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 A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY:
Christian Origins (Volume 1) , edited by Richard A. Horsley.
Fortress Press. 318 pp. $35. Late
Ancient Christianity (Volume 2),
edited by Virginia Burrus. Fortress
Press. 318 pp. $35.
Reviewed by the REV. THOMAS BOKENKOTTER,
Ph.D., pastor of Assumption
Church in Cincinnati and author of A
Concise History of the Catholic Church (Doubleday Image Books).
LOOKING AT THE HISTORY of Christianity “from below” is the praiseworthy
objective of this series, A People’s
History of Christianity. This series, projected
to run seven volumes, is based
on the premise that too much Church
history has been focused on the elites:
mystics, theologians, pastors, priests,
bishops and popes. After all, it is said,
these elites constitute perhaps five
percent of all Christians over two
millennia. What about the others, the
voiceless, the silent majority, the ordinary
faithful?
To answer this question, the two volumes
reviewed here offer a large
amount of material on the daily life of
the ordinary citizen of the Roman
Empire, as well as much on the specifically
Christian experience.
Volume I covers the New Testament
period. Its task is defined as follows: “to explore the ways in which ordinary
people whose lives were determined
by the Roman imperial order
formed communities and movements
that spread and expanded into a significant
historical force in late antiquity.”
The effort yields some interesting
insights.
To give one example, the Christian
faith could appeal to the oppressed. At
Corinth there were many freed slaves—freedmen of low status. In becoming
Christian, their yearning for respectable
status might have been fulfilled by the
high spiritual status they could acquire
in Paul’s spirit-filled community.
Through the spiritual transcendence
enacted at Baptism, they would have
experienced the transition from dishonor
and humiliation to exalted spiritual
status.
Volume 2 covers the late Roman
imperial period—the second to the seventh
century—and has more material
to analyze. It departs from the standard
narrative of this period, which
sees the Church moving steadily toward
clarity of belief and practice. The
authors’ approach, on the other hand,
prefers to emphasize the diversity of
the Christian experience rather than
sameness, the local rather than the universal,
and practice rather than doctrine.
In other words, they focus on
how Christianity was actually lived.
Fortress Press is the publishing ministry
of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, but the general
editor of the series, Dennis R. Janz,
teaches at a Catholic school, Loyola
University in New Orleans. Volume
editors and authors are academicians
from across the globe and mainstream
religions.
The authors cast their net wide: veneration
of saints, exclusion of heretics,
child-rearing and toys, the cult of relics,
the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament,
the role of the martyrs, the
ascetic impulse, belief in miracles, pilgrimages,
the Sacrament of Penance,
class differentiation in the Christian
community, anti-Judaism, Christian
opposition to slavery.
In an interesting note, the authors
argue that the practice of taking the
sacrament home was much broader
than many liturgists have assumed.
Tertullian, Hippolytus and Novatian
are cited as sources for the custom of
consuming the reserved sacrament as
part of the evening meal or during
prayer rituals. The average pre-Nicene
Christian, in fact, probably took many
more communions from his or her own
hand in the confines of the home than
he or she did from the few Masses during
the era of persecutions. This practice
seems to have been customary in
the North African, Roman and Egyptian
Churches, if not universally.
The connection of certain practices
with their Christian faith is not always
apparent. At Hippo in North Africa,
we’re told children made a special
friend of a tame dolphin with whom
they liked to swim. But the curious
spectacle led to such a stream of tourists
that the city’s administrators ended up
killing the dolphin in secret to restore
order.
On the other hand and more apropos,
the book relates how St. Jerome
advised his beloved Laeta to let her little
Paula play with toy block letters
carved from ivory to spell out the
names of the prophets and the apostles
and the list of the patriarchs descended
from Adam.
The authors see the “rise of orthodoxy”
as a successful effort by teachers
and bishops, and eventually of emperors,
to impose a unified system of belief
and practice on the people. The claim
is made, however, that below the surface
of the Church’s unity, defined at
the great councils, lay a festering “babble
of the discordant views and opinions
of the ordinary Christian.”
Whatever truth there is in this, many
would see it as a remarkable achievement that prepared the Church for the
next stage in its heroic task of rebuilding
a Christian civilization on the ruins
of the Empire.
