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Review: Looking Up

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Cover image of "Looking Up" by Courtney Ellis

Looking Up: A Birder’s Guide to Hope Through Grief, Courtney Ellis (Foreword by Kay Warren). InterVarsity Press (ISBN: 9781514007167) 2024.

Summary: A birder’s guide to hope through grief consists of reflections on various birds as the author grieves a grandfather’s death.

Birders speak of “spark birds” that first turned them on to birding. For Courtney Ellis, it was a phoebe, perched on her backyard string lights. A friend identified it. She writes:

“What I did know, in those very first moments, was that this little bird had unexpectedly captivated me. For a moment the volume turned down on my shouting to-do list and clamoring young children and creaky house projects and pinging work emails, and it was just me and this bird. A moment in time. A breath. Delight.

“In that moment, I looked up.”

She joined birding groups, bought binoculars and guides and downloaded apps. She learned the patience required of birding…and the wonder. These were lessons in attentiveness that spilled over into the rest of life as a pastor and parent. As acquainted with the griefs of others as she was as a pastor, she did not realize how important the lessons of looking up at the birds would become when the news came that her grandfather was dying.

In this book, Ellis takes us through her process of grief as she rushes home to spend time with her grandfather, only to find him sinking much faster than expected. While gathering with family, she remembers her grandfather, including many incidents of her childhood. An outdoorsman, he shaped her love of the natural world. As many of us do, she reckons with both his admirable and less than admirable qualities. She parts hours before his death to partake in Easter services. Then she grieves. Coming out of COVID, the church grants her and her husband sabbatical. During this time she had lost her voice. And, drawing on an idea from John Stott, another avid birder, the birds become her teachers.

In each chapter, Ellis interleaves her journey with reflections upon a particular kind of bird. Vultures symbolize death and they are the janitors of the natural world. Yet there is marvel in a physiology that allows them to ingest rotting carrion without being sickened. Then sparrows, so commonplace and ubiquitous, remind her of how much of life is lived in ordinary time, that it is often in the commonplace that we meet God. She reflects: “Blue Jays may not be good to other birds, but they are very good at being themselves. And this is its own kind of beauty.” As she thinks of her grandfather, she sees that he had his own kind of beauty as well.

In addition to these birds, we are introduced to mockingbirds, owls, house finches, hummingbirds, warblers, albatrosses, wrens, doves, pelicans, and quail. In her grief journey she learns that “looking up” doesn’t remove the hurt of grief but points us to the one who cares for the birds, and notes the falling of even one sparrow.

There is an understated beauty beneath the attentive observation of the birds and the unvarnished account of her grief. While pointing us toward healing and hope, there are no sappy assurances or sweet nostrums. But there is the wonder of the birds in all their variety, (And there is even an appendix for those who for whom this book is a kind of “spark bird” to take up birding.) Most of all, we have the chance to listen to one who has not only looked outward at the human condition and inward at the darkness of her her own grief. We also accompany her as she looks upward, not only at the birds but at the God who made them.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Christmaker

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Cover image of "Christmaker" by James F. McGrath

Christmaker, James F. McGrath. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (ISBN: 9780802884008) 2024.

Summary: A life of John the Baptist making the case that he was a far more important figure than just the opening act for Jesus.

When I learned of this book, I realized that I had never given John the Baptist a great deal of thought. You might say I just considered him the opening act, perhaps somewhat eccentric, for Jesus. James F. McGrath contends that John was far more influential than that, not only with Jesus, but also with other religious movements that sprang from his influence. For example, he points to the Mandaeans, a gnostic sect still in existence. They see themselves as faithful disciples of John. Not only does McGrath seek to argue for the influence of John. He also sets out to “offer a full-fledged biography of John the Baptist.”

McGrath begins with John’s beginnings, the child of Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth. He explores why john did not follow his father as a priest but rebelled. He argues there is a good case, given John’s dress and diet, that Elizabeth had dedicated him as a Nazirite. This conflict in the family drove him into the wilderness, and to an alternative to the temple system of sacrifices–a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He took an act of purification or initiation for converts and turned it into a challenge to the temple system. He laid the basis for Jesus to speak of “Destroying this Temple” and his act of purifying it.

