violence in the Dinah, Tamar, and Bathsheba narratives.Each chapter begins by introducing difficulties in the text.Then Thompson considers the history of exegesis in regardto particular questions spawned by that locus, coveringOrigen, Augustine, medieval Catholic interpreters, rabbiniccommentators, Luther, and Calvin. Each chapter concludeswith implications for interpreting the locus. A concludingchapter suggests how pastors can tap into past scripturalinterpretation to understand their church and preparesermons. A glossary of commentators and guide for Englishtranslations of pre-1600 exegesis helpfully conclude thebook. The special contribution of this book is that it listens tothe problems that such writers as C. Exum, P. Trible, R.Weems, and D. Williams raise from the text, and addressesthese concerns in light of exegetical approaches from centu-ries ago. This book would work well in courses on churchhistory, exegesis, homiletics, and women in the Bible.

Mark ReasonerBethel University, St. Paul

History of Christianity (Early)SAVING SHAME: MARTYRS, SAINTS, AND OTHERABJECT SUBJECTS. By Virginia Burrus. Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. Pp. xii + 198. $45,ISBN 978-0-8122-4044-3.

Burrus, author of The Sex Lives of the Saints, is back withanother provocative book. This time she is challenging thewidespread view that Christianity converted ancient Mediter-ranean cultures from shame cultures into guilt cultures. Inface of this view, Burrus argues that Christianity actuallyencouraged individuals to embrace, rather than replace, theirshame. She writes: “Among ancient Christians, I shall argue,shame is no longer primarily the source of admonishingexempla that fortify the honorable will. Instead, anextravagant—even gratuitous—embracing of shame putshonor itself into question.” She continues, “Rather thansimply converting (one culture’s definition of) shame into(another sub/culture’s definition of) honor, ancient Chris-tians lay claim to their own shame, at once intensifying it andconverting it into a potent source of identity—and, paradoxi-cally, also of identity’s dissolution.” Burrus traces thesedynamics in chapters that deal with martyrdom, asceticism,Christology, and confession, and she comes to conclude thatthese ancient texts not only have much to teach us aboutourselves, but also have great potential in helping us learn tolove. Obviously this book will be of interest to historians ofearly Christianity. But this book will be of interest to those inother disciplines as well, such as psychology, anthropology,and psychohistory. Burrus notes that historians have readilyincorporated insights from anthropologists to make theirresearch more contextual and culturally sensitive, but histo-rians have generally looked askance at psychologists, usuallyon the grounds that there is not enough evidence to employ

psychological methods on ancient texts. Burrus counters thisbias against psychology by arguing that “literary texts—theprimary sources for historians of antiquity—arguably give usno more direct access to ancient cultures than to an ancientperson’s feelings.” Highly recommended to all interested inthe historical study of religion and emotion.

Nathan CarlinRice University

“WHAT DID EZEKIEL SEE?” CHRISTIAN EXEGESISOF EZEKIEL’S VISION OF THE CHARIOT FROMIRENAEUS TO GREGORY THE GREAT. By AngelaRussell Christman. Bible in Ancient Christianity, 4. Leiden,the Netherlands: Brill, 2005. Pp. 195. $156, ISBN 978-9-004-14537-5.

Christman wishes to understand how early Christianinterpretations of Ezekiel’s vision answer a fundamentaltheological question: how does the ancient church use hisvision to illuminate the triune God revealed in the life, deathand resurrection of Jesus Christ? She organizes her bookaround three “dominant” themes emergent within the earlyChristian exegeses of Ezekiel’s vision. One chapter exploreshow the Fathers see the vision’s details as demonstrativeof the harmony between the two Testaments. The secondcovers the Fathers’ view on visions of God when certainscriptures assert that no one can see God and live, and whenthe Fathers themselves believe that God is incomprehen-sible. They discuss what it means to see God, and what itmeans to see God. The third shows how the Fathers key Matt5 : 8 to Ezekiel’s vision, in order to discuss the theophany’sconnection to the Christian moral life. Although Christmandoes not deal directly with the hermeneutical impact ofEzekiel’s vision on early Christian mysticism, her work fillsa niche. The discussion of Ezekiel’s vision in Jewish sourceshas long been plumbed by scholars, particularly of Jewishmysticism, while the Christian materials have lain dormant.The value of this book is the compilation and analyses of thereception history of Ezekiel’s vision within early Christianwritings. As such it will be a valuable resource for futurepursuits, especially in mystical hermeneutics.

