Abstract
Peter Feldmeier characterizes Living Christ as “a creative expression of biblical spirituality.” Biblical scholarship serves as his project’s foundation. “But,” he continues, “I also intend this book to express a living text . . . one that facilitates an encounter with the living Word through the word” (4).
F.’s previous work on interfaith conversation and on Christian spirituality serves him well here. He includes a strikingly wide array of voices. He draws on other biblical texts to illuminate each Gospel under consideration. He relies on others’ scholarship on ancient languages, texts, and cultures, and his notes helpfully point readers to sources for further exploration. Yet, he knows that, for people of faith, the Bible’s meaning is not exhausted by the study of antiquity. It is prayed in the liturgy, expressed in stained glass, and embodied in lives. He also knows that through the millennia, authors have written about biblical meaning for their own times and places. And so, F. enriches the conversation with men’s, women’s, Christian, Jewish, contemporary, and ancient voices.
F. does not shy away from difficult texts. Should one give away all one’s possessions as the widow does with her mites? “Probably not.” Yet with the help of St. Paul, Pope Leo XIII, and Pope Francis, F. sharpens this initial response by highlighting the demands of solidarity (109). Elsewhere, he leavens his discussion with personal stories and gentle humor. He frequently concludes sections with reflections, as when he writes on the parable of the seed and the sower that “Spiritual transformation is a long project of staying present to God in the ordinary. The graces come—they surely come—but they usually come softly” (80).
Living Christ aims “to richly engage” the four Gospels (1), and it models an expansive view of biblical interpretation. It might have included even more varied voices, for example, more from women and the Global South. Nonetheless, it succeeds as a work of biblical spirituality in laying the groundwork for his audience to know and experience the gift of “trinitarian indwelling” that can result in part from reading the Gospels as F. does (209).