His wilderness ministry was to “the Lost Sheep of Israel,” diverse groups who were not only on the cultural margins but, in the case of some sects, on the theological margins. McGrath explores how this interplay led to the emergence of Gnostic groups who connected to John, even when John would not have embraced their ideas. John’s preaching of “one who is to come” would have attracted multiple aspirants to that role. Given John’s prophetic role, many thought John to be speaking of a coming king, and several aspirants died at Roman hands as a result.

McGrath goes on to explore the ways Jesus ministry reflected that of John. Both taught on prayer, spoke in parables, proclaimed justice and a coming rule of God. McGrath also explores the accounts of John’s death at the hands of Herod Antipas and the growing focus of Jesus on inaugurating his rule through death.

Finally, he concludes by considering evidence for the widespread influence of John, beyond his influence on Jesus. In addition to Mandaeism, he notes influences upon Islam, Manichaeism, and his immersion practices on religion in India. Aside from Mandaeism, this seemed the most speculative part of the work, subject to alternate explanations. But he raises questions worth further inquiry.

McGrath, looking at the fine details, particularly of Luke’s account, finds discrepancies and is candid about them. He argues against either trying to harmonize the accounts or just treating them as literature, abandoning the pursuit of history. Instead he adopts an approach of “seeking the gist of what was remembered as that which is most likely correct, while recognizing that individual details can and will be wrong in any source.” I would question whether the approach in the first part of this statement requires the conclusion of the latter part. I wonder if a belief in the trustworthiness of scripture might call for acknowledging but suspending judgment on the apparently discrepant details while focusing on the gist of the text.

Overall, I found this to be an illuminating study. I had not thought about the rebellion against vocation that John’s wilderness represented. I had not considered his influence as a “Christmaker,” not only with Jesus but others. Nor had I considered the ways he might have influenced the ministry of Jesus. I’m also weighing personally his “takeaways,” which I will leave for you to discover!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Longstreet

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Cover image of "Longstreet" by Elizabeth R. Varon

Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, Elizabeth R. Varon. Simon & Schuster (ISBN: 9781982148270) 2023.

Summary: From Lee’s “old war horse” to the Radical Republican who defied the “Lost Cause” and fought to vindicate his war record.

James Longstreet was a product of the South. Although West Point-trained with his good friend Ulysses S. Grant, when war came, he resigned his commission to fight for the South. At the heart of this was the defense of slavery. He was a slaveholder. Therefore, his post-war transformation to a Republican and radical reconstructionist was stunning then, and still demands explanation. In this new biography, Elizabeth R. Varon explores the war-time record of Lee’s “old war horse” and his defiance of advocates of the “Lost Cause” to support Republican Reconstruction efforts including a whole panoply of Black civil rights. Perceived as a traitor to the South, this led to a defense of his war record, and later, efforts to reconcile with his enemies.

The first part of the book concerns his military record, including his major triumphs at the second Bull Run, at Fredericksburg, and at Chickamauga. Then there was Gettysburg. He believed in fighting from strong defensive positions from which counterattacks could be launched against weakened foes. At Gettysburg, Longstreet wanted to move between the Union left and Washington but Lee wouldn’t permit this. On the second day, it took Longstreet far longer than expected to get in place to launch an attack on the Union left, including the badly positioned Dan Sickles and the thinly occupied Little Round Top. On the third day he vigorously disagreed with Lee on the frontal assault on the Union center. In the end, he obeyed, with the disastrous results he feared. At the time, Lee assumed full responsibility for the loss. Only after the war would recriminations come against Longstreet.

After his victory at Chickamauga and the later inglorious end to the campaign in eastern Tennessee, Longstreet rejoined Lee. Wounded in the Wilderness Campaign by friendly fire, he rejoined Lee after recovering for the final defense of Petersburg and Richmond and was with him at Appomattox. Until then, he fought unstintingly for the South. But when his old friend Grant offered generous conditions of parole to Longstreet and his troops, the transformation began. Indeed, a theme running through this narrative is the important role Grant played in his post-war transformation.

