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Title: The Moral Vision of the New Testament : Community, Cross, New CreationA Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethic by Richard Hays ISBN: 0-06-063796-X Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 04 October, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.78 (9 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Wanting for Authority
Comment: Richard Hays has undertaken a highly important project. He is attempting to devise a system of morality for the modern era based on New Testament ethics. He approaches the subject systematically, attempting to discern what exactly it was that New Testament writers thought on a variety of subjects, from abortion to violence. Sometimes, his conclusions are exactly those of the writers themselves. However, on homosexuality, his conclusions are a bit forced. He does not seek to discourage it (though several NT authors do, most notably Paul in Romans), perhaps out of fear of offending some within society. But, he does not encourage it either. In the end, he effectively eliminates the possibility of homosexual union, but does not go so far as to impose abstinence on such persons, regardless that the Bible (more than just the NT) regards the practice as an "abomination." Therefore, Hays loses an opportunity to take a definitive stand on a subject. His inability to follow a strict line of interpretation therefore throws into doubt the rest of his conclusions, not for their lack of validity, but simply by association. In that regards, while Hays has taken an important step to get us thinking about such matters, he has more or less failed to provide anything of any real substance because on one point he refuses to draw his conclusions based on a strict biblical exegesis.
Rating: 3
Summary: Comprehensive but flawed and frustrating
Comment: Richard Hays does a commendable job of meticulous research about the New Testament witness to vital ethical issues. He attempts to demonstrate the continuing relevance and importance of the New Testament towards pressing contemporary issues like war/peace, sexuality, divorce and abortion. The greatest strength of Hays' book is that it is a comprehensive work of reference; he really gets into the detailed text of much of the New Testament.
However, in my view, Hays' contemporary application is disappointing. As another reviewer has commented, Hays basically throws in the towel on abortion, even though he concludes that it is wrong from a Christian ethical perspective. He simply dismisses any action by the Church to modify or change the current permissive abortion regime as it exists under Roe v. Wade. This is the one public issue that the Church apparently has no business addressing in the "public square," unlike race, poverty, and so on. Hays does not explain why the Church should adopt this stance, other than repeating the tired liberal cliche about not legislating morality (or something like that). Further, Hays adopts a nasty, mean-spirited tone in his refutation of pro-life Scriptural exegesis. Hays may well be correct, but there is no reason for his arrogant personal attacks on people with different views. Hays seems to have a strong dislike of pro-lifers in general, which I believe warps his discussion of abortion.
I am also disappointed by his limp conclusion to the issue of homosexuality. After marshalling considerable evidence that the New Testament does not approve of homosexuality, Hays refuses to draw the necessary conclusions regarding church discipline. Just like with abortion, on the issue of sexuality, Hays adopts the shopworn liberal approach of saying "I don't approve of this, but I won't impose my views on others." Of course, this again begs the question as to why it is OK to legislate morality in some ethical areas but not in others.
In short, this book deserves a "4" or "5" for its Biblical studies, but a "1" or "2" for its contemporary application.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Fine Contribution to Biblical Ethics
Comment: It may well be that the success or failure of Hays' book will boil down to whether or not one agrees with him that (1) Community, (2) Cross, and (3) New Creation are appropriate lenses through which one may view NT ethics. Hays does well to suggest reasons why these lenses are more appropriate than a more traditional lense such as "love":
(1) Hays argues that any focal image needs to find a textual basis in all the canonical witness. "Love," according to Hays is not a central theme or ethical warrant in several important NT texts (Mark, Hebrews and Revelation, and Acts). According to Hays, the 3 metaphors he elevates well encapsulate essential claims in a much larger plurality of NT texts.
(2) Love is itself not as much an image as it is the "interpretation of an image." "Love," in other words, is embodied concretely in the NT by the cross. Apart from the specific narrative context of the cross, "Love" loses any meaning. Thus, love in the NT is itself subsumed under the image of cross.
(3) "Love" in contemporary ethics has become a fluid, debased concept that covers "all manners of vapid self-indulgence." From the perspective of contemporary culture, elevating love as a functional metaphor may do as much harm as it does good.
My personal observation is that "kingdom" may be a more appropriate metaphor than "community," for Hays since "community" in many ways has becomed as distorted a concept as love. The notion of "kingdom" carries with it the idea of community united under the reign of God, embodied through the cruciform life of Christ. I find this a more helpful metaphor than "community," which today may carry the idea of a collection of self-interested individuals using the church to meet their own needs.
Perhaps the greatest strenght of this book is the degree to which Hays struggles to allow scripture itself to take priority over other sources of authority (tradition, reason, and experience). The reason Hays comes out such an ardent pacificist is precisely because his exegesis of NT texts leads him to believe that the NT is nearly univocal in the ethical stance it takes regarding Christian non-violence. Jesus' teaching of his disciples (contra Niebuhr) in the Sermon on the Mount is intended as a real way of life to be embodied in faithful obedience, not an impossible ideal that must be dismissed by informed realists. According to Hays Jesus' own life of costly obedience to God functions as a paradigm for his own disciples, and the NT itself suggests that this is to be the case (this is a theme well-embodied in Paul's letters and in Mark's gospel). Even tradition would lead us to believe that the early church was consistently committed to non-violence at least until the time of Constantine; thus other sources of authority outside scripture seem to confirm Hays' argument that the church is to be a people committed to non-violent love of the enemy. The strength of Hays' pacifism is that he is attempting to root it firmly in his exegesis of the NT. Thus, one must do more than dismiss him as an unrealistic pacifist superimposing his views on the church. Rather, one must begin at the exegetical level to explain where Hays is mistaken, why his conclusion that the NT voice is univocal in advocating non-violence as the way of the church is incorrect. Or another way to deal with Hays' pacifism would be to say that other sources (tradition, reason, or experience) need to take precedence over scripture even if Hays is correct that the NT voice is consistently non-violent. This shifts the debate back to the hermeneutical level (and it is at this level where most theologians will conflict with Hays).
There are two weaknesses of the book in my opinion. First, Hays does not spend enough time exploring the issue of how the OT is to function as a basis for Christian ethics. Admittedly, attention to this question would greatly expand an already large book. Still, the plurality of scripture is greatly expanded when one draws the OT into a discussion of Christian ethics. This makes an integrative study of OT and NT for Christian ethics all the more necessary. This becomes especially important for any non-violence reading of NT ethics.
Second, I would have like Hays to give more attention to the general epistles and Hebrews. I'm afraid Hays brushes them off by saying that they essentially echo ethical themes he covers in his close reading of the gospels and Pauline literature. I think this case remains to be demonstrated.
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Title: The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, 3) by N. T. Wright ISBN: 0800626796 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.00 |
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Title: The Politics of Jesus: Vicit Agnus Noster by John Howard Yoder ISBN: 0802807348 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: May, 1994 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Old Testament Theology: Israel's Gospel by John Goldingay ISBN: 0830825614 Publisher: Intervarsity Press Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
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Title: The Faith of Jesus Christ: The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1-4:11 (The Biblical Resource Series) by Richard B. Hays, Luke Timothy Johnson ISBN: 0802849571 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: November, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: War: A Primer for Christians by Joseph L. Allen ISBN: 0870744518 Publisher: Southern Methodist Univ Pr Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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