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Anatomies of Narrative Criticism: The
Past, Present, and Futures of the Fourth
Gospel as Literature
edited by Tom Thatcher and Stephen D. Moore
Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2008. 304 pp. $35.95.
ISBN 978-1-58983-370-8.
IN 1983, ALAN CULPEPPER’S Anatomy of the Fourth
Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Fortress)
inaugurated narrative-critical study of the Gospel
of John.His groundbreaking thesis was that John’s
narrative is inherently meaningful, regardless of
its sources, composition history, or historical value,
and he demonstrated that reading it as a unified
narrative could produce striking new insights.
Culpepper’s innovative work (alongside works by
Robert Tannehill on Luke, David Rhoads on Mark,
and Jack Dean Kingsbury on Matthew) opened
doors into the field of literary studies for NT
scholars, spawning a wide range of approaches to
the Gospels. The essays in this volume reflect on
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the book’s publication,
looking “both backward and forward,
evaluating Culpepper’s precedent and projecting
trends in the future study of the Fourth Gospel
as narrative” (p. 1).
The contributors, leading figures in contemporary Johannine studies, represent a wide range
of methodological approaches that explore ways
that contemporary readers generate meaning from
John’s story of Jesus. Tom Thatcher situates Culpepper’s
achievement in historical context, providing
a superb overview of the scholarly world
into which the Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel was
born—one in which Johannine narrative was
eclipsed by source-critical and historical concerns.
He also reviews precursors of Culpepper’s work
and its theoretical foundation. Other contributors
provide insight into the world to which the
Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel gave birth. For some,
historical criticism is by no means obsolete: Adele
Reinhartz explores productive intersections
between historical and literary criticism; Colleen
Conway discusses new ways of thinking about
history on the rise in the wake of narrative criticism;
and Paul Anderson proposes a polyvalent
approach to Johannine interpretation that involves
theological, historical, and literary factors. Others
press Culpepper’s insights further: Jean Zumstein
on both intratextual and intertextual dimensions
of the text’s meaning; Mark Stibbe on the structure
of John’s narrative; Ruben Zimmermann on the
garden symbolism in John 19–20; and Francis
Moloney on the relationship of John 21 to the rest
of the narrative. Tat-siong Benny Liew brings a
postcolonial lens to his reading of Jesus’ death in
John, and Jeff Staley places John in conversation
with visual media, examining cinematic presentations
of the raising of Lazarus. The book also
includes a reflective response from Alan Culpepper,
focused on the symbolism in John 19:26–27, and
an engaging afterward by Stephen Moore on the
new narratology. The volume is indispensable
reading for those interested in contemporary
scholarship on John. Taken together, the essays
provide, as the editors hoped, a superb “snapshot
of the current state of the field, illustrating the
many (r)evolutions of narrative criticism since the
publication of Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel in
1983” (p. 35).
Frances Taylor Gench
UNION-PSCE
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
Challenging Prophetic Metaphor:
Theology and Ideology in the Prophets
by Julia M. O’Brien
Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 2008. 202 pp. $24.95.
ISBN 978-0-664-22964-1.
THE EASIEST WAY TO protect the Bible’s reputation
is to leave it unread. Faithful readers intent on
knowing what Scripture really says, however, face
a dilemma. How can we revere a book that commands
the annihilation of whole civilizations,
commends patriarchs and kings of questionable
virtue, and keeps the female half of the population
nearly invisible—a book not simply factually
faulty but ethically tricky? Purveyors of Scripture
sometimes find themselves stretched across a great
divide.Valuing the Bible’s beauty and power, they
ignore or defend its ugly portions, protecting
others from wrestling with its very nature. Or else,
embarrassed by violence that appears in even the
holiest places, they struggle to teach the love of
Scripture to people who demand—and deserve—
ethical integrity and intellectual honesty.
