The Book o f Miracles
Woodward, Kenneth L.
cherish the power and concomitant re- sponsibility delegated to them. As Ore- gon's governor put it to Broder: "The FAR AWAY & LONG AGO process is a blessing, but the way it's being...
...teractive town meetings, or voter-educa- dactic...
...He Hinduism, Islam now in our neighborhood playground, it calls for legislation that would cut back Kenneth L. Woodward might be a good idea to know each on corporate power and strengthen citi- Sirnoir and Schuster, $27,419 pp...
...And after all, if big ments...
...So why wait for their combined these resources in a volume and exposition are simple...
...He recounts only John Dewey: "The cure for the ailments of tinctive (and often undervalued) point of stories involving figures who are (at democracy is more democracy...
...It would be in- and the body of Christ called church and how the biblical symbols of creation, redemption, sin, grace, life and death...
...After all, texts-even miracles that strongly reJudis asserts that up to the present, elites Luke Timothy Johnson semble each other-shows just how disembraced civic consciousness in return tinctive those traditions are...
...which report major portions of the popMore important, why have elites suddenly A senior writer at Newsweek and that ulation believe more firmly in UFOs and dropped their civic consciousness to fol- magazine's religion editor for thirty-six personal angels than in God, and are low the money...
...This attitude-not Broder's wholesale rejection-seems ap- son, wish for a religion purged of all supropriate in the face of big money's abuse pernatural (that is, superstitious) eleof direct democracy...
...ORBIS BOOKS Maryknoll, NY 10545 And each tradition also shows a persis- 1-800-258-5838 tence between the popular embrace of www.orbisbooks.com the miraculous and the suspicion of signs 30 Years of Books that Matter and wonders from the intellectual elite...
...His tecostal healings through ministers like voice is kind, forgiving, prescient, wise...
...Part 2 provides an in- reader: What are we to make of the con- the privacy of individual experience, troduction to the religions of India, fol- temporary willingness to believe in mir- where all meaning resides, I have come lowed by sections dealing with the mir- acles despite all the arguments made to believe in myself...
...Woodward keeps the prose clean Part 1 deals with monotheistic relition drives...
...Woodward argues that the money is so powerful, why believe that The Book of Miracles miraculous is at the heart of the world's representative institutions can withstand The Meaning of the Miracle religions and that such stories deserve it any better...
...Most of all, Conveys the diverse faces of the church - each "an icon of readers will notice that virtually all these divine love, a particular path of discipleship, a glimpse of the stories are about long ago and far away...
...Is Woodward right in sisi...
...After an introduction to Judaism, racy's challenge is to nurture civic virtues extensive bibliography to offer quiet Christianity, and Islam that surveys their among all citizens-not just elites...
...But he also sug- dency to think that all religions are bagests (or at least his story suggests) that sically saying the same thing, close study elites must rediscover their civic obliga- of miracles within their respective contions...
...directed on technical points as Wood- others, thus excluding the Resurrection One way to do this is to improve the ward is-writing this sort of book is that of Jesus but including (perhaps inconmeans of deliberation and political edu- it entertains as well as instructs, with sistently, but we are glad) the Buddha's cation (through more public forums, in- very few descents into the solemnly di- experience of enlightenment...
...On this count, Judis's book Stories in Christianity, attention today for two reasons in parcorrects Broder's misplaced faith...
...and their explications will be impressed by certain patterns that Woodward has built into his structure: the way founders attract miracle stories, especially around Faces of the Church their births...
...In part 3, Woodward turns briefly to - From the Introduction by Mta,s\ lkk:KF.'N...
...some point in time) human-even if as of hoping for a return to a constitutional The advantage of having a journalist- avatars...
...Judis never explains...
...Burghardt religious traditions: the medicalization LONG HAVE I LOVED YOU of the miraculous in the modern Roman A Theologian Reflects on His Church Catholic process of canonization...
...As Oregon's governor put it to Broder: "The FAR AWAY & LONG AGO process is a blessing, but the way it's being used is a curse...
...the survival of the miraculous in con- 20 color icons 1-57075-305-9 paper $22.00 temporary manifestations of these classic Walter...
...E acles of the Lord Krishna and Hindu against them by Enlightenment critics...
...tanandamayi...
...Judaism, Buddhism, ticular...
...that functions quite well as an antholo- stories that are both interesting and clasMaybe all we have in the end is the old gy of miracle stories from five religious sic...
...mean to the traditions that recount them...
...There is a long distance becepted the political status quo," Joe Mc- neth Woodward invites the tween the sense of enchantment found Carthy stoked the passions of many work- reader to a richer and more rewarding in these stories and the crude creduliing-class Americans resentful of wayward consideration of what miracle stories ty/wish-fulfillment reflected in surveys, elites (George Wallace later followed suit...
