CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Hermeneutics and the Teacher of Theology r-- EDGAR KRENTZ
Some Thoughts on Authentic Lutheranism HERBERT J. A. BOUMAN
A Growing Commonality Among Lutherans? ANDREW J. WHITE
The Primitive Baptists of North America ARTHUR CARL PIEPKORN
Homiletics
Book Review
Volume XLll May 1971 Number 5 BonK REVIEW
EUROPE IN THE SIXTEENTH CEN appears. There are 11 excellent maps in this TURY. By H. G. Koenigsberger and book. A very useful chronological list of George L Masse. New York: Holt, Rine political events occupies Appendix 1. In Ap hart and \~vinswn, 1968. xii and 399 pendix II there are genealogical tables and pages. Cloth. Price not given. a list of the popes of the 16th century. Not 'W' e know what to expect in a book with least, a sampling of the index shows that the title Europe in the Sixteenth Century, but it was well prepared. CARL S. MEYER we get the unexpected in the book authored by Koenigsberger and Mosse. Vie do not PULPIT IN PARLIAMENT: PURITANISM have simply the story of the Reformation DURING THE ENGLISH CIVIL H7 ARS, movements and the resulting religious strife. 1640-1648. By John F. Wilson. Prince The theological and the religious are here, ton, N.].: Princeton University Press, because they belong to the warp and woof 1969. xi and 289 pages. Cloth. $10.00. of the 16th century. The authors have given A series of sermons originally preached by a good account of the ecclesiastical concerns invitation to members of the Long Parlia of the 8.ge. But they have done much more. ment between 1640 and 1648 at periodic Socioeconomic matters are treated in their fasts and occasional thanksgivings remain, context; a chapter on to\vns and cities is some in many in printed pam especially helpful. HU1Tl8.nism is dealt vvith, phlet form. These sermons have not been as is politics. The rise of nationalism and analr- filson, associate pro- the relationships between church and state fessor of religion at Princeton University, are brought out. The Huguenot Wars are set about this task. treated, as are the theories of resistance that He tells about the beginnings of the were current in the Europe of the 16th cen preaching program for the House of Com tury. With that we have admirable chapters mons. An extensive chapter tells about the dealing with literature, art, music, and program of preaching for Days of Humilia SCIence. tion and Days of Thanksgiving. An illumi The authors begin their volume, after an nating chapter informs us about the spon introduction, with a discussion of the sources. sors of this kind of preaching and about the At the beginning of each of the chapters is preachers themselves, the latter a variety. a very helpful bibliography. Both Homers, Among them we find for instance Hugh Pe however, nodded, on page 16, in stating that ter, who has been called "the strenuous Puri "Luther is well represented in the Corpus. tan." One chapter is headed "The Plain Style ..." The works of Luther are not found in and Puritan Texts." As might be supposed, the Corpus Reformatorum; Melanchthon, many of the texts came from the Old Testa Calvin, and Zwingli are found in this col ment, especially from the Book of Psalms. lection. The Puritan preachers in their homiletical There are a few other minor errors. The procedures differed from their contempo Belgic Confession was written in 1561, not raries in the Church of England. Their in 1566 (p.277) or 1559 (p.293). The preaching was couched in propositions, even Book of Concordance (p. 293) is not a good though they tried to make their texts com translation for the Concordia. Reuchlin had prehensible with universal application. They been condemned by the pope before his centered on the doctrines of covenanted sal death, and the affair with the Dominicans vation, the sins and the signs of the times, was ended by 1522. These are not many nor the means of salvation, and collective escha particularly serious errors in a work of this tology. scope and fashioned in the manner in which Wilson's work is a piece of careful scholar this volume of the History of Europe Series ship and a contribution to the understanding 322 BOOK REVIEW 323 of both the preaching and the politics of the human beings have lost the dimension of the period of the English Civil War. sacred because they have lost sight of the CARL S. MEYER fact that experience is a result of images and symbols brought to environment. Man PHENOMENOLOGY OF RELIGION: seeks to control the secular world but must EIGHT MODERN DESCRIPTIONS OF try to bring himself into conformity with the THE ESSENCE OF RELIGION. Edited sacred. The world is "apprehensible as world, by Joseph Dabney Bettis. New York: as cosmos, in the measure in which it re Harper & Row, 1969. 245 pages. Paper. veals itself as a sacred world." $3.50. The last selection presents the "I-Thou" This book offers excerpts representing confrontation of Martin Buber. This en some of the most important phenomenolog counter with the "Thou" is man's encounter ical descriptions of religion. with God. The first excerpt, from Merleau-Ponty, The selections are well chosen and the in provides a brief introduction to the phenom troductions very helpful. The proper use of enological method by discussing five central these selections does not imply a choice concepts: description, reduction, essence, in among them nor even an eclecticism. Rather tentionality, world. the book offers varying insights in which In the second selection W. Brede Y.risten "phenomenology of religion" is explored as ~en holds that the phenomenology of re a philosophical school, a method for study ligion takes similar facts and phenomena out ing the history of religion, and as a general of their historical setting in various religions, phenomenological mpthor1ology applied to brings the together, ,d studies them in t' ' ole spectru ':lieious ideas . groups. .ERWIN 1. LUEKER Gerardus van der Leeuw gives a naturalis tic description with a phenomenology of CREATIVE SUFFERING: THE RIPPLE OF power traced through primitive and later re HOPE. Edited by James F. Andrews. ligions. Throughout there is an emphasis on Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press (Kansas City, the relationship between the sacred and the Mo.: The National Catholic Reporter), profane. 