Anatomy of the New Testament by Robert A. Spivey, D. Moody Smith, Jr., and: The Twelve Apostles by Ronald Brownrigg, and: This Hebrew Lord by John Shelby Spong (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 488 Anatomy of the New Testament. By RoBERT A. SPIVEY and D. MooDY SMITH, JR. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974. Pp. 539. $9.95. The Twelve Apostles. By RoNALD BROWNRIGG. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1974. Pp. ~48. $1~.95. This Hebrew Lord. By JoHN SHELBY SPONG. New York: A Crossroad Book/The Seabury Press, 1974. Pp. 190. 5.95. Although appearing only five years after the first edition, the second edition of Anatomy of the New Testament is clearly a brand new, up-todate introduction to the New Testament. The present edition has been significantly reorganized for the sake of both simplicity and clarity. Most important , however, are the revisions that take account of the many scholarly advances during the past five years, e. g., the Son of Man problem and the value of epistolary evidence for understanding Paul's ministry. In addition , the footnotes and bibliographies have been carefully brought up to date. The work as a whole achieves the remarkable goal of providing for the lay reader a thoroughly adequate treatment of the background, composition , and content of the New Testament. It presupposes nothing more than an ability to read English and an interest in Scripture. Nevertheless, the work is an invaluable tool for students, clergy, and scholars for it is both simple and complete, clear and profound, abounding in charts and illustrations as well as containing a glossary, indices, and comprehensive bibliographies . For anyone desiring to enter into the world of the New Testament and encounter the Word of God this work is strongly recommended. The Twelve Apostles, richly illustrated with more than one-hundredand -forty photographs, maps, and reproductions of religious art, is a critical examination of the lives, work, and religious significance of the Twelve and much more besides. Ronald Brownrigg examines all of the available evidence on the Twelve and their impact on the last two-thousand years of Christianity: the sketchy information of the New Testament, the legendary material in the apocryphal writings, the witness of the Fathers, and the traditions that have enriched the lives of Christian communities all over the world. The result is a commendable synthesis whose balanced, critical judgments clearly separate fact from fiction while at the same time giving to the average reader of today a vivid appreciation of the apostles in the origin, spread, and present-day life of Christianity. John Shelby Spong has admittedly run the risk of heresy in his presentation of Jesus in This Hebrew Lord, and some will undoubtedly insist that he has indeed succumbed. The critical scholar will search in vain for affirmations of traditional beliefs about Jesus, e. g., the pre-existent Son 434 BOOK REVIEWS of God, the redemptive incarnation, the sacrifice offered on the cross, the bodily resurrection. Nevertheless, Spong should not be faulted for not doing what he never intended to do. His work " is not offered as a definitive Christology but as a personal witness." (p. ix) He has taken seriously the criticisms of traditional formulations put forward by J. A. Robinson in Honest to God but has gone far beyond Robinson in his effort to explain his personal faith in Jesus Christ in terms that are meaningful in today's society. His method, as indicated in the title, is to return to the Hebrew milieu into which Jesus was born and in which he lived and worked and died. He then attempts to uncover the fundamental faith experience to which the early Church gave witness and then to give expression to this same faith experience in the context of contemporary society. His results are to some extent valid but at the same time limited. He views Jesus in terms of what he came to do, i.e., to "bring love to the unloved, freedom to the bound, wholeness to the distorted, peace to the insecure." (p. 170) He is certainly correct as far as he goes, and one might even argue that he is correct in going no further, i.e., in not raising questions of dogma that are really irrelevant to the faith and life of contemporary Christians. However, he is certainly incorrect in his attempt to explain how...