Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ [John Piper Book Review]

2016

“The glory of God is the ground of faith. It is a solid ground. It is objective, outside ourselves. It is the ground of faith in Christ and in the Christian Scriptures. Faith is not a heroic step through the door of the unknown; it is a humble, happy sight of God’s self-authenticating glory.” (p. 11, see also pp. 15, 18)

Polydoxy: Theologies of the Manifold, 2010

Life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end. Is it not the task of the novelist to convey this varying, this unknown and uncircumscribed spirit, whatever aberration or complexity it might display? (Virginia Woolf) To convey the qualities of an elusive, luminous halo: this may be the aim of theology, as much as it was the goal of Woolf's fiction. 1 It is, indeed, what has led me to the image of glory. Not the blinding lights of its triumphalist counterfeits, the reflection of gold, or the glamour of celebrity, but a quality inseparable from life in all its fragility and ambiguities. Displaying both light and darkness, this halo is perhaps like the almond-shaped auras of Byzantine iconography-also called "glories." 2 It is the spectral luminosity of ordinary things, neither irresistible nor self-sufficient, but incessantly alluring. It is often barely perceptible, yet sometimes disconcerting-even terrifying. The apparent aberrations of its depictions do not diminish a theologian's zeal to convey its varying, hazy radiance. Drawn by passion to the glory that flickers in the midst of everyday life, theology speaks of its "unknown and uncircumscribed spirit." This is a spirit that cannot be confined to neatly defined theological concepts or categories. And yet theologians persist in our weak attentiveness, "resolute" (Keller) in our attempts to describe it, however inaccurately and distortedly. We seek, with feeble words and images to express the inexpressible, in a multiplicity of voices, languages, and genres. An uncircumscribed spirit perhaps lured the words of Irenaeus of Lyon: "The glory of God is the human being fully alive." A celebration of these words lies behind the work of liberation theologians such as Elizabeth Johnson and Leonardo Boff, whose works express a passion for divine glory perceived in fully alive human beings. 3 Rubem Alves rewrites Irenaeus in his unapologetic theopoetics of the body: "The glory of God is found in happy people." 4 Perhaps we recognize the efforts to convey it also in Emmanuel Levinas's allusions to the "gleam of transcendence in the face of the Other." 5 These witnesses to glory are not expressions of writers who are distant from adversity. Quite to the contrary, they are the poignant confessions of those who have been touched by dreadful realities of injustice and cruelty: sexism, abject

The Passion of the Word. Chapter 4, 2023

Bulgakov would say that in the Transfiguration, the Shekhina entered the created world, and in that sense divine beauty was no longer hidden, but visible and knowable, and abiding. “… the dogma about the light of Mount Tabor being a true manifestation of the Deity testifies to the power of the Lord’s Transfiguration which revealed to men ‘the ever-abiding light’ of God… which penetrated into the world and abides in it…” In the Servant Songs the Passion of the Servant veils His divine beauty. In fact, in the entire Incarnation, the kenosis veils the Godhead in Christ. Evidence of this is the place which the Transfiguration occupies on the journey to Jerusalem and Calvary. This was not merely functional by enabling the nascent Ecclesia to remain faithful during their experience of Christ’s rejection by the ruling elite of Judaism, it was also the truth of who He is. “Beauty does not yet reign in this world, though it has been enthroned in it through the divine Incarnation and Pentecost. It follows Christ on the way to the cross; in the world beauty is crucified. It is sacrificial beauty, and the words ‘going forth to suffer’ are said in reference to it. Yet it is beauty. And it is the feast of this sacrificial beauty that we celebrate on the day of our Lord’s Transfiguration.” The Servant Songs belong to Israel’s prophetic heritage. The Song of Songs is not at first sight a prophetic work yet it nevertheless serves a prophetic purpose when it is used by the Church in her liturgies to direct the interior gaze towards the mysteries of Christ’s Incarnation and Resurrection. When we hear these songs liturgically, those of the Servant, and the Song of Solomon, we understand their mutuality and their illumination of each other. The Shir HaShirim takes us beyond the Passion, showing His beauty in the Resurrection and His Father’s desire for Him.