1970. 122 pages. Paper. $2.25. Jacques ]'I britain locates the origin of re This book is a collection of eight essays by ligion in the awareness of being. Beginning men who now have or have had a connec with a natural nondialectic intuition of be tion with the Roman Catholic Church. Short ing, he gives new insights into the "five essays are contributed by Alan Paton, Fred ways" of Thomas Aquinas. erick Franck, Charles Davis, Frank J. Sheed, Ludwig Feuerbach finds the essence of re John Howard Griffin, Glenn T. Seaborg, ligion in the religious object, which is a pro John 1. McKenzie, and Herbert Richardson. jection of humanity: "Such as are a man's The subject of "Creative Suffering" does not thoughts and dispositions, such is his God." obviously dominate each of the essays. It is Friedrich Schleiermacher's identification particularly well handled in the contribu of immediate self-consciousness with religion tions by Paton, Davis, and Franck. The con has many similarities with Maritain's "pri cluding essay by Richardson might well be mordial intuition of being." read as the first one. A comparison of the Paul Tillich's phenomenology is con ecclesiological attitudes of Davis and McKen cerned with the depth dimension which is zie is instructive. Richardson argues that opened up by symbols. He correlates existen Davis was the much better churchman and tial questions with symbolic answers. therefore had to leave the church, while Bronislaw Malinowski holds that the es McKenzie, understanding the real nature of sence of religion is to be discovered through the church less than Davis, thought it pos an analysis of its function in society. sible to remain in the church. The essayists Mircea Eliade holds that contemporary endeavor to ask if redemptive suffering is a 324 BOOK REVIEW reality and where it is occurring in our so meneutische Frage in der gegenwarttgen ciety. It is significant to note that all the evangelischen Theologie." Both authors stand contributors, having had firsthand experience squarely in the school of existentialist theol of suffering, remain optimistic about the fu ogy. They are witnesses to the serious imbal ture or the human race. ance of this volume of essays. It contains no HERBERT T. MAYER treatment of the kind of interpretation done by representatives of what we might call "sal DIE HERMENEUTISCHE FRAGE IN DER vation history." THEOLOGIE. Edited by Oswald Loretz Two quotations, one from each of the and Walter Strolz. Freiburg: Herder, chapters mentioned above, will reveal to 1968. 500 pages and indices. Cloth. DM what extent the authors brought together 30.00. into this volume work with the existentialist No one seriously engaged in the theolog presuppositions and categories of Heideg ical enterprise of our day can escape the get, Bultmann, Ebeling, and Fuchs. The first hermeneutical problem. The present volume statement is Pesch's observation: "As a word is devoted to an analysis of this issue in of reconciliation, the proclamation of the depth. Ten authors devote their effort to this New Testament that interprets it, requires undertaking. They represent the disciplines 'the p9,rticipation of the person that hears it of philosophy, psychology and theology; and within the sphere of the reality that is com·
P they" to varyiilg coilfessional configu municated, that is, iv. faith " (p. 264). The rations. second se<:ltence is Schafer's: "The herme The early chapters deal with the question neutic that goes along with the historical of pr-:~uppositions in terms of human un critical method compels one to seek the derstanding, the function of language, man's origin of the Christian faith in the faith of freedom to respond, and his ability to trans Jesus." (P.466) mit knowledge from generation to genera There you have it! The faith of the in tion. A number of essays take up the rela dividual is required to make the proclamation tionship between historical experience and of the New Testament the word of recon the interpretation of the Old Testament as ciliation; and the significance of the histori exhibited in the early centuries of Judaism, cal Jesus is to be found in the kind of faith during the period in which the Septuagint He exhibited, particularly in the kind of lan came into being, and from the end of the guage He used. If these remarks were taken Middle Ages down to such men of the 20th as indicating an acceptable solution to the century as Franz Rosenzweig, Leo Baeck, and "hermeneutical question," one would have Martin Buber. to conclude that when God acted in Jesus The section devoted to an exploration of Christ nothing significant took place extra the hermeneutical problem in contempo nos. Then kerygma is no more than a call to rary European evangelical theology deals ex find in the faith of Jesus an acceptable model tensively with the question of bridging the both for content and expression. From such historical distance between the Biblical au "hollow and delusive speculation" (Col. 1: 8 thors and Bultmann's "man of radio and NEB), good Lord, deliver us! electricity." The final chapter deals at MARTIN H. SCHARLEMANN length with the hermeneutical principles set forth at Vatican II, especially in the con MINISTERS' RESEARCH SERVICE. Edited stitution Dei Verbum. by William F. Kerr. