Becoming Children of God: John's Gospel and Radical Discipleship. - book reviews

By Wes Howard-Brook. Orbis, 482 pp., $21.95.

As a longtime peace and justice activist, I have been nourished by liberation theologians in Latin America and their growing company in the North. The Jesus of the synoptic Gospels gave focus to my prayers and action. But in these days when the Christian Right claims that faithfulness to the biblical witness requires Christians to support the Republican agenda and when America seems especially indifferent to the plight of the poor, Paul's apparently social conservatism and John's apparently private and spiritual Gospel seemed to weaken my hand.

Neil Elliot, who teaches at the College of Saint Catherine in St. Paul, has written a book tailored to my need. He argues that since New Testament times Paul's teaching has been misread and corrupted by those who support the status quo. Paul has been presented as supporting slavery, the subjugation of women, the suppression of homosexuality, the demands of governments for unquestioning obedience and even the extermination of Jews. One by one Elliot challenges those contentions.

He begins by pointing out that the pastoral epistles and the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians, which include some of the most egregious passages, were not written by Paul. While this view has been widely accepted by scholars, the attitudes expressed in these texts continue to be read back into the genuine Pauline writings. He concludes by describing the radical political implications of Paul's theology of the cross. Elliot writes with eloquence and learning and splices his case with historical examples and political analysis. The book is bound to be controversial. Yves Howard-brook is an activist, not an academic. After serving as counsel to the U.S. Senate judiciary Committee and as an assistant attorney general in the State of Washington he studied theology and is now program director for the Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center in Seattle and a member of the Galilee Circle, a scripture-based Christian community.

In this commentary on John's Gospel he employs the same method of literary analysis as Ched Myers did in his commentary on Mark. He has succeeded in producing a comparable work. Though detailed and substantive, the commentary is clear and readable, and the call of Jesus emerges clearly: to witness relentlessly to the truth of what is happening in (he world and to offer that world alternative models of community based on mutual love. This call to radical discipleship both challenges and supports activists and churches.

COPYRIGHT 1996 The Christian Century Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group