April D. DeConickRice University

ST. THOMAS AND FORM AS SOMETHING DIVINEIN THINGS. By Lawrence Dewan, OP. The AquinasLecture, 71. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press,2007. Pp. 98. $15, ISBN 978-0-87462-174-7.

This book contains the the Aquinas Lecture presentedat Marquette University by Lawrence Dewan, OP, a well-respected scholar of Thomistic metaphysics. Fr. Dewanbegins by touching upon recent scientific debates that raisethe issue of “what sort of being and what sort of origin formhas.” Noting that difficulties understanding substantial formare not new, he surveys pre-Socratic, Socratic, and Aristote-lian concepts of form before discussing Aquinas’s doctrine.Fr. Dewan takes as his point of departure Thomas’s claim

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that “form is something divine,” and he goes on “to offerconsiderations of the fundamental ontology of created realityas presented by St. Thomas that . . . help us to view the par-ticular substantial forms of things as in a continuum withthe divine act of being.” Given the limitations of the lectureformat, Fr. Dewan does a nice job of sketching the connec-tion between divine being and created substantial form(which he describes as the “divine instrument” in commu-nicating being and as “measures of creaturely participationin the divine nature”). The text is written in a style thatshould be accessible to a wide audience; but those who arewell-acquainted with Thomistic metaphysics will gain themost from the nuances of Fr. Dewan’s account of form assomething divine.

Michael M. WaddellVillanova University

THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH: A COMPREHEN-SIVE INTRODUCTION. By Hubertus R. Drobner. Trans-lated by Siegfried Schatzmann, with bibliographies updatedand expanded by William Harmless, SJ, and HubertusR. Drobner. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007.Pp. lvi + 632. $44.95, ISBN 978-1-56563-331-5.

A well-known and widely used introduction (alreadytranslated into Italian, French, Spanish, Korean, and Portu-guese) now appears in English dress as an adapted,expanded, and updated version of the 1994 German origi-nal (the project was too far along to take advantage of the2004 German 2nd edition). The strengths of the Germanedition are evident throughout, including concise, authori-tative and generally well-balanced discussions and awelcome effort to organize the volume on the basis of theliterature itself, rather than on dogmatic or historicalgrounds (e.g., the introduction to part three), a move thatoccasionally results in a reconfiguration of traditionalgroupings (e.g., Barnabas is listed among the apocryphalrather than the postapostolic literature). The translation isgenerally serviceable, though occasionally nonidiomatic(e.g., “Besides from,” 227; “respected with trust,” 191) ormisleading (e.g., the first full sentence on page 223 or page564), perhaps the result of a lack of editorial oversightevident elsewhere (e.g., orphan references and an incom-plete index). The bibliographies in the main part of thework include items appearing in 2002, while the supple-mentary bibliography at the end extends coverage into2005. Overall, a welcome and very useful reference workthat should be widely used.

Michael W. HolmesBethel University

THE TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY OF ST THOMASAQUINAS. By G. Emery. Translated by Francesca AranMurphy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Pp. xii +440. $120, ISBN 0-19-920682-1.