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyn Interpretation of the New Testament is a dale House Publishers, 1970. 854 pages. subject specifically dealt with in two chap Cloth. Price not given. ters: one by Rudolf Pesch, the other by Rolf This is a huge and ambitious book. The Schafer. The former treatment is entitled editor and author of the sermonic materials, "Grundsatze zur Auslegung des Neuen a Baptist pasror of Portland, Oregon, pro Testaments"; the latter is called "Die her. vides a useful introduction, "The Pastor and BOOK REVIEW 325
His Preaching Program." "Nonliturgical bitions did not originate in the cult, as Ale churches, and especially those churches with had proposed, but in the clan or tribe com less centralized denominational control, have mumtles. However this may be, Schulz little by way of divisions by which the seems to resort to sheer speculation when he church year is broken up" (p. 7). He de suggests that this secular form was taken in scribes ways of grouping the 52 sermons to a sacral context to protect the community around special days or in textual series. The from possible repercussions resulting from sermon materials are organized around indi the carrying out of the death sentence. In late vidual texts, a multitude of optional titles, times he believes that this was developed in textual background and exposition, related to a great ceremony, a sample of which is &riptures, extended preaching outlines, and preserved in Leviticus 18-20. illustrations - all printed on half pages to Finally, he classifies a series of passages in leave room for the notes of the user. Supple Ezekiel as modifications of this form and mentary papers discuss the pastor's relation proposes that they form a secondary stratum to counseling, the marijuana problem, in the book. RALPH W. KLEIN Christian education, personal and church li brary and reading, music, serviceman, ad NORTHWEST SElvIITIC GRAMMAR ministration, evangelism, and special ser AND JOB. By Anton C. M. Blommerde. vices such as weddings, funerals, and dedi- Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1969. Paper. xxviii and pages. Italian cations. RICHARD R. CAEMMERER SR. 151 2,700 lire. DAS TODESRECHT 1M ALTEN TEST A The title gives it all away: Here is lIL By Hermann Schulz. Berlin: Al another work on Phoenician-Ugar'tic-He fred Topelmann, 1969. x and 208 pages. brew philology done under the tutelage of Cloth. DM 42.00. Mitchell Dahood. The latter's work is best In 1934 Albrecht Alt published an epoch known to the nonspecialist for his Psalms making study of Israelite law, classifying it commentary in the Anchor Bible. There and into "apodictic" and "casuistic" types. The in dozens of monographs and articles Da latter classification has stood the test of time, hood has contended that unusual vocables, but the former has been reclassified as prohi syntax, and morphological items, often iden bitions, laws of talion, and laws imposing tified as corruptions in the Masoretic text, capital punishment (Todesrecht). are in fact perfectly acceptable and under Schulz identifies a close connection be standable expressions according to our vastly tween the protasis of the Todesrecht and the improved grasp of the Northwest Semitic legal type known as prohibitions. The prot grammar. asis "whoever strikes a man so that he dies," The Book of Job is an ideal place for such for example, is clearly a recasting of the research since the difficulty of the Hebrew prohibition we call the Fifth Commandment. text is conceded by all. In the first section of His detailed analyses of the relationship to his book Blommerde surveys the grammatical prohibitions is a fundamental advance in phenomena which have recently been illumi form critical research. nated, including orthography, phonetics, pro From this rather solid base the author nouns, nouns, verbs, prepositions, adverbs attempts to reconstruct the Sitz im Leben of and particles, and syntax. The second part of this legal form. He proposes that the tribal the work consists of a chapter-by-chapter community formed the original setting with listing and discussion of specific readings in the tribal chief expressing the judgment C"he Job. shall surely die") as spokesman for the en His brief treatment of the defective or tire community. Abimelech's role in Gen. 26: thography must now be supplemented by 11 is his main piece of evidence. This hypoth David Freedman's hypothesis that this prac esis is in line with the findings of E. Gers tice indicates a North Israelite origin for the tenberger, who has argued that the prohi- book. Although items like the yodh suffix 326 BOOK REVIEW
