Good News and Witness by L. Legrand, J. Pathrapankal, and M. Vellanickal (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 979 By way of judgment it should be said that these volumes could hardly serve as college or seminary text books but rather are suited for discussions or seminars under an experienced teacher. The basic defect of these works is lack of depth, theological and historical. For instance, in each volume there is a discussion of the distinction between the natural and supernatural ; the " failures " of past theology are presented, but the author's own solution to the problem is not clear at all. Despite the lack of depth, these volumes are recommended for maturing Christian students, and even for preachers. Quite a few good ideas are presented, in pithy sentences, and these are valuable in this time of transition in the Church. These works show how the basic teachings of the faith, re-read and expressed according to the signs of these times, are still valid. They do not provide solutions to current problems: rather, they are catalysts for thinking Christians. This alone is valuable, to help the whole Church toward a more adult Christianity. JAMES J. DAVIS, o. P. Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island Good News and Witness. By L. LEGRAND, J. PATHRAPANKAL, M. VELLANICKAL . St. Peter's Seminary, Bangalore, India: Theological Publications in India. Pp. 190. $1.00. It was not with high expectations that the writer agreed to review this book, if only because he was unaware of scholarly works in the biblical field coming from India. It was, therefore, a very pleasant surprise to find an excellent presentation of a contemporary subject, that of evangelization. The word is generally associated with the missionary activity of Christian countries taking the Gospel to the pagan countries. " Its favorite biblical hero is St. Paul; its key text is the missionary command to ' go and teach ' found at the end of the Gospel of Matthew." (p. vi) The approach taken here is that of the incarnational theology of St. John. " Ours is a situation of a local Church, aware of her mission to witness to the Gospel and to continue the incarnation of the Message in India." (ibid.) In the first part (pp. 1-60), the work of L. Legrand, "Jesus and the Gospel " is studied in three chapters that portray the missionary character of Jesus' message inasmuch as he radically identified himself with" God's Revolution." (p. 16) It is a masterly presentation that takes into account the best of modern scholarship. Jesus was missionary not primarily because of the campaign he conducted but because of the Gospel he preached. And the Cross " is the supreme act of evangelization " because, as crucified, Jesus" is the perfect image of the new man in the Kingdom who saves his 980 BOOK REVIEWS life by giving it and is set free by making himself a servant even unto death...." (p. 45) The second part (pp. 61-1fl0) takes up "The Early Church and Paul" and is done by J. Pathrapankal and L. Legrand. Here the complexities of the early missionary work of the Church and particularly of St. Paul are analysed. While Paul evangelized in the traditional sense of the word, he was also a missionary in the more radical sense because of his constant and primary witness to Jesus Christ. The third part (pp. 1fl1-168) deals with "Evangelization in the Johannine Writings" and is done by M. Vellanickal. Here evangelization is expressed in its most profound sense since it is more than mere verbal communication; it is bearing constant witness to an experience of faith. " Evangelization in Jn is a twofold process of experiencing and sharing the Christ-event. This takes place through the realization of the life of faith in Christ, whereby Christ, the Word, becomes the interior source of a genuine Christian life. Hence evangelization in Jn takes the concrete form of ' Witnessing! " (p. 167) The work cannot be praised too highly as a positive contribution to New Testament theology and as a basic study of a most important issue in Christianity today. Although no publishing date is given, the date of December 8, 1978, appears at the end of the preface. There is an inde'IC of Scriptural quotations. Mt. St. Mary's of...