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C.Bastin ANITO
DATE:28-2-2013
BOOK REVIW: THE
COMMUNITY OF THE BELOVED DISCIPLE
Title
: The Community of the
Beloved Disciple
Author : Raymond Edward Brown
Publisher : Paulist Press, 1979
ISBN : 0809102749, 9780809102747
Length : 204 pages
Introduction:
The
Reverend Raymond Edward Brown, S.S. (May 22, 1928 - August 8, 1998), was an
American Roman Catholic priest, a member of the Sulpician Fathers and a
prominent Biblical scholar of his era. He was regarded as a specialist concerning
the hypothetical ‘Johannine community’, which he speculated contributed to the
authorship of the Gospel of John, and he also wrote influential studies on the
birth and death of Jesus. Brown was professor emeritus at the Protestant Union
Theological Seminary (UTS) in New York, where he taught for 29 years. He was
the first Roman Catholic professor to gain tenure there, where he earned a
reputation as a superior lecturer.
Brown
was one of the first Roman Catholic scholars to apply historical-critical
analysis to the Bible. As Biblical criticism developed in the 19th century, the
Roman Catholic Church opposed this scholarship and essentially forbade it in
1893. In 1943, however, the Church issued guidelines by which Catholic scholars
could investigate the Bible historically. Brown called this encyclical the
"Magna Carta of biblical progress." Vatican II further supported
higher criticism, which, Brown felt, vindicated his approach.
Brown
remains controversial among traditionalist Catholics because of their claim
that he denied the inerrancy of the whole of Scripture and cast doubt on the
historical accuracy of numerous articles of the Catholic faith. Conservatives
were angered at his questioning of whether the virginal conception of Jesus
could be proven historically. He was regarded as occupying the center ground in
the field of biblical studies, opposing the literalism found among many
fundamentalist Christians while not carrying his conclusions as far as many
other scholars.[1]
Biography
Born
in New York, the son of Robert H. Brown and Loretta Brown, Raymond studied at
the Catholic University of America where he received a BA in 1948 and MA in
1949 as a Basselin scholar. In 1951 he joined the scholarly Society of
Saint-Sulpice following his STB from St. Mary's Seminary and University. In
1953 he was ordained a priest in the diocese of St. Augustine, Florida. He
earned a Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins University where one of his advisors was
Professor William F. Albright.
Brown
was appointed in 1972 to the Pontifical Biblical Commission and again in 1996.
He was the Auburn Distinguished Professor of Biblical Studies at the Protestant
Union Theological Seminary in New York where he taught from 1971 to 1990, when
he became professor emeritus. He served as president of the Catholic Biblical
Association, the Society of Biblical Literature (1976-7) and the Society of New
Testament Studies (1986-7). He was a Roman Catholic priest in the diocese of
Baltimore, Maryland. Widely regarded as one of America's preeminent biblical
scholars, Brown was awarded 24 honorary doctoral degrees by universities in the
USA and Europe, many from Protestant institutions.
He
died at St. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park, California. Cardinal Mahony hailed
him as "the most distinguished and renowned Catholic biblical scholar to
emerge in this country ever" and his death, the cardinal said, was "a
great loss to the Church."[2]
Scholarly
views
Brown
was one of the first Catholic scholars in the United States to use the
historical-critical method to study the Bible.In 1943, reversing the approach
that had existed since Providentisimus. Deus fifty years earlier, the
encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu expressed approval of historical-critical methods.
