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Prophets and Apostles by Joseph Ponessa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Disclaimers: I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would read and review it. I am a Christian, but not a Catholic, which influences my reaction to this volume.

This volume is part of the "Come and See" Bible study series; I have previously reviewed the "Acts and Letters" volume and you may wish to look that up. It's important to remember that this is not a stand-alone book. For full value, you will need to have a Catholic translation of the Bible with all the books (in particular Baruch and Daniel) and a copy of the most recent revision of the Catholic Catechism. It's also meant to be used not individually, but in the context of a small Bible study group, meeting regularly and advised by a priest or elder.

This volume, Prophets and Apostles, concerns itself with the so-called "minor" prophets, and the shorter apostolic letters. The primary theme is that the prophets point the way to the ministry of Jesus and the redemptive power of His sacrifice, while the apostles explain how the prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus and give advice for going forward in the life of the church.

As there isn't a separate "leader's guide", this book begins with a chapter on how to set up the Bible study group and keep it running, which is very similar to the one in Acts and Letters.

The text switches back and forth between Old and New Testament, keeping the material fresh. Each chapter covers a book or two, or a large section of a book, discussing the salient points the author of this volume wants to point up. A selection of questions and suggestions for group discussion follow each chapter. There are frequent quotations from Catholic scholars, in particular the last two Popes.

The text shows the author's Biblical scholarship, and also a strong adherence to Catholic dogma. The writer's a bit more personally visible in this volume than in Acts and Letters. Great care is taken to show that the Bible does not contradict itself, even when verses taken out of context would seem to do so.

One nitpick here--In discussing Galatians 4:4-7, the author makes the claim that "sons" is inclusive, while "children" is exclusive. This seems to be based on the Greek word Paul uses, direct translation "sonship" having special meaning above and beyond ordinary adoption. But such would not be obvious to the lay reader, who is more likely to come to the conclusion that Paul was simply using the pre-Twentieth Century practice of using masculine nouns and pronouns as the generic, on the assumption that male is normative, with the subtle damage that does to communication. The author doesn't make his case well, and thus comes across as blinkered by his patriarchal training.

Overall, while I do not agree with all the interpretations of Scripture herein, nor the conclusions drawn therefrom, it's well-written and I believe would serve a Catholic Bible study group well.

"These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath."--Zechariah 8:16-17



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Come and See: Acts and Letters by Joseph L. Ponessa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Disclosure: This is a book received from the Firstreads program, on the premise that I would review it. Also, I should mention here that I am a Christian, although not Catholic, so my reaction to this is necessarily different from what it would be if I were a devout Catholic, or a non-Christian.

As a Bible study guide, Come and See: Acts and Letters is not a stand-alone book; you'll need both a Bible (preferably a Catholic one with all the books) and a catechism for full effect. Likewise, the fact that I read this solo is not in keeping with its true calling as a group activity. That said, let us begin the actual review.

Unlike some bible study courses I've seen in the past, there are not separate leader's and student's books. Thus the first section of the book is a "how to use this course" guide, with helpful instructions on setting up the study groups and organization. I found this section very helpful, but there were a couple of moments where the authors' assumptions glared--most notably a blind spot about the possibility of men taking turns helping with childcare too.

The main text covers Acts and the Pauline letters, arranged in roughly chronological order. (Thus bits of Acts are split up between the letters.) I should mention here that the publisher is Emmaus Road, a reference to Paul's conversion, and it's clear that the authors favor Paul.

In addition to covering the content of the text, there are explanations of how these words fit into Catholic theology, some outside information on the history of the early Church, and plenty of quotations from Catholic theologians, especially John Paul II and the current Pope. A fair amount of time is spent on fitting pieces together, explaining how seemingly contradictory information is brought together as a whole.

Each short study section is followed by a quiz section, referring to other books of the Bible and the catechism to help bring the material into perspective. There's also suggestions for social interaction outside the formal study.

Optional study materials include videotaped lectures by the author if there is no one in the group comfortable with that function--these did not come with my book. What did was an issue of "Lay Witness" magazine, which had some fine articles on witnessing from a lay Catholic perspective.

Overall, I found this an excellent work of its type; I do not agree with all its theology, but it is clear and consistent.

Peace be with you and yours.



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