Slocum, Robert B.

English

epublications@Marquette

Marquette Universitye-Publications@MarquetteTheology Faculty Research and Publications Theology, Department of12-31-2001Review of Quest: The Search for Meaning ThroughChrist by Diogenes Allen, Second EditionRobert B. SlocumMarquette UniversityPublished version. Sewanee Theological Review, Vol. 45, No. 4 ( January 2002): 476-478. PublisherLink. © 2002 The University of the South. Used with permission.476 SEWANEE THEOLOGICAL REVIEW Flavim Philostratus: Heroikos. Translated with an introductiun and notes hy Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean and. Ellen Bradshaw Aitken. Writings from the Greco-Roman World 1. Atlanta: Society of Bihlical Literature, 2001. xcvii + 31H pages. $39.95 ph. The first volume of the Society of Biblical Literature's new series "Writings from the Greco-Roman World" presents us with Flavius Phi!nstratus' Heroikos, avaiLlblc for the fir5t time in an English translation, supported hy notes and an introduction. The average student of the New Testament will, I suspect, like me, have no previous acquaintance with Flavius Philostratus-an Athenian of the late second and early third centuries uf our era-heyond his Life of Apolloniu5 of Tyan(l (a contemptlf<lfY ofJesus), with perhaps a glance at the LIVes of the Sophists and the Letters attrihutell to him. The present volume is therefore interesting as a new window both into Philostratus himself and intu the "hero-cults" th,H were one feature of the world into which Christianity was horn and in which it flounshed. Of course, Christianity itself was not a hero-cult and never hecame one: entirely different categories were needed for the risen Jesus, who was perceived. hy his followers from the heginning nut as hew but as Slll1 of God, exercising God's prerogatives in mercy and judgment. Nevertheless, with the passal;e of time Christianity dill come to have features reminiscent of the hero-cults, heginning with worship at the tomhs uf the saints and culminating in worship at the Holy Sepulchre following its discovery hy the Empress Helena. As if all that were not enough, those of us with Sewanee Clll1nections may take speci:d pride in this volume, ,ince llne llf its authors-Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, now assistant ~'fl)fessor llf Ncw Testament at Harvard Divinity Schl)ol-b a graduate of our llwn Schulli of Theology and a memher of STR's editorial advis, lry hoard. -Chnstopher Bryan Quest: The Search for Meaning Through Chri.lt. By Diogenes Allcn. 2nd ell. New York: Church Puhlishing, 2000. xxx + 119 rages. $18.95 ph. Allcn explains in his preface to the sccond edition of this hook that Quest was prompted hy his "long-standing an!1llyancc" with some hihlical criticism-extreme liheral, skeptical sch()larship; popularizers such as Bishop Jnhn Shelhy Spong-that perceIved "a great chasm" between Jesus as he rcally was and Jesus as he is worshiped hy the church. On the contrary, Allen finds that the "actual situation of New Testament scholarship is neither liberal nor skeptical" and REVIEWS AND NOTICES 477 "highly supportive of the churches' teaching that jesu' is indeed Lord and Savior" (xi). Granting this "essential continuity" between Jesus' self-conscious-ness amI what the Gospels say about jesus, Allen proceeds to engage the question why we should believe in Jesus and follow him (xvi). In his introduction Allen identifies another problem, and he offers a solution. The problem is that our civilization is "broken in half," with a split between heart and head (xvii-xviii). Knowing Jesus calls for us to engage our minds and hearts, to determine whether what jesus did and said satisfies our concern with the "big questions of life" and our concerns about the purpose and significance of our own lives" (xxi). Allen admits that he reads the Gospels with the eyes of faith and the conviction that the Gospels give us access to divine reality. We are to approach the Gospels "asking what God desires to show us about what we are to believe, do, and hope for" (xxviii). In this regard, Allen empha,izes Jesus' impact on human lives. He notes that "the fundamental reason people in biblical times said that jesus was the light of the world was that he showed rhem so much" (xix). For example, jesus transformed Mary Magdalene into "a wholesome person that everyone could respect," and his greatness included "his effect on her life, which was there for everyone to see" (xxii). With these very clear assumptions about Jesus' ident ity and significance, Allen embarks on a wide-ranging theological reflection t hat covers an impres-sive yariety of content in a relatively short volume. Nevertheless, there arc recurring