Subsequently, supporting the Republicans, he lauded the passage of the 15th Amendment and even helped form a multiracial Louisiana State Militia that included Black officers. As a result, Longstreet was considered a traitor and the Crescent City White League attempted a coup against the governor in the Canal Street Coup. Longstreet’s militia performed poorly and only federal troops preserved the government.

He moved to Georgia and served in various civil service posts, including ambassador to Turkey, and later on, as railroad commissioner. His hope was to advocate from within Republican governments for the South. Longstreet believed that cooperating with Reconstruction could help the economic development of the South. Meanwhile, he faced increasing attacks upon his military record, particularly at Gettysburg, where he was blamed for the defeat. As Reconstruction receded, he sought ways, without recanting his post-war commitments, to reconcile with his fellow Southerners, notably Jefferson Davis. But through memoirs, and his widow’s efforts after death, the fight continued to uphold his reputation. Yet even to this day, the debates continue.

Varon offers a sympathetic account of Longstreet, both militarily, and in the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction years. I suspect that those who still adhere to the “Lost Cause” and to critical narratives of his actions at Gettysburg won’t buy it. But I found this a compelling account of a man who changed his mind and acted with courage. He acted, in sympathy with his influential friend Grant, for a more inclusive vision for the country, including the South. Sadly, we have not fully realized that courageous vision even yet.

Review: Invisible Giants

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Cover image of Invisible Giants by Herbert H. Harwood, Jr.

Invisible Giants, Herbert H. Harwood, Jr. Indiana University Press (ISBN: 9780253341631) 2003.

Summary: The story of two brothers from Cleveland who built a rail and real estate empire centered on Cleveland’s Terminal Tower.

Terminal Tower. The main Higbee’s store. Tower City. The Rapid and its Shaker Heights line. Shaker Heights and Shaker Square. Railroads. All of these are part of my memories of the years we lived in the Cleveland area. But until I read this book I knew little of the two retiring but visionary brothers responsible, at least in part, for all of these.

Oris Paxton and Mantis James Van Sweringen grew up in poverty and failed at a number of businesses until they began to build a real estate and rail empire based in Cleveland. It began with a vision of a suburban community in east of Cleveland, a former Shaker settlement. They started slowly, acquiring options on a few lots. Then they realized that for buyers to be attracted to the suburbs, commute times to downtown Cleveland needed to be as short as possible. So they acquired right of way and started building tracks and stations for a rapid transit.

Over time, this meant connecting to railroad right of ways, and through East Coast ties led to acquisition of a railroad, the Nickel Plate Railroad, running from Buffalo to Chicago. Railroads, transit and a hub centered in downtown Cleveland led to development of the Cleveland Union Terminal Complex. This included a rail terminal, traction terminal, an office tower, hotel, bank, department store, and the city’s main post office. In an era of rail consolidation, this led to a fierce competition to buy up other railroads. In the end, this resulted in a railroad empire that nearly extended coast to coast.

This biography traces the complex financial and organizational operations, including the creation of holding companies, that gave the brothers control while having a relatively small personal stake, using various stocks, bonds, and loans, all of it premised on an increasingly profitable business. Holding companies also enabled them to operate free of Interstate Commerce Commission scrutiny. And throughout the 1920’s, it worked, culminating in the grand opening of the Cleveland Union Terminal complex in 1930.

By that time, the stock market had crashed, and with it, both rail traffic and real estate investment. These were the two pillars of their empire. Because their holdings were so highly leveraged in a collapsing market, it was a herculean feat to keep it afloat. Thus the latter part of the book is an account of how that effort broke their health. First Mantis, then Oris died. Ironically for Oris, it was during a train ride to New York to meet with bankers.

It seemed to me an incredibly sad story. Neither brother ever married, sharing a bedroom in a mansion. They had few outside interests. The hubris that drove them to build a transcontinental rail network may have been the overreach that brought them down. Specifically, the Missouri-Pacific offset profits in other parts. Likewise, the location on sloping terrain of the Cleveland Union Terminal, and the number of buildings added to their expenses. Even so, they might have made it were it not for the Depression. But in retrospect, the financing of their empire seemed like a house of cards. But in the 1920’s, everyone thought them geniuses.

