Abstract
“While there are many who work in the area of social ethics and even more who study Scripture, there are few who have related Scripture to social justice issues with the same effectiveness as John Donahue” (xi). On September 18, 2015, John R. Donahue, SJ, gave a lecture at Yale Divinity School on Scripture and social justice. The next day, a number of his former students and colleagues offered papers in response which later became the substance of the present volume. It is a tribute to Donahue’s teaching and scholarly effectiveness that these essays are not only inspired by his work but also move it in new and creative ways. After a brief biographical sketch, the introduction offers a clear and helpful summary of each essay. I will not repeat the summaries but rather will highlight some of the issues in various essays. Each of the essays deserves a close and careful reading as all are of high quality. They are scholarly, with abundant footnotes to help in further research, but at the same time they are have a very practical intent: to focus on the ethical and social insights that can be derived from Scripture and how those concerns affect our world today.
The opening essay, which is the original lecture by Donahue, “Companions on the Journey: The Bible and Catholic Social Teaching,” describes the relationship between Scripture and social ethics from Dei Verbum (1965) to Pope Francis. Biblical studies and social ethics are no longer separate, but work together. As a “test case” for the use of Scripture in ethics Donahue analyzes Luke’s view of Samaritans (the “rejected other”) in Luke 9:51–56, 10:25–37, and 17:11–17. He gives an insightful analysis of the Good Samaritan’s compassion. “Compassion is the bridge between simply looking on injured and half-dead fellow human beings and entering their world with saving care” (8). Compassion is the presupposition for ethical action applied especially to white racism in the USA. Following Donahue’s essay, there are five essays on the Hebrew Scriptures and five on early Christianity.
John J. Collins prefers biblical values to biblical laws and challenges Billy Graham’s assertions on the sanctity of life and marriage (grounded in creation), and the state of Israel (which presupposes a covenantal context) (23–25). The most central biblical value of all is the practice of justice toward the poor and marginalized. “Anyone who claims to speak for biblical values and fails to address the requirements of justice is not only giving a deficient account of the biblical message, but is seriously distorting it by changing its priorities” (37). In her treatment of Lamentations, Corrine L. Carvalho calls for an “ethic of honesty” that faces the reality of suffering in all its horror. “The brilliance of the poems in Lamentations is the way they give human faces to suffering” (73). Victims must never forget and yet the poignancy of their suffering includes the absence of God, and at the same time the recognition of God’s power. Julia D. E. Prinz offers an intriguing look at the relationship between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman at Mark 7:24–30. Both stand on neutral, in-between ground (Tyre) and learn from each other what it means to share the children’s bread, which has implications for sharing at the eucharistic table. “In a certain sense, the woman invites Jesus to an amplified image of a eucharistic meal. Her point is not who should receive the bread but that the bread should be broken and shared, even to the extent that the crumbs are salvific: the crumbs stand for healing and justice” (134–35). Finally, Gregory E. Sterling develops a fresh perspective on the apocalyptic parable at Matthew 25:31–46. As background, he draws on various narratives of “deities in disguise” such as Homer’s Odysseus, Ovid, Genesis 18–19, and Tobit to indicate a common pattern of narratives that test the piety of humans as measured by their reception of strangers. “The point of the story is that we cannot determine in advance in whom we will find Christ. This lends strong support to the universalistic reading of the story” (170).
These are some of the essays but all deserve careful reading and study. In addition to the those mentioned above, other authors featured include John Endres, Anathea E. Portier-Young, Gina Hens-Piazza, Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, Harold W. Attridge, and Adela Yarbro Collins. I highly recommend this book as a fitting tribute to John Donahue.