Short notices

Eamon Duffy, A People’s Tragedy: Studies in Reformation (London: Bloomsbury Continuum, 2020); 272 pp.: 9781472983855, £20 (hbk)

A new book by Eamon Duffy, now Emeritus Professor of the History of Christianity at Cambridge, is always welcome, even if it is a collection of fine but fairly disparate essays, some of which have already been published. He writes so clearly and intelligently, often with a dry wit. Some of the essays here are on themes for which he has long been famous – especially those explored in his pioneering The Stripping of the Altars – but others take him into wider territories. I much enjoyed his essays about the reception of the King James Bible, changing Catholic perceptions of Luther and of Richard Baxter, and finally his strong reservations about Hilary Mantel’s melancholy, albeit influential, depiction of Thomas More. The last of these essays provides his best joke. He recounts how he was shown an early, laudatory draft of the sermon that Pope John Paul II was due to give at the canonization of More in 2000, and quips: ‘I was never told who had written this draft, but I assume that it wasn’t the Pope, since I gather he is infallible, and this text had a fine crop of errors’ (p. 205). This wide-ranging collection is a delight to read.

Gabrielle Thomas and Elena Narinskaya (eds), Women and Ordination in the Orthodox Church: Explorations in Theology and Practice (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020); 232 pp.: 9781532695797, $48 (hbk); 9781532695780, $28 (pbk)

The 12 papers in this fascinating collection were first given in 2018 at a conference discussing the ordination of women in the Orthodox Church at Pusey House, Oxford. Some are in favour of their ordination, while others are more cautious, but few think that it is likely to happen any time soon. Most remarkable of all is the position of the veteran Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, now aged 86. Back in 1978 he argued ‘vociferously against women’s ordination to the priesthood’ in the book Man, Woman, and Priesthood, but two decades later he changed his mind and now is thanked by the editors as ‘an invaluable support’ for their cause (p. xviii). Professor Andrew Louth, in contrast, is respectful of Ware’s arguments but cautious. Seven out of 12 of the contributors are, very properly, women, albeit one of them, Gabrielle Thomas, is an Anglican and herself a priest. She makes good, tactical use of Gregory Nazianzen, pointing out, for example, that:

In his father’s funeral oration, Gregory speaks of his mother as the leader of his father, ‘drawing him on by her influence in word and deed’; furthermore, Gregory describes his mother as his father’s teacher. This is interesting, when we remember that Gregory’s father was a bishop. While he does not address the question of women priests, Gregory has no problem in affirming that women are gifted leaders. He justifies his comments by stressing the importance of virtue and integrity of the person who is leading or teaching, and affirms that this is no less possible for women. (p. 188)

Stephen Cherry, Thy Will Be Done: The 2021 Lent Book (London: Bloomsbury, 2021); 216 pp.: 9781472978257, £9.99 (pbk)

This splendid Lent Book for 2021, reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer, deserves to be read widely by clergy and laity alike. It is written in six sections – one for each week of Lent – and is thus ideal for discussion groups and is both scholarly and accessible. Stephen Cherry, Dean of King’s College Cambridge, introduces readers to the long-standing problems of meaning and translation presented by the Greek texts of the prayer in Matthew and Luke – especially the highly influential translation in the Book of Common Prayer of the unique adjective represented as ‘daily’, the sentence ‘Lead us not into temptation’, and the double use of ‘trespass/es’. He also dwells at length on problems raised today by suspicions of patriarchal and monarchical images within the prayer. And he offers an extended and deeply sensitive discussion of forgiveness, distinguishing between divine pardon and human forgiveness. For him: ‘When God forgives, we are pardoned – the guilt of our sin is eliminated and we are set free’ (p. 136). In contrast, human forgiving can be slow and painful: there is grace in forgiving, yet genuine forgiveness sometimes needs ‘to call into account those who have abused power … the grace of forgiving will have to wait until truth and justice have had their day’ (p. 140). Just think of trying to forgive those who have systematically abused children but remain unrepentant. A book not to be missed.

