Lisa Maugans Driver: Christ At The Center
Lisa D. Maugans Driver, Christ At The Center: The Early Christian Era (Louisville: WJK, 2009), 242 pages, ISBN 9780664228972.
Driver offers the reader a fast-moving, panoramic view of the context and subsequent development of Christian doctrine as it progressed in the first five centuries of the Church. The work presents a wonderfully helpful, but brief sketch of the major events that formed such fundamental Christian beliefs as Christology, ecclesiology, and salvation. Driver’s intent was not to produce a comprehensive textbook on the history of early Christian doctrine, but rather a survey for those who wish to further explore the often detailed and complex world of the Early Church. She has succeeded in this task! This work offers the beginning student a wonderful resource for further study.
Driver sets the stage for the book by highlighting the anticipation experienced by the Jewish nation as they awaited their Messiah. She draws upon some of the historic events in the life of Israel like the Exodus, the division of Israel and Judah, the exile into captivity, and finally, the hope for restoration in order to demonstrate the Messianic hope. She further draws on the promise of salvation as given to the Jews through Abraham, which was renewed under Moses with the Law and Sinai. Thus, the postexilic and Second Temple Jews looked back to God’s promise, while looking ahead for its fulfillment. Yet, because of the political difficulties, i.e., being ruled by the successive kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greek and Hasmoneans, the Jews came to expect a political Messiah. However, she is clear that there was no unified Messianic expectation. There was simply a general desire to have God dwell among His people as was done in the Exodus, and for God to occupy His place as Ruler, which may or may not involve an actual human leader.
Driver then moves into the arrival of Jesus onto the scene and touches upon specific instances in His ministry that highlight His divine mission. However, great tension existed in that Jesus, for all intents and purposes, did not fit with the Jewish Messianic expectation. This was not limited to the general Jewish population but extended to Jesus’ own inner circle. Driver emphasizes Pauline writings that begin to unfold the proper understanding of how Jesus, the Christ, fits with the Jewish desire for salvation. She notes Paul’s general thesis in that in a very real way, there is no Israel without Jesus, the Christ. Further, the Pauline corpus finally brings into the focus the “right” perspective as to just how humanity is to view the salvific plan of God, i.e., weakness and foolishness become instruments of wisdom and power as evidenced in the cross.
For the Early Church, the arrival of Jesus Christ brought a new lens through which the whole created order must be viewed. Christians understood that in Christ, God’s plan for salvation involved the whole cosmos so that all of creation would undergo regeneration and transformation. This transformation included not only the physical world, but the spiritual as well. In this way, such natural phenomena like death took on a new meaning given by the One who was raised from the dead. Further, existing social structures such as communities and families were thought of in new terms as set forth by the traditions and teaching of the Church. Thus, morality, social responsibility, and the overall concern for others were rooted in a Christian’s identity in Christ. The entry point into this new community was at the baptismal font. Families would raise their children as Christians, and pagans would undergo an increasingly rigorous period of catechesis before entering the sacred baptismal waters. Being a part of the Christian community centered on the Eucharist, where the members of the Church could share in the partaking of the Body and Blood of their Lord.
Driver provides an excellent summary of the practical issues that resulted from the Christians existing in a Roman world. Questions of citizenship became important as the Romans grew suspicious of the Christians and questioned their loyalty to the State. Other important features that would begin to play large roles in the formation of Christian doctrine also involved a conflict with traditional Roman customs. Christians viewed the dead through the lens of the resurrected Christ. Yet, in the Romans world, cemeteries were placed outside the Roman cities and away from the population of the living. However, with Christianity, the line between the living and the dead became blurred as the Church increasingly interacted with the holy bodies of the departed. For this reason, the cult of the martyrs became a staple in the Early Church, as Christians sought to be blessed with the same kind of faith as the one who had given their life for living Christ.
Moreover, giving one’s life became the ultimate expression of Christian loyalty when persecution arose. True Christians were willing to suffer and die for their faith. In this way, persecution created a crisis of pastoral care, as well as a crisis of true Christian identity. What was the process when a person lapsed in their faith under persecution but later sought readmission into the Church? Was readmission possible? The penitential process emerged out of this crisis and would occupy a prominent place in Christianity through the late Middle Ages.
Finally, the Early Church struggled amidst its ranks to define what it believed. Numerous individuals emerged with theories and explanations that attempted to express certain doctrines. But the Church would ultimately look to the fatherly leadership of the bishops to define the tenets of the faith and to articulate the more difficult matters like the true nature of Christ. Influenced by Greek philosophical notions, the Church attempted to understand how a perfect, incorporeal God could assume a created material substance and die for the sins of humanity. Through the Ecumenical Councils, the Church would argue, debate, and condemn its way into establishing what it called “orthodoxy,” so that subsequent generations might understand the intricacies of salvation, while protecting itself from those who sought to bring in ideas that were contrary to the Apostolic traditions of the Church. Thus, the Early Church, especially the fourth century Church with its many intellectual giants, finally settled the Christological issues that had created controversy for the previous generations of Christians, while providing firm footing for the generations yet to come.
The beginning chapters of this work offer the reader a fast-moving sweep of the history preceding the arrival of Jesus Christ. Although helpful, at times the early chapters seemed cumbersome and disorganized, lacking enthusiasm, as though they were written out of mere necessity in order to get to what the author really wanted to talk about, namely the developments of Christianity in the first through fourth centuries. This is the only criticism that I might offer as the rest of the work was done with obvious passion and interest of the subject matter.
Driver’s work offers a helpful introduction to the development of Christianity in the first four centuries of the Church. It might very well be used as a standard textbook for survey courses in Early Church History. It highlights the main issues that shaped the doctrines of the Early Church, while providing the stepping stones needed for further study. I recommend this work for anyone looking to become familiar with the general story of early Christianity.
Reviewed by Shane VanMeveren
