When it comes to biblical studies in the Maltese native language it has been a long time since a book of this calibre graced shelves in local bookstores and libraries! Few are aware perhaps that locally we have a relatively recent but strong tradition of admirable biblical scholars and good quality publications and translations of biblical texts going back to the 19th century. Mainly thanks to Protestant Missionary Societies and Catholic translators. Among the Maltese Bible scholars, who translated the Sacred Scriptures into Maltese, Mons. Pietru Pawl Saydon and Prof. Msgr Rev. Karm Sant are worthy of mention. Bible translation projects are still ongoing, publishing different editions which include critical notes and commentaries which shed light on the sacred texts and help the reader to understand, sift through and pray the biblical text.
It is not enough, however, to have the biblical text at hand and access to short exhortative commentaries! Biblical formation is needed to appreciate the sacred texts on a literary and textual level and to understand and interpret these, without falling, on the one hand, into the trap of a harming militant fundamentalism or, on the other hand, of superficial spiritualism appealing only to empty feelings and emotions. It is not enough to have the Bible in one's hand! One needs valuable tools to help us to use it properly.
The monumental publication by Rev. Dr Martin Micallef, ofm.cap. Dawn inkitbu biex intom temmnu, Studji fuq l-Evanġelju ta' San Ġwann, l-Ittri u l-Apokalissi is a valuable and useful tool, achieving the goal of providing valid resources to the study and appreciation of the Fourth Gospel in Maltese. In the Introduction to the book the author expresses his wish "that this book might help us to understand the purpose for which the Johannine Gospel was written: "So that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by your belief you may have life in his name" (Jn 20:31). At the same time the author explains that the aim "is not to offer a spiritual meditation on the Fourth Gospel, although this can still be done". The aim, in the author's view, is that this publication will "serve as help for those who wish to learn to read and then to understand better the depths of this Gospel".
No wonder that in the Preface, Prof. Msgr Hector Scerri, aligns this publication with that of great biblical scholars like Rudolf Schnackenburg, Raymond E. Brown, Ignace de la Potterie and Francis J. Moloney. Indeed this volume fills a gap in Biblical studies written in the Maltese idiom. Although as a nation we are bilingual, it is of fundamental importance that the Maltese language is also used in academic studies that go beyond the field of linguistics. The creation and perhaps the invention of a Maltese academic idiom in the humanities as well as in empirical areas of knowledge is necessary for the development of the Maltese language as much as for its protection from the threat of disintegration and extinction. This is really necessary today in a context where the Maltese language is, more often than not, going through indiscriminate modifications that are probably destroying and annihilating its structure, mostly as there seems to be a lack of distinction between oral and literary discourses and consequently their relatively proper informative and immediate functions, both having a unique role in society.
Through this publication, Rev. Dr Micallef manages to provide a high and academic writing in Maltese that is clear and graspable to everyone. The book itself is a collection of many other writings published in Maltese reviews and journals, as well as talks given by the author himself over a period of over 20 years. The author, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Theology within the University of Malta, is, without any exaggeration, a local authority on the Fourth Gospel and the Writings of John, therefore the present book provides a wealth of knowledge that should serve as reference for anyone who wishes to appreciate the Gospel and the Epistles of St John and the Apocalypse.
The book is structured in nine sections giving a total of 41 chapters. It opens with an introduction by Prof. Msgr Scerri. The author introduces the main texts and provides readers with an impressive list of Abbreviations for works cited in the study, as well as a long bibliography. An extensive index helps the reader go deeper and expand knowledge in this field. The themes vary from a general introduction on the writer and his writings, Christology, the Paschal Mystery, Signs, symbolic language, so on and so forth.
It is stated in the Introduction that the book is dedicated to the late Archbishop Ġużeppi Mercieca and fellow priests in the author's same class who received presbyteral ordination 30 years ago. This book is, first and foremost, a must for the local Catholic clergy who are duty bound to preach the Word of God. The urgent crisis in preaching, and indeed in evangelisation, looming not only in the Church in Malta - a crisis that both the late Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have repeatedly spoken about - is related to a weakened prophetic proclamation of the Gospel which does not serve its purported aim of confirming in the faith, passing on valuable valid teachings, strengthening and transforming the life of believers. This book can become a valuable tool in the hands of the Maltese clergy to help improve the quality and depth of the proclamation of the Gospel.
On another level, both within the Catholic Church itself, as well as from other separated denominations, Christian groups are mushrooming locally, sometimes coming with fundamentalist and sentimental underpinnings. The solid, reasoned and expert study provided by Rev. Dr Micallef in this new publication on the vast and complex field of Johannine literature, should be a source of reliable information and formation in the faith of readers and learners.
My wish and hope and that of others is that such solid theological writings in Maltese will continue to be penned by the author as well as by his colleagues within the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta.
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