John Parratt, So We Live, Forever Bidding Farewell: Theology and Assisted Dying (Durham: Sacristy Press, 2020); 149 pp.: 9781789591095, £12.99 (pbk)

In retirement from Birmingham University, John Parratt, formerly Professor of Third World Theologies, has written a reasoned, albeit passionate, book defending the legalization of assisted dying. There is nothing particularly new about either his arguments or the evidence that he cites, but he does it well and joins a very select group of Christian theologians (including Professors Hans Küng and Paul Badham) and church leaders (including Archbishops George Carey and Desmond Tutu) who also support the legalization of assisted dying. Given that a majority of people in the West (including Christians), when polled, also support such legislation, it seems only fair that some theologians and church leaders do the same. However, one of Professor Parratt’s repeated claims is that clerical opponents tend to rely more on secular rather than theological reasons for doing so. Frankly, it could be argued that he does exactly the same himself, repeatedly quoting evidence about our ageing population and the inability of palliative care to cope adequately, in addition to his less-than-conclusive appeals to Scripture. I fear that the latter, as so often on ethical issues, can be deployed either way within this important debate. Ultimately, perhaps, this is a debate about compassion, albeit with both opponents and supporters of this legislation being convinced that they are the truly compassionate ones. I wish that I could be so convinced.

Mary O’Hara, The Shame Game: Overturning the Toxic Poverty Narrative (Bristol and Chicago, IL: Policy Press, 2020); 366 pp.: 9781447349266, £12.99 (pbk)

Mary O’Hara is a freelance journalist with a focus on social justice who wrote for ten years for the Guardian. This is very much the work of a left-wing, intelligent, campaigning journalist. She was brought up in considerable poverty in Belfast and has spent time as an adult in both the UK and the USA and is horrified by the way in which right-wing politicians in both countries shame and vilify the poor as ‘scroungers’. For her, rich tax dodgers are the ones who really deserve our contempt and who perpetuate the need for food banks in the twenty-first century. She surely has a point and brings a fund of evidence to support this claim. Interestingly, she cites the work of several activist clergy in both countries who are making a significant effort to help their poor. A passionate and interesting book.

Ali Akbar and Abdullah Saeed, Contemporary Approaches to the Qur’an and its Interpretation in Iran (Abingdon and New York, NY: Routledge, 2020); 195 pp.: 9780367272036, £96 (hbk)

This is a very welcome addition to the series Contemporary Thought in the Islamic World, edited by Dr Carool Kersten of King’s College London – a series that unambiguously ‘promotes new directions in scholarship in the study of Islamic thinking’ and aims ‘to insert the study of Islam and the Muslim world into far wider multi-disciplinary inquiries on religion and religiosity in an increasingly interconnected world’. Tellingly, this fifth addition to the series goes to Iran – the heart of modern-day Islamists – and outlines the work of six Iranian intellectuals (all but two still living in Iran) who are prepared to take on board various elements of the critical analysis of sacred scriptures, including the Qur’an. At one point their socio-historical approach to the Qur’an is compared with the work of the gentle and scholarly Anglican priest Hugh Montgomery Watt (1909–2006), who was still Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Edinburgh University when I was a young lecturer in applied theology there. His work was not in vain: some Muslim scholars, even in Iran, are prepared to apply their brains (and compassion) to the study of ‘difficult texts’ within the Qur’an (such as those requiring the execution of apostates) … just as readers of Theology do when confronted with similar texts within the Bible.

Hud Hudson, A Grotesque in the Garden , 2nd edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans 2020); 200 pp.: 9780802878175, $16.99 (pbk)

First published in 2017, this fairly conservative account of problems in the philosophy of religion, dressed up as a fictitious series of letters from a disgruntled angel who is still guarding the empty Garden of Eden, now has an appendix with commentary, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading. It lacks the ironic humour of C. S. Lewis’s classic The Screwtape Letters, but it provides an imaginative way for some to digest philosophical issues.