Emery notes in his introduction that Aquinas’ Summawas written for students, not professors, and following

Thomas, Emery understands his own work as an introduc-tion to the Trinitarian treatise in the Summa. This modestclaim is manifest in several ways, but particularly in howEmery sets limits on the focus and scope of the work.When compared with a selection of his other writings (LaTrinité créatrice 1995; Trinity in Aquinas 2003) this recentcontribution is limited historically and textually: histori-cally, Emery’s focus is on Thomas per se, and not on earliertwelfth- or thirteenth-century developments; textually, herestricts his analysis to the Summa, with limited discussionof the Summa contra Gentiles or Scriptum super libros Sen-tentiarum. Within these parameters Emery achieves a mas-terful exposition of Aquinas’ Trinitarian doctrine. The workis more succinct and focused than his other writings, andcontains a refreshing simplicity of explication that is trulyrare in historical and theological discussions of the Trinity(Murphy’s translation is both reliable and readable). Thatsaid, the work is certainly for the “theologically trained”beginner. The initial chapters contain an introduction toThomas’ Trinitarian doctrine (chaps. 1-3), before consider-ing the processions (chap. 4), relations (chap. 5), andpersons (chap. 6). The middle chapters build on this foun-dation, and are focused on Trinitarian monotheism (chap.7), and the distinguishing properties and divine commun-ion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (chaps. 8-12). Thefinal chapters (chaps. 13-15) offer an analysis of relation-ship between the Trinitarian persons and their salvificwork. This work will certainly establish itself as the pointof departure for future considerations of Thomas’ Trinitar-ian treatise in the Summa.

John T. SlotemakerBoston College

HENRY OF GHENT: METAPHYSICS AND THETRINITY (WITH A CRITICAL EDITION OF QUES-TION SIX OF ARTICLE FIFTY-FIVE OF THESUMMA QUAESTIONUM ORDINARIARUM). ByJuan Carlos Flores. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven UniversityPress, 2006. Pp. viii + 239. $99.50, ISBN 978-90-5867-537-8.

The secular theologian Henry of Ghent has been over-shadowed in medieval scholarship by both Aquinas andBonaventure in the previous generation and by John DunsScotus in the following, making Flores’ work an importantand welcome contribution to medieval studies. This work isthe first English-language monograph on Henry’s Trinitariantheology and offers a careful analysis of his: 1) Trinitarianthought, 2) the relationship between the Trinity and cre-ation, 3) and the metaphysical categories supportingHenry’s doctrine. Flores argues throughout the work thatdespite the reliance on the Aristotelian category of relation,the overall thrust of Henry’s Trinitarian theology is a form ofChristian Platonism. This platonic theology is manifest inHenry’s understanding of the relation between the Trinityand Creation, a relation that is remarkably similar to theintra-Trinitarian divine relations that subsist in the divinenature. The strength of Flores’s analysis is the detailed

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chapter on the “Trinity and Metaphysical Categories” thatsets the groundwork for the overall discussion. The closeattention Flores devotes to defining certain terms of Trini-tarian discourse—person, supposit, properties, andrelations—is to be commended in a field where the termsremain consistent, but what they denote fluctuates. Finally,Flores offers as an appendix Henry of Ghent’s Summa, art.LV, q. VI (utrum omnes proprietates in divines sint relationesreales) that follows the editing principles of the Henrici deGandavo Opera Omnia (Leuven, 1979). This work will cer-tainly establish itself as the point of departure for futureEnglish-language studies of Henry’s Trinitarian theology,and will, it is hoped, inspire more scholarship on this impor-tant medieval theologian.

John T. SlotemakerBoston College

MONASTIC LIFE IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND, C.600-900. By Sarah Foot. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2006. Pp. xv + 398; plates, maps. $96, ISBN 0-521-85946-8.

