New Testament Essays

by Raymond E. Brown, Ronald D. Witherup (Introduction)

Over the past fity years the Roman Catholic Church's understanding of the Bible opened up to modern scholarship in a way never before imaginable, and at the center of this shift is Raymond Brown. Today, both academic and general readers continue to find insight and inspiration in his publications.

New Testament Essays brings together fourteen of Brown's early works on subjects ranging from the ecumenical possibilities raised by historical study of the Bible to the relationship between faith and biblical research to the theology and history of the Gospel of John, concisely capturing many of Brown's major concerns in the clear and accessible voice for which he was so beloved. Brown had a gift for bringing insightful scholarship to a wide audience, as this collection makes clear, and his work ultimately shows that, rather than posing a challenge to faith, historical criticism of Scripture provides a path to deeper understanding of the Word of God and its implications for the modern world.

In this new edition of New Testament Essays , Father Ronald Witherup, Brown's colleague, provides an introduction describing Brown's life and work, his impact on biblical studies, and his powerful legacy.

Genres: Theology, Religion

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1966

About the author

Roman Catholic priest, member of Society of Saint-Sulpice and a prominent biblical scholar, esteemed by not only his colleagues of the same confession. One of the first Roman Catholic scholars to apply historical-critical analysis to the Bible.

Reviews

[Lee Harmon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of fourteen early essays by Brown (1928-1998), recently republished. I’m a big fan of Brown’s research, especially in the area of Johannine writings, of which he is considered perhaps the foremost scholar of the 20th century. Brown was a Catholic priest whose critical scholarship of the Bible seemed to only increase his faith in God. By way of introduction to the book, I’ll just list a few of my favorite essays.

Our New Approach to the Bible. Though not so new anymore, Brown discusses archaeological and literary accomplishments of the 20th century that force us to read the Bible differently.

The Eucharist and Baptism in John. There are actually two very good essays about John’s treatment of these two Christian rituals.

The Qumran Scrolls and the Johannine Gospel and Epistles. John’s treatment of dualism was long considered his own invention, until the discovery of the Qumran Scrolls, where many parallels to Johannine thinking can be seen.

The Problem of Historicity in John. Scholars still on occasion categorically reject the historicity of John, without giving proper consideration to the many geographical and political references that have in recent studies been proven accurate.

The Pater Noster as an Eschatological Prayer. Brown takes us sentence by sentence through the most famous prayer in the Bible, explaining its significance as a prayer for an eschatological age.

[John Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Testament Essays is, quite obviously, a collection of essays about the New Testament by the great Catholic Bible scholar, Raymond E. Brown.

This collection was first published in the 1960's, and as evidence of it's influence, it's been republished by Image Press. The book is split into two parts. The first part is basically an introduction to Modern historical-critical Biblical research. The second part is made up of examples of the model in practices.

Part 1, more than anything else, is a window into the development of Catholic Biblical research. It functions largely as an apologia for why historical-critical research has been and should be employed by the Church. In this sense, it is a bit outdated - especially when he speaks of form-criticism. But, for history of scholarship purposes, it is very interesting.

Part 2 is split up into three sections, two on the Gospel of John (its background and relationship to the Synoptics) and one on "Important passages in the Synoptic Gospels." Though this is only my first exposure to Father Brown, I was impressed by his proposal for the Johannine tradition, and I trust his judicious handling of the evidence is fairly typical of his work.

In brief, this is a solid book. Anything by Raymond Brown is going to be stimulating. This is inexpensive scholarship, might as well take advantage of it!

Note: This book was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

[Terry Austrew]

History is tricky to understand. The New Testament can engender many hours, days, weeks, months, years and decades of questioning and reflection. Raymond Brown's comments about directions of Bible translations including ecumenical teams and more ancient sources, seem to have become fulfilled by recent translations including the New American Bible Revised, as well as the NSRV (and most others since around 1975? + or -). Having a perspective on the decades following these essays, I find it to be helpful to read the thoughts of an educated man addressing the complexities of our attempt at understanding the Word of God.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

These pieces, written roughly in the mid-20th century represent some of the early Catholic biblical studies using modern historical-critical methods, showcasing Father Raymond Brown's efforts to bridge scholarly research with faith. Some of my review are just notes I scribbled down, but give an idea of a small part of what Brown has to say.

