Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament (HENT) is a collection of essays edited by Kent E. Brower and Andy Johnson in recognition of the seventy years of life and ministry of Alex R. G. Deasley. The volume begins with a warm dedication, and, as is usual for most introductions to Festschriften, tends toward hagiography (pp. xiii–xv). The editors introduce the study proper with a thematic presentation of the material as opposed to a summary of each chapter (pp. xvi–xxiv). These themes are holiness as an orientating concern for Second Temple Judaism; holiness as derived holiness; holiness as purity; holiness for communal persons; and the public nature of holiness. The editors locate the project of HENT in the communal dimension of imaging a holy God to an unholy world. The category of holiness in contemporary idiom, they argue, has either been “ignored, reduced to inward piety, or thought to be the preserve of legalists” (p. xvi). Brower and Johnson contend, however, that “holiness is a theological and ecclesial issue prior to being a matter of individual piety” (p. xvi). The volume seeks to trace the theme of holiness and ecclesiology through the NT.

George J. Brooke heads the first of two essays on the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). His analysis of the DSS demonstrates the complexity of identifying a single ecclesiology from texts embedded with multiple communities. Even a “small and well-defined” movement like Qumran was “far from a static group” (p. 5), and our understanding of NT ecclesiology therefore needs to be “understood as the description of a dynamic not a static phenomenon” (p. 6). The second essay on the DSS belongs to Dwight Swanson, and suggests that at Qumran “[e]verything flows from a concern for the holy” (p. 20), and, after surveying 1QS, CD, 1QH, and 1QM (he also looks outside the Community with 4Q417), surmises that holiness is “the one concept which governed every aspect of life” in Qumran (p. 29). Swanson then surveys the NT, concluding that for the church “the Holiest Place is not found in separation from the world, but within the world” (p. 38). Though his proof text of Matt 18:20 is rather unconvincing, Swanson’s conclusions are quite sound: viz., NT holiness does not withdraw; it reaches out (p. 38).

Essays on the four canonical Gospels follow. Donald A. Hagner begins by exploring “the interconnection between the gospel of the kingdom of God, the new eschatological community, and the call to a new form of righteousness” in the Gospel of Matthew (p. 40). Hagner suggests that the church has “entered an unprecedented era of fulfillment, and with it comes a new potentiality”—presumably for the “doing” of righteousness (p. 50)—and challenges the contemporary church to exhibit righteousness in order to impact the world (p. 56). Kent E. Brower follows by arguing that Mark “paints a picture of the restoration and re-creation of the holy people of God centered on Jesus” (p. 57). He reminds readers that “holiness is determined by their closeness to the holy one” (p. 73), and involves a participation in God’s “sanctifying mission” (p. 74). Richard P. Thompson’s essay turns to Luke and his Gospel’s implicit but distinct “contributions to discussions about holiness and ecclesiology” with respect to meal scenes (p. 77). Richard Bauckham turns to John, introducing his essay with customary subtlety by distinguishing “between holiness and purity” in the OT and Jewish thought (pp. 95–96), while arguing that Jesus is put forth as the new altar in John 10:36 after a careful reading of the Hanukkah tradition present in 10:22.

Two essays on Acts follow. Though the holiness word group is minimal in Acts, I. Howard Marshall demonstrates how there is a range of ways the concept is expressed. “Essentially God has a holy people, holy in that they belong to him, composed of both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ and stand in continuity with the faithful people of Israel in Old Testament times” (p. 127). Robert Wall then traces how the book of Acts represents lifestyles of idolatry and sexual immorality as subversive to a holy life.

Michael J. Gorman opens the next section of essays by presenting a Pauline theology of holiness—what he calls “trinitarian cruciform holiness” (p. 166). The theme of holiness is then read through some of Paul’s letters with remarkable contemporary appeal and conviction: Romans (Peter Oakes); 1 and 2 Corinthians (Bruce W. Winter and J. Ayodeji Adewya respectively); Galatians (Troy W. Martin); Ephesians (George Lyons); Philippians (J. Ross Wagner); and 1 Thessalonians (Andy Johnson). Some of the Catholic Epistles are then surveyed as well with similar effect: Hebrews (Gordon J. Thomas); 1 Peter (Joel B. Green); Jude and 2 Peter (Ruth Anne Reese); and Revelation (Dean Flemming).

The shortcomings of the volume are those of almost all Festschriften. Perhaps it is better to view the work as a collection of essays representing the interests of Professor Deasley than the tracing of a theme through the NT. For example, are two chapters on the DSS an adequate picture of the matrix from which NT conceptions of holiness sprung? Be that as it may, this collection of essays is a most useful collection indeed. There are treasures in HENT for the church in helping her to realize her (holy) place in this world.