Then or now, many Clevelanders knew little of them. Yet they left Cleveland some gems, including Terminal Tower, Shaker Square, one of the early shopping centers, and Shaker Heights with it wide boulevards, attractive homes, and transit lines. This biography is a valuable account for those interested both in Cleveland history and railroad history. On the latter count, it includes numerous photos of rail stock. The brothers may have been invisible giants but they left visible works of enduring value.

Review: The Fast

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Cover image of "The Fast" by John Oakes

The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without, John Oakes. Avid Reader Press (ISBN: 9781668017418) 2024.

Summary: The history, science, philosophy, and promise of doing without, set against the author’s own experience of a seven-day fast.

I suspect many of us have fasted either for religious reasons or in preparation for medical tests or procedures. After reading John Oakes book on fasting, I realized that there are other reasons for fasting: spiritual and philosophical ones apart from religious observance, for health reasons, for protest, and as a choice leading to death. I also discovered how pervasive the practice is, and like many other practices, subject to fads and frauds.

Oakes writes this book against the backdrop of engaging in a personal seven-day fast from food. Each of his chapters begins with a journal entry for each day of his fast, what he feels and experiences. He experiences hunger early on, but not significantly after the third day when the body transitions to metabolizing ketones. He grows aware of how much of our days revolve around food preparation. Intermittently, he feels weak or jittery, and sometimes struggles to focus. But most of the time Oakes is able to carry on most of his ordinary activities.

He considers the function of fasting as similar to that of silence as a “space between,” as a way to focus awareness and attentiveness. Oakes explores Greek, Buddhist, and Abrahamic roots of fasting and other ascetic practices. He weighs asceticism against the moderation of Epicureanism, the mean between deprivation and excess that was the place of pleasure. He notes the renewal of fasting in churches that stress personal transformation. Turning from philosophical considerations, he investigates the physiology of fasting over time, the benefits that may accrue particularly from intermittent fasting and the harmfulness of fasting for weight loss.

Perhaps one of the most illuminating chapters was that chronicling the use of fasting as a form of social protest. From the 12th century BC in Kashmir, to early Christians in Ireland (including Patrick), and to modern day activists like Angela Davis and Caesar Chavez, fasts were an effective means of protest. But protest fasts are also the occasion for brutalities, such as the force-feeding of Muslim detainees at Guantanamo post 9/11.

He includes a chapter on those who use fasting for fame and fortune, often engaging in fraud or faddism. These range from those claiming to never eat to those promoting fasts of various lengths for health reasons, sometimes with deleterious effects. This, in turn leads to a consideration of fasting as self-cancellation, a willful choice, sometimes genetically influenced as in anorexics, including “holy anorexics” like Catherine of Siena, who died of starvation at thirty-three.

In the end, the author concludes he will continue to embrace this practice, writing:

“That is the strange quality of fasting: its inside out invertedness, the idea and the reality that cutting back can add, that diminishment can bring strength and a measure of serenity. And when implemented as a hunger strike, fasting amplifies resistance.”

Nevertheless, he cautions against self-destructive excess of fasting enthusiasts and is careful to advise consultation with doctors before engaging in fasts.

The author approaches his own fasting from a non-religious perspective. Therefore, his book should not substitute for religious teaching from one’s particular faith on fasting. Rather, he sets the fast in both a personal and global context. We are introduced to the experience through the author’s journaling. We catch a global perspective on various cultural expressions of fasting. He carefully outlines both benefits and dangers associated with the practice. Above all, he reminds us of the ways our lives may be enriched by periodically doing without.

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Disclosure of Material Connection. I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from the publisher through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer Program.

Review: Paul and Imperial Divine Honors

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Cover image of "Jesus and Divine Honors" by D. Clint Burnett

Paul and Imperial Divine Honors, D. Clint Burnett. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing (ISBN: 9780802879851) 2024.

Summary: Studies inscriptional evidence in three cities offering a nuanced treatment of the Roman imperial cult.

