Reviewed Book: DeVries, Dawn. Jesus Christ in the preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher. Louisville, Ky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1996. Columbia series in Reformed theology

Jacobsen, David Schnasa

English

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Jesus Christ in the preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher

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ConsensusVolume 23Issue 2 Essays by Younger Theologians Article 1311-1-1997Jesus Christ in the preaching of Calvin andSchleiermacherDavid Schnasa JacobsenFollow 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 CitationJacobsen, David Schnasa (1997) "Jesus Christ in the preaching of Calvin and Schleiermacher," Consensus: Vol. 23 : Iss. 2 , Article 13.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol23/iss2/13Book ReviewsJesus Christ in the Preaching of Calvin and Schleier-macherDawn DeVriesLouisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996114 pp. $15.00 HardcoverEarlier this century Swiss theologian Karl Barth decried the reigningliberal theology as an aberration from the theology of the reformers, es-pecially Calvin’s. Chief among Barth’s theological villains was FriederichSchleiermacher, who had turned the “Word of God” into a (spit here) liberal“word of man (sic!).” In her new book, Dawn DeVries, Associate Profes-sor of Theology at Union Theological Seminary (Virginia), bravely revisesBarth’s own revision of theological history by reconsidering Calvin’s andSchleiermacher’s views of preaching not solely in opposition, but in lightof each other. She shows deftly that there is a fundamentally sacramentalunderstanding of the Word operative in both Calvin’s and Schleiermacher’stheologies and preaching practice. Thus DeVries seeks to realign the verytheologians whom Barth had turned into enemies.The shape of DeVries’ case is rather straightforward. In chapter 1 shefocuses on the historian and the preacher. Yet, for her, historical criticismposes more than technical, exegetical problems for the preacher, but forChristology as a whole. Indeed, a theology of preaching sees the challengeof historical readings of narratives precisely at this point: do we preachassuming the text has literal, historical reference, or do we demythologize?Does the truth of the Christ we preach come into question through theapplication of the historical-critical method, or is the point of preachingactually to re-present Christ sacramentally? This two-sided problem posedby historical criticism forms the nexus for her investigation of Calvin andSchleiermacher. Chapters 2-5 proceed to test these questions with respectto both thinkers’ theological works and in their sermons on the life of Christfrom synoptic Gospel texts. Throughout her analysis, DeVries focuses onhow both claim to re-present Christ in preaching. For Calvin, the Word assacrament re-presents Christ for contemporary hearers. Its value as a sourcefor “true” history is irrelevant to Calvin; better, it is presupposed and then144 Consensuspassed over on the way to a Word that facilitates sacramental participa-tion. For Schleiermacher, however, the Word is made flesh in Christ. UnlikeCalvin’s Christology, Schleiermacher ’s does not even depend on the histor-ical event of Jesus’ death on the cross. It is enough to know that the Wordwhich became flesh in Christ continues to become Word for us in proclama-tion. The upshot of this distinction in DeVries’ analysis is found in chapter6, “The Living Word and the Work of Christ”. In this flnal chapter sheargues that Barth’s assessment of Schleiermacher is fundamentally wrong.Indeed, to the contrary, DeVries views Schleiermacher as a legitimate heirto Calvin’s own sacramental understanding of the Word. Contrary to Frei’sassessment of Calvin and other reformers as “pre-critical” interpreters ofnarratives, DeVries sees both Calvin and Schleiermacher as devoted to un-derstandings of preaching that make Christ present to hearers today beyondthe purely historical issues of the narratives themselves. Indeed, for boththinkers the issue is not a history-like narrative whose truth can be gaugedapart from referential concerns, but rather a re-presentation of Christ inthe sermon. It’s not the Christ from the past, but the Christ in the present.Clearly DeVries deserves our thanks for putting the lie to Barth’s breezyconsignment of Schleiermacher to the ashheap of theological history. In-deed, DeVries’ own analysis further reinforces the idea that Barth bearsthe mantle more of a Zwingli than a Calvin or Luther. Yet the fundamen-tal claim that Calvin’s theology of the Word is unambiguously sacramentalcould be nuanced a little further. Indeed, were Calvin’s position as in-carnational as DeVries claims, the division between him and Luther oversacramental theology should not have been so marked. Besides, one can-not get around the decidedly didactic bent to Calvin’s “sacramental” Word.This alone should force one to view his accomodationist theory not solely inthe sacramental terms of Christus praesens, but also in the theological andepistemological terms of the starting point of his great system, the problemof the proper knowledge of God. Nonetheless, DeVries rightly focuses onthe importance of viewing Schleiermacher as a proper heir to Calvin. Withboth we are encouraged to preach more than a word “about” Christ, butthe Word that is Christ, present to us and to the hearers of the Gospel.David Schnasa JacobsenWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryImagination Shaped: Old Testament Preaching in theAnglican TraditionEllen F. DavisValley Forge, Pennsylvania: Trinity Press International, 1995xiii + 289 pp. (including 19 pp. of endnotes)This book, by an Old Testament scholar rather than a homiletician,presents selected sermons by flve Anglican preachers, all of them English,

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