[easyazon_image add_to_cart=”default” align=”left” asin=”0801027268″ cloaking=”default” height=”160″ localization=”default” locale=”US” nofollow=”default” new_window=”default” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41JrEIL7VSL._SL160_.jpg” tag=”douloschristo-20″ width=”107″]Kindle[/easyazon_image]Page 2: Roger Lundin – Beginning with the Word
For those who want to understand the theological underpinnings of this trend—who are concerned with the question of belief—Lundin begins with the Word who is Jesus Christ through whom all things are made and who as the Truth and the Life is God. Lundin writes:
The Triune God provides the secret to the source and power of words….Through the power of the Word, we are made, sustained, and reconciled to God, and through the agency of words, we hear of God’s faithfulness in the past, God’s power in the present, and God’s promises for the future. (12-13)
Furthermore, Lundin, in the section called “What’s in a name?” gets at the theological implications of Juliet’s famous question. “In simple terms, it is the question as to whether words somehow belong to reality and embody truths about God and the world or whether they are primarily signs employed by the powerful to order the world according to their purposes.” (15) Subsequently, he makes the point that modern theories about truth are rooted in the nineteenth century idea that truth is made, not found. This, of course, amounts to the jettisoning of revelation as truth. Lundin calls on theologians, particularly Barth, to reveal how truth (and Christ himself) has been rendered impotent by the prevailing culture of naturalism in its abandonment of objective truth in favor of the subjective.
For those who delight in story, Lundin provides. He quotes Faulkner to illustrate the meaninglessness of naturalism; life is “full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” Faulkner’s character, Bengy Compson, is employed to show the reader the hopelessness of a view of language that only exposes “the contingent nature of our experience and the unjust structures of our social orders.” (54) Lundin, having shown the disastrous effects of naturalism, goes on to affirm that words have the power to heal, to renew our minds, and to enchant our hearts. He also is liberal in his references to and quotations of Emily Dickinson who struggled mightily with the question of belief and who dwelled in “possibility.” I was delighted by Lundin’s including the story of Frederick Douglas which I teach to college freshmen so they can grapple with the implications of literacy and the power of words and story. Roger Lundin tells his own story about the power of literature in his life. Finally, the death of his brother at an early age awakened in him the idea that there was “something foundational about the nature of language and its relationship to reality. To be specific, through the loss of Gordy I was beginning to realize that to have the word was not necessarily to have the thing.” (27)
Lundin is a wonderful teacher who explicates clearly why contemporary thought regarding language and literature is what it is and what the implications are for the church. Not merely an academic treatise, Beginning with the Word both begins and ends in delight and wisdom. Best of all, Lundin answers the question of why it matters that words are more than symbols. That they are reflections of the Word made flesh makes them bearers of truth and grace. And that the Word made flesh is truth, not symbol, makes all the difference in the world. Words, then, can be life-changing, and the Word is life indeed.
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Jeanne Lehninger is an adjunct professor of English at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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