Dr. Mary S. Ford. The Soul’s Longing: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on Biblical Interpretation. Saint Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2015
David C. Ford. Wisdom For Today From The Early Church: A Foundational Study. Saint Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2015
I have, since the late 1970s-early 1980s, had an increasing interest in The Great Tradition of Christianity. The turn by Thomas Merton to the Patristic-Medieval contemplative way, C.S. Lewis’ Medieval-Renaissance vision, an MA on John Cassian, another MA on Origen-Anthony, translations of Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses and the perennial wisdom of the Desert Mothers and Fathers all whet my appetite for more. In fact, the deeper the dives into the much deep waters of the Classical past, the finer the pearls of lost or forgotten insight and wisdom. Werner Jaeger, Georges Florovsky and Jaroslav Pelikan taught me much on such a journey, hence I remain charmed by those who turn to those who have gone before to illuminate the trail that is often obscure in our thick cloud ethos. There can be no doubt Mary and David Ford are fine guides to the ancient pathways.
The dominant ideology of progressive liberalism has tended, for the most, to adhere to what C.S. Lewis has called “chronological snobbery”.
Such an approach to history tends to demean and dismiss the past as, in many ways, inferior and subordinate to the newest facts, relevant statistics and information that besets and besieges the naïve and unwary. There are those who are not taken in by such a distorted way of reading history, who sense and see a substantive lack in the modern and postmodern ethos and long for something deeper and more nourishing: such is the longing of soul’s who, legitimately so, ask for cleaner and clearer waters---there still exists, happily so, life giving eternal wells in which a repository of classical wisdom still awaits those willing to lower their buckets.
It is rare indeed when husband and wife paddle in tandem to bring into being books that draw forth from the past wisdom that will satisfy the soul’s longing, but Dr. Mary S. Ford and David C. Ford have done so in The Soul’s Longing and Wisdom for Today from the Early Church. I might add that there is, within the broader culture of our time, a variety of voices that claim to address the soul’s longing and the meaning of wisdom in an age addicted to facts, information and knowledge. The sheer beauty of The Soul’s Longing and Wisdom for Today from the Early Church is the way David and Betty Ford have grounded human longing and classical wisdom within the time tried fullness of the Orthodox and Christian Tradition. Needless to say, both books are a hand in glove fit, complementary in a multitude of ways. Both books attempt, in their different ways, to answer the perennial question: what will most deeply and consistently nourish and satisfy the soul’s longing and restlessness?
The strength and pure gold of The Souls’ Longing is the way Mary Ford acutely and historically dissects the rabbit’s trail of sorts in the area of Biblical interpretation and hermeneutics. Sadly so, there has been a pointless and long journey cul de sac in the west in which Biblical Studies, century by century, has uncritically genuflected to the spirit of the age in which the Bible is studied as any other object. The quest for author, dating of texts, real sayings of Jesus or St. Paul, early texts, late texts, additions and deletions goes on world without end. Books are piled on books that, in the end, leave the soul hungry and thirsting for more. It is this one dimensional scholarly approach to the Bible that Mary Ford, rightly so, says a firm No to. But, in a countercultural No to such a convoluted protestant and post-protestant way of approaching the Bible, what does she say Yes to? Ford’s turn to the Fathers of the Church and their distinctive and layered way of reading the Bible is aptly summed up Appendix I-III: 1) Key Principles for a Patristic/Orthodox Approach to the Interpretation of Scripture, II) Hermeneutical Rules for Interpreting the Fathers and III) How to Learn to Love the Lord. The three Appendix are a must read by those keen to know how to rightly read the Fathers-Scripture and come as a kindly corrective to postmodern Patristic dilettantes and voyeurs who cherry pick from the tree with little understanding of how to tend such an orchard and draw from its nutritious abundance.
The turn to what many see as the golden age of the church is wisely and well done by David Ford in Wisdom For Today From The Early Church. This well wrought urn is the congealed bounty of many years of teaching in this mother lode of the Christian Tradition and, indeed, it is about wisdom and depth, insight and transformation, clarity and clearing away that which hinder the soul’s longing for meaning. Each chapter touches on significant thinkers and themes that were relevant in the classical phase of Christianity but equally significant and relevant for our day. The large issues merely recycle from century to century, hence the reason to heed the wisdom of the Fathers. The lively tone of the book draws the inquisitive reader into a historic conversation that illuminates the insights of the past for our ahistorical and amnesia thick present. The past via David Ford’s read of it speaks across the centuries to our longing hearts, minds and ears and can still instruct and point the way to finer sites to see from. The wisdom of the Fathers and Mothers of the Church cannot be missed in this aerial overview that nimbly strides from ridge to ridge, peak to peak. “The Epilogue: An Unforgettable Story from the Life of St. John the Theologian” is worth many a reread just as “The Rise of Papal Presumption” brings much into needed focus. The chapters on Montanism and Tertullian echo across the canyons of time—many are the montanists and Tertullian types with us in our fragmented midst these days.
I have a few lingering questions that hover as I came to the end of these timely and, in some ways, timeless books. First, Mary Ford is right in calling the Church back to a more contemplative and applied read of the Fathers. But, many are the Roman Catholics, catholic (High Church) Anglicans and longing Protestants (Hans Boersma---Eugene Peterson) that are doing the same. There are, of course, the Renovare and Ressourcement movements as there was the Roman Catholic Nouvelle Theologie that attempted to step beyond Tridentine Catholicism to a more Classical vision (Von Balthasar, Chenu, De Lubac etc). There is no doubt the hunger exists to unite the text with the heart and mind, imagination and experience. There is, in short, at a more sophisticated level, ample room to ponder these diverse pilgrims and the place they are turning to quieten and deepen a longing for God by a more receptive and participatory approach to the Bible—an irenical dialogue could yield much fine fruit. Second, I have had an abiding interest in the life and writings of Georges Florovsky and Jaroslav Pelikan (having had a lovely correspondence with Pelikan) for many a decade, and I would have been interested to know how David might have engaged Florovsky and Pelikan’s read of The Great Tradition. And, third, as a finale of sorts, having taught for almost 30 years in a department of Political Philosophy and Religious Studies, I’d be interested to know how Mary and David Ford might apply the interpretation of the Bible and the wisdom of the Early Church to the pressing political, economic and ecological issues of the early 21st century. These few questions are but hints and pointers to a further conversation that The Soul’s Longing and Wisdom for Today from the Early Church have, out of necessity, opened up better paths and revealed finer waymarks are yet before us to trek.
Ron Dart
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