Previous Issues
• Summer 2001
• Autumn 2001

A ministry of the faculty of Biblical Theological Seminary

What I've Been Reading


Nick Perrin
I have just re-picked up Craig A. Carter, The Politics of the Cross: Theology and Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder. Carter attempts to show why Yoder needs more attention in current discussions of social ethics. I am particularly interested in what Carter has to say about what Yoder says about the "Heresy of Constantinianism."


Biblical Studies

David Alan Black. Why Four Gospels? The Historical Origins of the Gospels. Kregel, 2001 (118 pp; pb, $9.99).

The author, professor at SE Baptist Seminary, here provides an accessible summary of the model proposed by Bernard Orchard for the origin of the Gospels. Unlike the dominant Two-Document hypothesis, which sees Matthew and Luke as dependent on Mark and Q, the so-called Fourfold-Gospel model accepts the early testimony of the church fathers on the origin and date of the Gospels as reliable. The model is rather similar to the one I came to independently long ago, though Orchard has a nice suggestion for the origin of Mark that I had not seen before. A nice tour of the data supporting this suggestion. Highly recommended. [RCN]

Block, Daniel I. Judges, Ruth. NAC. Vol 6. Broadman & Holman, 1999 (767 pages, hb, $29.95).

Daniel Block’s (Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville) commentary on Judges and Ruth is superbly written, comprehensive in scope and insightful in its analysis of the literary, historical and theological features of these two closely related Old Testament books. Block’s interaction with scholarly literature on nearly every aspect of the interpretation of Judges and Ruth not only provides the reader with his own conclusions, but also with a useful compendium of resources for considering alternative viewpoints on the topics under discussion. Block deals effectively with both the meaning of the book for those for whom it was originally written, as well as its meaning for the church at the beginning of the 21st century.

Block’s discussion of the biblical text is lucid and thorough, including observations on such things as rhetorical structure, points of grammar and syntax, questions concerning the best English rendering of numerous Hebrew terms and expressions, as well as the historical and theological significance of this period in the early history of Israel. Many of the narrative units are concluded with a section entitled “Theological and Practical Implications.” These discussions contain useful insights into how the reader can find the significance that these narratives may have for God’s people who live in a time and culture far removed from that of this early period of Israel's history. Unfortunately there is no listing of these discussions in either the Table of Contents or the Index (they may be found on pp. 108, 116, 134, 141, 155, 171, 175, 245, 307, 320, 334, 375, 385, 418, 436, 448, 470, 514, 542, 567, 583

Block’s discussion of Ruth is characterized by the same clarity and thoroughness, as is his commentary on Judges. All in all this is an excellent commentary. In this reviewer’s opinion, it is without question the best commentary available on the books of Judges and Ruth from a solidly evangelical approach. [JRV]

King, Philip J., & Lawrence E. Stager. Life in Biblical Times. Library of Ancient Israel, ed. Douglas A. Knight.Westminster John Knox, 2001 (440pp, hb, $40).

A powerful help to reading and understanding the Bible, filled with photographs, diagrams, and original art that illustrate the text. What was an Israelite house like? How would they have dressed, cooked, fought, danced, or worked in the fields? King and Stager have written a comprehensive description of everyday life in OT times that will bring many passages to life. This puts flesh on the bones of the articles in Bible dictionaries and encyclopediae. A valuable resource; highly recommended. [FCP]

Koehler, Ludwig, & Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Study edition (2 vols.). Brill, 2001 (2094pp, hb, $160; c. $112 from www.amazon.com).

The best lexicon of biblical Hebrew and Aramaic is now available at a relatively reasonable cost. The third edition of KBL (completed in 2000) set the standard for biblical lexica, but its five volumes sold for about $500. This new two-volume “study edition” is just as easy to use as the five-volume edition (the type size is only slightly reduced). Words are listed alphabetically, rather than by root, with cross-references to derivatives from the same root. It is difficult to describe just how much better this is than BDB (or anything else). Expensive, but a life-time investment that will pay off with use. Most highly recommended. [FCP]

Kroeger, Catherine Clark, & Mary J. Evans. The IVP Women’s Bible Commentary. IVP, 2002 (838+36 pages of indices, hb).

