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Rating: 
Summary: Re-forming the Reformation
Review: Father Capon has done it again! He has given us food for thought with his own unique spin. True, he makes points that he's already made in preceding books - but in this one, he zeros in on the mistakes of some of the church fathers and puts a name to it - "transactionalism" - the old left-brain idea that one must contribute some kind of coin - sacrifice, repentance, good works - whatever - to deserve the free gift of forgiveness and grace given by God from the get-go to humanity. The Reformation kicked transactionalism out the front door, proclaiming salvation by grace, through faith, (not works), but let it right back in the back door by stipulating that faith was the current coin of the realm. In his own inimitable style, Father Capon has the Holy Spirit saying (in a dialogue among the Trinity at the beginning of the book), "They're going to paint themselves into a corner and say that the unbaptized go to hell or even that sins after Baptism make forgiveness flake off like a bad paint job, and that unless Christians go to confession for a second coat before they die, they'll go to hell too. Oh sure. We've also agreed on this Reformation business where I convince them that nobody has to do anything to be forgiven except trust the grace that Jesus has already given everybody. But give them a hundred years after that and they'll manage to turn faith itself into a requirement for grace: no faith, no forgiveness. Out the window again goes the free gift we've given them once and for all; and back in comes forgiveness as a deal that's good only as long as they behave themselves." The author goes on to explain how the great church reformers such as Irenaeus, Athanasius. Luther, Calvin and Melanchthon, while contributing invaluable insights essential to a true reformation, still slipped in this pernicious transactionalism. "Human beings aren't afraid of accountability," says Capon's Holy Spirit, "they're crazy about it. If they can't get credit for themselves or dish out blame to others, they cry, 'Unfair!'" Father Capon says he was originally planning to call the book *Re-forming the Reformation* and I think that may have been a better title for it (a worthy double entendre) because the book seems to hang together on the explication of these wrong turns in Christendom better than it does on an exploration of images. The only time images take center stage is when the author is talking about Literalism/Fundamentalism vs. Liberalism (turning the Bible into a book of ethics and denying the mystery) and he says both views are mistakes. God can jolly well use any device he wants to tell the STORY of scripture - images in poetry, hyperbole, allegory, parables, and yes, even literalism - even though the latter is seldom employed. So literalism is madness and deconstructivist liberalism takes all the vital juice out of it and who needs that? The history of church thought that the author covers is most valuable and enlightening, but I thought that the imaginary dialogue with the church fathers toward the end of the book was a bit pedantic and tedious. Most of the same points were made in an earlier chapter. But the burning question, to my mind, is - isn't the atonement itself a transaction no matter how you slice it? Just as C.S. Lewis says that the fall of man didn't HAVE to happen, did the atonement HAVE to take place? What dark necessity required it? Was it a god above and beyond or behind the Father as the god of Destiny was behind and beyond and above Zeus? We find out what the atonement is NOT. It's not a "ransom" - a transaction between God and the devil; it's not a task - a "what" that Jesus accomplished by fulfilling a transactional bill of particulars; it's not even a "bait and switch scam perpetrated by God himself" where "the cross is a mousetrap for the devil" (although Capon seems to favor this interpretation above the other two because it has a sense of humor). But I'm still scratching my head. How ELSE to see the atonement except as SOME kind of transaction? To be fair to Capon, this was a burning question with me long before I read *The Fingerprints of God*, but since his earlier books (that little gem of Theodicy) *The Third Peacock* and the Parable books (Parables of the Kingdom, Judgment and Grace) changed my life and outlook, I was hoping this one would answer that question. Who knows? Maybe the next one will. In any case, Robert Farrar Capon's books are all and always worth reading, in my opinion. Read this one. Read his others. You won't be disappointed. pamhan99@aol.com
Rating:
Summary: Re-forming the Reformation