of the third person, datival and double duty paid to the role of Elijah in Jewish hope. suffixes, and Phoenician singulars in -ot are Similarly, Qumran material is not often men recognized by many Biblical philologists, the tioned, though Lohse has shown its great author, like his teacher, is occasionally guilty relevance for this book. of special pleading on specific examples. This Lutheran readers will be interested to note work, nevertheless, represents an impressive that the angel of 14: 6-7 preaches a message and well-organized base for further study of of judgment, not the Gospel; that the millen the Joban text. RALPH W. KLEIN nium of 20:1-3 is a reign of the martyrs in heaven and not on earth; and that the au THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN: AN thor is identified as probably John the apos INTRODUCTION AND COMMEN tle, though Morris is restrained in his em T ARY. By Leon Morris. Grand Rapids, phasis here. Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Preachers will find this commentary of Co., 1969. 263 pages. Cloth. $4.50. great value in its practical comments. It will The Tyndale New Testament Commen often give a starting point for a good sermon. taries) of which this is volume 20, are now EDGAR KRENTZ complete except for the volume on Luke. This volume on the Apocalypse keeps up the A HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOS high standard of the previous ones. Morris OPHY FROM THE BEGINNINGS OF has demonstrated his abilities by earlier com PHILOSOPHY TO PLOTINUS. By mentaries on 1 Corinthians and Thessaloni Ralph M. McInerny. Notre Dame, Ind.: ans in this series and by a number of sig University of Notre Dame Press, 1969. nificant works in Biblical theology. xvii and 382 pages. Cloth. $10.00. Morris dates the Apocalypse in A. D. 90 This reprint of a work first published in -95, though he also holds that the visions 1963 is a useful textbook for a beginner in may well have extended over a number of the history of ancient philosophy. As is years. While the book has many affinities proper in an introductory text, it does not with what scholars call apocalyptic, it also debate some points that might be disputed, has significant differences. These must be but offers one respectable interpretation. One taken into account in any interpretation. No of its strengths is its use of many citations single "classical" position (preterist, histori in good modern translations. A helpful bibli cist, futurist, or idealist) is adequate. Mor ography refers to the major modern dis- ris holds that the work is true prophecy (un cussions. EDGAR KRENTZ derstood in a wider sense than prediction), written to a "little, persecuted, frustrated THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE NEW church" (p. 20). This church is not to be TESTAMENT: THE LIFE OF JESUS identified simply with the seven names given AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE in the text; it is written for a wider circle EARLY CHURCH. By Jack Finegan. than that. This situation is the clue to many Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University things in a proper interpretation of the book. Press, 1969. xxiv and 273 pages. Cloth. The theme of the book is a "theology of $20.00. power," ascribed to Jesus. This power is This volume surveys the contributions of illustrated from the Roman Empire, but its archaeology, topographical studies, and the principles are of permanent validity. It ap use of ancient pilgrim itineraries and ono plies to all civilization. The interpretation mastica for the understanding of the ge supports this idea strongly, but at times may ography of the life of Jesus. Geography is underplay the use of traditional apocalyptic here understood as the identification of the language to support it. Thus the two wit site of events and actions in the life of nesses of 11: 3 ff. are taken symbolically Jesus (rather than the description of country (the phrase is Morris' own) to equal the side, rainfall, and so on). faithful church. Not enough attention is An introduction lists the ancient sources BOOK REVIEW 327 from the gospels, Josephus, and Melito of catacombs, sarcophagi, and ossuaries). This Sardis down to the Franciscan Quaresimus gathers much unusual material. The same in the 17th century (together with a bibli is true of the concluding section on the cross ography of modern editions of the relevant mark (sections 258-296). church fathers, onomastica, and itineraria). The volume has a Scriptural and a general Then follow 296 black-and-white plates or index. This handsome book belongs in every maps, each accompanied by a commentary parish library, in the hands of every inter based on the Scriptures, archaeological work, preter of the gospels, and in the "mental" topographical study, and the relevant ancient knapsack of every Christian pilgrim to the sources. Excellent bibliographies accompany land of Jesus' birth, ministry, death, and each monument or site description. resurrection. It is a volume that will help a The book is structured chronologically person visualize what he has never seen, and geographically. Sixteen plates illustrate recall or interpret what he has seen (or John the Baptist's life. There follow in order overlooked), or prepare to understand what materials on Jesus' life: Bethlehem, Naza he hopes to see. reth, Samaria, Galilee, Decapolis, Caesarea, EDGAR KRENTZ Jericho, the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, and Emmaus. These two sections are uniformly THE IMAGE OF MAN IN C. S. LEWIS. excellent. Only a few places one expects to By William Luther White. Nashville, find are not mentioned: Cana, Nain, Caesarea Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1969. 