Reviewed Book: Benne, Robert. The paradoxical vision: a public theology for the 21st century. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1995

Mayan, Ronald B.

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 22Issue 1 Canadian Lutherans and Social Justice:Sampling of a HeritageArticle 175-1-1996The paradoxical vision: a public theology for the21st centuryRonald B. MayanFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationMayan, Ronald B. (1996) "The paradoxical vision: a public theology for the 21st century," Consensus: Vol. 22 : Iss. 1 , Article 17.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol22/iss1/17Book Reviews 123based both on the archaeological finds as well as the writings of the monksfrom that period. The sociological commentary was rivetting and wouldhave made a complete volume in and of itself. An interesting and welcomeaddition to this tome, is a chapter entitled “Who’s who of Judean M6nas-ticism”. This is a collection of brief biographies of the personalities whosought to follow their call to the monastic life in the Judean desert.There is a clear distinction made by Hirschfeld on the two types ofmonasteries that existed in the fourth and fifth centuries C.E.; the Lauraand the Coenobium. The Laura was a collection of monastic hermits, whoonly came together for weekly meals and worship, spending the remainderof the week in their own cells. The Coenobium is an enclosed compoundwhere the monks shared everything in common on a daily basis.The illustrations, photographs and drawings in this volume add to thereader’s learning. The author has carefully arranged the photographs of ar-chaeological excavations alongside drawings of how the completed buildingor artifact would look intact. The maps throughout the book not only pro-vide an excellent reference tool for understanding distance, but for thosewho have visited Palestine, an idea in what proximity these monasterieswere and are located.Hirschfeld has provided a comprehensive and valuable tool to thosewho are engaged in research in this area. The footnotes, bibliography andcontent form a sound launching pad into further research. In addition thisvolume provides a complete overview of the area of Byzantine period monks,their living conditions and their routines. This book is therefore an asset toany personal or professional library, interested in monasticism, archaeologyand or part of the story of ancient Christianity in Palestine.Kevin J. BagloleSt. Luke’s Lutheran ChurchRidgeway, OntarioThe Paradoxical Vision: A Public Theology for theTwenty-first CenturyRobert BenneMinneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995242 pp. $21.75Robert Benne is a Lutheran writing out of the American context(ELCA). Benne is an academician, currently serving as professor of reli-gion at Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia and has a quarter century ofexperience writing theology.Benne’s context is American Christianity—arguably quite distinct fromthe Canadian context; nevertheless, this volume has much to commend it toCanadian readers. Benne’s book is neither comforting nor comfortable to124 Consensusread. It is timely, tightly written and theologically sound, if not politicallycorrect.In Part 1: The Challenge of Public Theology, Benne defines ‘publictheology’ as “the engagement of a living religious tradition with its publicenvironment—the economic, political, and cultural spheres of our commonlife”.In Part 2: The Paradoxical Vision, Benne develops this vision as pre-cisely the paradox theology which is the hallmark of classical Lutheranism.It is paradox theology which Benne argues has been mostly absent from thedomain of public theology. Benne believes that much public theology in theStates has been historically done out of the Reformed theological perspec-tive; lately, the Roman Catholic Church has been influential through itspublic theology. The Lutheran voice has been infrequent. But Benne seesthe “paradoxical vision” of classical Lutheranism as the most appropriateframework (biblically and Christian) out of which public theology shouldbe done.The skeleton for this paradoxical vision consists of four themes, eachof which Benne develops with great care. These are: (1) the qualitativedistinction between God’s salvation and all human efforts, (2) the paradoxof human nature {simul justus et peccator), (3) God’s paradoxical rule (the“two-kingdoms” doctrine), and (4) the paradox of history (the already andnot-yet-ness of the kingdom of Christ in time).Benne assesses the public theology of the American Lutheran bodiesaccording to the paradoxical vision. He accomplishes this by analyzingpublic theology statements of the predecessor bodies to the EvangelicalLutheran Church in America, reports of the Lutheran Church-MissouriSynod, and the ELCA social teaching statements specifically “The Churchin Society: A Lutheran Perspective”.The author contends that, institutionally, organized American Luth-eranism has not given adequate voice to the paradoxical vision in its pub-lic theology. He contends that individual expressions of the vision havehad much greater influence on public theology. The individuals he holdsas public practitioners are Reinhold Niebuhr (whom Benne describes ashaving had a “love/hate relationship” with Lutheranism), Glenn Tinder(an Episcopalian who Benne believes is theologically closer to Luther thanCalvin), and Richard John Neuhaus (former Lutheran and now RomanCatholic, who Benne suggests is the most straightforward proponent of theparadoxical vision).In Part 3: Live Connections: How Theology Becomes Public, the authorarticulates his vision of the way in which Lutherans utilize the paradoxicalvision in doing their future public theology.Robert Benne does not write to please his readership. His critiques aresharp; he is not without some very definite opinions. Pastors, theologiansand academics will all find themselves agreeing here, wincing there. Thisis definitely not “a nice little book for religious studies classes”. Thenagain, it should be required reading for everyone entrusted with doing publicBook Reviews 125theology in the institution’s behalf: those who articulate public policy,Church and Society committee and board members, bishops, members ofNational and synodical church councils.Ronald B. MayanCanadian Lutheran Bible InstituteCamrose, AlbertaSin: Radical Evil in Soul and SocietyTed PetersGrand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1994327 pp. $21.25 softcoverTed Peters is a systematic theologian who writes of sin as a move-ment towards radical evil. His book leans heavily upon social psychologists,largely Freudian; the early church fathers, primarily Augustine of Hippo;and “the earlier generation of neo-orthodox theologians”, primarily PaulTillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, and “secondarily” Karl Barth and Emil Brun-ner (p. 6). Sin, Peters writes, is unable to give good reason for what itis or does and is therefore not “subject to rational explanation” (p. 10).Yet, attempt to explain it he does by seven steps, calling these “parsingthe phenomenon of sin” (p. 10). As he discusses these we are shown howit is that humans move towards radical sin through anxiety, the first step,which predisposes humankind to act out of a fear of loss, “t/ie sting of deathwithin’^ rooted in original sin, peccatum originate. This, Peters defines as“corporate sin as well as the propensity to commit sins that arise from thecondition of human anxiety” (p. 26). As discussed elsewhere, within thiswork corporate sin is not so alien from the idea of hereditary sin, which Pe-ters seems to reject but which is raised elsewhere in the text as a questionof sociobiology “Genes and Sin” (ch. 10).Anxiety as rooted in our psyche is both a call of God and the breedingground for sin (p. 62, 63). Our anxious selves must from our beginningsmeet with love and nurturing if we are to learn trust and to grow in faithand believing. Peters writes that those who image God for us will influenceus for good and God and away from being controlled by anxiety. Love atour beginning, and a pattern of faithfulness in our lives, predispose us tograce, and make it possible to live our own lives with faith (p. 80).Anxiety as a thesis for the roots of sin is well argued using both the-ological and psychological constructs. Anxiety is explained as the fear ofnon-being and the crisis point for individuals and nations. It lurks in the“preconscious fear of death” and can drive us to a state of despair fromwhich we may rise up in rage (p. 38) to move through the stages of un-faith, pride, concupiscence, self-justification, cruelty and blasphemy. Thislast is redefined as the “misuse of divine symbols so as to prevent the com-munication of God’s grace” (p. 16) and takes two forms: covert and overt

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