Review: Father Capon has done it again! He has given us food for thought with his own unique spin. True, he makes points that he's already made in preceding books - but in this one, he zeros in on the mistakes of some of the church fathers and puts a name to it - "transactionalism" - the old left-brain idea that one must contribute some kind of coin - sacrifice, repentance, good works - whatever - to deserve the free gift of forgiveness and grace given by God from the get-go to humanity. The Reformation kicked transactionalism out the front door, proclaiming salvation by grace, through faith, (not works), but let it right back in the back door by stipulating that faith was the current coin of the realm. In his own inimitable style, Father Capon has the Holy Spirit saying (in a dialogue among the Trinity at the beginning of the book), "They're going to paint themselves into a corner and say that the unbaptized go to hell or even that sins after Baptism make forgiveness flake off like a bad paint job, and that unless Christians go to confession for a second coat before they die, they'll go to hell too. Oh sure. We've also agreed on this Reformation business where I convince them that nobody has to do anything to be forgiven except trust the grace that Jesus has already given everybody. But give them a hundred years after that and they'll manage to turn faith itself into a requirement for grace: no faith, no forgiveness. Out the window again goes the free gift we've given them once and for all; and back in comes forgiveness as a deal that's good only as long as they behave themselves." The author goes on to explain how the great church reformers such as Irenaeus, Athanasius. Luther, Calvin and Melanchthon, while contributing invaluable insights essential to a true reformation, still slipped in this pernicious transactionalism. "Human beings aren't afraid of accountability," says Capon's Holy Spirit, "they're crazy about it. If they can't get credit for themselves or dish out blame to others, they cry, 'Unfair!'" Father Capon says he was originally planning to call the book *Re-forming the Reformation* and I think that may have been a better title for it (a worthy double entendre) because the book seems to hang together on the explication of these wrong turns in Christendom better than it does on an exploration of images. The only time images take center stage is when the author is talking about Literalism/Fundamentalism vs. Liberalism (turning the Bible into a book of ethics and denying the mystery) and he says both views are mistakes. God can jolly well use any device he wants to tell the STORY of scripture - images in poetry, hyperbole, allegory, parables, and yes, even literalism - even though the latter is seldom employed. So literalism is madness and deconstructivist liberalism takes all the vital juice out of it and who needs that? The history of church thought that the author covers is most valuable and enlightening, but I thought that the imaginary dialogue with the church fathers toward the end of the book was a bit pedantic and tedious. Most of the same points were made in an earlier chapter. But the burning question, to my mind, is - isn't the atonement itself a transaction no matter how you slice it? Just as C.S. Lewis says that the fall of man didn't HAVE to happen, did the atonement HAVE to take place? What dark necessity required it? Was it a god above and beyond or behind the Father as the god of Destiny was behind and beyond and above Zeus? We find out what the atonement is NOT. It's not a "ransom" - a transaction between God and the devil; it's not a task - a "what" that Jesus accomplished by fulfilling a transactional bill of particulars; it's not even a "bait and switch scam perpetrated by God himself" where "the cross is a mousetrap for the devil" (although Capon seems to favor this interpretation above the other two because it has a sense of humor). But I'm still scratching my head. How ELSE to see the atonement except as SOME kind of transaction? To be fair to Capon, this was a burning question with me long before I read *The Fingerprints of God*, but since his earlier books (that little gem of Theodicy) *The Third Peacock* and the Parable books (Parables of the Kingdom, Judgment and Grace) changed my life and outlook, I was hoping this one would answer that question. Who knows? Maybe the next one will. In any case, Robert Farrar Capon's books are all and always worth reading, in my opinion. Read this one. Read his others. You won't be disappointed. pamhan99@aol.com
Rating: 
Summary: Burns the Heart
Review: Fr. Capon has a book that gives me an Emmaus experience. This author has been gifted with the ability to present the Gospel in fresh ways that light a fire inside. Like his other works, Capon has been careful in his accuracy, yet prophetic in his mission. He is one of the few authors today who side steps the modern avalanche of pious moralisms. Rather, he seeks to present the Word in context and in the radical and revolutionary power of what God is saying to us. From page one, I found my well-constructed theological walls of presumption and complacency being chipped starting to crumble. Not a casual read, but an incredble journey for someone who already has inner hints that there must be something more than we have been told about God's relationship to us!
Rating:
Summary: Burns the Heart
Review: Fr. Capon has a book that gives me an Emmaus experience. This author has been gifted with the ability to present the Gospel in fresh ways that light a fire inside. Like his other works, Capon has been careful in his accuracy, yet prophetic in his mission. He is one of the few authors today who side steps the modern avalanche of pious moralisms. Rather, he seeks to present the Word in context and in the radical and revolutionary power of what God is saying to us. From page one, I found my well-constructed theological walls of presumption and complacency being chipped starting to crumble. Not a casual read, but an incredble journey for someone who already has inner hints that there must be something more than we have been told about God's relationship to us!
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