Reis, Andre

English

Andrews University

Andrews University Seminary Studies 57 (Springs 2019)238wealth among clergymen in the fourth century in relation to the conversion of Constantine (334). And in the following section, she looks at how male leadership associated the female sex with heresy during the same period. Yet, Schenk does not make the association between the growth of priestly wealth and power, and the denigration of women. She only connects the change in the emperor’s religion with the changes in the priest’s role, not with the male attack on the nature (ontology) of females.Despite the above-mentioned issues, I recommend the book to anyone looking for information on the role of women in early Christianity. Those interested in Christian funerary practices from the third on through the fifth centuries will find the book even more helpful. While I do not agree with a few of Schenk’s conclusions, I think the book makes an important contribu-tion. It fills a gap in the knowledge about early Christian funerary iconogra-phy. The book is well written and thought provoking: worth the read.Berrien Springs, Michigan Carina O. PrestesShoemaker, Stephen J. The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. 272 pp. Hardcover USD 59.95.Stephen J. Shoemaker is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon and a specialist on Christian and Islamic origins, specifically for late antiquity and early medieval periods (Byzantine and Near Eastern Christian-ity). Shoemaker considers the present volume the “natural successor” to his previous book entitled The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad’s Life and the Beginnings of Islam (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011).In The Apocalypse of Empire, Shoemaker offers both a compact treatise on imperial eschatology which dominated the interlocking religious cultures of Byzantium in the sixth to seventh centuries CE, as well as a revised history of the origins of Islam. Shoemaker defines the imperial eschatology of this period as the idea that the end of all things will follow the universal dominion of a “divinely chosen world empire” (3). He seeks to situate early Islamic eschatology within the “apocalyptic imagination” of the “broader religious context of the late ancient Near East.” He does this by taking a close look at “the fusion of apocalypticism and imperialism” (2), while “using the same historical-critical methods and perspectives that have guided the study of early Judaism, Christianity, and other religions” (1). The author’s goal is to cull a cogent schematic of imperial eschatology from a welter of apocalyptic texts and traditions circulating at a time when Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Muslims shared the belief that “God is working through imperial power Book Reviews 239rather than against it” and that the “fulfillment of the ages will be achieved through the triumph of imperial power rather than its eradication” (11). Islam, he argues, rose as an outgrowth of, and in collaboration with, Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian apocalyptic ideologies, prevalent at the time.Chapter 1 offers a survey of seminal kernels of imperial eschatology as found in canonical literature (e.g., the succession of empires in the book of Daniel), as well as pseudepigraphal Jewish literature (spanning the second century BCE to the fourth century CE). Shoemaker thus situates imperial eschatology of late antiquity within the immediate horizon of ancient Jewish eschatology, dominated as it had been by the idea that God’s reign would come “through military victory over God’s worldly foes” (25) led by the Messiah––as clearly evidenced in the “War Texts” at Qumran. This messi-anic warrior king later morphed into the Christian legend of a “Last Roman Emperor” to rise before the eschaton, a rereading of Daniel 2 by Christians living under the Roman Empire in the fourth century CE (30–37).Chapter 2 explores the role of Rome in early Christian eschatology, focusing especially on the conversion of Constantine, and how the empire was Christianized and Christianity imperialized. Shoemaker writes that, at that time, “Rome’s ultimate triumph in the world was secured by its divine favor and it was uniquely destined to hold dominion on God’s behalf until it yielded sovereignty to God directly on the last day” (4–5). A discussion of how Rome and other players made an impact on the imperial eschatolo-gies of Judaism and Byzantine Christianity dominates Chapter 3 and lays the foundation for the author’s views on the rise of Islam in the seventh century CE. In this pivotal chapter, Shoemaker addresses the imminent eschatological expectations of the sixth-to-seventh centuries in Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. At that time, both Jews and Christians saw Rome as playing an active part in the dawn of the eschaton through its restoration of the Chris-tian cross in Jerusalem, which opened the way for the rise of a post-Rome Jewish Messiah. Chapter 4 zeroes in on the shifting imperial eschatological expectations of Jews and Zoroastrians, and especially describing how the Iranian empire replaced Rome as a harbinger of the end. These