Foot offers a detailed survey of the pivotal Christianreligious institution in early medieval England, the minister.Neither a monastery nor a parish in the modern sense, min-isters were institutions of religious men and/or women inte-grated into society. After a helpful introduction covering aworking definition of minister, the problems of contemporarysources, and the chief lines of modern historiography, Footdivides her work into two sections: “inside the walls” and“outside the walls.” The first section analyzes thefoundations, inhabitants, and daily routines of ministers.Throughout, readers are shown the wide variation found inministers, from size and wealth to educational and asceticpractices. The second section covers relationships betweenministers and other ecclesiastical institutions, and betweenministers and the secular world. Variation is highlightedagain, as the author examines political and ethnic ties as wellas pastoral and economic impacts. The strengths of thevolume are the author’s attention to nuance in the sources,such as details of prayer observance in Bede’s commentaries,and her awareness of historiographical and theoretical tools,such as the study of ministers as “total institutions.” Foot’sbook is essential reading for scholars of Anglo-SaxonEngland, medieval religious life, and Western church history.

Owen M. PhelanMount Saint Mary’s

FRANCIS OF MARCHIA: THEOLOGIAN AND PHI-LOSOPHER. A FRANCISCAN AT THE UNIVERSITYOF PARIS IN THE EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY.Edited by Russell L. Friedman and Chris Schabel. Leiden, theNetherlands, and Boston: Brill, 2006. Pp. 212. $81, 978-90-04-15640-1.

The book is an exemplar of method and erudition inmedieval studies and will be of great interest to both special-

ists and students of scholastic philosophy and theology. Thevolume contains six articles by well-known experts in medi-eval intellectual history. The editors’ introduction discussesthe dating of Francis’s Parisian lectures, traces his influenceand provides a comprehensive bibliography of primary andsecondary works. The articles focus upon his Sentences andMetaphysics commentaries as well as upon his politicalworks. The first three contributions (M. Thakkar, Schabel, F.Zanin) investigate his natural philosophy and his theory ofself-dissipating impressed force. Schabel presents the firstcritical edition of the treatment of virtus derelicta in the mainversion of Book IV, Q. 1 of the Sentences commentary. Thelast three articles (F. Amerini, A.A. Robiglio, R. Lambertini)explore specific theological topics. Amerini examines hisview of accident and accidental being in connection with theEucharist. Amerini also offers an edition of the Questions onthe Metaphysics, Book VII, Q. 1. Robiglio expounds hisintriguing view of volition in the light of the scholastic notionof “velleity”. Lambertini illuminates the conceptual influ-ence of Francis’s Improbatio (written against Pope John XXII)upon William of Ockham’s Opus nonaginta dierum.

Severin V. KitanovSalem State College

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY,VOLUME 6, REFORM AND EXPANSION 1500-1660.Edited by R. Po-Chia Hsia. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2007. Pp. xxi + 749. $195, ISBN 978-0-521-81162-0.

With the publication of volume 6 of Cambridge Univer-sity Press’s splendid new history of Christianity, scholarsare now in possession of what will surely become, for theforeseeable future, the standard reference history ofWestern Christianity during the Reformation and Confes-sional eras. Not that the coverage in this volume is limited bysuch traditional categories in ecclesiastical historiography,however. Alongside competent and up-to-date synopses ofthe traditional loci communes of Reformation history, awhole host of studies summarize the fruits of a generation’sworth of scholarly innovation and revision. The impact of the“confessionalization paradigm,” dominant in German schol-arship for a generation now, is clearly evident in the divisionof labor among the book’s chapters. Equal space is devoted toconcerns specific to each of the three major confessionalchurches, Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic, followed by anumber of chapters dealing with broader issues, such aschurch and social discipline, heresy and tolerance, and per-secution and martyrdom, all in cross-confessional perspec-tive. The collection is then rounded out by a series of essaysexploring the cultural and geographic spread of Christianitybeyond Western Europe. The advantage of this approach isthat it integrates a broad array of historical concerns withina relatively coherent organizational framework—a trulyimpressive achievement for a multiauthor volume. Onedrawback of this approach, however, is that geographicareas where events did not unfold in neat conformity with

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the broad generalizations of the confessionalization para-digm receive relatively short shrift. The reformations inEngland and Scotland, for example, are almost entirelyabsent from these pages, a strange lacuna given the wealthand quality of scholarship, particularly on the English Ref-ormation, in the previous generation.

