BOOK REVIEW

Book Review

Book Review

David Ford's latest book weaves together several themes which have dominated his thought in recent years. The first of these consists in working through the consequences of a postmodern or relational theological anthropology as developed in his Self and Salvation: Being Transformed. The second explores the theory and practice of interpreting Scripture in both academic and interfaith contexts? as undertaken in? among others? his edited volume entitled The Promise of Scriptural Reasoning. The third seeks to recover the biblical wisdom tradition as a rich resource for systematic theology? thus continuing the work of his Reading Texts? Seeking Wisdom: Scripture and Theology.

In the current volume Ford? Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University? unites these distinctive themes under a title which alludes playfully yet meaningfully to Jean LeClerq's magisterial study of the readerly spirituality of medieval monastics? The Love of Learning and the Desire for God (Fordham? 1982). Ford's evocation of LeClerq is most appropriate? for in this book he seeks to propose and model a readerly spirituality for our postmodern age. More particularly? Christian Wisdom aims to articulate and demonstrate a theologically faithful and yet genuinely open mode of scriptural engagement? and it generally succeeds in doing so. Christian Wisdom may be divided into three large parts. The first offers an account and example of a wisdom approach to the interpretation of scripture. Chapters 1 and 2 announce and perform a revision of theology's primary task. Through an exegesis of Luke-Acts? Ford argues that we ought to hear God speak through scripture in more than just the indicative mood? listening also for the imperative (commanding)? the interrogative (questioning)? the subjunctive (hoping)? and the optative (desiring). Listening to scripture in this way opens us to the cries of God and to those of God's world? its pain and its joy.

At the same time? this diversity of divine speech acts refuses neat systematization and thereby forces us to listen carefully. Thus Christians should practice both a hermeneutic of reserve (in which we identify what is essential without overdetermining it) while also practicing a hermeneutic of ramification (in which we remain open to unexpected surprises of meaning). Under such a model? theology's task becomes careful attending to and discerning of God's voice? a voice which? owing to divine freedom? cannot be domesticated by our systematizing labors. What is required instead is a response? the response in action of the whole person and community to God's voice. Chapters 3 and 4 apply this (anti)method to a reading of Job? in which Ford hears Job summoning us to love God for God's sake and to attend to the cries of suffering others. The second major section of the book revisits classical Christian loci in light of Ford's emphasis on wisdom. Chapter 5 takes up Christology to focus on Christ's “God-centered wisdom of desire” (159) as constitutive of his holiness? a holiness which today is best glimpsed in the “lives? practices and communities” of faithful Christians ...