Lancaster Theological Seminary professor
Julia O’Brien confronts these issues head-on,
arguing for and demonstrating a third way. Though
she focuses on prophetic metaphors, her methodology
can apply across the canon. After two initial
chapters outlining, first, a history of interpretation
that has succeeded in obscuring the problems,
and second, recent ideological challenges to
these interpretations, O’Brien invites readers into
another way. Rather than simply saying “yes” or“no” to biblical authority, she suggests reading
the Bible both ideologically and theologically as
literature—literature so compelling that even its
flaws can inspire examination of, and insight
into, our assumptions about God, faith, and
human life.
This third way develops throughout five
chapters concerning the ambivalent metaphors
of God as (abusing) husband, (authoritarian)
father, and (angry) warrior, Jerusalem as (defenseless)
daughter, and Edom as (selfish) brother. In
each case, the prophets are surveyed, implications
of the metaphor are drawn out, and responses
both positive and negative are delineated. Then
O’Brien engages the metaphor herself, demonstrating
its meeting points with interpretation,
cultural assumptions, and core religious values,
and articulating multiple theological insights—insights that leave readers relieved, energized,
and eager to explore what might be gained by
emulating O’Brien’s third way with the rest of
Scripture. I assigned the book in a seminary
course on Isaiah this spring. The whole class—
laity, church professionals, and future pastors—
praised its readability, honesty, reverence, and
insight. They, and I, commend it to all who
wish to read Scripture without blinking.
Patricia K. Tull
LOUISVILLE PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
The Politics of Heaven: Women, Gender,
and Empire in the Study of Paul
by Joseph A. Marchal
Fortress, Minneapolis, 2008. 213 pp. $29.00 (cloth).
ISBN 978-0-8006-6300-1.
IN A PASSIONATE programmatic study, Joseph
Marchal argues that only by employing the critical
perspectives of both feminist and postcolonial
methods in conversation with each other, can the
complex, gendered, imperial rhetoric of Paul’s
letters and their interpretations be adequately
understood in order to critique oppressive forms
and construct liberating options for the future.
Situating his work explicitly in the historical context
of the wars with Iraq and participation in the
mass protests against them, Marchal investigates
the letter to the Philippians and recent scholarship
that reads it within a Roman imperial context.
To the language of kyriarchy, imitation, and
the presentation of Paul and his female coworkers,
Euodia and Syntyche,Marchal brings insights from
the theoretical work of many theorists including
Musa Dube, Kwok Pui-lan, and Homi Bhabha.
Their questions about the construction of difference
and of mimicry and hybridity problematize
readings by Pauline scholars who understand the
letter simply as Paul’s counter-imperial rhetoric
or as his demand for authority in the community.
Important questions are raised about the reconstruction
of Euodia and Syntyche as coworkers in
the “contact zone.” The contribution of feminist
and postcolonial criticism to Philippians demands
a thoroughgoing dismantling of the edifice of
Pauline studies. Marchal foresees future trajectories
in which postcolonial and feminist scholars
would more closely collaborate and biblical scholars
would integrate the methods of religious
studies. The center of attention would shift from
Paul as the central authority to a more complex
description of the “colonized kyriarchal space.”
Marchal’s argument for the intersecting concerns
of postcolonial and feminist scholarship and
their interlocking questions and methods is persuasive.
The application of some of these perspectives
to the test case of Philippians is highly suggestive,
and Marchal’s conclusions amount to an ambitious
and daunting agenda for Pauline studies in
the future. The book provides students and pastors
with a useful orientation to this literature and
raises challenging questions for scholars of Paul.
The book would be strengthened by a clearer articulation
of the purpose and impact of such scholarship.
Examples of how such analysis critiques
contemporary deployment of Pauline rhetoric and
how it provides resources for alternative theological
visions would ground this study in the current
political context with which it begins. The creative
reuse of Pauline arguments, suggested in the final
chapter, may suggest a direction to be developed
by scholars, theologians, and preachers.
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge
SEMINARY OF THE SOUTHWEST
AUSTIN, TEXAS
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