2. New Testament Topics

TL;DR: This book explores the New Testament topics of priesthood and priesthood ordination, highlighting exegetical trails, theological engagement with Catholic teaching, and the coherence of male priesthood and priestly celibacy.

Abstract: This is a Roman Catholic biblical theology of priesthood, interweaving three elements: an exegetical trail through key points in Scripture, ten excursuses exploring related issues, and a theological engagement with Catholic teaching. Priestly ordination in the P material is theophanic and dependent on both a priest-maker (Moses) and the assembly. The prophetic critique does not condemn priests per se but ethical errors in them and others and presupposes right engagement with the cult as part of what it means to live well. Zechariah, Malachi, and Ben Sira promise a renewed priesthood. In the Gospels, the Transfiguration episode and the Good Shepherd motif portray Jesus as the eschatological priest. Hieratic/sacerdotal language in the New Testament is not straightforwardly transferred to ministry but is used in suggestive ways in Paul, 1 Peter, and Hebrews and particularly in relation to the sacrificial character of the eucharist. The conclusion seeks to articulate the coherence of a male priesthood and priestly celibacy with this biblical picture. This book covers a lot of ground admirably well, in conversation with biblical and theological scholarship. It is well structured and cross-referenced, such that one can easily dip into points of interest. The exegesis is lucid, coherent, and largely persuasive. I appreciated the theologically engaged nature of the writing and the frank delineation of differences from Protestantism. I do not think the pastoral and priestly motifs are as closely connected as Giambrone suggests, and (as a Protestant!) I am perhaps unsurprisingly unconvinced that the analogy of the Levitical priesthood within the priestly people of Israel provides sufficient grounds for a sacerdotal ministerial priesthood in the church in the absence of positive articulation of this within the New Testament. But that is simply to say that this book provided stimulating grist for the mill and will be of great value for both biblical studies and ecclesiology.