You can order A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY: Christian Origins (Volume 1) from St.
Francis Bookshop.
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY: “On Earth
as It Is in Heaven," by Terry A. Veling.
Orbis Books. 280 pp. $24.
Reviewed by MICHAEL J. DALEY, a
teacher and writer at St. Xavier High
School in Cincinnati, Ohio. He edited (with
Bill Madges) Vatican II: Forty Personal
Stories (Twenty-Third Publications).
FOR A LONG TIME, theology has been
pictured as an ivory-tower discipline
with professors (usually white, old
men) sitting around asking the perennial
question: “How many angels can
dance on the head of a pin?” As Terry
Veling, head of the McAuley School
of Theology at the Australian Catholic
University, demonstrates in Practical
Theology, however, our “God talk” must
consider the wider social, political,
economic and cultural problems of
our day.
In the book’s first part, Veling defines
what he means by “practical” theology.
Admitting that it is difficult to
describe, he says that it is a way of
thinking about God that is holistic
rather than compartmentalized. Grammatically
speaking, he thinks practical is more a verb than an adjective.
Attentive to people’s lived experience,
Veling suggests that practical theology
is “less a thing to be defined than
it is an activity to be done.”
An essential aspect to practical theology
is interpreting Scripture and tradition
in light of the signs of the times.
That is, as Veling says, “to bring the life
of faith to the life of the world, to discern
the ways of God for the sake of the
coming of God’s kingdom.”
Poverty, immigration, environmental
degradation, ethnic and racial conflicts,
and war must be examined in
light of the gospel. This begins with
the interpretive question: “What are
you saying to me?” Thus begins a
process of encounter and dialogue
which may take us to new and uncomfortable
places.
The book’s second part examines
practical theology’s insistence that
beliefs must show forth in action—what we do, how we live. This is,
according to Veling, the “answerable
life.” No one else can live
our lives. We are unavoidably
responsible for them.
This only serves to highlight
the uniqueness and
sanctity of the human person.
Practical theology
emphasizes that we, made
in the image and likeness of
God, cannot speak of God
without speaking of humanity,
that divinitas and humanitas are inseparably linked.
Since this is the case, justice
becomes a primary concern.
Oppression, discrimination and slavery
of any form must be confronted
with the gospel. This requires us to go
beyond ourselves, to seek out and
encounter the other.
This places before us a call to “hospitality,”
or welcoming, with which we
may be unfamiliar. Veling states that
hospitality remains “a difficulty for us,
and often requires us to form bonds
with others whose communal commitments
are marginal to
prevailing understandings
of power, status and possessions.”
The book’s last part develops
the idea that practical
theology is contextual.
It is not detached from its
historical context. It’s incarnational.
Just as Jesus
entered into history at a
specific time and place, so
too we live out our lives
as disciples of Jesus. This
should “teach us to reflect on situations
and to notice their depth, rather
than to jump to simplistic conclusions.”
In presenting his understanding of
practical theology, Veling draws upon
a variety of resources: personal stories, philosophers, Scripture, poetry, theology
and spirituality readings. In so
doing, as the subtitle suggests, Veling
creates a conversation “on earth as it is
in heaven.”
For those looking to ground theology
with spirituality, Practical Theology provides
this opportunity and challenge. It
asks us to take the words that we read
on the pages and make them real in
our lives.
You can order PRACTICAL THEOLOGY: "On Earth as It Is in Heaven" from St.
Francis Bookshop.
HOW TO BE A MONASTIC AND NOT LEAVE YOUR DAY JOB: An Invitation to Oblate Life, by Brother Benet
Tvedten, O.S.B. Paraclete Press. 119
pp. $14.95.
OBLATION: Meditations on St. Benedict's Rule, by Rachel M. Srubas. Paraclete
Press. 82 pp. $12.95.
Reviewed by SHARON CROSS, project
manager in the electronic media department
of St. Anthony Messenger Press and
a Benedictine oblate of St. Meinrad Archabbey
in Indiana.
IN RECENT YEARS I’ve seen a number
of new books on monastic life, prayer
and the application of Benedictine spirituality
in the workplace. How to Be a
Monastic and Not Leave Your
Day Job and Oblation, two
of seven titles incorporating
those principles that are
currently available from Paraclete
Press, specifically
address the oblate vocation.
