Book Review: Jason Byassee, Surprised by Jesus Again: Reading the Bible in Communion with the Saints

Abstract

As a lifelong Pentecostal, concepts like the fourfold interpretation of Scripture advanced by the Church Fathers and the hermeneutical methods employed by theologians of centuries past tend to be nonexistent in my congregational circles. To be sure, I deeply appreciate my own tradition and what it offers to the wider body of Christ; thus, I cannot help but smile at Byassee’s assertion in chapter 5 that God is Pentecostal. Yet as I progressed through college and seminary, I also developed a love for Christian history. I have enjoyed visiting local churches much more liturgical than my own and probing the theological works of saints long dead (yet whose influence remains very much alive). It has, simply put, felt like discovering an entire family history I did not know that I had. Byassee’s work thus comes as a thought-provoking and challenging one, reminding his readers that this family’s approach to its sacred text is more diverse, profound, and enriching than many believers might have imagined. And, as the title would suggest, despite an assumed familiarity, both the text of Scripture and the one to whom it points often remain full of surprises. Byassee frames the Scriptures first and foremost as the story of Israel, prior to his analysis of how the saints throughout the ages have approached the text. “Only by grace, through Jesus,” he stresses, “are we given access to Israel’s stories, Scriptures, salvation” (p. 4). Thus, the chapters that ensue—focusing on such characters as Origen, Augustine, Mary, and Gregory—may be understood in the broader context of this narrative. This volume, after all, bears the subtitle, “Reading the Bible in Communion with the Saints,” a corporate affair if there ever was one. Moreover, by finishing with a chapter entitled “Reading the Bible with the Early Church,” which is dedicated to detailing the four senses of Scripture, Byassee suggests that the various traditions and figures that he engages throughout the work all contribute to this climax. 1016241 PRE0010.1177/10638512211016241Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical TheologyBook Review book-review2021