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April 13, 2023Scott Hahn, Ph.D. is a well-known author of several popular and academic books. This book on holiness, “Holy is his Name: the transforming power of God's holiness in Scripture,” is not a book a reader should rush through, but rather should take some time to reflect on what Hahn is presenting.
We are called by Jesus to be holy and perfect just like his father is. Hahn ponders what holiness is and how God's people are to be holy. Hahn shows how God gradually shows his people what holiness is from what is presented in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
God did not at the beginning of Genesis explain or show what holiness is and how his people are to become holy, rather God, through the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, begins to show and call his people to holiness.
The reader needs to have some background in the scriptures so that they can understand what Hahn is talking about. This is an academic work, so it is not an introductory book for the general reader or a person just starting to learn about the scriptures or theology. This is, however, a good book for meditating on the holiness of God and how we are called to be holy too.
God intended for humans to be holy, and Adam and Eve were holy until they gave into the temptation of the devil. Now, God is leading us back to holiness and shows us how we can be holy through the life of Jesus and the saints. This is not always easy in our world, which is against us being holy, but many saints have shown that it is possible.
The book jacket for the book shows the Ark of the Covenant being carried into the Jordan River to split it. There are several footnotes throughout the book that aid the reader in understanding the material.
This book, by Emmaus Road Publishing, is recommended by many prelates and theology professors. I also recommend it if you desire to learn more about holiness in this life.
Br. Benet Exton, O.S.B., Saint Gregory's Abbey, Shawnee, is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