As expressed in Brother
Benet’s title, the road to
holiness traveled by vowed
religious is open to anyone,
and can be found wherever
we are, regardless of age,
race, sex, occupation (or
lack thereof) or even marital status.
Benedictine oblates are Christian men
and women who affiliate with a specific
Benedictine community. Through
oblate programs organized by almost
every monastery, these mostly laypeople
learn from professional monastics
(monks and nuns) how to apply the
Rule of St. Benedict to their daily lives.
Brother Benet, a monk of Blue Cloud
Abbey in South Dakota and director of
its oblate program, combines explanations
of what is meant by Benedictine
spirituality with practical examples of
its implementation, contributed
by oblates of various
monasteries. “Christ is
the chain that binds us,”
he says, “and we are all
bound to one another.”
Section one on Benedictine
spirituality shows how
prayer, holy reading, work
and relationships figure in
the life of every monastic.
Prominent among the
Benedictine values for daily
living in section two are
peace and justice, and hospitality.
Two uniquely Benedictine vows—conversion of life and stability of
heart—are discussed in section three
on being an oblate. Although oblates
do not take vows, we promise to practice
these concepts. Also found in this
section are a helpful history of the
oblate movement and five simple
guidelines for oblates, prepared over 30 years ago by a group of oblate directors.
The other book is by Rachel Srubas,
Presbyterian clergywoman, wife and
Benedictine oblate, who embodies the
ecumenism common to the Benedictine
family. While personal, her prayer
reflections also connect the Rule of St.
Benedict to familiar experiences to both
oblates and other readers. Srubas says
that her writing talent has been nurtured
and celebrated for years by the
Arizona Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual
Adoration with whom she is affiliated.
Picking up on the Benedictine practice
of praying with Scripture known as
lectio divina or “divine reading,” Srubas
calls her reflections scriptio divina or
“divine writing.” Inspired by the Rule
that in its time wedded ancient ideals
to contemporary practices, Srubas
allows both the Holy Spirit and Benedict’s
spirit to infuse her words. “Every
one of the prayers is an oblation, an
offering to God,” she writes.
Accompanying each prayer is an
excerpt from the section of the Rule
that was its inspiration. Readers unfamiliar
with that book still may find
themselves intrigued by such engaging
prayer titles as “Go Home Hungry,” “Two-footed and Striving,” “I,
Too, Belong” and “Each Sacramental
Thing.” For those who know the Rule,
these reflections permit the familiar
words to take on a different and perhaps
deeper luster.
“All guests who present themselves
are to be welcomed as Christ,” St. Benedict
urges those who would follow him.
Both Brother Benet and Ms. Srubas offer
just such a warm welcome to everyone
who may be curious about this 1,400-
year-old tradition.
You can order HOW TO BE A MONASTIC AND NOT LEAVE YOUR DAY JOB: An Invitation to Oblate Life and OBLATION: Meditations on St. Benedict's Rule from St. Francis Bookshop.
FAITH AND MENTAL HEALTH: Religious Resources for Healing, by
Harold G. Koenig, M.D. Templeton
Foundation Press. 298 pp. $29.95.
Reviewed by the REV. LAWRENCE M.
VENTLINE, D.Min., founding director of
Care of the Soul (www.careofthesoul.org). A priest for three decades of the Archdiocese
of Detroit, he is longtime religion
writer for The Detroit News, and recipient
of the 1996 Detroit Human Rights
Award. On special assignment, he works
with Bodymorph Gym and Wellness Center
(www.bodymorphwellness.com) in
Ferndale, Michigan.
THIS IS A REMARKABLE RESOURCE
for caregivers, medical schools and
schools of theology. In four parts and
14 chapters, author and physician
Harold G. Koenig describes 10 ways
that religious faith can contribute to
mental health and wellness.
Dr. Koenig is a Duke University Medical
Center professor of medicine and
psychiatry. He starts by tracing the history
of mental-health care and communities
of faith. Then he follows with
research on religion, positive emotions,
ways of coping, persistent mental illness,
and the integration of religion
and treatment.
A leading specialist on spirituality
and health, Koenig explores positive
and negative influences of religion on
mental health. He challenges what people
of faith are (and could be) doing for
mentally ill parishioners.
