Short Notices

Bruce Lincoln, Discourse and the Construction of Society: Comparative Studies of Myth, Ritual, and Classification , 2nd edn, Oxford University Press: Oxford and New York, 2014; 304 pp.: 9780199372362, £22.99/$35.00 (pbk)

The first edition (1989) of this ‘cult’ book has long been out of print. It sought to show how both positive and iconoclastic forms of religious ritual could shape society, using examples drawn from ancient, medieval and modern societies and from a variety of religions. In his youth Bruce Lincoln was much influenced by neo-Marxists such as Roland Barthes and by disturbing and sometimes violent forms of ritual such as the exhumation and public ridicule of the corpses of nuns and monks during the Spanish Civil War (he saw this as more an act against authority than against religion as such). Now in maturity he adds three eirenic chapters, giving examples such as the Lakota Sun Dance and Zoroastrian food rituals. A quirky, but still fascinating, book.

Peter Marshall (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Reformation , Oxford Illustrated Histories, Oxford University Press: Oxford and New York, 2015; 320 pp.: 9780199595488, £25.00/$39.95 (pbk)

Seven expert essays on both Protestant and Catholic reform movements in Europe and across the wider world, accompanied, as ever in this series, by numerous illustrations. Unfortunately only nine of the latter are in colour. Although monochrome illustrations are plentiful and instructive, most (not unexpectedly) are less than cheerful and some (especially of Jews being suckled by a pig within a sculpture outside the city church of Wittenberg) are profoundly depressing. As a work of scholarship it is commended warmly by Diarmaid MacCulloch.

Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen, The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story , 2nd edn, SPCK: London, 2014; 268 pp.: 9780281073474, £12.99 (pbk)

In its own words this book ‘surveys the grand narrative of the Bible, demonstrating how the biblical story forms the foundation of a Christian worldview’. Much used on introductory courses, but now updated, Tom Wright commends it for its ‘solid scholarship made easily accessible in this splendid fashion’.

Roland Boer, Marxist Criticism of the Hebrew Bible , 2nd edn, Bloomsbury T&T Clark: London and New York, 2014; 328 pp.: 9780567228413, £22.99/$39.95 (pbk)

Another second edition of a well-known resource for biblical studies courses – albeit this one from the political left. In addition to accounts of Marxist writers such as Gramsci, Eagleton, Adorno and others, new chapters explore the work of Deleuze and Guattari as well. The cover has a splendid caricature of Karl Marx intently reading the Bible, albeit with his mouth slightly open!

David M. Whitford (ed.), T&T Clark Companion to Reformation Theology , Bloomsbury Companions, Bloomsbury T&T Clark: London and New York, 2014; 520 pp.: 9780567657138, £24.99/$39.99 (pbk)

Charles Yrigoyen (ed.), T&T Clark Companion to Methodism , Bloomsbury Companions, Bloomsbury: London and New York, 2014; 616 pp.: 9780567657121, £24.99/$36.99 (pbk)

John Anthony McGuckin (ed.), The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity , Wiley Blackwell: Oxford, 2014; 592 pp.: 9781118759332, £29.99/$49.95 (pbk)

All three volumes are now out in paperback having been published initially (like The Oxford Handbook of Theology, Sexuality, and Gender) only in expensive hardback.

Stanley E. Porter, Constantine Tischendorf: The Life and Work of a 19^th Century Bible Hunter , Bloomsbury T&T Clark: London, 2014; 200 pp.: 9780567658012, £50.00/$86.00 (hbk), 9780567658029, £16.99/$29.95 (pbk)

This book is a labour of love by an expert in New Testament Greek and text to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the legendary Tischendorf who located, identified and transcribed Codex Sinaiticus (now in the British Library). This codex, along with Codex Vaticanus, is the oldest and most complete version of the Old Testament and New Testament in Greek (c.350 ce) and of immense importance to textual scholars. Tischendorf’s reputation has been clouded, however, by accusations that he tricked the codex’s guardians at St Catherine’s Monastery, Mount Sinai, into parting with it (echoes of the Elgin Marbles!). Porter argues at length that his critics are largely mistaken. It makes a good and scholarly read.

E. Christian Brugger, Capital Punishment and Roman Catholic Moral Tradition , 2nd edn, University of Notre Dame Press: Notre Dame, Ind., 2014; 320 pp.: 9780268022419, £22.95/$29.00 (pbk)

This thorough analysis, originally published in 2003 and based upon a doctorate supervised by Oliver O’Donovan and John Finnis, is now out in paperback with a new Preface outlining the slight differences of emphasis between John Paul II and Benedict XVI on capital punishment. It was the former who made the significant change away from a traditional Catholic defence of capital punishment as a form of retribution to an extremely limited defence in terms only of self-defence (i.e., for very exceptional, or perhaps non-existent, prisoners who even when incarcerated pose a serious threat to the life of others). Benedict affirmed this shift but was at greater pains than John Paul to emphasize its ‘continuity’ with traditional Catholic teaching. The author is commendably more persuaded by John Paul’s de facto abolitionist stance and informal depiction of capital punishment as ‘cruel and unnecessary’.

Alfred R. Mele, Free: Why Science Hasn’t Disproved Free Will , Oxford University Press: Oxford and New York, 2014; 112 pp.: 9780199371624, £12.99/$14.95 (hbk)

This short book is both serious and fun. The author is a philosopher who has written extensively, and directed a large Templeton Foundation funded project, on free will. Here he summarizes his arguments in accessible, jargon-free prose. The subtitle says everything. His aim is to show that the experimental work of neuroscientists (following Benjamin Libet) and social psychologists (following Stanley Milgram) does nothing to disprove free will, despite the widespread belief that it does. Alfred Mele does this with panache – adding that, on humanistic grounds, some version of free will is important for upholding moral responsibility.

Reggie L. Williams, Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethics of Resistance , Baylor University Press: Waco, Tex., 2014; 184 pp.: 9781602588042, £25.92/$39.95 (hbk)

The focus of this book is upon Bonhoeffer’s engagement with the black Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem during his year (1930–1) at Union Theological Seminary, New York, and in a briefer visit in 1939. He was not much impressed with the theological liberalism of Union and found the Christ-centred worship in Harlem more to his taste. But in the process he also encountered strong preaching about social justice in a context of the oppression of African-Americans. Reggie Williams argues that this radically affected his subsequent opposition to the racism of National Socialism in his native Germany. Interesting.