For Brown, this was a "Magna Carta for biblical progress”. In 1965, at the
Second Vatican Council, the Church moved further in this direction, adopting
the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum, instead of the
conservative schema "On the Sources of Revelation" that originally
had been submitted. While it stated that Scripture teaches, "solidly,
faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred
writings for the sake of salvation," Brown points out the ambiguity of
this statement, which opened the way for a new interpretation of inerrancy by
shifting from a literal interpretation of the text towards a focus on "the
extent to which it conforms to the salvific purpose of God". He saw this
as the Church 'turning the corner' on inerrancy, while adopting a face-saving
wording: "the Roman Catholic Church does not change her official stance in
a blunt way. Past statements are not rejected but are requoted with praise and
then reinterpreted at the same time. ... What was really going on was an
attempt gracefully to retain what was salvageable from the past and to move in
a new direction at the same time". While the document cited the two
earlier encyclicals, it was clear to observers that much had changed. The
Second Vatican Council, one scholar observed, “raised biblical exegesis from
the status of second-class citizenship to which it had been reduced among
Catholics by an overreaction to the Protestant claim for its autonomy”.[3]
Summary of the book:
Raymond E. Brown was
perhaps the greatest Johannine scholar of the twenty-first century. In this
book, Brown endeavored not only to reconstruct the history of Johannine
community in the first century but also, by implication, attempted to give us
an account on the formation of the Christian faith. He approached the matter
predominantly from the perspectives of the Gospel of John and the Johannine
Epistles. I suggest that both the Gospels of John and Epistles of John, and
Luke-Acts are necessary to reconstruct the origins of Christianity. So these
documents are invaluable tools to help us discover how everything had started.
At any rate, this notion is a matter of considerable discussion among New
Testament scholars, so let us go back to Brown.
As
I mentioned above, Brown’s basic purpose in this volume is to find out how the
Johannine community had emerged throughout its history. He did through a
successful investigation of both the Gospel of John and Epistles of John. By
the way, the hypothesis Brown employed in this work is questionable by many
reputable Johannine scholars, but he has strong arguments.
INTRODUCTION: Problem and Method in Discerning Johannine Ecclesiology
The
introduction deposits Brown’s plan for the book. He hopes to study the history
of the Johannine community by treading primarily the Gospel of John, then, John’s
Epistles on various different levels. By taking this approach, Brown assures us
that both the story of Jesus and the Johannine community could be accessed and
reconstructed. Brown’s method here is parallel to that of Bultmann’s and
Wellhausen’s; the latter contended that chiefly the four Gospels inform us
about the context of the church in which they were written, and only in
secondary about the life of Jesus which is primary sources. By applying this
principle, Brown approaches the matter by employing various reading levels and
adopting four different phases:
Phase
One, “the pre-Gospel era, involved the origins of the community, and its
relation to mid-first century Judaism.” The composition of the fourth Gospel
occurred prior to the expulsion of Johannine Christians from the synagogues
(John 9:22; 16:2). The basis of this incident related to what “they were claiming
about Jesus”.[4]
Phase
Two, “involved the life-situation of the Johannine community at the time
the Gospel was written.” Brown maintains the traditional date for the writing
of John, A.D. 90. However, he accentuates that the main writing of John took
place during that year, not the final product. Another difficulty in the Gospel
is the continuous presence and echo of “Jews”. Brown also believes within the
Johannine community there existed the insistence on a high Christology, “made
all the more intense by the hard struggles with the ‘Jews.’”
Phase
Three, involved “the life-situation in the now-divided Johannine
communities at the time the Epistles were written”. Brown appeals to 1 John
2:19 to describe the tragic division occurred between the Gospel and the
Epistles, which he explains in this term, “… the struggle is between two groups
of Johannine disciples who are interpreting the Gospel in opposite ways, in
matter of Christology, ethics, and Pneumatology. The fears and pessimism of the
author of the Epistles suggest that the secessionists are having the greater
numerical success ( I John 4:5), and the author is trying to bolster his
adherents against further inroads of false teachers (2:27; II John 10-11). The
author feels that it is “the last hour” ( 23; I John 2:18)
Phase
Four, “saw the dissolution of the two Johannine groups after the Epistles
were written. The great departure happened between the secessionists and the
conservation side of the Johannine community. So they disfellowshipped among
themselves, and were no longer in community. According to Brown, it was the
secessionists’ initiation to divide because of their misuse of the Fourth Gospel.
As a result, there arose publicly various sects or groups in the second century
inclining toward, Docetism, Gnosticism, Cerinthianism, and Monanism.
