The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect Through a History of Images [Paperback]

Mr. Robert Farrar Capon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2000

In The Fingerprints of God best-selling author Robert Farrar Capon takes readers on a sleuthing project, using his own uniquely developed history of images to find evidence of the Divine Suspect in our midst." "Capon first explores various images that prompt proper talk about God and the nature of Scripture. The Bible, he says, is the mystery story of God's hidden presence as the Divine Suspect behind all history. Capon discusses the misuse of Scripture due to literalist interpretation, looks at the ways Christ has suffered at the hands of human image-makers, and proposes a novel understanding of salvation history that clarifies the proper roles of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus." "In the second part of the book Capon turns his magnifying glass on major thinkers from church history - Irenaeus, Athanasius, Anselm, Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, Julian of Norwich, and others - pointing out both the strong and the weak images they have produced. Throughout the centuries, Capon sees God as the "Divine Bowler" trying to knock down the faulty "pins" of ideas that have been set up in the lanes of religious history, while also disclosing himself in profound and powerful ways

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Episcopal priest and author Capon (The Foolishness of Preaching and other works) here offers a highly engaging yet learned approach to the understanding of God. Not many could try to address the significance of God as the hidden hand of history by mixing the insights of baseball with reflections on Irenaeus and Anselm, but Capon does so with gusto. His original work culminates in an imagined conversation with Melanchthon, Luther, and Julian of Norwich, concluding with one of Julian!s visions. Highly recommended.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.; 1St Edition edition (June 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802847684
• ISBN-13: 978-0802847683
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #791,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Re-forming the Reformation, August 7, 2000

By 

Pam Hanna "wind star" (Thoreau, New Mexico United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect Through a History of Images (Paperback)

Father Capon has done it again! He has given us food for thought with his own unique spin. True, he makes points that he's already made in preceding books - but in this one, he zeros in on the mistakes of some of the church fathers and puts a name to it - "transactionalism" - the old left-brain idea that one must contribute some kind of coin - sacrifice, repentance, good works - whatever - to deserve the free gift of forgiveness and grace given by God from the get-go to humanity. The Reformation kicked transactionalism out the front door, proclaiming salvation by grace, through faith, (not works), but let it right back in the back door by stipulating that faith was the current coin of the realm.

In his own inimitable style, Father Capon has the Holy Spirit saying (in a dialogue among the Trinity at the beginning of the book), "They're going to paint themselves into a corner and say that the unbaptized go to hell or even that sins after Baptism make forgiveness flake off like a bad paint job, and that unless Christians go to confession for a second coat before they die, they'll go to hell too. Oh sure. We've also agreed on this Reformation business where I convince them that nobody has to do anything to be forgiven except trust the grace that Jesus has already given everybody. But give them a hundred years after that and they'll manage to turn faith itself into a requirement for grace: no faith, no forgiveness. Out the window again goes the free gift we've given them once and for all; and back in comes forgiveness as a deal that's good only as long as they behave themselves."

The author goes on to explain how the great church reformers such as Irenaeus, Athanasius. Luther, Calvin and Melanchthon, while contributing invaluable insights essential to a true reformation, still slipped in this pernicious transactionalism. "Human beings aren't afraid of accountability," says Capon's Holy Spirit, "they're crazy about it. If they can't get credit for themselves or dish out blame to others, they cry, 'Unfair!'"

Father Capon says he was originally planning to call the book *Re-forming the Reformation* and I think that may have been a better title for it (a worthy double entendre) because the book seems to hang together on the explication of these wrong turns in Christendom better than it does on an exploration of images. The only time images take center stage is when the author is talking about Literalism/Fundamentalism vs. Liberalism (turning the Bible into a book of ethics and denying the mystery) and he says both views are mistakes. God can jolly well use any device he wants to tell the STORY of scripture - images in poetry, hyperbole, allegory, parables, and yes, even literalism - even though the latter is seldom employed. So literalism is madness and deconstructivist liberalism takes all the vital juice out of it and who needs that?

The history of church thought that the author covers is most valuable and enlightening, but I thought that the imaginary dialogue with the church fathers toward the end of the book was a bit pedantic and tedious. Most of the same points were made in an earlier chapter.

But the burning question, to my mind, is - isn't the atonement itself a transaction no matter how you slice it? Just as C.S. Lewis says that the fall of man didn't HAVE to happen, did the atonement HAVE to take place? What dark necessity required it? Was it a god above and beyond or behind the Father as the god of Destiny was behind and beyond and above Zeus? We find out what the atonement is NOT. It's not a "ransom" - a transaction between God and the devil; it's not a task - a "what" that Jesus accomplished by fulfilling a transactional bill of particulars; it's not even a "bait and switch scam perpetrated by God himself" where "the cross is a mousetrap for the devil" (although Capon seems to favor this interpretation above the other two because it has a sense of humor). But I'm still scratching my head. How ELSE to see the atonement except as SOME kind of transaction?

To be fair to Capon, this was a burning question with me long before I read *The Fingerprints of God*, but since his earlier books (that little gem of Theodicy) *The Third Peacock* and the Parable books (Parables of the Kingdom, Judgment and Grace) changed my life and outlook, I was hoping this one would answer that question. Who knows? Maybe the next one will. In any case, Robert Farrar Capon's books are all and always worth reading, in my opinion. Read this one. Read his others. You won't be disappointed.

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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Burns the Heart, August 3, 2000

By 

Patrick Ryan (Spangdahlem, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect Through a History of Images (Paperback)

Fr. Capon has a book that gives me an Emmaus experience. This author has been gifted with the ability to present the Gospel in fresh ways that light a fire inside. Like his other works, Capon has been careful in his accuracy, yet prophetic in his mission. He is one of the few authors today who side steps the modern avalanche of pious moralisms. Rather, he seeks to present the Word in context and in the radical and revolutionary power of what God is saying to us. From page one, I found my well-constructed theological walls of presumption and complacency being chipped starting to crumble. Not a casual read, but an incredble journey for someone who already has inner hints that there must be something more than we have been told about God's relationship to us!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and compelling!, April 8, 2008

By 

D. Kevin Wood - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fingerprints of God: Tracking the Divine Suspect Through a History of Images (Paperback)

Capon has a great way of challenging our normal way of viewing things. He is able to turn things upside down in such a clever way that engages our minds. It is so easy - especially with Christian books - to simply be trite and status quo. Fingerprints, like Capon, is not status quo. I love that! Very compelling read!