theological themes that serve to draw together and integrate the trajectories of Allen's "search fur meaning through Christ." One such theme is gratitude. Allen recalls that only one of the ten healed lepers returned to thank Jesus. Allen urges that to have faith is to be grateful to God (39). In another chapter of Quest, Allen points to Austin Farrer's frustrati,m with himself when he realized his blindness to the image of Christ in his cnlleagues and friends, seeing them merely as "claimants, rivals, bores, obstacle" instruments" (7 -8). For Farrer, Allen explains, blindness gives way to gratitude and wonder as Farrer sees others and himself "in the light of God's love" (10). The wonder of God's gift and blessing can be glimpsed in Farrer's release from the limitations of his daily attitudes toward others. This wonderful blessing i, also glimpsed in the "immense gratitude" of the tax c<)l\ector Zacchaeus, who gives half his goods to the poor and restores fourfold whatever he has fraudulently taken from anyone (10). Indeed, Allen states, if we take for granted that we belong to ourselves, we are like thieves who take what belongs to others a, if it were their own "because we have sought to steal ourselves, robbing God of our lives" (63). Another significant theme ill Quest concerns the end, the last things of human life, which Allen considers relative to "East Coker," the second ofT. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. Our mortal end is death, the same end faced by our ancestors. Allen calls attention to Eliot's use of the motto attributed to Mary, 478 SEWANEE THEOLOGICAL REVIEW Queen of Scots, "In my heginning is my end." The dominant theme of the first part of "East Coker" is decay, and the dance of the peasants in this poem is a dance of death. Allen notes that East Coker was Eliot" ancestral village, and that "Eliot will hecume part of the earth, just like his ancestors." But there is another possihility. When the image of God is understood as a principle of our heing, Allen urges, "our life has a different end than the earth." Accordingly, Allen finds that the motto of Mary, Queen of Scots, is reversed at the conclusion of "East Coker" hy Eliot: "In my end is my heginning." Allen concludes that our end is to realize the image of God, that we make a new heginning whenever we discern what we are tn hecome, and then when we ohey Jesus we "reject a life style that leads to death as our ultimate end, and find our rightful place in the ultimate order" (24). Allen returns to this theme relative to "East Coker" in a later chapter, stating that our end is dther the earth or receiving the Word of Go"l for life as we share in the uncreated life of God (66-67). Allen's reflections and themes are scripturally groundcd, interestingly illus-trated, and effecti\'ely applied to real-life issues and concerns. Quest is quite readahle and will prove accessihle as a starting point f(lr discussion in parish adult classes, as well as undergraduate and seminary classes. The paperhack second edition of Quest is a welcume addition. -Robert B. Slocum Pneumatolo?;y: The Holy Spirit in Ecumenical, International, and Contextual Pen}Jective. By Veli-Matti Kzirkbiinen. Grand Rapids: Raker, 2002. 195 pages. $15.99 ph. This is a most helpful presentation of the state llf pneumatology at the present time, uniL\uely hr<)ad in its approach. One must not he put offhy what could look like an ideological evangelical slant, given the puhlisher and K:irkbinen's appointment at Fuller. As one might suspect ffllm his name, he is part llf the revolution in Luther studies cuming from the Church ufFinland, and indeed the father of that Inoycmenr, TUOtnll Mannermaa, was Karkbinen's D()kcoTmter (10). The result is an ahility to give a charita hie reading of a wide family of pneumatologies from Greek patristic to contemporary pentecostal/charismatic. This approach is must evident in an account of Luther's doctrine of the Spirit that presents the Helsinki insights abnut Luther's grounding in the C;reek Fathers and the location nfhis doctrine of justification in the cllntcxt of a pmcess culminating in thcosis. (See pages 79-87.) In six chapters Karkb.inen gives an excellent survey of the cliscipline. a hrief look at hihlical perspectives, a sh'lf( historical summary, an analysis ofa variety 

Review of \u3cem\u3eQuest: The Search for Meaning Through Christ\u3c/em\u3e by Diogenes Allen, Second Edition

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1368&amp;context=theo_fac

Review of \u3cem\u3eQuest: The Search for Meaning Through Christ\u3c/em\u3e by Diogenes Allen, Second Edition

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

epublications@Marquette