PHASE ONE: Before the Gospel –Johannine Community Origins
Brown’s
argument is basic but profound. He contends that in the early period of the
life of the church consisted of Jews whose belief could be labeled as both “low
Christology” and “higher Christology.” By “low Christology,” “involves the
application to Jesus of titles derived from OT or inter-testamental
expectations (titles that do not in themselves imply divinity, whereas, “high
Christology,” “involves an appreciation of Jesus that moves him into the sphere
of divinity, as expressed, for instance, in a more exalted use of Lord and Son
of God, as well as the designation “God.” In other words, some Jews highly
regarded Jesus as divine, while others rejected his divine nature.
Brown
sees both continuity and discontinuity of this notion transmitted in other
Jewish churches associated with the apostles.
Concerning John the Baptist-
According
to Brown, when the Gospel of John was written the Johannine community engaged
in a furious contention with followers of John the Baptist claiming his
Messianic status by rejecting Jesus. To fix the problem, Brown notes that the
Fourth Gospel presents John Baptist’s role in 1:20 “I am not the Messiah”; and
in 3:28: “I am not the Messiah but am sent before him.”
On the Role of the Beloved Disciple
The
Beloved Disciple is a mysterious historical figure appearing only in the Gospel
of John and was the hero of the Johannine community. At his death, he was
idealized by the people of the community. The Fourth Gospel clearly identifies
him as “the Disciple whom Jesus loved”. Nonetheless, Brown agrees that the
Beloved Disciple was an “outsider to the group of best-known disciples”.[5]
PHASE
TWO: When the Gospel Was Written- Johannine Relations to Others
Brown
describes the presence of various groups of in the Gospel. The world, the Jews,
and the adherents of John the Baptist are categorized as “non-believers
detectable in the Gospel.” The latter were individuals who made no pretense of
believing in Jesus. The Crypto-Christians (Christian Jews within the Synagogues),
the Jewish Christian Churches of inadequate faith, and the Christians of
apostolic churches are rightly known as “Christians detectable in the Gospel.”
These individuals expressed explicit faith in Jesus.
PHASE
THREE: When the Epistles Were Written—Johannine Internal Struggles
Brown
argues the Second and Third Letters of John were written by the same man, whose
name was (or calls himself) “the presbyter.” The evidence is that relatively
the same doctrinal and moral issues are discussed in I and in II John and that
“both II and III John are concerned with the acceptance of traveling teachers
interlocks the Epistles and makes it likely that all three have come from the
same phase of Johannine history.”
Eventually
Brown would discuss what he termed “The Intra-Johannine Schism.” By referring
to the secessionists, the group that deviated from the true Johannine Gospel,
Brown insists that the secessionists who subscribed to the docetic theology,
the denial the reality of Jesus’ humanity, were not the main opponents as
traditionally conceived. “The adversaries were not detectably outsiders to the
Johannine community but the offspring of Johannine thought itself, justifying
their positions by the Johannine Gospel and its implications,” [6].Brown argues . Various
areas of theology were subject to dispute in the Johannine community, chiefly
the main points of conflict were Christology, ethics, eschatology, and
pneumatology. From an ethical point of view, it is important to note that the
secessionists claimed, 1) intimacy with God and sinlessness, 2) that they gave
no salfvific importance to ethical behavior, 3) that they were accused for not
loving the brethren.
