kata ta biblia

a blog exploring Christian origins, biblical studies, social/cultural history, method, education and the journey through academia

New Swartley Reviewed

I’ve got to give a shout out to my fellow Mennonite, Willard Swartley, whose recently published book (Covenant of Peace: The Missing Peace in New Testament Theology and Ethics) has just been reviewed in Review of Biblical Literature. The review, written by Joel Stephen Williams, is a positive one. Somehow I didn’t even notice that this book was published. It looks like an amazing work, weighing in at 542 pages on the topic of peace in the New Testament by perhaps the most qualified voice to take on that topic. I remember going through Swartley’s Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women: Case Issues in Biblical Interpretation in my Biblical Interpretation and Criticism class as an undergrad. That is some good reading, particularly the chapter on slavery. It got me passionate about the history of biblical interpretation, particularly the social implications of that interpretation. One realizes that the same kinds of arguments that were made for slavery based on the Bible are used for advocating the total submission of women to men.

I’m excited to get my hands on this new study. Here is the description from Covenant of Peace:

One would think that peace, a term that occurs as many as one hundred times in the New Testament, would enjoy a prominent place in theology and ethics textbooks. Yet it is surprisingly absent. Willard Swartley’s Covenant of Peace remedies this deficiency, restoring to New Testament theology and ethics the peace that many works have missed.

In this comprehensive yet accessible book Swartley explicates virtually all of the New Testament, relating peace — and the associated emphases of love for enemies and reconciliation — to core theological themes such as salvation, christology, and the reign of God. No other work in English makes such a contribution.

Swartley concludes by considering specific practices that lead to peacemaking and their place in our contemporary world. Retrieving a historically neglected element in the Christian message, Covenant of Peace confronts readers anew with the compelling New Testament witness to peace.

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6 Comments by Patrick George McCullough  /  May 23, 2007  /  Posted in: book reviews
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  • Jim Getz

    So, does this mean you go to PMC? If so, say “hi” to old crew for me ;-)

    The book looks good, but why are there so many NT Mennonite scholars and so few in OT? :-/

  • Patrick George McCullough

    Yes, indeed, my wife and I attend PMC. I am finishing up a pastoral internship there right now. Did you go to PMC while you were at Fuller?? If so, that’s pretty cool :)

    As for Anabaptist OT scholars… well, there’s Jim Brenneman, but he’s naturally distracted from performing OT scholarship at the moment. Millard Lind, of course. Waldemar Janzen. There are a couple Brethren in Christ OT scholars at Messiah… Terry Brensinger and Gordon Brubacher. Terry is the pastor of my “home” church, Grantham BIC, and wrote the BCBC on Judges. Gordon is working on the BCBC for 1 & 2 Kings.

    Considering their history with the Bible, it is easy to see why so many Anabaptists focus on the NT. But I think that the broader issue is that many Anabaptist biblical scholars don’t publish widely in the field of biblical studies and more Anabaptists are drawn to ethics as a discipline rather than biblical studies. That is obviously related to Anabaptist history too, but also the legacy of JH Yoder.

    I hope the trend changes and more Anabaptist scholars can focus their efforts on exploring the text of the Bible itself, before jumping quickly to other topics of application. That’s what I hope to do.

  • Anonymous

    Patrick, thanks for the heads up on this book. It’s one I’d very much like to read! You said:

    “One realizes that the same kinds of arguments that were made for slavery based on the Bible are used for advocating the total submission of women to men.”

    One might add: and for denying gays and lesbians the opportunity to respond to a call to the vocations of marriage or ordained ministry.

  • Patrick George McCullough

    Anon: Yes, one might, and I did think about that as I was writing this. Of course, Swartley himself does not take that step in his book on the topic, but I have not read it so I cannot offer up judgment.

    Personally, I will not jump into that debate, particularly here on a public blog, awaiting the firing squads of both right and left.

  • Michael Westmoreland-White

    I’ve been dying to read this.
    I also would give a shout out to PMC. I attended there in 2000 when I was Visiting Prof. at Fuller. PMC very much reminded me of my church in Louisville, Jeff Street Baptist Community, with its casual clothes, multi-cultural members, lively music–and 10 minutes of peace and justice announcements before the service started! :-)

  • Jim Getz

    Michael, I think I remember you. My pic won’t help b/c I had long hair in my Fuller days, but yours looks familiar.

    Patrick, you left out Paul Keim who teach OT at Goshen, and don’t forget Doug at PMC! (While Doug considers himself more a theologian, Sweeny is his dissertation adviser.) Still, it’s mighty slim pickin’s compared to those Anabaptists in NT (and let’s not even bring up all the folks in theology and ethics!). Sometimes I just feel a little lonely…. ;-)