Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation. A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics, The

The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation. A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics. By Richard B. Hays. New York: HarperCollins, 1996, xv + 508 pp., $25.00 paper.

Richard B. Hays, of Duke University, has made a significant contribution to NT ethics. He states that his goal is "to engage the theological problem of how the New Testament ought to shape the ethical norms and practices of the church in our time" (p. 9). The problem of NT ethics is threefold: How can one appeal to the NT as ethically normative in light of its diversity? How can one translate the culturally specific texts to the modern situation? And, how can on resolve the diversity of hermeneutical methods applied to the NT? Hays pursues a fourfold method to resolve the dilemma: (1) A descriptive task of carefully reading the diverse texts, (2) a synthetic task of describing aa unity of ethical perspective within the diversity of the canon" (p. 4), (3) a hermeneutical task of relating the text to the present situation and (4) a pragmatic task of applying the NT to specific issues.

In his descriptive task, Hays sketches the moral vision of selected texts by letting them speak for themselves in their social location. The selected texts are Paul's letter, the later Pauline tradition, Mark, Matthew, Luke-Acts, Johannine literature and Revelation. Notably absent is the book of James. While disavowing historical development of NT ethics (contra Willi Marxsen, NT Foundations for Christian Ethics, 1993), Hays does seem to privilege earlier writings that explicate the cross and new creation and devalue those writings that reflect later development. This would account for the absence of James. Moreover, Hays starts with Paul, possibly because Hays' three focal images emerge from Paul's writings. It is obvious that Hays is already engaged in synthesis during the descriptive task, for he attempts to synthesize major themes and theological motifs in each text that give direction and vision to the specific imperatives. The underlying assumptions of this procedure are that theology precedes ethics and that the two are inseparably linked; that is, the indicative and imperative are related. The vision each author sets before his audience informs them who they are and thus how they are to act in specific instances.

At the heart of Hays' method is the synthetic task of isolating the single moral vision of the NT. The moral vision is viewed as a framework within which moral judgment can take place. Hays' procedure is not reductionistic in restricting NT ethics to a set of rules or to a single principle, such as love. His synthetic procedure, however, is somewhat problematic, for it seeks a canon within the canon, disrupts the narrative structure of the NT and may leave out essential elements. If the diversity is swallowed up in a unifying synthesis, are we really allowing the different voices to speak? Does a reconstructed synthesis violate one's commitment to the entire canon? Are there not subjective elements in any reconstruction that tend to undermine its objectivity and authority? If we listen to the text through the lens of the synthesis, are we not in effect listening to the synthesis? Hays states that only if we can find a "wholeness or unity among the canonical writings . . . can we speak of New Testament ethics as a normative theological discipline" (p. 188). Is Hays correct in saying that the "only" way to speak of the NT as ethically normative is to find wholeness and unity?

According to Hays, the NT moral vision consists of three focal images: (1) Community, (2) cross and (3) new creation. The new creation represents the reversal developed by Marxsen and Allen Verhey (The Great Reversal, 1984) and depicts the new life made possible by the cross and resurrection. These three focal images serve as the lens through which one can reread the NT and apply the text to contemporary issues. Hays applies his method to the issues of violence in defense of justice, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality, ethnic conflict and abortion. He carefully reads texts pertinent for each issue, evaluates them in light of the three focal images, reflects on the modes used in the texts (i.e. rule, principle, paradigm, symbol), and then draws normative conclusions. Hays' commitment to Scripture will not allow him to acquiesce to the cultural trend condoning homosexuality. But when the NT witness is contradictory, Hays will draw upon the three focal images. For example, when speaking of women's issues, Hays favors the egalitarian view, for it is part of the new creation in his view (cf. Gal 3:28). Hays asserts that his synthesizing differs from harmonization and does not distort the messages of the individual books. Harmonization reads one text in light of another, whereas synthesis attempts to find a unifying vision that can creatively be applied to contemporary problems. What Hays is seeking is a moral vision in back of the diverse expressions; he is not attempting to dissolve the diversity by harmonization.