“Jesus is Lord; Caesar is not.” This statement by a prominent New Testament scholar summarizes the conflict early Christians faced in the Roman empire. In particular, it is assumed that Roman subjects were required to offer sacrifices to the Roman emperors, who were considered divine. Thus Christians faced a dilemma that could lead to alienation at the very least and persecution at the most.

While D. Clint Burnett does not disagree outright with this contention, he believes the actual situation was more complex and varied by the particular city considered. He does so on the basis of the inscriptional evidence from several Roman cities to which the Apostle Paul wrote: Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. Specifically he surveys literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological evidence.

In his introductory chapter, he offers the example of another city, Gythium. He shows how imperial divine honors were “intertwined with the public lives of Greco-Roman communities and had political, economic, social, and religious components that one cannot neatly separate.” They were public, often part of festivals, and similar in character to worship of other gods. A key motive was to express gratitude for benefactions, not only to divinized deceased rulers but to their living counterparts, even though these often had not yet attained the status of divus. This was first accorded by the Roman Senate, and then adopted by local officials, though this varied by city.

After his introduction, Burnett devotes a chapter each to the evidence from Philippi, Thessalonica, and Corinth. In each chapter, he reviews the archaeological evidence pertaining to the imperial divine honors accorded different Roman emperors. Then, he considers the imperial cultic officials who were priests and benefactors, the location of imperial divine honors, and of what imperial honors consisted. Synthesizing this data, he then considers the implications for early Christians in each city.

Burnett concludes that differences in practice and the character of each city, as well as that of the respective churches resulted in different experiences. In Philippi, where conservative values ruled and imperial divine honors focused on the deceased divi (with the exception of Tiberias), proclamation of Jesus as Lord resulted in imprisonment for some. By contrast, Thessalonica saw their gods working through the Julio-Claudian line to prosper the city. Hence, they granted imperial divine honors to both living and deceased Julio-Claudians. The Thessalonian Christians’ aggressive evangelism jeopardized the harmonious status quo, leading to their mistreatment.

Corinth differed both in bestowing divine honors only posthumously and extended these to non-Julio-Claudians. What sets apart the Corinthian church is that non-believers in Corinth failed to see how counter-cultural were the gospel claims. This had to do with both the Jewish apocalyptic beliefs of Christians and the un-Christian behavior of some. Consequently, they were able to live peaceably in the surrounding culture.

Burnett’s study is valuable in two aspects. First, he helps the reader understand what the Roman imperial cult looked like in these different cities. While there were commonalities, it was anything but uniform. And second, he shows that the Christian experience of the imperial cult was anything but uniform as well. This does not undercut the radical implications of saying “Jesus is Lord.” Rather, Burnett shows that the reception of this message was shaped by local, and not just empire-wide factors. Likewise, the contrast between Philippi and Thessalonica on one hand, and Corinth on the other also underscores the matter of Christian faithfulness in forthright proclamation. The culture will not trouble the church whose proclamation is muted, unclear, and morally compromised.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Visit Pauline Studies Reviews at Bob on Books for other reviews in the area of Pauline studies.

Review: Contemporary Catholic Poetry

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Cover image of "Contemporary Catholic Poetry" edited by April Lindner and Ryan Wilson

Contemporary Catholic Poetry: An Anthology, Edited by April Lindner and Ryan Wilson. Paraclete Press (ISBN: 9781640606463), 2024.

Summary: An anthology of works in diverse styles, aesthetics, and forms from 23 Catholic poets born since 1950.

During the time I was savoring the poetry in this work, a friend of mine expressed the desire to read more poetry but didn’t know where to start. I suggested finding anthologies that allow one to sample the works of many poets to find those one likes. And this anthology is a great place to begin.

What is Contemporary Catholic Poetry? The editors define “contemporary” as born after 1950, writing between the mid-1970’s and the present. A “Catholic” is one who was baptized Catholic and has not renounced their faith. It does not have to do with content, which ranges widely over human experience. Nevertheless, the editors note that Catholic poetry may be characterized as having a sacramental view of reality. That is true of this collection. Finally, poetry covers a variety of forms. There is political and personal poetry; performative and meditative poetry.