It starts with an excellent introduction by Fr. Ronald Witherup contextualizes Brown's life, influence on biblical studies, and enduring legacy. He also explains how a 'groundbreaking' Vatican encyclical ruing in 1943 'Divino Afflante Spiritu' greatly expanded the boundaries of permissible Catholic Biblical study and opened the doors to much more robust Bible study in the Church and persons such as Brown to flourish.

Part I: Biblical Research Today and its Ecumenical Possibilities: Focuses on broader methodological and ecumenical issues related to modern biblical scholarship, including its implications for Catholic-Protestant dialogue and the relationship between faith and historical research.

Part II: Examples of Modern Biblical Research into the Gospels: consists of more specific studies, particularly on the Gospel of John (a lifelong focus for Brown), its theology, historical background, and related Johannine themes.

Section I is the Theology and Background of the Fourth Gospel (John).

The Eucharist and Baptism in John. This is a fairly arcane (to me) argument on the role that 'sacramentalsim' played in the mind of the evangelist

The Qumran Scrolls and the Johannine Gospel and Epistles. Some really interesting material-Essenes at Qumran 130 BC to 68 AD. Zoroastrian influence on Good v Evil, plausible in light of Babylonian Captivity. Qumran came into existence near end of Maccabean Wars. Similar outlook in John and Qumran literature on forces of light and darkness. Many interesting parallels and distinctions between the Essenes and the early Christian community.

The Problem of Historicity in John. As contrasted with the Synoptics. mentions the popularity of the 4th Gospel with Gnostics, not sure the full implications of that. John was the last Gospel, Fr. Brown is aligned with the mainstream consensus: Mark first (70 AD), Matthew and Luke in the 80s–90s, John last (90–100).

An interesting section on John the Baptist in the Gospel of John..3 Verses in Jn about JBap. John son of Zebedee, or the Evangelist, I am sure a lot of people get the two guys confused!

A long essay on the timelines in the Gospel of John v the Synoptic Gospels sort of lost me in the details. These are not strictly historical documents as Fr. Brown notes repeatedly.

More interesting was the comparison of miracles in John ('only' 7) versus the Synoptics with many more. Brown suggests that the Synoptic Gospels present the miracle as an instrument in the revelation of God's kingdom. Most of the miracles were actions whereby the Dominion of God was actually established over man and nature. Brown points out that John acknowledged the smaller number of miracles he actually mentions in Jn 20:30-31--'Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.'

Points out the Jesus called his miracles 'works', Exodus motifs are frequent in Jn: the new tabernacle 1:14, the paschal lamb 1:29, 19:14, 29, 36; bronze serpent (3:14), comparison of Christ with Moses (1:17, 5:45-47); the manna (6), the water from the rock (7:38-39)l feast of Tabernacles (7-8). Doubt persisted in OT and NT despite these many signs: Nm 14:11 and Jn 12:37. He notes the penultimate verse in Jn 20:30: 'And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book'.

An essay on the Pater Noster ('Our Father') - did not quite realize that the versions in Luke and Matthew are different! An eschatological interpretation meaning of the PN (versus a more literal meaning) is explored in a fairly complex analysis with plenty of Greek tense and language references that went quite over my head. But it did provide a very different viewpoint on the meaning and purpose of those famous words.

The last section deals with the 'reconsideration' of the Bible parables as allegory or not. As Brown points out this goes to the idea of exegesis (drawing out a text's meaning in accordance with the author's context and discoverable meaning0 vs eisegesis (when a reader imposes their interpretation of the text. Thus exegesis tends to be objective; and eisegesis, highly subjective). I suppose there is always some amount of interpretation of any writings especially when scrutinized like the Bible.

This is a fairly academic treatment throughout, heavily footnoted with numerous citations from foreign sources, usually German or French. I could probably read it again next week and learn new things. On the other hand he wrote 45 books so might decide to try another. 3.5 stars, tough to call on round. There were some fairly long sections that were tough but other fascinating insights, really a coin-toss but will go up for Jesus!

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays and speeches from the 1960's still bearing much relevance today.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

fourteen insightful essays from a gifted scholar.