The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death

Bought this book to give as a Christmas gift to a family member. They will love it! Book arrived as scheduled and these folks follow through! We would definitely do business with them again!

I love a book that reframes the picture , Christ was always plan A.

I loved this book and have reread it several times. Father John manages to eliminate centuries of unfortunate theologizing by viewing Christ as the Apostles did: from the perspective of the Cross. Before the New Testament appeared, the only Scriptures were the Books of the Hebrew Bible and it was by referencing them while endeavoring to penetrate the mystery of Christ's Passion, Death and Resurrection that the Apostles and early Fathers were enlightened.Perhaps those who will be most grateful for this book are students of theology who have been longing for it whether they were aware of the longing or not.

It is very interesting; I've not read much by Fr. Behr before. Where it might be helped is that it is not terribly systematic and strikes me as repetitive at points. It almost can't decide if it is a work of systematics or of spirituality. I think that was Fr. Behr's idea, but in this case it does not come off as a unified work. I am in support of systematics that support prayer (see Matthias Scheeben, for instance), but I think it limped most in not having clear goals and clarity of expression at points.

A powerful journey through the core Christian teachings as revealed by the early fathers of the church. I enjoyed Behr's interaction with a pre-modern understanding of Christianity in light of modern and post-modern scholarship. The book is concise, with thought provoking ideas and quotations on almost every page.

Good Book

Very Christ-centered book. Helps wash away apostate thoughts about the Christian faith.

Its a beautiful book with beautiful content!

