Review: The Word Became Flesh

Griffin, David. The Word Became Flesh: A Rapprochement Between Natural Law and Radical Christological Ethics.

I am not sure how to either describe or rate this book. On the one hand, its project is commendible—reconciling the natural law tradition with “radical Christological ethics” (which mostly means anabaptism), tow streams that have very often seemed to be at odds. On the other hand, it takes far too long to say far too little.

The organization of the book is not bad. Parts one and two are devoted to sketching out natural law and Christological ethics respectively, where Part 3 attempts a synthesis based on a Chalcedonian logos christology. Chapters 1 and 3 are probably the toughest going. In particular, chapter 1, on the philosophical and theological background for natural law, requires a great deal of background knowledge, only some of which I possessed. After that, though, the going gets slightly easier. Chapter 2 outlines two theories of natural law: protological (exemplified by Cicero, Augustine, and Calvin) and eschatological (Aristotle and Aquinas). I think the author’s dichotomy here is not necessarily accurate; it certainly doesn’t seem right to assert that Calvin and Augustine had no concerns for the ends of things in their theologies of natur, for example. Nevertheless, the outline is helpful and more or less on point.

Chapters 3 and 4 are, likewise, meant to explain radical Christological ethics. Chapter 3 primarily devotes itself to background issues (I would almost say this chapter could be skipped), but chapter 4 is interesting in attempting to show the effect of Christological ethics on other doctrines such as the doctrines of God, man, regeneration, and the last things. The basic thrust of radical Christological ethics is, probably expectedly, that Christ is the true exemplar of humanity rather than an abstract, universal “law” over and above humanity. The author points out, however, that Christological ethics often becomes basically inward looking and—even though this is often not true of pop-Anabaptists—cannot offer a truly effective social ethic because it cannot effectively make claims on all mankind.

Chapters 5, 6, and 7 are the author’s attempt to synthesize the two traditions. Chapter 5 is concerned to sketch an accurate Chalcedonian metaphysics. Chapter 6 attempts to show how Chalcedonian metaphysics was used by several theologians in order to supplement a doctrine of nature, thus rooting Christological ethics in both Christ’s divine and human natures. This makes Christ the true exemplar of the natural law, but also the exemplar to all humanity, whom humanity was and is to be modeled after. In particular, his treatment of Maximus the Confessor is lucid, and I will probably give it a second read. Chapter 7 was almost entirely devoted to Barth; not being a Barth expert, and finding Barth’s style almost incomprehensible, I unfortunately gained very little from this (long) part of the book. I won’t comment on its usefulness or accuracy—people more familiar with Barth will need to do that.

This book is fascinating, but it is also a very good example of bad academic writing. The author takes a great deal of trouble to state many things in the most circuitous and long-winded ways possible. The book could have easily been much shorter, possibly with some chapters being cut entirely. The author’s thesis is also relatively simple to state, so much so that I’m very unsure it needed 300 pages of argumentation. All that being said, this was still a very interesting effort, and I benefited from much of the material. If you are used to this particular style of academic writing, the book may be worth reading depending on interest.

I was graciously provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.