Book Review: Road Signs for the Journey - Chapter Review: 2. God's People Then

Good Bible Hermeneutics takes a deeper look at the Bible passage by understanding everything about it: history, geography, culture, the people and everything else. If Conrad L. Kanagy wants to use Jeremiah to examine the Mennonite Church in the USA, he's got to help the reader fully understand Jeremiah's message in the first place. This includes understanding Jeremiah as a prophet and understing the people he's prophecying to, like what they believe politically and religiously.

The interesting thing about Conrad Kanagy's backround information is that he flip flops on its importance. On one hand, Kanagy says that "scholary views of the book of Jeremiah do no matter" (p.35), is not part of the task at hand(p .34). He also says it's more important to focus on what it means now then what it meant back then (p. 34-35). On the other hand, Conrad does go into detail about the book's background information. He lists all the kings Jeremiah prophecied under. He draws up a map of Israel, Judah and the surrounding territories. He describes where the people of Israel and Judah are religiously and politically during that time. While it may seem like Conrad Kanagy is contradicting himself, I'm glad he did. His background information on the book provides a fuller understanding of Jeremiah's role as prophet and the message he'll deliver.

Conrad Kanagy helps set the message of the book by explaining the all-encompassing roles of a prophet. The roles Conrad Kanagy gives Jeremiah as prophet is a futurist, a time keeper, a social analyst, an activist and a blasphemer. I had two favorites from this list. The first was the social analyst. As prophet, Jeremiah was called to make the people aware of where they were religiously and politically. Sometimes when people become so enamored in their culture, it's hard to realize where they truly are and whether they are doing the right or wrong thing. A prophet must tell it like it is, whether the people like it or not. Perhaps Conrad sees himself as a prophet in this way. His statistics will tell the Mennonite congregations, "This is they way it is, whether you like it or not." The other favorite I had was activist. As a prophet, "Jeremiah not only spoke prophetically for the truth, but also acted prophetically on behalf of the truth" (p. 41). I once heard that stating a problem without providing a solution is just complaining. Jeremiah is not just a complainer about the people falling away from God. He's going to do his to contribute to the people turning to God.

There are two roles that Conrad Kanagy gives a prophet in which I agree with the concept, but I believe he could have chosen a better word. On the lighter end, instead of calling Jeremiah a futurist, I would have called him a visionary. Jeremiah did not merely see the future, but he also saw what it meant in terms of the people moving forward spiritually. For example, not only did Jeremiah foresee the destruction of the temple, but he knew that meant it was sign of hope for the future, for the people would be able to have relationship with God without the temple, holy of holies or the ark of the covenant. On the heavier side, I really don't like Kanagy calling prophets "blasphemers." Blasphemy is the worst sin in the Old Testament, if not the whole Bible. Blasphemy is detestable and unforgivable to God. Why? Because of its definition itself. Blasphemy is speaking lies about God as if it is the truth. It is a misrepresentation of God. Prophets is no way misprespresented God. What they really did was get the people back to the true meaning. The easiest example would be Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus, God the Son, spoke fervently against what the high priest, chief priests, and all the other religious rabbis taught. It wasn't the Scriptures that the religious leaders were teaching from that Jesus spoke against, but rather their intepretation of it. Jesus saw the Pharisees and Sadducees using God's Law to uplift themselves and weigh down those "sinners" not like them. That's what Jesus spoke against. What Jesus really is doing is getting them back to the true meaning of the Scriptres. Certainly Jesus, God the Son, is not a blasphemer. In the same way, Jeremiah is no blasphemer. He is in no way speaking lies about God. Instead, Jeremiah is attempting to get the people back to the true meaning of God, the Scriptures, and the temple. Maybe Kanagy should have chosen the term "revivalist" instead of "blasphemer." Jeremiah is truly a revivalist, reviving the people from an idolatrous faith to a real faith with the true God. I understand why Kanagy might have chosen the term "blasphemer," for it might have seem like blasphemy to the people. But this is in no way a call for Christians as or a whole or Mennonites specifically to be blasphemers. It's a call for Mennonites specifically but to Christians a whole to return to the true meaning of Scripture, instead of emotions or tradition.

Conrad Kanagy concludes with a conclusion that could easily serve as an introduction for the next chapter. Conrad Kanagy already starts to connect the Mennonites of today to the people of Jeremiah's time. Conrad states some of the sins of the Mennonites as the same as the people in Jeremiah's time: apathy, disobedience and idolatry (p. 43). As Jeremiah stated to his people, judgment will come if Mennonites do not turn from this sin. But Jeremiah's message is double-edged, and in a good way. If the Mennonites repent of their sin, God will deliver them and bless them. The question that remains is, "Are Mennonite really guilty of such sins?" The next chapter will reveal if this is true.