The Passion of the Word. Volume 3, 2024

Volume 3 of The Passion of the Word is an in-depth exploration of the magnificent Fourth Song of the Servant including interrelating prophecies and other texts, particularly the way in which John uses it in his Gospel. It is John who would, after the Resurrection refer to the Figure of Jesus as He whom we have touched, have seen, and heard... In Isaiah’s vision of the Servant in His Passion, we also seek to see Him, touch Him, hear Him, especially in the quality of His silence. Although I have used the tools of exegesis technically in this volume, I have also given freer rein to monastic theology by juxtaposing technical analysis with the fruits of Lectio Divina and contemplation: for example, the Presence and silence of the Father in the Passion and the relationship between Father and Son at this moment. The final two sections of Chapter 14 focus on the eternal dimension of the Passion and of our quest for the Son. I close this volume with the sense of suspense. This unfinished search, which is an aspect of our love for God, that we thirst and seek for Him always, opens naturally onto volume 4 which I am now beginning to write. This volume will develop all these themes but in relation to the Word as the Image. It will, by its nature, use the medium of monastic theology and artistic intuition, to do this.

John Piper, Radical, 2023

JOHN PIPER: RADICAL PROMOTER OF THE GLORY OF GOD John Stephen Piper and his passionate ministry will be the subject for this paper. John Piper was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Bill and Ruth Piper on January 11, 1946. Piper is best known as an author, pastor for more than thirty-three years of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, and contributor to his website, desiringGod.org. In the analysis of Piper’s passionate ministry, his theme of his theology will be the focus. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” This famous quote from Piper is the centerpiece of his theology. Scripture confirms that the worship of God and his glory is God’s focus and should be mankind’s as well. “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods!” (Psalm 96:4) God and his glory is the primary focus of Piper’s ministry. To this end, Piper lives, writes, and preaches for the glory of God. This theme will be the focus for this study of John Piper and his significant contributions to church revitalization.

Mission Studies, 2010

Th is is the latest of numerous volumes that Gerald O'Collins has produced on Christology in his illustrious career. A mixture of detailed theological and devotional refl ection on the person and work of Jesus, it links theology and aesthetics, or beauty. O'Collins starts his refl ections by drawing extensively on Richard Bauckham's 2006 Jesus and the Eyewitnesses to discuss the reliability of the traditions about Jesus found in the canonical gospels. He then explores the theme of beauty with reference in particular to Augustine of Hippo and Dostoyevsky. Th is leads him to refl ect on the beauty of Jesus, including the notion of glory, and consider how beauty is manifested in the Incarnation. Th e exploration of Jesus then falls into a pattern that includes elements familiar to many studies: the Kingdom of God and its revelation in the person of Jesus, miracles, preaching and parables, suff ering and death. Common to these accounts is O'Collins' ability to present potentially arid arguments from biblical studies and invest them with a freshness and devotional appeal. I appreciated many features of O'Collins' treatment. For instance, he engaged the character of Jesus the healer without much of the "gee-whizz" speculation often found in this area, but nonetheless took his healing ministry seriously. He also studied the miracles performed by Jesus by concentrating on their meaning rather than their mechanics, thus protecting their continuing signifi cance. Th is is important, for it is easy for the signifi cance of the miracles to remain isolated in the world of the gospel writers and readers as a purely antiquarian interest. O'Collins also examines the parables to fl esh out the personality of Jesus, giving them an autobiographical as well as pedagogic signifi cance. Readers aware of O'Collins' previous work will fi nd much here that is familiar, for O'Collins is not a theologian who writes provocative new theories but an explorer of the potential off ered by orthodox perspectives to speak signifi cantly to modern and postmodern circumstances. Attending to Jesus through his beauty responds to an important dimension of postmodern thinking. Moreover, his writing is remarkably clear and free from high levels of jargon. Th is work will thus be particularly useful for students who read English as a second language, though the simplicity of O'Collins' style is no obstacle to his depth of thought. Finally, beginning and less confi dent students will fi nd O'Collins a surefooted guide and instructor in respect to the best of modern biblical scholarship, ably summarizing the longer arguments of writers like Bauckham. Th at said, a quick scan of the bibliography and footnotes reveals that this is not a work that engages more controversial and liberal biblical scholarship. O'Collins rather "runs a line," choosing his supporting actors with great care from both Roman Catholic and more conservative Protestant circles. He runs a good line, but this is not an exhaustive study of the broad variety of contemporary biblical scholarship, so anyone looking for a work of that type would better look elsewhere. Instead O'Collins has written a book in which those sympathetic to his position will fi nd a bridge between scholarly and devotional concerns,

