Book Review: Review of “Collected Essays on the Greek Bible and Greek Lexicography, by John A. L. Lee”

Abstract

is a rather vague and inadequate description of a role, which is both wider and deeper, as she herself seems to recognise. Suffering of the human spirit can indeed be healed, and the key of knowledge is not medication or soothing words but rather the grace of Christ. As on the road to Emmaus the solution to the grief of the two disciples was the presence of the Saviour, so today we may introduce (in many ways) the needed and wounded to the Divine Physician. As a Benedictine oblate, Dr Hewett has wisely taken the teaching of the Father of Monks as a structure for her book, using some of his special themes as starting points for her approach to the bereaved. She rightly recognises the importance of humility. This great virtue, so often seen as weakness, is actually the essential ground (humus) we need. By this we respect the sufferer and turn a loving, humble, compassionate ear.Wemust listen beforewe speak or even think.And here we enlist another specialmonastic virtue: silence. Following this comes hospitality of the heart: the sufferer is welcomed as an honoured guest. Of the various alternative therapies mentioned in the book, reiki should be avoided in the view and experience andmost Christian workers in this field. Modern secular writers about grief and bereavement facilitation often seem so anxious to avoid any suggestion of harsh or brusque direction that the treatment evaporates into ‘nice’ feelings. We are told to get in touch with our inner self, for you are what you feel. Fortunately, our author avoids all these by her sound emphasis on prayer and the virtue of hope. This transforms all accompaniment of those in grief and pain, for the healer is Christ. Our task is to draw him to the sufferers and so draw them to him. The book concludes by explaining that its purpose is to enable bereavement ministers to offer both healing and consolation, using the Rule of St Benedict. Love transforms both the grief and the one who grieves. It is right to thank Dr Beth Hewett for her important contribution to the work of healing. Her application of the wisdom of St Benedict is an inspiration, and I feel sure that it will help many in our troubled time.