In all, twenty-three poets appear in this anthology, organized alphabetically by last name with three to eight poems by each writer. The editors introduce each poet with a brief biography. A date appears at the end of each poem indicating when it was first published. Generally the works are shorter. Ned Balbo’s “Hart Island” is a notable exception spanning ten pages. He chronicles the history of this island off New York harbor that served as a prisoner of war camp, prison, “Madhouse, workhouse, women’s hospital.”

I cannot possibly summarize all the poets, even less all the works that appear here. Without intending to slight any, I’ll single out a few that caught my attention. I’ve long been familiar with the name of Dana Gioia, first poet to head the national Endowment for the Arts. But this is my first time to read his poetry, and I bought more of it as a result. In “Interrogations at Noon” he writes, “Just before noon I often hear a voice, / Cool and insistent, whispering in my head. / It is a better man I might have been, / Who chronicles the life I’ve never led.” I felt like he was listening to the voice in my head!

Julia Alvarez’s “Folding My Clothes” writes of the mother who carefully folded her clothes “which she found so much easier to love.” Marie Howe, in “Prayer” writes of all the aspirations and distractions any of us experience who try to pray. “Fontanel”, by April Lindner, a co-editor, is a tender meditation on the “Canvas-thin” “stretch of skin” on a newborn’s head whose skull bones have not yet fused. In “Castizo” by Orlando Ricardo Menes, the poet reflects on his mother’s aspirations that he prove himself of “good stock,” unlike his father, a manual laborer. Instead, he asserts that all our handiwork “is charged with grace.”

I liked Daniel Tobin’s work. “Aftermath” is a spare reflection on 9/11. He likens the ascent of souls to the pervasive ashes visible in the floodlit night. David Yezzi, the last poet in this collection reflects on the triumph of weeds in his garden and words of his grandmother.

In summary, the editors speak of giving this book as a gift, hoping it will be a welcome one. I certainly found it so on many levels. It introduced me to some great poets I hope to read more of. The poems both evoked realities I’ve not experienced and resonated with ones that I have. Finally, like so many great poems, these served as windows offering glimpses of transcendent realities in the commonplaces of life.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Long Island

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Cover image of "Long Island" by Colm Tóibín

Long Island (Eilis Lacey No. 2), Colm Tóibín. Scribner (ISBN: 9781476785110) 2024

Summary: Eilis Lacey returns to her home in Ireland when she learns the wife of a customer of her husband is carrying his child.

Eilis Lacey Fiorello answers the door and there is the Irishman who has called several times. In short order, she learns that the man’s wife, who had hired Tony to do plumbing work, is pregnant with Tony’s child. Not only that, he tells her that he will not allow the child in his house but will leave it at the Fiorello’s house. It is their problem. In this sequel to Brooklyn, this bombshell drops in the opening pages and everything else unfolds from there.

Eilis confronts Tony and learns it is all true. Then she makes clear her own decision about the matter. She will not raise the child. She will not deal with this. Nor will she accept Tony’s mother Francesca raising the child. Tony, two of his brothers, and his parents live in an enclave on Long Island. She would still see the child everyday. And as she interacts with Francesca, she is reminded of how much she has always felt the outsider in this close-knit Italian family.

As it happens, Eilis mother’s eightieth birthday is that summer. As a way of underscoring that she will have nothing to do with the child, she plans a visit home to Enniscorthy to coincide with the baby’s birth. She leaves a month early, but arranges for Larry and Rosella, the teenage grandchildren her mother has never seen except in pictures, to arrive in time for the birthday.

But there is more to it than getting away from a painful situation and reconnecting with an aging mother (who knows more than she lets on). There is Jim Farrell. Jim owns a bar in Enniscorthy, above which he lives. After Eilis met and married Tony, she returned for a visit, before her children were born. While there, she met Jim and they had an affair. But her marriage was kept secret, and she suddenly left. And Jim never married, heartbroken with her departure.

Now Jim has been seeing Nancy, who owns a nearby chip shop, and she’s stayed overnight. Recently, they have agreed to get engaged. With the encouragement of their priest, they are planning a Rome wedding the following spring. But they’ve kept the engagement secret, ostensibly to not upstage the wedding of Nancy’s daughter by her first husband, now deceased. While Eilis still lived in Enniscorthy, she and Nancy were best friends.