David C. FinkDuke University

ETHNICITY AND ARGUMENT IN EUSEBIUS’PRAEPARATIO EVANGELICA. By Aaron P. Johnson.Oxford Early Christian Studies. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2006. Pp. vii + 261. $95, ISBN 0-19-929613-8.

Instead of reading the Praeparatio as a series of disjointedattacks on pagan religion or as an attempt to synthesizeChristianity with Platonic philosophy, Johnson argues thatEusebius’ bulky work employs “ethnic argumentation” toestablish Christian identity. Informed by studies highlightingthe discursive nature of identities and, more specifically, therole that “difference” plays in the process of self-definition,Johnson locates the Praeparatio within the context of previousapologetic works utilizing national or racial categories. As a“border discourse,” the Praeparatio first denigrates theGreeks by deriving their historical origins from the irrationalPhoenicians and Egyptians, and their intellectual achieve-ments from the pious Hebrews. Thereafter, Eusebius distin-guishes the Hebrews from the Jews, who abandoned the“pure” religion of their forefathers while in Egypt. In hisrestoration of Hebrew theology, however, Christ established anew nation comprised of people from the various ethne of theworld. Eusebius thus stakes a claim for Christianity’s antiq-uity (and superiority) while simultaneously explaining itsrecent appearance among the nations. Johnson’s thesis offersfresh insights for specialists interested in both the logic andaims of the Praeparatio and the rhetorical foundations of earlyChristian self-definition.

David M. ReisUniversity of Oregon

EARLY CELTIC CHRISTIANITY. By Brendan Lehane.New York: Continuum, 2005. Pp. 240. $21.95, ISBN 0-8264-8621-5.

Originally published in 1968, this far-from-stale textrecounts the emergence and spread of Celtic Christianityin a mere three generations. Following the journeysof three Irish Saints—St. Brendan, St. Columba, and St.Columbanus—the author presents the migration of monasticChristianity from the deserts of Egypt and Syria to theuniquely isolated culture of Ireland. St. Brendan and St.Columba are each presented in their lasting significance,although each remains somewhat veiled in at least as muchmythology as history. Throughout the text, Lehaneapproaches this situation with an appropriate humility,trusting that truth must emerge somewhere “half-waybetween myth and potshard.” The narrative then turns to St.Columba and the contextualization of Christianity within the

fabric of Celtic culture, as it chronicles the early missionsacross the Irish Sea to Iona and the mainland. The historicalfooting becomes more secure with the third movement,embodied in St. Columbanus and his successful exporting ofCeltic Christianity into the lands of continental Europe. Theinevitable reckoning with the Roman church at the Synod ofWhitby in 664 is carefully presented as a watershed momentthat began the rather amorphous retraction of the dispropor-tionate influence of the Irish on the western church. EarlyCeltic Christianity is more popular than academic in tone,although Lehane writes with a charm and warmth thatcomplements well the history he presents.

Jason M. DonnellyBoston College

THE SAINTLY POLITICS OF CATHERINE OFSIENA. By F. Thomas Luongo. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univer-sity Press, 2006. Pp. xv + 233; maps. $39.95, ISBN 978-0-8014-4395-4.

Luongo offers a long-overdue, solid analysis of Catherineof Siena’s role in late-medieval to early-Renaissance Italianpolitical life without reducing her to politics (7). By reexam-ining her voluminous letters and analyzing them withinCatherine’s contemporary political and cultural context,Luongo reinterprets her emergence as a political figure asstemming from the particular political situation of the churchwithin Italy and from the general acceptance of women’sspirituality and prophetic speech. Luongo sees Catherine notas an anomalous charismatic mystic, but as a propagandistletter writer and leader who promoted a new model of politicalorganization: a prophetic polity based on Christian unity,church reform, and pastoral leadership proved by the pope.Specifically, it was Catherine’s “epistolarity” that became themeans by which she created a community that recognized hersaintly reputation and gave her authority by which to affectpolitical affairs. After an initial biographical chapter andanother demonstrating Catherine’s establishment of her epis-tolary networks, the heart of his book examines specificpolitically charged situations in which Catherine puts herletter writing to use: in her companionship to a condemnedpolitical prisoner, in the growth of her religious followers, andin her role in the War of Eight Saints. Together the chaptersmap out neatly and concisely the fusing of the mystical andmundane in Catherine’s vocation as a political propagandist.