This volume offers a critical examination of the basic foundations of theological practice in a modern-day scientific era, its presuppositions, principles, and methodologies. In return, the author offers an approach to theology which is true to the New Testament and the early Fathers of the church. The author encourages a creative approach to theology, employ all its different strands, i.e. Biblical, Historical and Systematic Theology, as well as theological art, such as iconography and liturgy to produce a holistic and multi-dimensional treatment of the subject in question.Using Soren Kierkegaard's principle "We only understand life backwards, but we must live forwards," Behr embarks on a critical appraisal of theological discipline. As an Orthodox theologian, Behr directs some questions to the current practice of theology. In particular, he questions the employment of methods such as historical criticism and the scientific analytic inquiry in determining theological statements and truths, its primary aim being the establishment of "what, really, happened" and "what was in the mind of the original writers/hears of Scripture".In Chapter one, Behr goes on to offer a different approach, one, which is "systematic yet remains true to the way in which theology was first learned." (P.15). Behr argues that the disciples did not come to grasp Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God incarnate through natural, historical reports. Rather, true theology, Behr argues, is interruptive and confessional. The realisation of Jesus as the Messiah came about as the disciples looked back and engaged interpretively through the events of the passion with the Scripture. With this observation, Behr offers a brief examination of the gospel narratives, where he finds that the disciples, though spent time with Jesus witnessing his teaching and miracles, yet this did not lead them to conclude that he is the Son of God. Rather, it is only when they meet the risen Lord, and look retrospectively through the Cross, and engage interpretively with the Scriptures, that they come to acknowledge Christ's identity. "The Passion remains as the locus for the contemplation of the transforming power of God." P. 35Behr does not dismiss the historical nature of the gospel. Indeed, he quotes from The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom on the passion, which states, "in the night in which he was given up, or rather, gave himself up." Behr argues that while the first clue is a description of a historical event, the second is a movement from history to theology. The historical report is turned into theological reflection, where Christ is no longer known through the flesh but through the Spirit (2 Cor. 5.16).In Chapter Two, Behr examines the issue of "authority," which opens the theological investigation and legitimises statements of theological truths. In particular, he looks at the definition of Canon in relation to Scripture, with a focus on the New Testament and Tradition.Behr rejects the idea of setting up Tradition and Scripture, as two equal, yet separate sources of authority. Both Scripture and Tradition necessarily are intertwined with one another. Tradition, on its part, affirms and guards the voice of Scripture. Hence, Behr finds the Reformation slogan "Sola Scriptura" problematic, since it means Scripture in isolation from the Church. Behr argues that Scripture belongs to the Church and therefore it makes its way to us through within the tradition of the Church. Behr suggests that to exegete Scripture correctly, one needs to follow the steps of the apostles (in their case Scripture consisted of the Old Testament), whose aim was to exegete Christ from the text of scripture. The Apostles priority was not the discovery of the meaning od the text to the original hearers, rather the discovery of Christ in Scripture.Behr moves on to deal with the concept of Canon. He challenges the widespread understanding of the word as "the list of the authoritative texts". Looking to St Irenaeus, Behr argues that for the early Fathers the words Canon did not mean "a list". Rather the word Canon was used with the philosophical understanding of the first principle that enables enquiry. The term Canon was taken to mean the measurement, rule, and straight line by which the straightness of other lines was determined. When dealing with a theological inquiry, the canon for the early church fathers was Christ himself; Christ is the first principle which enables authentic theological inquiry. Christ is the measurement against which all theological statements are measured to test their authenticity. This Canon is received in the Trinitarian baptismal formula; a formula, which was revealed through the story of the crucified and risen Lord, as it was handed over (tradition-ed.) by the apostles (1 Cor. 15:3) to subsequent generations.Having laid the ground rule, Behr in chapter three employs the apostolic and patristic hermeneutical key of 'Christ as the first principle' to narrate "Salvation history" retrospectively, that is, through the lens of the Cross rather than viewing events as mere historical reports. This way Christ, his incarnation, and crucifixion are there before the creation of Adam, at the centre of creation, Christ is the goal of true humanity. Christ, Behr argues, was not an add on to the divine-human story or introduced as a result of the unexpected disaster to rescue humanity. When reading through the apostolic eyes, the first Adam is the type of the one to come, rather than the other way around (Rom. 5:14). In the course of establishing his argument, Behr re-examines some of the major tenets of "salvation history," such as the fall, original sin, evil, salvation, election and death.In Chapter four Behr focuses on the Church as the Virgin Mother, for many in the early patristic era, the church was spoken of as the Holy Mother who was foreshadowed by the Virgin Mary. In obedience, Mary received the Annunciation of the gospel, and as a Virgin gave flesh to the Word of God. Behr looks at the scene of the Cross in the fourth gospel, where Christ's mother and the beloved disciple are standing at the foot of the cross. There the disciple who identifies with the Cross has been given to his mother as her Son. This corresponds to the Church giving birth to Christ in believers. This language, Behr argues, is familiar to Paul who uses terms such as, "beget" and "begotten," when describing the relationship between the Church and the believers. Paul likens himself to a mother begetting the Corinthians in Christ through the Gospel (1 Cor. 4:14-15).Behr moves on to make the observation that like the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, receives the annunciation of the risen Lord as she stands by the sealed tomb. This mingling of the Mary(s) and the womb with the tomb as a witness of Christ is picked up on in iconography of the infancy narrative. The Virgin mother places baby Jesus in a cave, wrapped in a swaddling clothes as a corpse, with a cross in his halo, unmistakably connects the "tomb and the womb". Furthermore, through the cross, this reveals the incarnate and crucified Christ to the viewer. Finally, the Church the Virgin mother, as the Mary(s) having gone through the passion, gives birth to believers, while awaiting the annunciation of the coming Lord, the bridegroom of the Church.Behr concludes, in chapter five, by showing how the Christian is called to identify with the crucified and risen Lord. Namely, by dying to one's self to live for Christ. The believer is called to make a move from knowing Christ in accordance to the flesh, to knowing him by the Spirit. In doing so, he engages extensively with sin, death, grace, passion, and the relationship between the mortal body and the spiritual being. In conclusion, Behr makes a welcome contribution to the nature of the theological inquiry, questioning the presupposition and methodology of current theological practice.As an Orthodox theologian, Behr certainly succeeds in bringing to our attention the richness of patristic writings. He brings liturgy and iconography to complement the already established Christ-centred theology. While the West is not aliens to it, Behr book shows how the Eastern approach to Scripture can enrich Western theology.

An enjoyable and stimulating account of how the first followers of Jesus found their understanding and faith deepened as they reflected on the life, death and resurrection.

Go a little deeper to remember where you started