Resurrection and the Message of Easter by Xavier Léon-Dufour (review)

'BOOK REVIEWS 158 pages that the overriding purpose of recent encyclicals has been to effect a major overhaul in men's attitudes vis-il-vis private property and universal ownership. Since all justice can be seen to hinge on this truth, all the varieties of injustice can be seen also as so many obstacles to the realization of that order and balance needed in the affairs of men, who are called to march in solidarity to their common destiny. While most of the volumes of this series will no doubt be held by institutional libraries, there are some surely that merit to be acquired by individuals . Lefebure's work on Justice is one of these. An age that has notoriously flaunted the many-sided virtue of justice calls upon itself the evils of injustice. This work can help to gain perspective on the ills that are ours and why this had to be so, given our low esteem of justice. Seen for what it is in this glaring light, the condition of injustice may move men again to shoulder the task of rebuilding the virtue. We can be grateful to Lefebure for a readable text in which St. Thomas shows us how to leave behind the rubble of our inhumanity and to give to each man his due, with right good will. Mt. St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, Maryland ROBERT ZYLLA, o. s. c. Resurrection and the Message of Easter. By XAVIER LEON-DUFOUR. Translated by R. N. Wilson. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975. Pp. xxii +330. $9.95. Readers familiar with Leon-Dufour's earlier works, especially The Gospels and the Jesus of History and the Dictionary of Biblical Theology, have come to expect a high level of scholarship from this author. The present work will not disappoint them. His examination of the evidence from the New Testament period (some of which is represented by apocryphal writings) concerning the content and expression of faith in Jesus' resurrection and exaltation is lucid and thorough. The work is divided into four major parts or stages. The first of these, " The Affirmations of the Earliest Faith," deals with the earliest formulae developed within the Christian community to express its faith in the Easter mystery. The principal formulae considered are "Christ is risen" and " God raised Jesus from the dead." In addition, there are those relating to Christ's ascension and exaltation. Special consideration is given to Paul's grappling with this mystery and to the variety of expressions he employed, including the pre-Pauline hymns. At the end of this part and even within the sub-divisions of the part, Leon-Dufour summarizes rather consistently the conclusions that he has come to. 154 BOOK REvmws Stage two deals with "The Narratives of the Encounter with the Lord Jesus." Here the principal concern is with the appearance to Paul (and the multiple narratives about it), the Jerusalem and Galilean appearancetraditions , and the narratives of the empty tomb. The investigation is intended to determine how these various forms developed from the earlier formulations of resurrection and exaltation. Furthermore, the author attempts to distinguish the peculiar emphases that emerge from the several traditions. Stage three moves to the topic of " The Easter Message According to the Evangelists." In this section, the author attempts to show the relationship of the Easter event to the themes and interests of each of the evangelists and how the forms employed by them fit their gospels. This section is particularly well-done, and it clearly demonstrates the rich variety of meanings and articulation attached to the central event and faith of the early community and its spokesmen, the evangelists. Finally, Stage four, "Hermeneutics," turns to the author's pastoral concern about how this this great mystery and its New Testament expressions may be translated in a meaningful way for twentieth-century Christianity. At this point, the author deals with a matter that permeates the entire investigation: the problem of meaning and language. And coming as it does at the end of this study, this section emphasizes that a serious and reflective understanding of the New Testament witness of the Easter mystery is the only sound basis for preaching...