Joseph K. Gordon takes up in this work the ambitious task of articulating a systematic theology of the Bible. Gordon does so in dialogue with an enormous range of interlocutors both ancient and modern, but most thoroughly with the categories and language of Bernard Lonergan. The work thus puts forward a successful, densely argued account of the Bible as a theological reality, with Gordon deftly handling the large project he sets out for himself.
Gordon structures the work starting with an introduction dealing with issues raised by today's context. Most particularly, he argues that the key to the contemporary situation is “the fact that all human understanding is tied to specific times and places” (2). He proceeds through chapters dealing with historical and theological categories related to Scripture. Throughout the work, Lonergan remains the most important interlocutor, with his categories consistently influencing Gordon's reading of other figures and themes of the tradition.
The body of the book follows upon the introduction and the issues it raises around communication by engaging with three central figures—Irenaeus, Origen, and Augustine—who inherited and expounded upon Scripture and the rule of faith in important ways. For Gordon, in Lonerganian language, “The rule of faith or truth provided early Christians with an articulation of a Christian horizon” (35). The exemplary figures he picks thus help show how interpretive rules—“flexible objectifications of specific doctrinal beliefs of the early Christians”—played out under scrutiny (41).
At this point, Gordon's book turns to two sections dealing with the location of Scripture, namely, God's work and the human person. By locating God's action in Christ as the “res that was historically prior” to formal confessions of belief, Gordon sets up a reading of Scripture as a way to understand God's activity (79). With respect to the human person, Gordon engages in a broader-ranging discussion touching on the ways in which Christian speech about the human person needs to adequately reflect both the tradition as well as the contemporary situation (121). Gordon here takes a broadly Thomistic approach, influenced by Lonergan, to engage with wide-ranging issues concerning human nature and self-transcendence (130).
The last two chapters, grouped under the rubric of “Scripture in History,” expound in more detail the role that Gordon believes Scripture has played and ought to play in Christian belief. Gordon thus grounds the continuing authority of the Bible in his previous statements concerning the human subject's understanding of God in history (171). The final chapter turns to a discussion of Scripture as part of the Holy Spirit's work in history (213). For Gordon, the human weakness of the text's authors does not weaken the book's credibility but in fact helps to demonstrate its deeper relationship to God's work (225). Similarly, Gordon argues that Scripture's priority and authority are ultimately relative to Christ's influence and authority (230). It is this “transcendent commitment” that Gordon criticizes much contemporary Scripture scholarship for refusing to take seriously in favor of historical, literary, or sociological considerations (243). Gordon is thus able to conclude that “we are always moving beyond the Bible,” given that Scripture's goal is to bring the faithful beyond itself to Christ (262).
The main critique that would apply to Gordon's book is that as a systematic theology of Scripture, it does not engage as extensively as might be expected with the text of the Bible itself. Gordon's reasons for this are very clear, and ultimately such a discussion of the biblical text would result in a very different project. This reader would be interested to see Gordon's hermeneutical approach applied more closely to the Bible and the stories, issues, and themes it contains. A follow-up book of this type might also help the reader to understand better the thrust of Gordon's argument in this book.
On the whole, Gordon makes an important contribution in this work to thinking about questions of revelation as well as to Lonergan studies. As a systematic theology of the Bible, it is impressive precisely because it makes clear systematic arguments. Indeed, the work proceeds outward from the Bible to articulate a theology of God, human beings, and God's self-communication to people through revelation. It is ultimately a Christian systematic theology proceeding from the Bible and its place in the life of the church toward its ultimate purposes as facilitating the union of the faithful with God. It will be of interest to graduate students and faculty engaging systematic questions around the Bible and revelation as well as to scholars interested in the ongoing theological legacy of Bernard Lonergan.
