The Impact of Scripture in Early Christianity.

Clark, Elizabeth A.

The Impact of Scripture in Early Christianity. Edited by J. den Boeft and M. L. van Poll-van de Lisdonk. Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language 44. Leiden: Brill, 1999. xv + 278 pp. $91.50 cloth.

The fourteen essays in this volume--in English, German and French--were originally presented as papers at a conference organized by the Dutch Foundation for Early Christian Studies in March 1996. As a conference volume, the book exhibits the usual characteristics of the genre. Some essays are quite technical and are relevant to the interests of only a few scholars, while others sum up the scholarship of the last few decades on a particular topic. Moreover, the length and quality of the essays seem uneven. A few authors attempt to relate their contributions to issues of contemporary interest--for the life of the church, for example (M. Parmentier's "The Gifts of the Spirit in Early Christianity"), or for interpretation theory (H. Welzen's "Reader Response"). Despite these caveats, there is much learning exhibited in the essays, and several of them provide useful guides to the "state of the discussion" about particular topics. Overall, the editors seek to show how Christianity's notion of "divine revelation" distinguished Christian interpretation from the interpretation of the so-called pagan classics.

A. Hilhorst's opening essay provides a brief overview of biblical scholarship in the early church and is noteworthy for addressing some less well known texts, such as pseudo-Caesarius's Erotapokriseis. Several essays are devoted to showing how Scripture was used to rationalize/justify various aspects of church life: B. Dehandschutter's essay demonstrates how New Testament texts pertaining to imitation and discipleship influenced early Christian notions of martyrdom; G. Bartelink addresses the role of the Bible in ascetic exegesis; A. A. R. Bastiaensen provides a learned exposition of the use of the Bible in prayer formulas in the oldest liturgies. Three of the essays (by A. Provoost, I. Spatharakis, and P. C. Z. J. van Dael) focus on various aspects of early Christian art. A few essays link particular patristic texts with events of the day, such as W. Evenepoell's discussion of Paulinus of Nola's Carmen 26 in light of Alaric's invasion of the Italian peninsula in 402 and A. David's discussion of Cyril of Alexandria's Festal Letters in relation to the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria, probably in 414. One essay constitutes a word study: E Van Deun's exposition of the differing uses of euche and proseuche in patristic works inspired by Origen. The influence of pagan rhetoric and literature on early Christian texts is explored in I. Sluiter's discussion of the role of the "entertainment factor" in Augustine's advice to Christian teachers in De doctrina christiana and in C. Partoens's exploration of how pagan literary/philosophical imagery is mixed with the interpretation of the New Testament Parable of the Sower in Prudentius's Books Against Symmachus. To this reader, the latter essay offered an interesting examination of how metaphors of cultivation of the earth could become exhortations for the "cultivation of the soul"--now removed from its aristocratic context of otium enjoyed at one's country estate and made applicable to the life of the Christian tenant farmer.

This book is designed for specialized scholarly audiences and hence is most appropriate for graduate-school and seminary collections.

Elizabeth A. Clark Duke University