interchangeable imperial eschatologies, Shoemaker argues, were not only coterminous with, but directly contributed to the rise of Islam.In the last two chapters, Shoemaker arrives at the core of his argument by chronicling how Muhammad and the early believers translated imperial escha-tological beliefs garnered from their “sectarian milieu” into military and polit-ical activism. Central to their religious and political struggle was “Jerusalem’s unique eschatological status” (168), which fueled the “believers’ apocalyptic war against Rome” and later led to “the capture of Constantinople” (177), no doubt an effort to replace Christianity with Islam as the last “divinely chosen power.” The author closes by offering a critique of anachronistic, revisionist Andrews University Seminary Studies 57 (Springs 2019)240histories of early Islam which tend to both downplay the import of its escha-tological roots, as well as place unrealistic, post-enlightenment expectations on its more problematic traditions. Foundational to Shoemaker’s paradigm is the view––suffused by incisive analysis of primary sources––that Muhammad, rather than being merely a “prophet of social reform,” actually came onto the scene as an apocalyptic prophet “driven by eschatological urgency.” (7) He, along “with his followers, expected to see the end of the world very soon, seemingly even in his own lifetime” (132). Quite surprising is the fact that, in its erstwhile iteration, Islam’s fight for the liberation of the Holy Land from the Romans was part of an eschatological war to usher in the eschaton, in which Jesus would play the central role (160–161). In order to advance this view of early Islamic eschatology, Shoemaker engages several lines of evidence: First, Christian apocalyptic texts of the time––such as the Tiburtine Sybil, the Apocalypse of Pseudo Methodius and the Doctrina Iacobi; second, early Islamic texts such as the Kitāb al-Fitan and the A‘maq Cycle; and third, reconstructions of origi-nal readings of apocalyptic statements found in the Qur’an and the ḥadīth, a collection of sayings by Muhammad. The challenge facing the author is daunting, not only for the intrac-table nature of issues lying in the misty past, but also for the unstable nature of early sources. In this, Shoemaker succeeds in negotiating the fickle lines demarcating the motley, eschatological ideologies which festered in Byzantine Christianity. This is done in order to form a compelling portrait of the Judeo-Christian apocalyptic which became ancillary to the rise of Islam. In his exploration of the apocalyptic ethos of that time and its current corollaries in both communities, Shoemaker critiques both, speaking prophetically against an overdependence on facile, but ultimately, questionable interpretations of these sacred texts.The payout of Shoemaker’s religiongeschichtliche method, as applied to the “sectarian milieu” (2) which gave rise to Islam, is significant for several reasons. First, as the book’s title lays out, Shoemaker attempts to correct the increasingly popular notion that early Christian apocalyptic was against empire. Instead, he argues that it became dependent on the empire to advance a political-religious vision of the end of all things. Further, Shoemaker seeks to correct academia’s ostensible “aversion to eschatology” (117) and its “longstanding scholarly disregard for eschatology in the study of Islamic origins” (168), preferring instead the subsequent ethical and monotheistic thrusts of Islam to the detriment of its raw apocalyptic impulses. But this view, Shoemaker argues, fails to acknowledge that the eschatological impetus of early Islam was, in fact, foundational to its raison d’être. It was a force to advance a “political eschatology” in the form of a monotheistic empire which alone could prepare the world for the impending “final Judgment of the Hour” (144). Thus, Shoemaker places an “apocalyptic mirror” before the Book Reviews 241more sanitized views of Islamic roots and insists that only an objective, histo-riographical approach can lead to meaningful engagement with the powerful, ontological turbidites attendant to Islam’s early history, still stirring in the Islamic psyche. Shoemaker’s approach offers a veiled warning against the pitfalls lurking in modern apocalyptic movements eager to tether eschatological expectations to political ones, coalescing ancient oracles with the exigencies of modern imperial interests, resulting in intoxicating views of reality. But as new itera-tions of imperial apocalypticism stake their foundations on the bedrock of similar movements of the past, they face a similar fate in the way that the previous sandcastles of imperial eschatology crumbled, washed away by waves of prophetic disconfirmation. One example should suffice: when the conquest of Jerusalem failed to usher in the eschaton after the death of their prophet, the early believers moved their target to Constantinople (171–172). The overtones of Shoemaker’s important conclusions rise above the cacophony of voices struggling to bridge the ever-widening ideological chasm between Christianity and Islam. This is especially poignant at the current intersection of apocalyptic imperialist views