In Cl Ai C Br In A Si Tl St THE PRINCETON SEMINARY BULLETIN VOLUME XV, NUMBER 2 NEW SERIES 1994 Inaugural Address Christianity and Culture, Dead White European Males, and the Study of Patristics KATHLEEN E. MCVEY Afrocentrism, the Bible, and the Politics of Difference cain hope felder Can “Sustainability” Be Sustained? A Review Essay of John B. Cobb, Jr.’s Sustainability max l. Stackhouse Bruce Metzger as Textual Critic James A. brooks In Memoriam A Tribute to Paul Louis Lehmann Fleming Rutledge Sermons The Challenge of Hope J. CHRISTIAAN BEKER Stay Close BRIAN K. BLOUNT At Table BARBARA A. CHAAPEL Faculty Publications (1993) PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Thomas W. Gillespie, President BOARD OF TRUSTEES Johannes R. Krahmer, Chair Robert M. Adams, Vice Cha Louise Upchurch Lawson, Secretary Clarence B. Ammons Curtis A. Jones Fred R. Anderson Henry Luce III Eve S. Bogle David M. Mace Robert W. Bohl Kari Turner McClellan Warren D. Chinn M. Scott McClure Stewart B. Clifford Donald C. McFerren John H. Donelik Young Pai Peter E. B. Erdman Earl F. Palmer Rosemary Hall Evans Barbara A. Renton John T. Galloway, Jr. Thomas J. Rosser Francisco O. Garcia-Treto Audrey L. Schindler C. Thomas Hilton Arthur F. Sueltz David H. Hughes Thomas K. Tewell Jane G. Irwin Jay Vawter F. Martin Johnson David B. Watermulder Justin M. Johnson George B. Wirth Thomas R. Johnson Ralph M. Wyman TRUSTEES EMERITI/AE Clem E. Bininger George T. Piercy Frederick E. Christian William H. Scheide Sarah B. Gambrell Laird H. Simons, Jr. Margaret W. Harmon John M. Templeton Bryant M. Kirkland William P. Thompson Raymond I. Lindquist Samuel G. Warr J. Keith Louden 1 THE PRINCETON SEMINARY BULLETIN VOLUME XV NUMBER 2 NEW SERIES 1994 Daniel L. Migliore, editor James F. Kay, book review editor Steven R. Bechtler, editorial assistant CONTENTS Inaugural Address Christianity and Culture, Dead White European Males, and the Study of Patristics Kathleen E. McVey ip> Afrocentrism, the Bible, and the Politics of Difference Cain Hope Felder 13 Can “Sustainability” Be Sustained? A Review Essay of John B. Cobb, Jr.’s Sustainability Max L. Stackhouse M 3 Bruce Metzger as Textual Critic James A. Brooks 156 In Memoriam A Tribute to Paul Louis Lehmann Fleming Rutledge i6 5 Sermons The Challenge of Hope J. Christiaan Bekcr 170 Stay Close Brian K. Blount 173 At Table Barbara A. Chaapel 184 Faculty Publications (1993) 186 ii THE PRINCETON SEMINARY BULLETIN Book Reviews The Depleted Self: Sin in a Narcissistic Age, by Donald Capps Kathleen Billman 197 The Lord’s Prayer: Perspectives for Reclaiming Christian Prayer, ed. Daniel L. Migliore Bradley Hanson 200 Numbers 1-20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, by Baruch A. Levine Katharine Doob Sa/^enfeld 201 The Psalms through Three Thousand Years: Prayerbook of a Cloud of Witnesses, by William L. Holladay /. Clinton McCann, Jr. 203 The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity, ed. James H. Charlesworth David Flusser 204 Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles, by Jurgen Becker, trans. O. C. Dean, Jr. Calvin J. Roetzel 205 The Revelation of John: A Continental Commentary, by Jurgen Roloff, trans. John E. Alsup David A. deSilva 207 Mysterious Apocalypse: Interpreting the Book of Revelation, by Arthur W. Wainwright Bruce M. Metzger 209 The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament, by Bart D. Ehrman Bruce M. Metzger 210 The Text and the Times: New Testament Essays for Today, by Robin Scroggs Martinus C. de Boer 212 A Century of New Testament Study, by John K. Riches James F. Kay 214 Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin, by B. A. Gerrish Horton Davies 215 Beyond Charity: Reformation Initiatives for the Poor, by Carter Lindberg Paul R. Nelson 216 CONTENTS iii The History of the Baptist Missionary Society, 1792-1992, by Brian Stanley Alan Neely 218 For the Soul of the People: Protestant Protest against Hitler, by Victoria Barnett James C. Demmg 219 Georgia Harkness: For Such a Time as This, by Rosemary Skinner Keller Alan Neely 221 Church People in the Struggle: The National Council of Churches and the Black Freedom Movement, 1950-1970, by James F. Findlay, Jr. M. William Howard, Jr. 223 The Church Confident, by Leander E. Keck Donald Macleod 224 Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology, by Gordon W. Lathrop Laurence Hull Stoo^ey 227 Women at Worship: Interpretations of North American Diversity, ed. Marjorie Procter-Smith and Janet R. Walton Gail Anderson Ricciuti 228 Hermeneutics for Preaching: Approaches to Contemporary Interpretations of Scripture, ed. Raymond Bailey Richard A. Rhem 230 Teaching for Moral Growth: A Guide for the Christian Community—Teachers, Parents, and Pastors, by Bonnidell Clouse Ernest Hess 231 Theological Voices in Medical Ethics, ed. Allen Verhey and Stephen E. Lammers Nancy J. Duff 233 Crisis Counseling, by Howard W. Stone; Risk Management, by Aaron Liberman and Michael