As you can guess, the old flames re-connect and flame up once more. Eilis doesn’t know about Nancy and Jim doesn’t reveal the secret engagement. Secrets run through this story. Eilis’s secret affair with Jim after she and Tony had married. Tony’s secret liaisons. Nancy and Jim’s secret engagement. A rekindled secret affair. Secrets, as often the case, are not a good thing.

There is also the tension of keeping faith with oneself and with others, especially when commitments conflict and become acts of betrayal. Tony, Eilis, and Jim are all caught up in that tension. Can such entanglements end well? I will leave it to the reader to decide, and to assess how Tóibín has developed his characters and the choices they make.

Review: The Potter’s Field

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Cover image of "The Potter's Field" by Ellis Peters

The Potter’s Field (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael No. 17) Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press/Open Road Media (ASIN: B07B6B2CSP), 2014 (First published in 1989).

Summary: The Potter’s Field, a gift to the abbey, turns out to be a mystery rather than gift when a plow turns up a woman’s body with long black hair.

King Stephen has suffered another reverse in his war with Maud. Geoffrey de Mandeville, one of Maud’s men, has escaped Stephen’s siege at Cambridge and is laying waste the Fen country. Though distant from Shrewsbury, King Stephen may call for Hugh and his men at any time. And a refugee from Geoffrey’s attacks will play an important role in this story.

Locally, the abbey has just received a gift of a field that had once been part of the Longner estate. It is known as the Potter’s Field, for the rich clay soil by the river formerly used by a potter who is now a brother in the abbey. Brother Ruald, hearing the call of God, left his work, and more significantly, his wife. In her last bitter conversation with Ruald, Generys, his wife, told him she had another lover. Shortly after, she disappeared, presumably with that man.

That’s all called into question when the brothers begin plowing the upper part of the field. The plow turns up a skeleton with long hair. In her hands, she is holding a cross made of twigs. Her body bears no mark showing how she died. But burial in an unmarked and unblessed grave suggests someone wanted to conceal her death. But who is she, and who buried her? And was that person responsible for her death? These are the questions Abbot Radulfus, Cadfael, and Hugh Beringar try to resolve. Meanwhile, since her body had been found on abbey land, she is given a proper burial in the abbey cemetery.

Ruald, who seems so happy in his calling, is under suspicion, if the body was indeed that of Generys. But a visitor, an escapee from Geoffrey’s seizure of the Benedictine abbey at Ramsay, arrives bearing the news to Abbot Radulfus. Yet he is no stranger. Rather Brother Sulien Blount is the younger brother of the Lord of Longner Manor. He had sought out the monastery after his father Eudo went to serve with King Stephen, and died in battle.

When he learns of the body found in the field, he says it can’t be Generys. On his way to Shrewsbury, he stays with a jeweler in Petersborough, and sees a ring that he recognizes as that of Generys. The jeweler says she had sold the ring in company with a man in the last three weeks–a fugitive from Geoffrey but very much alive. Brother Ruald is happily in the clear, though stricken with the trouble he has caused his wife. Meanwhile, Sulien returns home to his dying mother Donata, taking the time to resolve doubts about his vows.

Suspicion next turns to Britric, a pedlar known to have stayed in the potter’s shed once it had been abandoned. The previous year, he had a woman, Gunnild, with him. This year, he was alone. Could it be her body? Could Britric have killed her? He is held, but once again Sulien provides the alibi, having found Gunnild, serving as maid to a young woman, Pernel, who definitely is interested in Sulien, who has renounced his vows.

The investigation is back at square one…or is it? It seems a bit too convenient that Sulien is the one providing alibis for Ruald and Britric. Is he the one with the connection to the woman in the field and does he know who she is? The answer, and how it comes to pass, caught me by surprise. Peters masterfully spins this tale.

Review: The Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul

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Cover image of "The Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul" by Chris Bruno, John J.R. Lee, and Thomas R. Schreiner

The Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul, Chris Bruno, John J. R. Lee, and Thomas R. Schreiner. IVP Academic (ISBN: 9781514001141) 2024.

