THE INSPIRED WORD

This is essentially a volume of scriptural studies; yet it is substantially more than that. What Father Schokel has done is to survey the Bible as a communication rather than, as is customary, as a record of revelation. His intention is to elaborate a ""theology of the word"" -- i.e., to approach the Bible through the word in its human dimension, or in the light of language and literature. He treats of the word of God in its historical formation and in its life in the Church, asserting that, since man is able to receive concepts only through the medium of word-symbols, divine communication with man must be subjected to an analysis based on the functions of language, on the psychology of literary inspiration, on the social context of oral communication, and on the nature, translation, and reception of the communication. Father Schokel is probably the first scholar to give serious consideration to this important aspect of biblical studies --although others, such as Karl Rahner, have incidentally touched on the subject. This is, therefore, an important, and perhaps even a revolutionary, work, one which must be highly recommended to theologians and to biblical scholars. If it were not for the author's unfortunate tendency to address frequent spiritual exhortations to the reader, the book would also be of basic interest to students of the philosophy of language and of literary criticism.