Issue 29 What's so great about the Old Testament?Blog | Book Reviews
Book Reviews
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 19.12.21
Forbidden Fruit and Fig Leaves Reading the Bible with the shamed Judith Rossall (SCM, 2020) 216pp, paperback RRP £19.99
I found this an enthralling book in many ways. It is essentially a psychological analysis of the theme of shame and forgiveness in the Bible. The author tells us that she has a project to recover Abel. In other words, she is interested in understanding shame from the point of view of those who are sinned against. Abel is a passive, silent character in the story of Cain and Abel, and yet God heard him: ‘The Lord said, “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground”’ (Genesis 4:10).
Her motivation for this project was a pastoral incident that occurred early in her ministry as a Methodist minister, when she tried to help someone who had been abused by her step-father, while her own mother had turned a blind eye. Rossall found that Christianity had much to teach about the forgiveness of sinners but did not recognise the shame this innocent woman carried with her, as well as her guilt, as a Christian, in being unable to forgive. It is a scholarly book, made accessible by the argument being clearly expressed and carefully worked through, if a little laboured at times.
The book is divided equally between the two testaments. The first half covers the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, David with Bathsheba and Uriah, Job and his ‘comforters’, as well as the Exodus and the Exile. The New Testament half focuses mainly on Jesus’ ministry and how he welcomed the weak and the shamed, culminating in his shameful death on the cross and the resurrection account in John chapter 20.
I found it exciting to take a fresh look at these familiar stories, which are brilliantly told, often with a touch of humour. Rossall also explores the original languages of the biblical texts and the religious and cultural contexts in which they were written, reminding us of the importance of background research when we write sermons, and not to rely on one translation alone.
