This is not a book review; more an appreciation of a book that is so informative, engaging and downright interesting that I'm deliberately reading it slowly, with pencil in hand, and entirely at ease about re-reading a paragraph or page or two.
I'm now half way through my Christmas present to myself. The Johannine Renaissance brings together two of my places of intellectual contentment and reward; the Gospel of John and Seventeenth Century poetry and theology. What has been refreshing in reading Cefalu's study of Johannine theology and early modern English literature and theology, is an early established confidence that the author has 'read, learned and inwardly digested' the significant primary sources and secondary studies pertinent to his overall thesis.
His main contention is that scholarly discussions of soteriology have concentrated on Pauline atonement theology, and justification as the core experimental doctrine. The result has been an eclipse of the equally significant influence of Johannine theology in seeking to understand both the doctrine and experience of salvation in the lives and minds of 17th Century Christians. By contrast to the Pauline emphasis on atonement, Cefalu argues that the Johannine focus is on revelation, what is heard and seen of the Word of Life. The book aims to demonstrate John's revelatory Christology as of equal significance for understanding the theology and experience of many mainstream Christian voices in 17th Century England. Cefalu is well aware of the complexities of theology, political expediencies and agendas, ecclesial and liturgical controversies, that created so much turbulence throughout the 17th Century.
He is also well appraised of the history of biblical interpretation, especially Augustine's pervasive influence throughout the medieval and into the Reformation and early modern periods. When you find Marianne Thompson, Paul Anderson, Raymond Brown and Craig Koester amongst the key conversation partners, and from an earlier era, Rudolf Bultmann, C. H. Dodd, and Ernst Kasemann are given their due as classic voices in the history of Johannine interpretation, the ingredients are there for rich fare.
Add to this Cefalu's obvious familiarity with current and past scholarship on Herbert, Milton, Donne, Vaughan, Crashaw and Quarles, and a host of less celebrated poets, preachers and expositors, and the result is a book like this; richly textured, thoroughly documented, lucidly written eschewing scholarly jargon, theologically informed and avoiding overstating his argument or overplaying the evidence. The chapters focus on specific Johannine texts:
Chapter 2. John 6 and the Bread of Life discourse, which Cefalu demonstrates was interpreted by Herbert, Vaughan, Crashaw and Taylor variously, but in each case avoiding the suggestions of sacramental import and claims of the real presence validated by the I am saying. Herbert for example, is shown to interpret the key texts in the light of Christ's ascension and Christ's presence as manifested through the Spirit in the communion elements. The Eucharist is a pneumatological event, and is celebrated by acknowledging the location of Christ in heaven, made real by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 3. The John 20 encounter between the risen Jesus and Mary Magdalene, leads to various artistic depictions of the Noli Me Tangere pericope. There is fascinating discussion on Johannine intertextuality, and comment on the nature of devotion, failed discipleship and the Catholic poets' later glorification of Mary Magdalene.
Chapter 4. The Farewell Discourse and the role of the Paraclete / Comforter takes up an entire chapter exploring Reformed pneumatology, Donne's sermons and Holy Sonnets. A highlight of the book so far, is Cefalu's insistence that Donne's "Batter my heart" is an exposition of regeneration by the Spirit, who is the primary agent throughout the sonnet. There is considerable persuasiveness in the examinations of the experience of the Holy Spirit, Paraclete and Comforter, and the analyses of the religious affections, experimental devotion and lyrical rapture in the writings of Donne and others, Joseph Hall being chosen as exemplar. The portrayal of Donne in his own sonnet as impatient for the fullness of grace, to the point of being discontent with grace already received, is very well done, and deserves serious consideration as an interpretation of a sonnet many find troublesome in its intensity. Beyond Donne, there is consideration of John Milton's concern about false spirits, and the dangers of pneumatological distortions, excesses and subversions of ecclesial order and political stability.
That's as far as I've reached. Three chapters remain on God is love, Johannine dualism and radical dissent, and on Irony in John and in the two poets, Herbert and Vaughan. Only half way through this six course banquet, and like any attempt on such a meal, it's wise to take your time and have space and time between the courses / chapters.
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