Darleen PrydsFranciscan School of Theology/Graduate Theological

Union

CALVIN AND THE BIBLE. Edited by Donald K.McKim. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.Pp. xiv + 296. $29.99, ISBN-13: 978-0-521-54712-3.

The editor has gathered together eleven excellent schol-ars in the common cause of exploring Calvin’s approach toand work as a commentator on scripture. Calvin commentedon vast sections of the OT and nearly the entire NT. Hisindividual comments on a particular book or pericope have

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been studied for generations; what this book aims to accom-plish is a wider examination. How did Calvin approach thetask and calling of biblical exegete? The book begins withtwo excellent articles on Calvin as a commentator on thePentateuch, with R. Zachman writing on Genesis and R.Mentzer looking at the Mosaic Harmonies. W. de Greef, S.Schreiner, and P. Wilcox round out the OT. In each of thearticles, one gains a sense in which Calvin existed within astream of biblical commentary on the OT, and expanded thetools of biblical exegesis for his readers by incorporating theinsights of Rabbis and others into his own work. D. Flaming,B. Pitkin, and W. Moehn look at Calvin’s work in the Gospelsand Acts. The book truly hits its stride with the excellentarticles on Calvin’s work on the Pauline (by W. Holder) andCatholic Epistles (G. N. Hanson). The book concludes with asummary article by D. Steinmetz, the dean of the history ofbiblical exegesis. This book is an excellent contribution toour understanding of Calvin and will make an excellentaddition to the scholar’s or pastor’s library.

David M. WhitfordUnion Theological Seminary

CORNELIUS HENRICI HOEN (HONIUS) AND HISEPISTLE ON THE EUCHARIST (1525): MEDIEVALHERESY, ERASMIAN HUMANISM, AND REFORMIN THE EARLY SIXTEENTH-CENTURY LOW COUN-TRIES. By Bart Jan Spruyt. Studies in Medieval and Refor-mation Traditions, CXIX. Leiden, the Netherlands, andBoston: E. J. Brill, 2006. Pp. xiii + 296. $155, ISBN 90-04-15464-7.

This is a thorough study of Hoen’s life and historicalsetting, and of the contents and sources of Hoen’s lettertreatise rejecting real presence in the Eucharist, and its dis-semination and impact on Zwingli and other early Reformedtheologians (possibly also on the Anabaptist, MelchiorHoffman). Spruyt concludes that Hoen’s letter was notdependent on contemporary sources (Luther, Erasmus) butthat Hoen found and interpolated a heretical Eucharistic textdating from at least a century earlier. Even where it coin-cides with Hussite and Wyclifite arguments, Hoen’s letter-treatise repeats points that predate both Hus and Wyclif,going ultimately back to Berengar of Tours via the Catharsand others. Spruyt believes that the work reflects circles oflay heresy quite visible in the southern Netherlands, begin-ning after the Hussite Crusade of the early 1400s and whichwent underground to survive into the early 1500s. This is awell-researched, cautiously, and convincingly argued casebased on scattered shards of evidence. The reader comesaway with a better sense of the Reformed nexus betweenWittenberg, the upper Rhine and the Lower Rhine in thecrucial period between 1520 and 1535; the book makes acase for a catalyzing role emanating from the Netherlands inthe early stages of the development of Reformed Eucharistictheology.

Dennis D. MartinLoyola University Chicago

FAKE PROPHECY AND POLLUTED SACRAMENTS:ECCLESIASTICAL AND IMPERIAL REACTIONS TOMONTANISM. By William Tabbernee. Supplements toVigiliaeChristianae, 84. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2007.Pp. xxxvii + 485, maps. $228, ISBN 978-90-04-15819-1.

