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2007-11-20 issue:

Books on Jesus, culture and literature

Mediaculture

by Gordon Houser

Print Article

Christmas is coming, and it’s time either to write out your list of books you want or buy gifts for your friends and family. One can hope, right? Here are a few to consider.



Jesus: Two recent books (out of a growing literature) take a different approach from one another. Recovering Jesus: The Witness of the New Testament by Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld (Brazos Press, 2007, $22.99) is an outstanding introduction to the study of Jesus in the New Testament. A Mennonite scholar, Neufeld uses maps, bibliographies and sidebars with his clear prose. He addresses difficult questions with equanimity and a pastoral call to discipleship. This would make an excellent, though extensive study for a Sunday school class.

In The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus
(HarperSanFrancisco, 2006, $24.95), Amy Jill-Levine, a New Testament scholar who is Jewish, claims that “Jesus’ words are too familiar, too domesticated, too stripped of their initial edginess and urgency. Only when heard through first-century Jewish ears can their original edginess and urgency be recovered.” Levine’s insights help us hear Jesus in a new way, and her approach is amicable and humorous. “The point of interfaith conversation,” she writes, “is not to convert the person across the table, but it is also not to abdicate one’s own theology for the sake of reaching agreement.” Readers will not agree with or like all that she writes, but they will learn much. And she’s fun to read.

Culture: One of the more influential theological books from the middle of the last century was H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture. A recent critique of that book is Rethinking Christ and Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective by Craig A. Carter (Brazos Press, 2006, $19.99). The main problem with Niebuhr’s book, Carter writes, is that it presupposes the existence of Christendom, which essentially sees Western civilization as Christian. The “basic calculus of Christendom thinking,” Carter writes, is this: “a few compromises for the sake of great influence on the wider society.” Mennonites will not find all this new, but Carter’s warnings about sacrificing discipleship for relevance and power are useful.

Culture Matters: A Call for Consensus on Christian Cultural Engagement by T.M. Moore (Brazos Press, 2007, $16.99) takes a different, less academic approach to culture. Moore challenges Christians to learn “how to take what is good in contemporary culture, reclaim and retool it, and put it to work in a Christian framework for the sake of forging a new culture.” He considers historical examples of Christians doing this, including Celtic Christians, Calvin, Abraham Kuyper and Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz. While I disagree with the weight he gives to developing distinctly Christian cultural forms, I appreciate his emphasis on cultural awareness and engagement.

Literature: In the Light of Christ: Writings in the Western Tradition by Lucy Beckett (Ignatius Press, 2006, $21.95) is an accessible survey of more than 40 writers from ancient to modern times that combines literary and theological insight. While her Catholic bias and adoration of Augustine are evident, Beckett shows how God’s truth and goodness shine through many of the important writings of the Western tradition. The breadth and depth of her reading is astonishing.

The Book of Buechner: A Journey Through His Writings by Dale Brown (Westminster John Knox Press, 2006, $24.95) is a treat for Buechner fans. Brown offers in-depth analysis of Buechner’s fiction, from A Long Day’s Dying, his first novel, to The Storm, while including references to his other writings. This will likely be the definitive treatment of Buechner’s fiction. Brown delves into the literary aspects of the works but focuses also on the theological.

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