now at work with evangeli-cal America against those of Islamic fundamentalism, as seen in the rise of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, hell-bent on marshalling the end times through jihad. Shoemaker’s solution to this dialogical predicament is a closer look at the way that imperial eschatology has failed historically for both religions, degenerating into abuse of power and violence. Shoemaker posits that, instead of ignoring these troublesome elements, “we must confront the past for what it was and, in some instances, refuse to allow its antiquated and often severe values to define modern norms” (184). Case in point: as I finish writing this review, the Islamic State caliphate has lost its last stronghold in Syria, bringing an era of unrestrained pseudo-religious barbarism to an end.As for the challenge that imperial eschatology continues to pose to Christendom, correcting questionable readings of text and tradition requires going back further from the doomsday fever of late antiquity––whose ugly head keeps resurfacing now and then––to the unadulterated fountain of apostolic eschatology, which saw the kingdom of God as having already been inaugurated by the “slaughtered Lamb” (Rev 4–5). This definitive kingdom shattered any earthly empire’s claims to eschatological relevance: all “glory, honor and power” were given to the Lamb. In essence, the “Christ event” already unleashed the eschaton and now we wait for its final consummation.Readers will be hard pressed to find major flaws in the author’s argument; it is well-grounded in an extensive bibliography and trenchant analysis with the evidence bathed in explanatory beauty. But while Shoemaker’s work is in dialogue with Western scholarship on the origins of Islam, there is a conspicu-ous lack of engagement with Islamic scholars presently publishing and teach-ing in leading universities in both the United States and Europe. While this Andrews University Seminary Studies 57 (Springs 2019)242deficiency is not necessarily fatal to the author’s conclusions––his quest, is after all, a historian’s endeavor––a deeper interdisciplinary rendezvous could have enriched the research.Shoemaker’s book has intermediate-to-advanced readers in mind who are fully abreast of the hermeneutical tools at the disposal of historians. I would only point out a few minor issues: there is a tendency towards repeti-tiveness––the same concept is often reworded in close proximity––and at times, arguments that have been satisfied are revisited when they could have been combined into one flow of reasoning. I also thought that placing the Acknowledgements section at the back end of the book was unexpected. Only one significant typo in the entire work was found––“allusion” should replace “illusion” (20). Overall, the book makes for an engaging read, with elegant design and intuitive sections.In sum, The Apocalypse of Empire is a responsible effort in the quest for a deeper understanding of early Islam within the continuum of the history of religions. Students of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic history will appreciate how this remarkable study illuminates the complex religious-political-social phenomenon that is apocalypticism as it percolates through time, symbioti-cally assimilating and tinging the times in which the apocalypticists live.Orlando, Florida André ReisSiqueira, Reinaldo, and Alberto R. Timm, eds., Pneumatologia: Pessoa e Obra do Espírito Santo. Engenheiro Coelho, SP: UNASPRESS, 2017. 741 pp. Hardcover. BRL 140.00.The title of this book already suggests its goal: to explore the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Although this topic is not a new one within Christianity, and most articles within the book do not bring anything substantially new to the discussion (since Christians have been debating it for centuries), it is surely a contribution to Seventh-day Adventist pneumatology. The reason for this being that, as far as I know, this is the largest compendium on the topic produced by Adventist scholars. Additionally, it adds a Seventh-day Adventist perspective to the broader Christian reflection on the Holy Spirit. There are three chapters, specifically, that contribute fresh reflections on current issues, namely Alberto R. Timm’s chapter on the history of Seventh-day Adventist pneumatology, Angél Manuel Rodríguez’s text on contemporary issues in Adventist pneumatology, and Marcos de Benedicto’s chapter on healing.Although the title suggests that the book is all about the personhood and works of the Holy Spirit, not every article deals with both of these aspects. If the goal was to have most, or all, of the chapters discuss both aspects of this doctrine, they could have been more consistent on matching the titles of the chapters to the content. In fact, only one chapter has the title of “The 

Shoemaker, Stephen J. The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. 272 pp. Hardcover USD 59.95.

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Shoemaker, Stephen J. The Apocalypse of Empire: Imperial Eschatology in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018. 272 pp. Hardcover USD 59.95.

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