239 pages. Philippi, and Tyre and Sidon occurred to Cloth. $5.95. this reviewer. Most photographs are clear This is a useful analysis of Lewis' thought and really illustrate the discussion. No. 71, based on an examination of the entire Lewis the inscribed black basalt seat of stone from corpus. The author is sensitive to the com the synagog at Chorazin, is a bit dark, plexities of contemporary art and poetry as while No. 94, the good shepherd statue from well as to the problems of contemporary Caesarea, is photographed from a very bad theology. He is convinced that Lewis has overhead angle that casts deceptive shadows opened an avenue for contemporary religious on the statue. communication and insight. The information given is reliable and full. The author is primarily concerned with Careful study of this volume will give a good Lewis' science fiction, children's stories, and picture of the places and in some' cases the theological fantasies. These are interpreted customs of Palestine. That even an expert on the basis of three criteria: (1) personal nods can also be seen: the Roman theater at judgment informed by a background of con Caesarea is not cut out of a cliffside (as p. 79 temporary theology, literary theory, and a states), but has a cavea built up of stone, general know ledge of Lewis' works; (2) much like its brick counterpart known at Lewis' own critical ideas; (3) theological Roman Ostia (and from many other places). and literary criticism of Lewis. It was probably the author's sensitivity to The introduction places Lewis into the modern feelings that kept him from men contemporary literary and theological milieu. tioning the Israeli destruction of the Arab It is introduced by a Lewis poem which village at 'Amwas, the probable New Testa paraphrases Pindar's 8th Pythian Ode (lines ment Emmaus. It was surprising to find the 95-96). The first chapter is a biography of British name of a commentary series (Black's Lewis and a summary of critical evaluations. New Testament Commentary) rather than its Chapter two, which is probably the most American counterpart ( Harper's) . valuable, investigates myth, metaphor, and Two further sections give unusual ma religious meaning. Chapter three, dealing terial of great value (in both cases not an with poiema, logos, and literary fantasy, con ticipated from the title). Sections 202 to tinues a dialog which engaged literary critics 257 describe the archaeology of Jewish during the past century and was a primary burials in the New Testament era (tombs, factor in the tensions between Pound and 328 BOOK REVIEW
Eliot. The fourth chapter evaluates con Judah was first formed by David's kingdom temporary criticisms of Lewis. at Hebron. The last chapters deal with theological Old Testament studies have been highly concerns: (1) man as he was intended (crea influenced for 30 years by Von Rad's hypoth tion); ( 2) man a3 he has become (fall); esis that short historical creeds in Deuter (3) man as he illay become (redemption); onomy 6 and 26 and Joshua 24 formed the ( 4) man as he is yet to be (eschatology). nucleus that developed into the Hexateuch. The primary concern of the author is to Hyatt reviews three recent monographs demonstrate how Lewis used literary genres which challenge the early date for these to correct theological distortions and provide creeds, deny their identification as creeds, new insights. Lewis scholars will find the and give an alternate and better explanation appendices and bibliography especially use for the strange absence of Sinai from these ful. "creeds." Since the Sinai tradition tells of The author demonstrates his knowledge of an encounter with Yahweh which leads up to Lewis' thought and endeavors to be objective the acceptance by the people of the will of in his evaluations. Although literary critics God, it was not na.tural to mention it in the will increasingly point out unabsorbed didac same breath with God's acts of salvation. tic elements which mar his literary art and Anderson's essay challenges fundamentally theological critics will increasingly find Noth's description of early Israel as an am escapism in his theological fantasies, Lewis' phictl'ony. According to this widely held insight imo myth and his attempt at theo hypothesis, the Israelite tribes were united logical renewal will continue to be sig- by worship ~.t a central sanctuary which was nificant. ERWIN 1. LUEKER the source of an lic law by which the relations of the members were regulated. TRANSLATING AND UNDERST AND \While Anderson has raised important ques ING THE OLD TESTAMENT: ESSAYS tions about the Greek parallels, about central IN HONOR OF HERBERT GORDON ization during the period of the judges, and MAY. Edited by Harry Thomas Frank about the interpretation of Joshua 24, it is and William 1. Reed. Nashville, Tenn.: not clear that his appeal to the Sinai covenant Abingdon Press, 1970. 351 pages. Cloth. as providing the basis for Israel's unity $11.00. necessitates the jettisoning of the whole The 16 essays in this tribute mark May's amphictyonic model. RALPH W. KLEIN retirement from the Oberlin Graduate School REDISCOVERING THE TEACHING OF of Theology. While his bibliography runs JESUS. By Norman Perrin. New York: to some 12 pages of technical and popular Harper and Row, 1967. 272 pages. Cloth. studies, he is most famous for his commen $6.95. tary on Ezekiel in the Interpreter's Bible Current r'Tew Testament scholarship gen and a series of brilliantly edited works, The erally operates on the assumption that the Interpreter's Dictionary 0/ the Bible, The words ascribed to Jesus in the four canonical Oxford Bible Atlas, and the Oxford An'no gospels have to varying degrees been modi tated Bible with the Apocrypha. fied both by the evangelists and by those The essays by Roland de Vaux, George W. before them who used, reshaped, transmitted, Anderson, and J. Philip Hyatt are among the and sometimes created the sayings. Radical more interesting, in that they demonstrate disagreement exists, of course, on the ques the signs of fragmentation in current work tion of just how radical this reshaping was. ing hypotheses of Old Testament studies. Any hope of working toward some consensus De Vaux, for example, challenges a number on that question lies not in treating the of the correlations that have been drawn be issue abstractly or theologically but in exam tween archaeological findings and the Israe ining specific texts and groups of texts on lite conquest and contends that the tribe the basis of a workable historical method. BOOK REVIEW 329
