ALTHOUGH the Old Testament is regarded with suspicion or dislike
by not a few people, neither the history of Palestine, nor archaeology, nor the non-canonical literature can allow that decisive break we are apt to find between B.C. and A.D. The two Testaments are vitally connected, and it is the aim of Father Hebert's book to show how the Messianic hope and other great ideas in the Old Testament were taken up and developed afresh in the New. His book, which is sub-titled "A Study of the Fulfilment of the Old Testament in Jesus Christ and His Church," covers a wide field.. Thus it deals with Messianism, Israel's conviction of her mission, the conception of Zion as the one religious centre, the tension betvieen the Law and the prophetic spirit, the attitude of Jesus to the Sabbath and other institutions, and the climax of Jewish belief and practice at the point where the Israel of history was superseded by the new Christian Israel. A good synopsis of the contents renders it easy to grasp the course of the argument of the writer, who explains that he has had to ignore such practical questions as contemporary political Messianism and the problem of the reunion of Christendom. • As a book written to restore the claims of theology it scarcely lends itself to any detailed criticism here; one may only remark that if, as Father Hebert states, "Biblical scholarship has to a large extent failed in its duty to the Church whose life the Bible nourishes " (p. 31), there are those who are of the opinion that the Church has failed in its duty to the progress of scholarship.
Previous page