The Passion of the Word. Chapter 7, 2023

When we contrast Camus’ image of the ‘telephone box’ quoted by Cardinal Ratzinger, with the Shir HaShirim and its use of the ‘body’ as metaphor, we see the Bride and Bridegroom (Christ and the Ecclesia) seeking each other in their mutual abiding and the body is a poem, a psalm, expressing the longing and the love between them. The abiding is active. The body is in the Song of Songs the expression of the interiority, but also a boundary perhaps, until Christ gives Himself in the Incarnation, and gives His Body, glorified, and therefore beyond boundary. Then in abiding, the self which seeks the Divine Self, participates in the transformed reality. Then the abiding which has its source in the Eucharist is union of Self and self, is also contemplation. Union in contemplation is interior to the abiding and is perhaps the highest expression of it. It is the inner gaze which is possible at any time or in any place while abiding. This brings us to the meaning of abiding from the perspective of the Inner Face of Self and self, in contemplation. I have discussed the ‘face’, its meaning and place, from different perspectives in this exegesis of the Servant Songs: Adam’s face, the Servant’s Face, and even the face of the abyss. There is also, in the context of abiding, the inner face.

Rediscovering Jesus, 2015

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account (to coin Luke's preface), why add another? There are a lot of great textbooks on Jesus. We are particularly keen on the ones by Mark Strauss, Bruce Fisk, Darrell Bock and Craig Blomberg. As teachers, though, we found our students often asked questions these books didn't address. Whether spurred by Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, a headline spied on a grocery store tabloid, or a thoughtful documentary on The History Channel, inquiring minds want to know. We decided to write a textbook with a different approach to complement these other works. We begin by looking at the biblical Jesus. We examine Mark's Jesus and each of the other three Gospel portraits, allowing each Gospel writer to tell his own story of Jesus. Then each section of the New Testament is allowed to describe their portrait of Jesus, whether Paul, Hebrews, the General Epistles or the Revelation. In the second half of the book, we look at some images of Jesus outside the New Testament that have been formative to our modern Western view of Jesus. The Gnostic Jesus, the Muslim Jesus, the Jesus of the Enlightenment, the Mormon Jesus, even the American Jesus and the Jesus of film, are each given voice. While we do not believe these extra-biblical voices are authoritative, they have influenced how all of us see Jesus. When we look back to the New Testament, we often look through rather than around these images of Jesus. Rediscovering Jesus, we think, requires hearing all the voices that have colored our perceptions of him. Each chapter has three parts. First, we ask what a particular picture of Jesus looks like. We play off Jesus' question at Caesarea Philippi when he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" We think this is still a very important question. So for example, we ask, Who does Mark say that I am? Who does the Revelation say that I am? Or, Who do the Mormons say that I am? Second, each chapter will ask how this picture of Jesus is different. What are the distinctives of Mark's Jesus? How is the picture of Jesus in Hebrews different? We try to highlight the more unique elements and emphases that this portrait of Jesus contains. Lastly, each chapter will ask, What if this were our only portrait of Jesus? While this is a creative exercise, we think it is helpful to ask, What if Mark's Jesus were our only Jesus? For some Christian communities in the first few centuries, this likely was their only Jesus. What if the American Jesus were our only Jesus? For many Americans, this may be true. For some of you, there may be an "aha moment" in this section. Each chapter also has some text boxes called "What's more …," which contain additional information or ideas that we thought might be helpful to you. Also, every chapter has several boxes labeled "So What?" These call-out boxes are in honor of our students who have always been faithful to assist us as professors to "keep it real." Asking why something matters in the life of a believer today can be very helpful. We hope these boxes kick start that discussion in your own life. Chapters end with two elements. First, we list additional resources. These are not exhaustive lists but books or articles that we think might help the reader who is curious to read more about that subject. We also end each chapter with some discussion questions. Authors usually end their prefaces by thanking their families, because it is true even if wellworn. We three are intensely grateful to our wives and children. As husbands and fathers, our prayer has always been that they would follow Jesus.

1. Significance to the All Theology a) "Throughout its history the church has realized that Christology, of the study of what is to believed about the person of Jesus Christ, is of the greatest importance. Since Jesus is at the very center of our faith, and since what is believed about him is the very touchstone of our Christianity, this doctrinal endeavor is of paramount importance" (Millard J. Erickson, The Word Became Flesh, 9). b) "Beware of studying doctrine, precept, or experiences apart from the Lord Jesus, who is the soul of all. Doctrine without Christ will be nothing better than his empty tomb. Doctrine with Christ is a glorious high throne, with the king sitting on it" (Spurgeon, MTP, 35:206). c) "Christ is the beginning, middle, end… nothing is, or can be found, apart from Him" (Calvin, Commentary on Colossian, p. 146).

International Journal of Systematic Theology