Summary: On recent scholarship considering how Paul reconciled monotheism and the divinity of Jesus.

Why did Paul write of Jesus in terms reserved for God? How could a strict monotheistic Jew like Paul call Jesus “Lord” and worship him along with God the Father? While we may take this for granted, for devout Jews, Paul’s language is startling. From where did he get this idea?

Since the early 1900’s, Wilhelm Bousset’s ideas dominated the discussions of these questions. He “argued that early Christian devotion to Jesus originated from a Hellenistic setting where pagan religious influences such as Hellenistic mystery religions were more readily available to and accepted by Jesus-followers” (p.7). Rudolph Bultmann, one of the most prominent New Testament scholars of the twentieth century, promoted Bousset’s contention. The authors of this work engage the work of more recent scholars who argue for the early and Jewish origins of the high Christology of Paul and other early Christians.

Part One: Recent Proposals for Pauline Divine Christology

In part 1, the authors consider the proposals of Richard Bauckham, Larry Hurtado, Chris Tilling, and N. T. Wright. Bauckham proposes a divine identity paradigm. He notes how Paul and other NT writers include Jesus in God’s unique identity as sole creator, sovereign, and worthy of worship, as revealed in the Old Testament. Hurtado focuses in on the corporate worship paradigm. He observes that corporate worship and public devotion is offered to Jesus along with God the Father as clear evidence of Jesus divine status in the eyes of Paul.

Tilling argues for a Christ-relation paradigm. He points to the parallels of language for the relationship of YHWH and Israel in the Old Testament with that used of the relationship of Christ and believers. Finally, Wright sees a YHWH’s return paradigm. Citing the OT promises that YHWH will return to Zion, he argues that Christ’s fulfillment of these promises is Paul’s basis for a high Christology.

After outlining each of the proposals and commending their contribution, the authors note a few problems. One is that the proposals, focused as they are, fail to integrate all the evidence. Relatedly, they also fail to integrate Christology within Paul’s larger theological concerns. Finally, the authors believe these proposals fail to consider Paul’s presuppositions about scripture as divine revelation. This last criticism does not seem warranted, knowing something of the writing of these scholars.

Part Two: Exegetical Analysis for Pauline Divine Christology

The second part of the work offers an exegetical attempt by the authors to formulate Paul’s divine Christology. They treat the relevant Pauline passages under three headings: 1) Jesus, the One Lord of Israel, 2) Jesus, the Incarnate God Who Humbled Himself as Man, and 3) Jesus, the Ruler and Sovereign of Creation and New Creation. They weigh relevant OT and Second Temple influences and engage the work of the previously discussed scholars. A final chapter considers biblical texts that have been used to argue against a high Christology, namely I Corinthians 15:24-28 and Romans 1:3-4.

Afterword and Appendices

The main part of this work reflects the efforts of Chris Bruno and John Lee to summarize and engage recent work demonstrating the early and Jewish roots of Paul’s divine Christology. But the after matter has treasures of its own. First is an afterword by Thomas R. Schreiner develops further the ideas of Jesus’s Lordship, including the scholarship of David Capes, the prayers to Jesus found in Paul, other places where God and Christ are spoken of in parallel, and the trinitarian dimensions to be found in Paul. This last is an important corrective in a work that might be critiqued for a binatarian emphasis!

Appendix I then deals with David Capes and seven other scholars who have also contributed to discussions related to divine Christology in Paul. Appendix II offers a tabular review of the content of the book. Finally, Appendix III is a helpful introduction on Second Temple Jewish writings with a bibliography of additional resources.

Concluding Comments

One of the popular criticisms of Christianity is the idea that “Jesus became God” and that this was a late development that would have been unacceptable for monotheistic Jews. While not a direct response to this critique, this book undercuts that contention. The authors show a recent, significant scholarly consensus for the early and Jewish roots of divine Christology in Paul. In addition, this work offers a helpful survey of that scholarship for those who wish to pursue these questions further. And Bruno and Lee offer their own constructive exegetical Pauline Christology to further the discussion.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

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