This is a wonderfully rich resource grown out ofTabbernee’s 1978 dissertation and his lifelong engagementwith Montanist sources. Tabbernee examines thoroughlymaterials from a nonpartisan perspective, thus rewriting thehistory and theology of Montanism without “orthodox” judg-ments. He does so by analyzing the reactions to Montanismfrom 165-550 CE. He sees the reaction to Montanism inthree phases: late second century, third century, and post-Constantinian. He notes a growing distance between theMontanists and their opponents, a move from local face-to-face opposition to polemic from a distance. He identifiesthree ecclesiastical anti-Montanist activities across thesephases: face-to-face confrontation, ecclesial condemnation,and literary warfare. The charges lodged against them:pseudoprophecy, novelty, and heresy. The result is a recon-sideration of what can be known about Montanism. Tab-bernee concludes that it is not Phrygian paganism, a Jewish-Christian sect, a pro- or anti-Gnostic heresy, an exaggeratedform of apocalypticism, or a reform movement. It is an inno-vative prophetic movement meant to bring Christianity inline with the ethical revelation spoken by its prophets. Whilebeginning in mainstream Christianity, it eventually formsits own sectarian communities as its practices push beyondthe conventional, and are more and more opposed by theemerging Catholic Church. This book is nothing less thanrefreshing in its perspective and approach. It is not just anew benchmark for Montanist studies. It has the potential toinnovate the way in which we conceive the emergence of thenormative and “orthodox.”

April D. DeConickRice University

THE CONTEMPLATIVE CHURCH: JOACHIM & HISADVERSARIES. By George H. Tavard. Milwaukee, WI:Marquette University Press, 2005. Pp. 153. $17, ISBN0-87462-726-5.

In this, one of the late Tavard’s last books, he traces therelationship between Joachim di Fiore, the hierarchy of theRoman Church, and medieval theologians. Tavard beginswith a short description of Joachim’s theology of history andthen exposes the ambivalence that the Roman hierarchy hadtoward him. On the one hand, the Fourth Lateran Council(1215) condemned parts of his thought that contradicted P.Lombard; the protocols of Anagni condemned Gherardo daBorgo San Donnino’s further interpretation. On the otherhand, Joachim was viewed as a “good Catholic,” who submit-ted his writings to papal approval. Tavard then examines thearguments of Aquinas and Bonaventure against Joachim,attending primarily to Bonaventure. Bonaventure, in his Col-lations on the Hexaemeron, countered Joachim’s modalisticecclesiology, which argued that the filial age of priests and

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prelates would be superseded by a spiritual age of monks.Instead, Bonaventure posits a Trinitarian understanding ofthe ecclesial hierarchy and the “hierarchized” human soul.Agreeing with Henri de Lubac that Joachimism survived thefourteenth century, Tavard ends with some reflections on itspresence in modern Christian culture, and argues that sym-pathy for Joachim can be found even in twentieth-centurypapal writings. Tavard has written an interesting, if at timesmeandering and superficial account. It is recommended onlyfor those with a strong interest in Joachim or Bonaventure.

James L. ArinelloBoston College

RESILIENCE AND THE VIRTUE OF FORTITUDE:AQUINAS IN DIALOGUE WITH THE PSYCHOSO-CIAL SCIENCES. By Craig Steven Titus. Washington, DC:Catholic University of America Press, 2006. Pp. xii + 411.$49.95. ISBN 978-0-8132-1463-4.