Perrin's book is an extremely important con likely shared much cO!J!!!lgn ewish teaching. • tribution to that task. The primitive church understoo use to be First Perrin treats methodology. He dis faIthful to wm;~tiiia ilifie W~ undou~aty misses (quite correctly) the attempt of B. much continuity betw.eeLLHi!J;lJ;iginal wo!ds Gerhardsson ("Memory and Manuscript") and the church's later words. But this con to argue that the leaders of the early church tinuous materiatan4c<~mmon lewish teach transmitted the teachings of Jesus with mini ing is by definition set aside. mal modification, as the pupils of the rabbis The criterion of ~herepce holds that, in are alleged to have handed on their masters' matetiaIt~ e cmerion of dissimi teachings. Gerhardsson's theory is effectively larity is not applicable, 1Jlate,ial fWm the refuted by the variety that exists in the gos ea,rIjest strata of the tradition max btt ac pel traditions as they are preserved in the cepted as authentic if it is sufficiently com canonical gospels. Thus Perrin says: "The patible with!!l~!~riVe;ratl~"i~~e most characteristic feature of the gospel tra dissimilarity criterion. dition, especially in contrast with Jewish The bulk of the book consists of exegetical rabbinical tradition, is the remarkable free studies of materials grouped under three dom which the transmitters of that tradition categories: the kingdom of God, recognition exercise in regard to it" (p. 31). Probably and response, and Jesus and the future. Al correct also is Perrin's assumption that a ma though it would be impossible to summarize jor reason the church felt free to modify the Perrin's conclusions briefly, a few of his ob words of the earthly Jesus is that they be servations will be offered. lieved the risen Jesus to be alive in their midst, continuing to speak among them. But, Teaching concerning the kingdom of God in this reviewer's opinion, he overstates the is. the central aspect of Jesus' teaching. (Per case when he says that the early church made rin's first book was The Kingdom of God in the Teaching of Jesus.) There was a fu .! no attempt to distinguish "between the origi nal teaching of Jesus and the new under ture element in the teaching of Jesus, but standing and reformulation of that teaching those sayings that give definite form to future . . . [by] the church" (p. 15 ) . Were that so, expectation or express imminent expectation one would expect many more instances in are not authentic. This is a radical departure gospel materials of patently anachronistic from Albert Schweitzer's view. Perrin holds pronouncements ascribed to the earthly Jesus. that in Jesus' teaching the emphasis is not on a future for which men must prepare but To proceed from what the gospels say on a present that guarantees the future. In Jesus said to what might be the most likely regard to the notoriously difficult question original form of a saying, Perrin uses the of Jesus' use of the term "the son of man," generally accepted techniques of form and Perrin addresses himself only to one of the redaction criticism. ~_<;£iterii Per.£!.n usual three categories, the apocalyptic SOD uses are those of dissimilarity and cohe~ce. of-man sayings, and leaves out of considera .The criterion of dissimilarity he states tion the sayings about the present activity thus: "The earliest fomiOf asaying we can of the son of man and the suffering son of reach may be regarded as authentic if it can man. Perrin does nat heliev.e. that in Jesus' be shown to be dissimilar to characteristic time there was a preYailing~~taYQ9. in emphases both of ancient Judaism and of the Judaism of a coming apocalyptic son of man. early Church" (p. 39). This criterion is, of (He thus cI,:!,a1kQKes a :wi~ held view.) course, methodically crucial if one's enter For this reason he declares inauthentic say prise is discovering what has the highest ings of Jesus about the coming of the son probability of being an authentic saying of of man, either in reference to Himself or Jesus. Hpwever, it is.evi
In a discussion of the ark he asserts: "Reli ters, of course, antedate the Masoretic process, able accounts are simply not to be expected strictly speaking, and the Isaiah scroll itself in the Pentateuch, and it would be rather employs many more vowel letters than does surprising if they were there." Even if we the Masoretic text of Isaiah. hold our confessional objections to such an The Isaiah scroll is hailed by the author opinion in abeyance, it fails to take account as the most significant document in the Qum of the demonstrable general reliability of ran collection, whereas it is really only the a good many ancient records. If Smend be longest. Textually, manuscripts of Samuel, lieves that the decisive expressions of the Jeremiah, and Psalms far outrank it. Repeat relationship between Yahweh and Israel were edly Rosenbloom suggests that variants may only the wars, he fails to give a hint of how have arisen because the scroll was written this would make Israel significant for the from memory, and he discusses the possibiliry church and world today. On the basis of the of this manuscript being