Specht, Walter F.

English

Andrews University

BOOK REVIEWS 89 confront us, we are now a t  least relieved of the need or temptation to begin with Jesus, or  the early church, or the New Testament, if we wish to develop coherent ethical positions" (p. 130). Thus,  Sanders rejects the teachings of Jesus as an ethical model because they are inseparably connected with his imminent eschatology; he finds that Mark sets out  merely the ethics of endurance in a hostile world; Luke is no longer ruled by the closeness of the Parousia, but he presents only a vague "goodness"; Matthew intensifies ethical demands in a manner that becomes unthinkable on the non-occurrence of the Eschaton. Likewise, according to Sanders, is Paul governed 11y the nearness of the End: he  intends agapF as primarily eschatological antl makes frequent use of tenets of holy law. T h e  N T  "Paulinists," on the othcr hand, no longer find eschatology as definitive for ethics, but  for them Christian behavior tends to collapse into merely good citizenship. Nor is the Johannine ethic any better: the temporal under- standing of eschatology has been replaced by tension between the "in" group (believers) and the "world" outside, so that I~ehavior is concerned only with one's fellow-believer-a way of thinking that displays "weakness and moral bankruptcy" (p. 100). T h e  later epistles follow the general direction of the "Paulinists," while the Apocalypse, retaining the aspect of imminent eschatology but retreating from ethical responsibility, is "evil" (p. 114). Professor Sanders' analysis g i \ a  rise to several questions. He has (correctly) pointed out  the role of imminent eschatology in N T  thought, but  to what extent are the ethics in that thought contingevt upon the eschatology? He assumes that the radicality of the love command is viable only on a short- term basis; a lengthened view makes it preposterous. If, however, love of neighbor rests upon a particular time view, is it not thereby qualitatively devalued? On the other hand, what if the ethics of the N T  are bound up  with religio~z rather than a specific eschatology (which is part of that religion)? I t  is in this latter regartl-the relation of ethics to N T  religion- that Sanders' work appears most vulnerable. He has exegetetl passages of the N T  which appear to take up  ethical concerns, but  he has overlooked the larger picture of life in the Spirit antl the vitality of the new sense of com- munity. It'hile he has dealt w i th  the words of Jesus, he has quite neglected the most potent factor from the life of Jesus-the cross. .Is John H. Yotler has argued convincingly in T h e  Politics of Jesus (1972; see my review in AUSS 13 [1975]: 96-97), the cross-ethic colors N T  behavior. Whatever one's final estimate of Ethics in the N e w  Testnttle?tl, the book seems destined to influence subsequent writing in the area. Whilc it cannot rank in scope or impact with Schweitzer's Quest, it will, like the Quest, serve as a point of refere~lce. I t  is a significant work in the study of N T  ethics. Xnclrews Uni\ ersity \lTll.l.l~hf G .  J ~ I I N S S O N  Swanson, Reul~en J. T h e  Horizontal Line Synopsis of the  Gospels. Dillsboro, N.C.: Western Carolina Press, 1975. xx + 597 pp. $23.95. T h e  unique feature of this Synopsis is its new arrangement of the gospel materials. Instead of placing the parallel accounts in vertical columns, Swanson has arranged them in parallel horizontal lines. I t  is evident that 90 SEMINARY STUDIES the Professor of Philosophy antl Religion a t  Western Carolina University has given careful thought to the matter of an  effective format for arranging the su1)stance of the gospels. T h e  book is divided into four parts: one part for each of the gospels, using the canonical order beginning with Matthew and ending- with John. T h e  text employed is the Revised Standard Version. T h e  material is arranged in 1)locks of parallel lines. Swanson descril~es his procedure thus: "The  lead gospel is almost always the gospel in I~old-faced type on the top of the I~lock of lines. Exceptions occur only when there is material in the supporting gospels not found in the lead gospel. Such material is included, since i t  is important to see what the other gospel writers are saying which is not repeated in the lead gospel" (p. x). Each gospel is preceded I)y a table of contents antl cross references. I 'he text of each is divided into sections. Xlatthew has 79; Mark, 72; Luke, 106; and John, 44. Six of hiatthtsw's sections, those containing the five tliscourses around which the gospel is built (5:l-7:29; 9:%-ll : l ;  13:l-53; 1X:l-19:2; 24: 1-26:2), plus the account of the Jerusalem controversies (21 :23-22:46), are subdivided into from 5 to 10 su1)sections each. In Mark the account of the controversies in Jerusalem (11:27-12:3.1,-37) and the Eschatological Dis- course (13:l-37) are also su1)divided. T h e  same is true of the Sermon on the Plain (G:20-49) and the Controversies in Jerrisalem (20: 1-45). T h e  material is to be studied in blocks of lines. There  are two kinds of parallel materials included: (I) primary, printed in Imltl-faced type, antl (2) secondary, printed in light italics except when the text agrees exactly with the lead gospel. T h e  account of the Last Supper, for example, in hlatthew includes parallel lines from 1 Cor 11:24-27 in 1)old-faced type antl material from Jn  IS and 6 in light italics. T h e  horizontal-line arrangement is flexil~le enough to include materials outside the gospels. As further illustration the list of the 12 apostles given in Acts 1:13 is also given as a parallel to Mt 10:2,3 (11. 49) as well as to Mk 3: 16-19 (pp. 213-214) and to Lk 6: 14-16 (pp. 362-363). In the Marcan section, both the "long" and the "short" ending of the gospel are included (pp. 324-326). In John the Pericope adulterae is given as a regular part of John (7:53-8:ll). T h e  work, unfortunately, contains no textual notes or  variant readings. For a convenient comparison of the wording of the parallel accounts of the gospels as rendered in the RSV it is a valualde tool. U7e look forward to Swanson's protluction of a Greek Synopsis based on the same format. Lotna Linda University Loma Linda, Calif. Via, Dan 0.. J r .  Ke)ygtna a?td Co~ttedy itz I11e Nezu Testnrneltt: A .Stt-uctu1-alirt Al)j~rotrcll to Herttreilelctic. l'hilaclelphia: Fortress, 1975. xii + 179 pp. $8.95. In  recent )ears we have secn the N T  studied by the methods of form criticism and redaction criticism, antl now right on the heels of the lattcr the methotl of structuralism. M71iile form criticism and redaction criticism are not heterogeneous to each other, structrlralism is to them antl therefore 

The Horizontal Line Synopsis of the Gospels [review] / Swanson, Reuben J.

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1386&amp;context=auss

The Horizontal Line Synopsis of the Gospels [review] / Swanson, Reuben J.

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