Title: Christian contradictions: the structures of Lutheran and Catholic thought. Author: Hampson, Margaret Daphne Christian contradictions xi,323 p. Publisher: New York ; Cambridge : Cambridge Univ Pr, 2001

Jorgenson, Allen

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Christian contradictions: the structures of Lutheran and Catholic thought

Wilfrid Laurier University

Consensus Volume 30 Issue 1 Globalization Article 17 5-1-2005 Christian contradictions: the structures of Lutheran and Catholic thought Allen Jorgenson ajorgenson@wlu.ca Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus Recommended Citation Jorgenson, Allen (2005) "Christian contradictions: the structures of Lutheran and Catholic thought ," Consensus: Vol. 30 : Iss. 1 , Article 17. Available at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol30/iss1/17 This Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca. Although the author provides the social and political setting forthese three ordained women, biography has a way of overwhelming thisframework. To be sure, though authors have the freedom to choose theiremphases, I think that the work could stand a little more context to givethe biographies more life. However, my main critique takes up the issueof style. The book has some of the ponderous quality of a dissertation.More judicious editing would have produced a smoother work thatcould have been more literarily engaging. In spite of these weaknesses,the over-all strength and value of the book renders it an important workin that field which celebrates the triumph of women on their long and alltoo often lonely march to justice. I was brought to tears by Zink-Sawyer’s portrayal of the blind Antoinette Brown Blackwell being led(at age 95) into the booth by her daughter to cast her ballot in the firstAmerican federal election where women had the right to vote.Oscar Cole-ArnalWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryChristian Contradictions:The Structures of Lutheran and Catholic ThoughtDaphne HampsonCambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001323 Pages, $90.00 HardcoverDaphne Hampson has written a book profoundly valuable forecumenists and others interested in the challenges inherent inecumenical dialogue. She advances the thesis that structures ofthought are of fundamental import for theology, and that an adequateapprehension of doctrine is only possible in relationship to thesestructures. Hampson concludes that Lutheran and Roman Catholicstructures of thoughts are strictly incomparable insofar as a paradigmshift separates one from the other. She proposes that attempts toreconcile differing structures of thought, such as the JointDeclaration on the Doctrine of Justification (1999), finallydemonstrate this incomparability.Hampson first explicates Luther’s notion of justification. Shedoes a fine job of demonstrating the dialectical character of Luther’sBook Reviews 131Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2005thought and nicely articulates his picture of the Christian as the onewho lives extra se – “outside herself.” As Paul puts it in Col. 3:3: “foryou have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” TheChristian simultaneously lives coram deo – “before God” in self-interested sin and by faith extra se. In the second chapter, Hampsoncontrasts this vision with that proposed by Roman Catholic thought.The thought of Catholicism is deemed linear, and the transformationof nature by grace is one in which order is restored rather thancreation made altogether new. Hampson helpfully exegetes both thetext and context of Trent in order to demonstrate that anythingapproaching a Lutheran perspective was intentionally excluded bythe council. This is followed by a chapter in which Hampson outlinescommon misapprehensions of Lutheran thought by Roman Catholics,paying particular attention to the manner in which they fail to see thatjustification by grace through faith is first understood by Lutherans asa hermeneutic. In the fourth chapter she uses the example of AndersNygren as a test case in which to demonstrate her thesis, which iswell developed as she begins to explicate the Joint Declaration in thefifth chapter. Her careful historical analysis of the celebratedopposition to the declaration by both Lutherans and Roman Catholicsunderscores her conviction that Roman Catholic concessionsdemonstrate betrayal of the normative claims of Trent and Lutheranconcessions suggest a very un-Lutheran interest in positing thepossibility of a subject in whom the old and new Adam exist incontinuity. The declaration fails, in her estimation, because basiclanguage, like “justification” and “grace” mean drastically differentthings to the colloquers. In the sixth chapter she demonstrates the perduring appeal of aLutheran paradigm and proposes Bultmann’s as an example parexcellence of a faithful application of the Lutheran hermeneutic inmodernity. Bultmann, however, finally fails in that the subject in histhought is not adequately constructed by relationships and thepossibility of the transformation of the self is eclipsed by the radicaldiscontinuity of living from the future in apposition to the past.Bultmann fails to answer the Roman Catholic call for the necessity oflove and its attending need for a self-consistent subject. In the seventhchapter, Hampson proposes Kierkegaard as the thinker most likely tosynthesize the Roman Catholic emphasis on love with the Lutheranemphasis on faith. Kierkegaard’s subject is only related to the self by132 Consensushttps://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol30/iss1/17first relating to the Source of self. The subject of Kierkegaard’sthought then returns to itself in the realm of ethics. Unlike Luther, inHampson’s estimation, Kierkegaard more clearly makes a case for aself-constitution which implies loving the neighbour.Hampson writes as a post-Christian feminist. She is convincedthat Roman Catholic and Lutheran ecumenists, in general, fail fromthe outset by not respecting different structures of thought. Moreimportantly, in her estimation, they finally fail because the backdropto dialogue has wholly shifted. Ecumenists have utterly ignored amore obvious and pressing concern: the crumbling of Christianity.She considers, ultimately, that claims about the uniqueness of Christare nonsensical in modernity and that debates about justificationsimply mask this new reality. Unfortunately, this latter critique comesas a something of an appendage to the text proper, although she refersreaders to her other works for a more thorough treatment.While I found the book immensely clear and helpful, I sometimeswinced at the generalizations used to advance the thesis of the book.For example, she claims that Lutheranism is a religion of hearingwhile Catholicism is a religion of sight. While a depiction of theLutheran church as a Mundhaus is well known, anyone vaguelyfamiliar with Luther will also know that he joins the tradition inasserting the importance of words made visible. Moreover, Hampsonhas failed to relate, more generally, Luther’s sacramental theology tojustification, and his treatment of a theology of the cross is reallyaltogether missing. Moreover, Hampson fails to engage, at length,more “catholic” readers of Luther such as Robert Jenson, DavidYeago and Reinhard Hütter. Her treatment of the Finnish research onLuther is sketchy and her assertion that Luther is wholly uninterestedin “deification” (p. 107) suggests she would benefit by a return toLuther’s sermons on John. Despite these concerns, I wholeheartedlyrecommend this book to readers interested in considering thepotentials and perils inherent in ecumenical encounter. The thesisadvanced deserves careful consideration and serves well those whorealize that the means of ecumenism must be informed by its end.Allen G. JorgensonSt. James Lutheran ChurchMannheim, OntarioBook Reviews 133Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 2005

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Christian contradictions: the structures of Lutheran and Catholic thought

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