influenced by the archaic Old Testament poetry and other evi versions. Neither hypothesis is necessary or dence, we must insist that Yahweh as warrior at all likely. was celebrated in early Israel as redeemer Neither Frank Cross nor Shemaryahu Tal and king, as the savior from Egypt and the mon is brought into the discussion, even giver of the Law and the covenant on Sinai. though both have helped our understanding The style of the translation is heavy and of this particular manuscript immensely. awk ",eginning with the expression Rosenbloom's wholenplification" inter "Yac ... ___ .7ar" in the book's title. The pretation is built on a ies of ad hoc judg Hebrew quotation on page 129 is in disar- ments, which are nOt rengthened by his ray. RALPH W. KLEIN proposed analogy ben J. the "Newly Re vised Version" and the King James Version. THE DEAD SEA ISAIAH SCROLL: A LIT (Just what Rosenbloom means by the ERARY ANALYSIS. By Joseph Rosen "Newly Revised Version" is unclear.) bloom. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W m. B. Space prevents detailed analysis, but two Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970. xiii and readings discussed by Talmon can demon 88 pages. Cloth. $4.50. strate that conflation or expansion, and not After a survey of "every major variant" simplification, is one of the major features in the great Isaiah scroll Rosenbloom con of the Isaiah scroll: cludes that many variants can be explained In Isaiah 14: 2 the Masoretic text reads, as simplifications of the Masoretic text. He "to their place," while the Qumran scroll rejects the archetype theory of Paul de La has "to their land and to their place." The garde and follows Paul Kahle in believing latter reading conflates two synonymous He that the standardization of text that was be brew variants, which are preserved in sepa gun in the second century was completed rate branches of the Targum. Thus the plus only centuries later. in Qumran is not just an unnecessary ex Unfortunately, the author, a lecturer at planatory form (pace Rosenbloom). \Vashington University, uses terminology In Isaiah 37: 9 the Masoretic text reads, carelessly and is seemingly unaware of the "and he heard and sent," while the Qumran important advances in Old Testament text scroll has "and he heard and turned and theory in the last decade. He uses the word sent." Rosenbloom contends that the Qumran version to signify ancient translations, the manuscript is in agreement with 2 Kings Masoretic text, the Isaiah scroll, and other 19:9. In fact, the latter reads, "and he turned manuscripts. It would be better to designate and sent." Hence the Qumran manuscript the variety of Hebrew texts as recensions, text conflates the variants "heard" I"turned," types, or the like. He describes the Masoretic which no doubt existed once in manuscripts process as the fixing of the consonantal text, of Isaiah itself. the inserting of vowel letters, and the adding This expansionist, conflationary character of vowel points and cantillation. Vowel let- of the Qumran Isaiah seems to typify much BOOK REVIEW 335
Palestinian scribal actiVity and may finally It is to be hoped that this book will help explain why the Masoretic text of Jeremiah future translators remove the Hebraisms and exceeds the Septuagint by so much in length. over literalism that plague the current English The latter represents a shorter, that is, un versions. RALPH W. KLEIN conflated and unexpanded, and more original Hebrew text type. RALPH W. KLEIN A COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF PETER AND OF JUDE. By J. N. D. NOTES ON THE NElI'/ TRANSLATION Kelly. New York: Harper & Row, 1969. OF THE TORAH. Edited by Harry M. x and 387 pages. Cloth. $8.00. Orlinsky. Philadelphia: The Jewish Pub It should be said at once that this is one lication Society of America, 1969. vi and of the best and most useful commentaries 288 pages. Cloth. $6.00. on these letters in the English language. It The purpose of this volume is to account keeps up the high standard that the writer for the significant departures in the New set in his commentary on the Pastoral Epis Jewish Version (NJV) of the Torah pub tles in the same series (1963) and in his lished in 1962 from the older version of well-known books on the early creeds 2nd 1917. In addition to an extensive introduc~ early Christian doctrine. don the book contains chapter-by-chapter These epistles, as K.elly himself says, all explanations of NJV's renderings. "contain passages of exceptional difficulty" Orlinsky discusses a number of cases in (p. vii). The commentary section ot these which NJV has improved on such contem volumes will aid the reader in working his porary translations as the Revised Standard way through many of the truly thorny pas- Versio!], He notes, for example, that th _ Examples :elly's views follow: Hebrew conjunction "and" should often be First Peter 1: 3-4 draws the language of re replaced by subordination or even entirely birth from pagan mysteries but is not in ignored in English. The latter treatment debted to them for any of its substance. should also be given to many "beholds." Chapters 1: 18-21, 2:21b-24, and 3: 18-22 all Similarly, NJV's "he looked up and saw" have used earlier liturgical, hymnic, or cate is more felicitous than the usual "and he chetical material. In the last passage only lifted up his eyes and looked," while the verses 18 and 22 are clearly liturgical. Con cumbersome "if I have found favor in your tra Elliott, 1 Peter 2: 9-10 does carry some eyes" could be at times replaced by the sim ideas of priestly service, that is of holy ser ple "1 beg you." vice in the honor of God. He agrees with Orlinsky translates Gen. 1: 1, "When God Elliott that this function is ascribed to the began to create . . . ," a rendering that he community and not to individuals. He in believes eliminates this verse from discus terprets 1 Peter 3:19-20 in the light of Jew sions of creatio ex nihilo. Somewhat more ish apocalyptic texts as a reference to the controversial is his suggestion to read "bless fallen angels of Gen. 6: 1 who are impris themselves by you" in Gen. 12: 3 for "be oned in an abyss at the end of heaven (com blessed by you." He correctly argues that pare 1 Enoch 18:12-14). Such views 8.re Ex. 15: 2 confesses Yahweh to be "my presented with a full-scale review of contrary strength and my might"; perhaps the less theories, which makes this commentary an said of Yahweh being "my song" the better. excellent introduction to these three letters. Instead of the mechanical and unclear "The First Peter is, according to Kelly, a genu Lord our God, the Lord is one [one what?}" ine letter, whose unity lies in the situation in Deuteronomy 6:4, NJV reads "The Lord of the addressees (thus he rejects the idea is our God, the Lord alone." of the reuse of a baptismal homily). They Surprisingly only four notes are provided live in a situation of persecution that is local for Deuteronomy 32 and 33, which are and private, not public, yet marked by spo among the most difficult chapters in the radic outbursts of violence. While he is Torah. properly cautious, Kelly favors strongly an 336 BOOK REVIEW early date ror the book, ascribing it to Peter deny the importance of preaching but that the apostle via some amanuensis (not neces they wanted to emphasize prayer and the sarily Sylvanus). Kelly is thus as conserva sacraments. The Puritans regarded preach tive here as in his maintenance of the Pauline ing as the all-important function of the pas authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. tor. To supplement these sermons and to The introduction to 2 Peter is handled reinforce the importance of preaching, lec with that to Jude, since sections of 2 Peter tureships were established. Not all of those are so close to Jude. Kelly holds that 2 Peter who held lectureships were Puritan preach uses Jude as a source, that Jude could date ers, but the lectureships were predominantly as early as the seventies (though a date in filled by Puritans. the eighties is more likely), that 2 Peter Lectureships had their origin with the rise (which faces a more advanced form of the of Puritanism during the reign of Edward opposition) is later, probably in the decade VI; there may have been medieval antece from A. D. 100 to 110. Its language is dents. They flourished especially in london "highly coloured, effusive, and pompous" where in the century between 1560 and (p.236) and scarcely to be credited to the 1662 there were at least 700 clergymen who writer of 1 Peter. If one accepts the apostolic held lectureships at one time or another. The origin of that letter, it is, in Kelly's view, London lectureships reached their peak in almost impossible to maintain it for 2 Peter. 1630, when 116 London parishes out of Kelly does not thereby regard these two about 130 parishes, or approximately 90 letters as unimportant. Though Luther was percent of the parishes in london are re- corded as having hired lecturers. ' right in lllaintaining that ~~the gospel mes T' . ______: __ , _~ ~ectureships. Some sage does not shine very luminously through them" (p. 225), still they contain passages of them, as indicated, were set up by par of genuine power and spiritual insight in ishes. Others were set up by corporations, facing the problems of law and freedom in and others were provincial. Lecturers might Christian ethics and in underscoring the im be appointed or elected and were subject to portance of eschatology. dismissal. The main duty of the lecturer was to This is a volume that will enhance Preach preach, although he might also administer ing on these books. Its author's f;equent the sacraments. Most of the lecturers preached reference to the patristic literature that he two or more times during the week. The knows so well IS an added donum. Use it sermons were often polemical in nature and gratefully, EDGAR KRENTZ frequently political - in their intent. The THE PURITAN LECTURESHIPS: THE Crown used preaching for propaganda pur POLITICS OF RELIGIOUS DISSENT, poses, and the Puritalls were ready to do 1560-1662, By Paul S. Seaver. Stanford, the same, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1970. However, the lectureships received a great xi and 402 pages. Cloth. $12.50. deal of support from the laity. This was the case partly because by the lectureship de The importance of preaching in the 16th ficiencies in preaching were remedied at least and 17th-century England has been empha in part. The lecturers were often zealous for sized before. No one, however, has made a reformation. They could be controlled, and thorough investigation of the lectureships in sometimes they caused less controversy than England in the period from the Elizabethan the regular parish pastors. religious settlement to the restoration of the The years between 1640 and 1642 were Established Church by Charles II. Seaver has the years of the Puritan triumph. Seaver has filled the gap in an admirable manner. a fine chapter on this period. Between Anglicans and Puritans there re His work contains valuable appendices and mained a controversy about the importance notes. It is a work of merit. of preaching. Not that the Anglicans would CARL S. MEYER