PHASE
FOUR: After the Epistles –Johannine Dissolution
The
“last hour” in the Johannine Epistles is a reference to the split between the
conservative side in the Johannine community and the secessionists. As I
previously noted above, the secessionists were no longer in communion with the
more conservative side of the Johannine community. Brown remarks “the adherents
of the author of I John in the early second century seem to have gradually
merged with what Ignatius of Antioch calls “ the church catholic,” as exhibited
by the growing acceptance of the Johannine Christology of the preexistence of
the Word”.[7]
“There
is a subtle mélange of history and theology in John. The Fourth Gospel is
clearly less historical and more theological than the Synoptic in attributing
all this Christology to the first few days of Jesus’ ministry; yet the Fourth
Gospel may be more factual historically in describing the first followers of Jesus
as former disciples of John the Baptist and in having them called in the Jordan
valley rather than at the Lake of Galilee”.[8]
Support
- Brown has been described as “the premier Johannine scholar in the English-speaking world.” Terrence T. Prendergast stated that “for nearly 40 years Father Brown caught the entire church up into the excitement and new possibilities of scriptural scholarship." Much of Brown's work was given a Nihil obstat and an Imprimatur (the "nihil obstat" is a statement by an official reviewer, appointed by a bishop, that "nothing stands in the way" of a book being given an imprimatur; the "imprimatur," which must normally be issued by a bishop of the diocese of publication, is the official endorsement — "let it be printed" — that a book contains nothing damaging to Catholic faith and morals). Brown was the expert appointed to review and provide the nihil obstat for The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, the standard basic reference book for Catholic Biblical studies, of which he was one of the editors and to which he himself contributed, as did dozens of other Catholic scholars. The biblical scholar Ben Witherington dedicated his book The Jesus Quest to Brown (along with John P. Meier).
- Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who has written presenting the infancy narratives and John’s Gospel as historically reliable, was personally complimentary of Brown and his scholarship, and has been quoted as saying he "would be very happy if we had many exegetes like Father Brown".[9]
Criticism
- Brown's work was controversial among traditionalists who objected to the elements of his work that they regarded as casting doubt on the historical accuracy of numerous articles of the Catholic faith.[2] His critics included Cardinal Lawrence Shehan and Father Richard W. Gilsdorf, who described Brown's work as "a major contribution to the befogged wasteland of an 'American Church' progressively alienated from its divinely constituted center.”
- Other writers, critical of historical Christian claims about Jesus, have criticized Brown for excessive caution, for what they saw as his unwillingness to acknowledge the radical implications of the critical methods he was using. Literary critic Frank Kermode, in his review of The Birth of the Messiah, accused Brown of being too eager to secure the imprimatur of the Roman Catholic Church; Jesus scholar Géza Vermes has described Brown as "the primary example of the position of having your cake and eating it."
- Msgr. George A. Kelly in his book. The New Biblical Theorists (1983), looks carefully at the work of the late Sulpician priest Fr. Raymond Brown as the most prominent member of a whole school of post-Vatican-II Catholic exegetes committed to critical methods. He shows Fr. Brown and his "school" to be rather far from being in compliance with the requirements for sound Catholic exegesis laid down by Vatican II.[10]
- Fr. Brown’s most vociferous critics included Cardinal Lawrence Shehan and Father Richard W. Gilsdorf, who described Brown’s work as “a major contribution to the befogged wasteland of an ‘American Church’ progressively alienated from its divinely constituted center.”
Bibliography
BOOK:
- Raymond E. Brown. The Community of the Beloved Disciple London: Paulist Press, 1979.
INTERNET SOURCES:
1)
Larson Michael. Published on March 26, 2008,
Access date 15-2-2013, available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Brown. html;
Internet.
2)
King Henry
V..Published on September 10, 1998, Access date 15-2-2013, available from http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=525. html; Internet.
3)
Sungenis
Robert A. published on April 9, 2010. Access date 30-01-2013. Available from http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/188247910
. html; Internet.
[1] Michael
Larson , Published on March 26, 2008, Access date 15-2-2013, available
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Brown. html;
Internet.
[2]Michael
Larson , Published on March 26, 2008, Access date 15-2-2013, available
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Brown. html;
Internet.
[3] Michael
Larson , Published on March 26, 2008, Access date 15-2-2013, available
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Brown. html;
Internet.
[4] Raymond E. Brown: The Community of the Beloved Disciple (
London: Paulist Press, 1979),22.
[5] Raymond E. Brown: The Community of the Beloved Disciple,34.
[6] Raymond E. Brown: The Community of the Beloved),107.
[7] Raymond E. Brown: The Community of the Beloved Disciple,24.
[8] Raymond E. Brown: The Community of the Beloved Disciple,26.
[9] Michael
Larson , Published on March 26, 2008, Access date 15-2-2013, available
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_E._Brown. html;
Internet.
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