From Professor Richard Bauckham
Sir, - The omission of Calvin's Institutes from the
Church Times list of 100 Best Christian Books is
bewildering, as two correspondents have already indicated (Letters,
17 October). Almost as astonishing is the absence of anything by
Martin Luther (The Freedom of a Christian would have been
the most obvious choice). But, if we also take account of the
comments of one of the judges on Foxe's Book of Martyrs ("a
terrible book, in every sense"), which was evidently included in
the list only with very strong misgivings, it looks as though the
judges would prefer us to forget the Reformation. Is it accidental
that Foxe's Book of Martyrs is followed immediately in the list by
Eamon Duffy's The Stripping of the Altars - as an
antidote?
Other books that, I think, deserve to be on such a list include
(in chronological order): Athanasius, On the Incarnation;
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History; Thomas of Celano,
Two Lives of St Francis of Assisi; Alexander Carmichael
(ed.), Carmina Gadelica; John Baillie, And the Life
Everlasting; Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist
Society; Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope (just as
ground-breaking and influential as The Crucified God) and
The Way of Jesus Christ (my favourite among his later
books); Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theology; and
Wendell Berry, New Collected Poems.
All of these (like most on the list of 100) can be highly
recommended to contemporary readers, whereas a few books on the
list of 100 are books one should know about (because they were of
critical importance in their time), but from which there is little
to be gained by actually reading now. I would put Lux
Mundi and Schweitzer's The Quest of the Historical
Jesus in that category.
RICHARD BAUCKHAM
11 Archway Court
Cambridge CB3 9LW
From the Revd Dr C. J.-B. Hammond
Sir, - St Augustine (Letters, 17 October) was brought up in
North Africa, of Berber blood on his mother's side and perhaps on
his father's, too. But he was dismissive of both the native African
language and people (Berber, Libyan), and the Semitic (Phoenician,
Punic). Moreover, he dedicated all his energies as Bishop of Hippo
(also in North Africa) to exterminating Donatism; and Donatism was
not only - or even principally - a doctrinal heresy, but a
separatist movement founded on African identity (tied to the
Donatist Church) rather than Roman (tied to the Catholic
Church).
So if you want to claim him as an African, you have to accept
that he was a traitor to his own blood and people, who embraced the
culture, religion (Catholic Christianity), and, above all, language
of Rome, not Africa.
It's all a bit irrelevant to the appraisal of his works as they
challenge us today.
CALLY HAMMOND
Gonville and Caius College
Cambridge CB2 1TA