J. Woodruff; and Integrative Family Therapy, by David C. Olsen Robert Dykstra 234 Care of Persons, ('are of Worlds: A Psychosystems Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling, by Larry Kent Graham Don Browning 237 IV THE PRINCETON SEMINARY BULLETIN The Princeton Seminary Bulletin is published three times annually by Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey. Each issue is mailed free of charge to all alumni/ae and on an exchange basis with various institutions. Back issues are not available. All correspondence should be addressed to Daniel L. Migliore, Editor, Princeton Seminary Bulletin, P.O. Box 821, Princeton, NJ 08542-0803. Because the policy of the Bulletin is to publish lectures and sermons by Princeton Seminary faculty and administration, and presentations by guests on the Seminary campus, we do not accept unsolicited material. Kathleen E. McVey is the Ross Steven- Christianity and Culture, Joseph son Professor of Church History at Princeton Dead White European Theological Seminaiy. A graduate of Rad- cliffe College (B.A.) and Harvard Univer- Males, and the Study sity (Ph.D.), she is the author of two books, Ephrem the Syrian: Hymns on the Na- of Patristics tivity, Hymns against Julian, Hymns on Virginity and on the Symbols of the by Kathleen E. McVey Lord and George, Bishop of the Arabs: A Homily on Blessed Mar Severus, Pa- triarch of Antioch. Her inaugural lecture was given in Miller Chapel on March 16, 1994. ITH THE establishment of a professorship in honor of J. Ross Steven- Wson, the second president of Princeton Theological Seminary, and my appointment thereto, the Seminary has accorded a new level of recogni- tion to the field of Early Church History’ or, as it has been traditionally known, Patristics. This is a momentous step ecumenically since this field has been most intensively studied and esteemed in the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican communions. Yet it is a field of study neither unfamil- iar to nor unappreciated by Calvin and other great representatives of the Reformed tradition. I am honored to have been given the task of represent- ing this field of study in the context of this distinguished seminary’. It is a task I find both intimidating and exhilarating. It is intimidating because it is an area in which many great scholars have worked and taught—indeed in the context of European universities and theological faculties it is not one field of study but several: Latin, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic, and other languages and literatures of the early Christian period, each claiming its own exacting linguistic and literary expertise. It is exhilarating because I believe that this area of study is particularly relevant to the issues facing us today, and I believe that the growing interest of seminary students in this subject constitutes a recognition of its importance to the church of the future. I. Dead White European Christian Males .and the Study of the Early Church It is this issue of the relevance of the study of the early church to the questions and concerns of our contemporary world that will be the focal point of today’s lecture. Indeed, some of you may be wondering whether you misheard me on this point. After all, Ficino, Erasmus, Calvin, and the other Renaissance humanists who applied themselves to the study of the Church Fathers did so as part of a general return to the literature and 104 THE PRINCETON SEMINARY BULLETIN culture of Greece and Rome. But it could scarely be said that their cry “ad ” fontes —to the sources! —is a popular slogan today. Throughout the educa- tional establishment the question is being raised whether there should be any “canon” of authors. In the study of literature, history, and philosophy, students and educators alike are questioning the hegemony of “classical” curricula of any sort in the multicultural environment of the late-twentieth- century university. One prominent classicist, Bernard Knox, has pointedly defended the study of the traditional Greco-Roman classics in a book pro- vocatively entitled, The Oldest Dead White European Males and Other Reflec- tions on the Classics.' In the setting of Princeton Theological Seminary you might well ask me, “Is not Patristics actually the study of the writings of ” ‘the oldest dead white European Christian males?’ This is not a frivolous question. Let us briefly consider each of its components, but in reverse order under the rubric of a tripartite question: “Is the study of Patristics merely the examination of writings of Christian males, who were white Europeans, and are now dead?” First, the very name of the discipline, Patristics or Patrology, bespeaks the formative role of certain men, the “Fathers” of the church, in defining “Orthodox” Christian truth and formulating “Catholic” tradition. 2 Thus, the omission not only of women but also of heretical writers is assumed, and certainly only Christians are under consideration.