—Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Creation and Fall” in Careation and Fall; Temptation: Two Biblical Studies, 42.

• The Politics of Jesus © 1994
• Eerdmans
• 257 pages

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that I’ve summarized and reflected on each of the 12 chapters that make up The Politics of Jesus. Since all the details have been covered, I’ll offer a few final thoughts here.

The Politics of Jesus was a landmark book. It was first published in 1972 in a world that didn’t take the ethical-social stance of Jesus seriously. In this right-place-at-the-right-time book, Yoder defended his belief that Jesus’ teaching has direct ethical implications today. The book was updated with additional material in 1994 to review the theological and sociological landscape since the first printing.

The book is 40 year old, and it shows its age. We miss the revolutionary impact today that it had in the 1970s because the main battle has been won. Yoder’s passionate defense of Jesus’ ethical-social relevance feels almost quaint in an age where that point has become a given. It’s akin to hearing arguments for the importance of wearing seat-belts. The war’s over.

Even though the main point’s commonplace now, the book is still worth reading for the wide variety of angles Yoder takes to support his thesis. When I read Hauerwas I’m amazed at the seemingly random conversion of stand-alone essays into chapters. Now I know where he got that style from! In one chapter, Yoder’s summarizing evidence for political relevance of Jesus throughout the Gospel of Luke. A few chapters later, he’s delving into the Stoic antecedents for the Haustafeln. This style might excite or terrify you, depending on how your brain’s wired.

I have to admit that Yoder stretches the exegetical evidence at times to strengthen his case. In the end, though, we’re left with a groundbreaking study on the political relevance of the Messiah.

—Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, “Daniel” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. VII, 96.

• Life Is Mostly Edges: A Memoir © 2008
• Thomas Nelson
• xvi+318 pages

I judged this book by its cover and it paid off. Before picking up this memoir all I had was a recommendation from a colleague and the beautiful cover to go by. I knew that Miller had written a famous Christian fantasy trilogy, but I have never got around to reading it.

Miller hooked me from the first page. This is the sort of prose you’ll encounter:

Memory arrives sometime after we get here, and generally abandons us long before we leave here. So the umbilical trot that squirts us into the world is unremembered, and the EKG we need to keep it all going is likely to abandon us too suddenly to allow us to write it all down before our passing. (xiii)

Miller wrote his life story with the pen of a poet through the eyes of a story-teller. He discovers meaning in each chapter of his life.

I do wish he spent less time writing about his childhood and more about his life as a pastor, but that’s a selfish wish. In the end, each chapter is well worth reading and reflecting upon.

The final chapter is particularly fruitful for reflection. He asked himself what he would do differently if he had his life to live over again. His conclusions near the end of his life have certainly given me cause to think during the middle of mine.

—Frederick Beuchner, “The Seeing Heart” in Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, 264.

• An Introduction to the Old Testament © 1994
  (Note: I read and reviewed the first edition. The link above connects to the second.)
• Zondervan
• 473 pages

While I don’t often read reference books cover-to-cover, I made an exception with this volume. I treated this book as a supplement to my regular Bible reading. Every time I read a different book in the Old Testament, I read the introduction to that book as well. For the last year or so, Dillard and Longman have been my dialogue partners as I read through the Hebrew Bible.

The book is laid out simply. After a brief introduction there is a chapter on every book in the Old Testament. This makes it a great work to jump in to and out of as needed. Each chapter follows the same form:

1. Historical Background: Who wrote the book in what setting?
2. Literary Analysis: What genre is the book and what is its literary merit?
3. Theological Message: What is the book trying to say?
4. Approaching the New Testament: How is this book used in the New Testament?

A few things set this work apart from the scores of Old Testament primers out there. Dillard and Longman are evangelical in perspective yet they have no problem interacting and dealing honestly with historical-critical perspectives. This is refreshing to see. I also appreciate the broader canonical perspective of the authors.

If you’re a thoughtful evangelical Christian looking to expand your understanding of the Old Testament as you read through it, I would encourage you to read this book.

—Frederick Beuchner, “The News of the Day” in Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, 250.

Chapter 12: The War of the Lamb

Summary

1972: With our focus on Jesus and Paul, other biblical witnesses have been left out, notably Revelation. Christian social ethics is obsessed with discovering the meaning and direction of history. It turns out this is no easy task because of the plethora of free agents in play. Revelation provides a better solution that trying to decode history. John reminds us that “the cross and not the sword, suffering and not brute power determines the meaning of history” (232). Indeed, Jesus’ faithfulness to the enemy led him to give up his own handle on the meaning of history to be faithful to the will of God.

Jesus chose to give up providential control of history. This is eloquently recorded in the Philippians 2 hymn. Jesus’ example determines the type of pacifism we choose. Jesus wasn’t a pacifist in order to manipulate events to a certain end—he gave up concern for the end to live faithfully to God.

