of baptism that the promise of Ezekiel is fulfilled and all nations can participate in the worship of the new temple. This appears to be further explained by Jesus in John 4, for he tells the woman at the well that the time has come where the location of worship is not as important as worship through the Spirit in Christ. In other words, the life-giving waters that Ezekiel promised have come through the waters of baptism, and through the person and work of the Holy Spirit, the new temple is at last being built.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our readings for this week point us toward the realization that the church is the promised temple, yet so is Jesus. So, which is it? Is the church the temple or is it Jesus? The answer is both, and perhaps the best way to understand this is through Paul’s metaphor of the Church as the body of Christ, or what Augustine called the Whole Christ. Due to being one mystical person, Christ the head and the Church as his members, the Whole Christ is the fulfillment of the promised eschatological temple, and in this, we find the fullness of salvation and as members of his body become by grace what Jesus is by nature, sons and daughters of God, and the new temple. As paragraph 797 of the Catechism states:

“What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” “To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members.” The Holy Spirit makes the Church “the temple of the living God.”

NOTES 

[1] For more on the Temple, see Yves M.J. Congar, O.P., The Mystery of the Temple, translated by Reginald F. Trevett (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1962); G.K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004).

[2] See Andrea Spatafora, From the “Temple of God” to God as the Temple (TGST 27; Rome: Editrice Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1997), 38–47.

[3] For more in this regard, see Francis J. Moloney, S.D.B, The Gospel of John, SP 4 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press), 234.

[4] Gary A. Anderson, “To See Where God Dwells: The Tabernacle, the Temple, and the Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition,” Letter & Spirit 4 (2008): 18

[5] N.T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014), 2:1021.

[6] For more see Moloney, John, 234-235.

The perennial challenge of exegetical and theological authority

In a stimulating article over at First Things blog, Stephen Webb addresses a topic that most theologians are forced to wrestle with at some point in their lives, namely, "Who has the Authority to Write Theology?"
                                                                                    
Webb highlights the work of Robert Saler entitled Between Magisterium and Marketplace, where Saler suggests that the enterprise of contemporary theology boils down to a debate between the approaches of Schleiermacher and Newman.

 In Webb's summation, Saler suggests:

For Schleiermacher, theologians should hover above ossified religious traditions by perching on the precarious edge of daring creativity. For Newman, prudence alone should lead any theologian to conclude that private fancy is not enough to sustain theological discourse. Schleiermacher advocates for virtuosity, Newman for anonymity

 Webb continues by noting that Saler distinguishes between two contemporary groups under the broadly Newman camp:

Newman is the father of what Saler calls “polis ecclesiology,” which he divides into two camps, a “high magisterial” one dominated by the writers associated with this magazine (First Things; Reinhard Hütter, R. R. Reno, and Paul Griffiths) and what we could call a “magisterium by imagination” influenced by Stanley Hauerwas and John Milbank.

 For those who are interested in reading more from Webb's article, please look here: http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/11/who-has-the-authority-to-write-theology

How Do Law and Love Relate? The 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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How does love relate to law?  The two can seem opposed, a contrast to one another.  Love is a romantic dinner for two on a veranda overlooking the Seine.  Law is a solemn old man in a black robe, sitting behind a high podium with police officers at his side. 

The Readings for this Sunday insist that law and love, as strange as it may seem, are ultimately united.  Without love, law is cold.  Without law, love is mere emotion.  The Readings show the unity of the Old and New Testaments in pointing to the love of God as the highest law.

This Weekend in El Paso

www.apostolateofguadalupe.com

Yes, don't forget older scholarship--like this collection of essays. . .

Anthony Le Donne just had a great post up relating how New Testament scholar Dale Allison apparently encourages students to familiarize themselves with the work of older scholars.

My doktorvater, Colin Brown, felt the same way. He always encouraged me to read the works of scholars such as C.H. Dodd, T. W. Manson (far too often overlooked, in my mind!), and Vincent Taylor.

Well, in that spirit, I thought I'd post about a book I just received a book in the mail that I'm really looking forward to reading:

Robert Banks, editor, Reconciliation and Hope: New Testament Essays on Atonement and Eschatology (Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1974).

The book is a Festchrift presented to Leon Morris on the occasion of his 60th birthday. (Yes, the scholars here are somewhat more recent than some of those mentioned above--but the book is 40 years old now!)

I ordered the book because it features an essay on "priesthood" in Paul--a topic I am researching--but looking through the table of contents more carefully, there seems to be a number of interesting pieces.

Anyways, to Allison's insistence on remembering the contribution of scholars from earlier period, I say a hearty, "Amen!"