The Bible Now! by Joseph Grispino (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 265 grace already possessed, Durwell cites the change in the life of St. Paul which implied the awareness of a new reality: the Christ of glory. (p. 1fl3) Through this revelation the Christian who accepts the glorified Christ puts on a new nature and his light takes possession of men. Hence, the mission of the Church is to bring the gospel to men, a revelation distinct from that of the Old Testament both in its object, the risen Christ, and its effect, fellowship in the resurrection of Christ. Evangelization is more than merely preservation of the gospel and its transmission. By the commission of Christ " he became himself the gospel that she must preach." (p. 149) Faith is more than assent to doctrinal truth, it is a faith response to the person of the risen Christ. Preaching demands the conveyance of the person of Christ. Such preaching can only he effective through the power of God. Such preaching is reserved not solely to the successors of the apostles hut to all Christians as they constitute the body of Christ, the sacrament of Christ's presence. Since the volume contains articles written over a period of time in various journals, it labors under some discontinuity and repetition. But the single theme is that through the glorification of the risen Savior salvation is offered to all men. The Church's mission, shared by all the members of the Church, is to witness to the person of the glorified Christ who lives in the Church and the faithful. REGINALD MASTERSON, 0. P. Director of Renewal Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa The Bible Now! By JosEPH GRISPINO. Notre Dame, Ind.: Fides Publishers, 1971. Pp. 138. $U5. This series of ten essays, directed to college and adult study groups, presents the author's illustration of the recent Council's teaching on the nature of the truth revealed in Scripture. Using examples from current theological problems, numbering among them, polygenesis, divorce, resurrection , and church government, the author presents a new format for dealing with the age-old question of biblical inerrancy. Inerrancy is no longer a question of trying to explain away certain errors hut of realizing that what the Bible reveals is there for the sake of salvation. Thus, no truth is revealed in Scripture except in the context of this general truth: the salvation of all men. A particular Biblical passage is to he judged true, not insofar as it is historically or scientifically accurate hut insofar as it is accurate for the sake of salvation. The sun standing still in the heavens at Joshua's command may he erroneous from the ~66 BOOK REVIEWS scientific point of view, but it does tell us something about om" salvation: how God cares for those he has chosen to be his own. As a consequence, Grispino re-examines some Biblical notions that have been uncritically accepted in the past as " dogmatic truth " and points out that, in the light of Vatican II, only truths which are clearly necessary for the sake of salvation can be so regarded. The bulk of this brief work is then spent defining what exactly Scripture is teaching, for the sake of salvation, in certain problem areas. The author's succinct style and ability to synthesize the latest theological thinking meets the needs of his audience rather well. In some cases, however , as for example, in the discussion of Jesus' consciousness of his divinity, brought up in the last chapter, merely summarizing the theologians ' different views is not easy, nor does it do them complete justice. This reviewer feels that the author used better examples of what he is about in other parts of the book. Finally, although the handling of the themes might seem untraditional at times~in the context of his inquiringwhat salvific truths are contained in Scripture's treatment of these themesGrispino gives accurate and thoughtful results. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D. C. THOMAS P. McCREEsH, O.P. The First Desert Hero: St. Jerome's Vita Pauli. With Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary by IGNATius S. KoziK. Mount Vernon, N.Y.: 1968. Pp. 67. This pleasant volume is a most useful and careful rendering of one of the...