With admirable deftness and an impressive command ofcontemporary research into Aquinas’s moral anthropologyand the psychosocial sciences, Titus brings Aquinas’s moralanthropology into dialogue with modern psychology andshows how each has much to learn from the other. In theprocess, Titus shows how Aquinas’s philosophical and theo-logical insights offer a complementary account of the humanperson that serves as an alternative to the temptation toreductionism ever present in the psychosocial sciences.Given the vastness of the subject, Titus wisely focuses ononly one of the virtues treated by Aquinas in his moralanthropology—fortitude—and brings this part of Aquinas’sthought into dialogue with contemporary research in resil-ience, the “capacity to do well in adversity.” Although Titusdoes argue that the psychosocial sciences have something tolearn from Aquinas, his primary motivation in the book is to“employ psychosocial studies on human resilience to revital-ize Aquinas’s moral anthropology and to better understandthe virtues associated with fortitude,” as well as to “deepenmoral theology from a Catholic perspective.” The result is arich and complex picture of the human person, precisely thesort of synthesis characteristic of Aquinas himself. Anyonelooking for a scholarly treatment of these subjects will do wellto study this important and groundbreaking work.

Giuseppe ButeraProvidence College

WOMEN DEACONS IN THE EARLY CHURCH:HISTORICAL TEXTS AND CONTEMPORARYDEBATES. By John Wijngaards. New York: Herder &Herder, 2006. Pp. 248. $24.95, ISBN 978-0-8245-2393-0.

Wijngaards assembles and employs a variety of docu-ments to show that in some specific churches in the earlycenturies women served as sacramentally ordained deacons.For the author, the broader implications of such historicaldemonstration are clear: the case for ordaining women intoday’s Catholic Church will have been automatically bol-stered. The argument, constituting greater than two-thirds of

the book, boils down to this: “if the diaconate of women wasa true diaconate, if it was one valid expression of the sacra-ment of holy orders, then women did in fact receive holyorders and the priesthood too is open to them.” Wijingaard,who is likely to be dismissed by opponents as overly sim-plistic, eventually concludes his argument with the simpleclaim that the historical evidence deployed by him hasproven as fallacious the statement “the Church has neveradmitted woman to holy orders.”

Jason M. DonnellyBoston College

History of Christianity (Modern)THE GROWTH OF THE BRETHREN MOVEMENT:NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES.Edited by Neil T.R. Dickson and Tim Grass. Studies in Evan-gelical History and Thought. Milton Keynes, UK: Paternos-ter, 2006. Pp. xiv + 271. $33.99, ISBN 1-84227-427-9.

This Festschrift in honor of H. H. Rowdon gathers nine-teen articles focusing primarily on the “Open” Brethren. Thesubject matter covers nearly the entire historical scope ofthe movement as manifested on the national and interna-tional stage, and the book works with four general catego-ries: “Writing Brethren History,” “British BrethrenExperiences,” “Worldwide Brethren Experiences,” and “TheBrethren in International Experience.” Although the textseems directed at graduate students or well-informed Breth-ren lay people, it provides a collection of essays for anyreader interested in sectarian evangelical movements. I wasparticularly struck by the numerous commonalities betweenthe “Open” Brethren and my own indigenous North Ameri-can denomination, the Brethren in Christ, which has noconnection to the Brethren. Many essays did a fine job ofhighlighting the social context and impact on the Brethren,as well as drawing out the complexity of the movement. Forexample, as N. Dickson’s essay notes, not all “Open” Breth-ren were “open,” and G. Müller’s approach to finances wasnot totally a matter of faith, as N. Summerton shows. If thereare weaknesses to the volume they are those common tomost texts of this nature: the core is fuzzy and the quality ofthe contributions is diverse.

J. E. McDermondMessiah College

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL MOVEMENT: STUDIESIN THE GROWTH AND DECLINE OF SUNDAYSCHOOLS. Edited by Stephen Orchard and John H. Y.Briggs. Studies in Christian History and Thought, 26. MiltonKeynes, UK: Paternoster, 2007. Pp. xix + 169. $23, ISBN978-1-84227-363-0.

It’s difficult for many to appreciate the vital socialand religious roles of Sunday school programs in light oftoday’s anemic vestiges. This study, presented by nineauthors from the United Kingdom, seeks to remedy that

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