Barriers and obstacles to mental-health
services are explored in the final
part of the book. Here the writer outlines
what stands in the way of scientific
research. He also examines the
relationship between religion and mental
health: funding, attitudes, methodologies
and focus/priority. Koenig offers
some solutions that will require the
help of government and private and
faith-based groups.
Multiple sources for networking are
provided in an extensive 25-page reference
section at the end of the book.
The book also lists mission-driven faith-based
services and has a helpful index.
In my own work as a pastoral counselor,
I have found Koenig’s book helpful
for explaining psychotherapy,
spiritual direction and coaching of
patients with anxiety, depression and
even psychotic features.
You can order FAITH AND MENTAL HEALTH: Religious Resources for Healing from St. Francis Bookshop.
SKY WALKING: An Astronaut's Memoir, by Tom Jones. HarperCollins. 357
pp. $26.95.
Reviewed by P.J. MURPHY, who lives in
Columbus, Ohio. In addition to graduating
from the College of Mount St. Joseph
with a degree in English, he recently completed
his M.A. in journalism and communications
at The Ohio State University.
NASA AND ITS SPACEFLIGHTS of the
last two and a half decades have gotten
a raw deal. Most of us know of
early space exploration through textbooks
and popular movies. The spaceflights
and moon walks of the 1960s
are well documented, and those astronauts’
names are firmly placed in American
history.
The astronauts of the space-shuttle
era are often overlooked and overshadowed
by the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters. Tom Jones’s Sky
Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir is book-ended
by those tragedies,
but it also shows that astronauts
such as Jones and his
counterparts carried the
flame of space exploration
forward with the same passion
and dreams of their
predecessors.
Jones, a former C.I.A.
agent, gives a vivid inside
look at the sacrifice, determination
and passion an
astronaut-hopeful must possess.
It is this deeper understanding
of what it took for Jones and
his fellow astronauts to be assigned to
a shuttle mission that gives this book its
poignancy. From his initial spaceflight
where he was the mission specialist to
his experience with the International
Space Station, the intricacy of an astronaut’s
every move is well chronicled.
The detailed descriptions of astronaut
training and the space technology
used by NASA will be of interest to
those who want to learn more about
the process of becoming an astronaut,
but it is the people Jones encountered
who make this book interesting to a
broader audience.
While the stories of his fellow astronauts
provoke amazement and amusement,
the sacrifice of family time is
something that is not lost on Jones.
For him to live out his dream and passion,
his wife, Liz, and their two children,
Annie and Bryce, have to take
on the worries and fears that come
with spaceflights.
From his daughter’s learning about
the Challenger disaster at school prior to
one of her father’s missions to the tense
moments during shuttle launches and
landings, Jones paints a very clear picture
of what an astronaut’s family has
to endure.
Jones also touches on another important
factor of achieving his dream of a
spaceflight career—his faith in God.
Through all his years of intense training
and preparation, the Catholic Jones
seems to have maintained an optimistic
outlook. Most of this optimism can be
attributed to his faith. When he has
to move his family across the country,
he sees the proximity of a Catholic
church as consolation.
As he is preparing for his
first mission, he has a collection
of saints lined up
for prayers. He also takes
solace in believing that his
father and grandparents are
going to relay his prayers
directly to God. And on his
first mission he and other
crew members celebrate the
Eucharist on Easter Sunday
in space. For all his hard
work, Jones recognizes that
it is God who enables him
to live out his dreams.
Jones, who has authored two children’s
books on spaceflight, co-authored
Spaceflight for Dummies and wrote a
cover story for St. Anthony Messenger, does an excellent
job at presenting a very readable
account of his time in NASA’s space
program. As an accommodating measure,
he has included a glossary of
spaceflight terms and acronyms he uses
throughout the book, and you may
find yourself flipping back and forth
from time to time.
Anyone interested in modern space
exploration and what it takes to become
an astronaut will enjoy Jones’s
story. Jones describes his experiences
with NASA very well and gives some
clarity to the latest chapter in space
exploration. For more information
about this memoir and Tom Jones, visit
Jones’s Web site (www.astronauttomjones.com).
You can order SKY WALKING: An Astronaut's Memoir from St. Francis Bookshop.
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