Therefore, the cross is not a technique to achieve an end. “The cross is not a recipe for resurrection” (238). The cross is the result of faithfulness. Pacifism then, not as the means to an end but as the result of faithfulness, provokes new questions such as,”Does it make sense to ask the public authorities in civil society to enforce standards of fraternity and equity which Christians can seek after in the church on the basis of the free assent of those who claim to be committed to Christian obedience” (239)? As our world moves away from its Christian heritage, perhaps the Apocalypse with its call to obedience rather then history-manipulation will become more crucial to the church’s existence again.

Our modern version of Christianity is wide-open to the Marxist criticism of promising a glorious future to help us forget our present. In the early church, the gap between present and hereafter was not important. The glorious future was the logical extension of the present trajectory. A recovery of this understanding would help the church see the relevance of Apocalyptic literature again.

1994: Much scholarship has been conducted since the first edition on the interpretation of Revelation. Unfortunately, many simply use a convenient interpretative grid to confirm their own views. In the end, biblical apocalypses remind us that Jesus is the key to understanding how God is acting in a sinful world. We must follow Jesus, not our modern infatuation with effectiveness.

Thoughts

Although this chapter was the least scholarly in the traditional sense (there were not footnotes), Yoder’s writing is as complicated as ever. In the end, it was worth the reading and rereading for the insights gleaned.

One of the questions that has confused me over the years is, what right do Christians have to expect the state to enforce Christian morality on the public? It was good to hear Yoder state this question outright, although no direct answers were offered. This chapter reminds Christians to be faithful to God within their own faith community, but it doesn’t really engage the original question. I suppose I’ll have to keep thinking about that one.

The main point of this chapter is a lesson that I and all pastors need to take to heart. Effectiveness doesn’t matter. Faithfulness does. Jesus gave up his claim to effectiveness when he emptied himself—obedience to his Father was what mattered.

I think the modern church would do well to focus on faithfulness and leave the matter of effectiveness to our Father.

< Ch. 11: Justification by Grace through Faith

• As One Devil to Another: A Fiendish Correspondence in the Tradition of C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters © 2012
• Tyndale House Publishers
• xi+192 pages

[At the end of this review, you'll have an opportunity to win a copy of the book.]

In 1941, The Guardian magazine published a series of letters from Senior Devil Screwtape to his student Wormwood. These were published as The Screwtape Letters (a book I’ve read numerous times) the following year.

At first, the technique seems gimmicky: instead of hierarchy, there’s lowerarchy; instead of Lord, there’s the Adversary. Once you wrap your head around the change of perspective, though, the genre really shines. In C. S. Lewis’ hands, this shift in perspective allowed him to dig deep into the nature of temptation and reveal the Enemy’s (ours, not Wormwood’s) sinister techniques.

I was nervous when I heard about Platt’s foray into the genre. To my surprise and delight, there was nothing to worry about. Lewis biographer Walter Hooper is right to say, “it reads as if C. S. Lewis himself had written it.”

It reads like Lewis on a couple different levels. First, consider the voice of the devils. Both Wormwood and Slashreap convey a demonic mix of arrogance, pride, academia, and bureaucracy. Mix in some dry British humour and you have some entertaining-yet-vaguely-terrifying imps.

As clever as the style of the work is, it is still just the wrapping on the gift. This book shines because of Platt’s insight into the human mind and the nature of temptation. Here are a few of my favourite examples:

On the Internet:

Now, every fool—and the most predatory corporations—has a voice equal in volume, and thus equal in value, to anyone else’s. Genuine expertise is silenced in the cacophony of opinion. No single voice, however sane and informed, is of any value at all. This takes the Man-in-the-Street Interview to even greater heights of absurdity. After all, when did the Man in the Street ever possess the thoughtfulness, education, perspective, patience, time for reflection, emotional depth, and reasoning skills to contribute anything? Once again, the Age of Narcissism brings Subjectivity to our aid. (126)

On Cellphones:

With them, … we separate each human from every other, and from their common humanity, by allowing them to ‘keep in touch’ (how does one not laugh?), maintaining their endless chatter at a conversational level of minimal sentience and maximum banality, feeding their narcissism while allowing them to be rude to two people simultaneously: the person to whom they are speaking and the other directly in front of them. (127-8)

On Modern Art:

The client listened in slack-jawed astonishment to the minx’s admiring assessment of the jewel-encrusted rhinoceros dung, which she proclaimed as Art. … With the elimination of objective standards of every kind, the very concept of Art will become as much a smudge and blur as our Philological Department has made of language. When all works of art finally have equal value, no work of art will have any value whatever. (93)

Platt’s book is stylistically delightful and piercingly incisive. This is a must-read for any fan of The Screwtape Letters or anyone interested in pulling the curtain back on the Devil’s strategy sessions.

Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided to me free of cost by Tyndale House Publishers.

…

I love the names Platt comes up with for his devils: Scardagger, Slashreap, Driptweak, Sneakweasel, etc. To win your own copy of this book, leave a comment with your best idea for a Devil’s name. I’ll pick the winner later this week with a random number generator and mail you a certificate for a free copy of your own.

—Lloyd Alexander, “The Foundling” in The Fantastic Imagination: An Anthology of High Fantasy, 270.