by Gerhard Lohfink
–
This is one of the most useful and inspiring resources I have found for learning about — and preparing a study series on — what Jesus taught about and how he enacted the reign/kingdom of God.
With good scholarship and clear writing, it was both informative and moving.
Lohfink, a priest and theologian who taught New Testament Exegesis at the University of Tubingen, carefully and compellingly provides an interpretive portrait of Jesus which foregrounds the connection of the “reign of God” to the Christian community that emerged after Jesus’ resurrection.
That is an important connection; it helps churches to ensure that their focus on Jesus includes what was central for Jesus.
In this 2012 book from Liturgical Press Lohfink writes: “Where the church remained true to Jesus it was always ‘all in;’ it was a new society. It not only demanded justice; it lived justice.”
“It not only preached freedom but was itself a place of freedom…,” he added. “It hoped not only for a future life in heaven; it knew that in the common life of the baptized heaven is already revealed and the precious treasure has already been found.”
Review by Guy Sayles, writer and speaker in Asheville, N.C.