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Engaging the Word

Reviewed by Philip Joy.

This is the kind of book that would have been a Godsend at Bible College. They say that at Seminary your faith is taken completely to pieces and, if you are lucky, put back together again! This book would have done that job as you went along, and I would recommend it to anyone who still has lingering doubts about academic approaches to the Bible: all the paradigms – pre-modern, enlightenment, postmodern; all the criticisms – historical, form, redaction, canonical; and all the ‘readings’ – feminist, gay, post-colonial, race-theory and disability: as well as other issues such as the quest for the historical Jesus, the synoptic ‘problem’, the Jesus Seminar and authorship issues particularly in the Pauline corpus. These and more are explored, their pros and cons analyzed, and helpful lessons drawn.

All this is achieved in a relatively slim, very ‘user-friendly’ format, compared to, say, Josh McDowell’s two-volume “Evidence that Demands a Verdict.” But what makes Clark-Soles’ publication much preferable to the latter is that it does more than simply debunk ‘non-kosher’ Bible College academia. It engages fruitfully with mainstream and liberal scholarship and tells its story: where it came from, and where it is going. It teaches us not to be afraid of scholarship, and - best of all - draws much that is helpful to faith from it: hence the title “Engaging the Word.”

I took a closer look at the chapter investigating “The Historical Jesus Debate” to see how our author tackles his subject. He begins by suggesting that those who are offended by dividing the Christ of faith from the Jesus of history are missing something. The premise might suggest that the New Testament has been ‘sexed-up’, but the value of the Enlightenment, embodied in Schweitzer’s famous title of 1906, “The Quest for the Historical Jesus”, is to make us take reason and history seriously, to remind us that the Jesus whom we worship was incarnate as a male Jew in a particular culture at a particular time: in short to insist upon the historicity of Christianity.

This is the lesson of Käsemann’s response to Bultmann: that by demythologizing the New Testament we lose essential elements of our faith such as the incarnation, the cross and the resurrection. Furthermore the resulting scholarly methodology for reconciling the Christ of Faith with the Jesus of History is one we can still use today.

Clark-Soles then gives us an in-depth analysis of “The Jesus Seminar” and its prominent theologians such as Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg et al, along with timely warnings, such as the perilous assumption that John’s Gospel is not historical at all, or that the Jesus we picture is nearly always made in our own image. Don’t trust the tabloids or the telly-scholars who offer some ‘new’ revelation as if New Testament scholars have not got there first and argued the issue every-which-way! Ask the question ‘what would Jesus do’ even if it seems imponderable in today’s world! Ask what Jesus thought of himself and his task; ask whether he thought the world was flat; face the fact that he was, quite possibly, capable of errors or possessed limited horizons and whether that actually matters for our faith. Everything here broadens the mind: the study of the historical Jesus imbues both confidence and humility!

Taking this chapter as representative of the volume as a whole this is an excellent publication, well worth every pound it costs, and good for thoughtful re-reading. The world of critical scholarship may only be for those called to it, but thank God Evangelicals have been involved in this work. For me engagement with the scholarly world has been enriching. In ministry it was my experience that where commentaries take opposing views and I feel called to preach a third thing: take heart! Since every verse has been pondered over, ditched and rehabilitated, probably some scholar somewhere has had the same thought as yourself. So: read the commentaries, listen to the Spirit, use your brain and then preach it, Sister! I wholeheartedly recommend this book!