...Finally, he wants to include storepublic run by civic-minded elites, why especially one as well-read and as well- ries that in principle were witnessed by not try to reengage citizens in politics...
...saints, and then the miracles of the Bud- And what are we to make of the fact Luke Timothy Johnson is the author of dha and the Buddhist saints...
...the de- Walter Burghardt, that wonderful weaver of words, has inmocratization of the miraculous in Pen- deed crafted a rich tapestry of our church and our times...
...Instead entry into the study of religion itself...
...His love for huOral Roberts...
...cherish the power and concomitant responsibility delegated to them...
...The secUniversity Press, 1998...
...First, since the global village is So what about Judis's conclusions...
...the way THE BRIDE Images of the Church the miraculous and the mystical are freIcons by William Plart.ffc.Vicbols quently found together...
...An even briefer epilogue Jesus Questions the Church suggests that in contemporary Western Highlights the tension between a model of the church that rootlessness, the desire for the miracu- emphasizes the Petrine principles of apostolic authonn• and a lous has much less to do with a rever- model that emphasizes loving service and discipleship...
...through the Hasidic rebbe...
...THE HOLY WEB Woodward leaves undeveloped some Church and the :Yew Universe Story intriguing themes that his examples and Sheds light on the startling oneness of the entire universe his commentary suggest...
...El support for his unpretentious and effi- respective founders and sacred texts, cient management of a complex collec- Woodward walks the reader through Kevin Mattson is associate director of the Walt tion of stories and religious traditions...
...He has Woodward's principles of selection old-time civic lore...
...face of Christ written in human flesh, among us still...
...ples the multiple ways in which the 1-57075-302-4 paper $20.00 human body serves as the arena and the At your bookseller or direct symbol of the divine presence and activity through these diverse traditions...
...the miracle stories of the Hebrew Bible, Whitman Center (Rutgers University) and au- In his introduction ("Making Room noting how they tend to decrease as the thor of Creating a Democratic Public: The for Miracles"), Woodward acknowl- story progresses...
...The same pattern obtains for Islam, reading but also for courses in religious suggesting that for present-day Amerias Woodward includes miracles associ- studies...
...Ken- the book...
...But what about Ameri- alk about miracles often de- son is not spelled out at the beginning ca's populist spirit...
...He includes civic reawakening...
...He then tells miracle Struggle for Participatory Democracy Dur- edges the very different worlds inhabit- stories associated with Jewish sages, ing the Progressive Era (Pennsylvania State ed by the recorders of his miracle sto- saints, and spiritual masters...
...structive to pursue through his exam- faith...
...Here the argument falters...
...It seems to me that democ- and allows his judicious endnotes and gions...
...ence for the power of the divine outside 1.57075.236.2 paper 520.00 of us and much more to do with "the Cletus Wessels theater of the questing inner self...
...Even during the placid generates into debates over but becomes more explicit at the end of 1950s, when, Judis argues, "Americans ac- whether they happen...
...These and other fascinating aspects of Commonweal 2 7 May 5, 2000...
...self-interest, no longer clothed in all that tivate some scholarly contacts...
...Second, against the tenzen input in government...
...other's stories...
...A third reafor public trust...
...the way miracles serve as demonstrations of divine power for pur- Daniel Berrigan poses of publicity and polemic...
...Readers that such belief is detached from con- Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the working their way through the miracles victions concerning God's power in the Gospel (HarperSanFrancisco...
...Most difficult of all are the ques- cans this is a matter of affirming a diated with Muhammad and then a num- tions with which Woodward leaves the vinity within, "a way of saying that in ber of Sufi saints...
...He interprets them from within the Progressive Era belief stated so well by traditions, but that also serves as a dis- respective traditions...
...hope and love rev cal its meaning...
...the miracle as blessing mankind during this tumultuous era shines through...
...and finally, -P:a'L Wnxts miracles and God consciousness in a con- Michael H. Crosby 1.57075.296.6 paper $20.00 temporary Hindu saint (Mata Amri- "Do You LOVE ME...
...ries and those who, like Thomas Jeffer- tion on Christianity traces the miracle Commonweal 26 May 5, 2000 stories of the Gospels (especially Mark), religion lay embedded in these odd yet world, or the pursuit of exemplary hothe Acts of the Apostles, and Christian compelling stories, and make the book liness, or the cultivation of rigorous spirsaints from antiquity to Francis of As- a genuine resource not only for general itual discipline...
...One years, Woodward has had the occasion more passionate about spirituality than answer is that they have discovered their to read more than a few books and cul- about religion...
Vol. 127 • May 2000 • No. 9