A one-volume commentary on the entire Bible, written and edited by women, but not limited to women as a potential audience! In fact, male pastors should probably have this commentary on their shelf, if only to get a slightly different—or, in some cases, more than “slightly” different—perspective on the biblical text, particularly when the book in question has feminine themes (e.g., Ezekiel’s descriptions of Oholibah and her sister), although I expected the commentary on Song of Songs, for example, to discuss the relative dominance of the feminine voice in the book. Each commentary (which is about the length and level of, e.g., the New Bible Commentary) is preceded by a brief introduction covering authorship, date, provenance, &c., and an outline of the biblical book. Comments elucidate units of the text, often of one or more chapters. Another useful one-volume work that my wife has found helpful in preparing to lead the women’s Bible study in our church. [FCP]

Pate, C. Marvin, ed. Four Views on the Book of Revelation. Zondervan, 1998 (252 pages, pb, $17).

Another in Zondervan’s Counterpoint Series, in which proponents of various views on a controversial theological topic present their approaches and respond to alternatives. The editor, professor of Bible at Moody, takes a Progressive Dispensationalist approach to Revelation. He is joined by Kenneth Gentry (preterist), Sam Hamstra (idealist), and Robert Thomas (classical dispensationalist). Pate (it seems to me) concedes too much to a figurative approach, allowing Thomas to appear to be the only interpreter going with a literal fulfillment.

It is an interesting reflection on the current situation that there is no representative of the historical view, the claim that the fulfillments of Revelation are scattered more or less uniformly across church history. Instead, there are two versions of the futurist view (most of the book fulfilled at the end of the age), one of the preterist (most fulfilled early in church history), and one of the idealist (a generic picture of the conflict between good and evil). The book provides a nice look at the range of intepretation given to Revelation. [RCN]

Spilsbury, Paul. The Throne, the Lamb, & the Dragon. A Reader’s Guide to the Book of Revelation. IVP, 2002 (156 pages, pb, $13).

A tour of the book of Revelation (not a commentary) intended to help the reader see that the book is relevant for today. The author’s approach is basically idealist (rather than preterite, futurist, or historical); that is, he seeks to show how the teachings of Revelation help us understand the Christian life in terms of God’s sovereignty in our lives, the work of Christ, warfare with Satan, the coming judgment, and the life beyond this one. My own read would be that the book of Revelation is a combination of preterite (alluding to symbols and events understandable to the original readers), idealist (providing perspectives and encouragement for Christians in the midst of opposition), and futurist (showing us how God is going to bring things to a close). Therefore, though I think that the idealist take on Revelation is not the whole story, it does help us see how the book applies to Christians even though they may be many centuries from the end of the age, which (in retrospect) has certainly been true of the church over most of its history, and Spilsbury’s work is a user-friendly application of that approach. [RCN]

Theology & History

Brenda E. Brasher, ed. Encyclopedia of Fundamentalism. Routledge, 2001 (558 pp, hb, $125.00).

This third work in the Routledge Encyclopedias of Religion and Society examines Fundamentalism (defined broadly to include religions other than Christianity) from a sociological perspective. Articles tend to concentrate on Protestant Fundamentalism in the US, and include its religious context, major features of its history, beliefs, institutions, movements, denomina tions, sects, perspectives on political and social issues, and various significant individuals. Not surprisingly, given the publisher, most of the articles are secular and not very sympathetic. But one of the editors is at Biola and so a number of contributors are more evangelical. The encyclopedia contains nearly 200 articles, plus an index and a list of contributors (with institu tional identification) and the articles they wrote. I wrote the articles “Creation” and “Creationism,” and was glad to see they were published without modification. The article “Evolution and Antievolution” was also more sympathetic than I expected. A helpful resource on how evangelical Christians are viewed by academia. [RCN]

Cooper, John W. Body, Soul, & Life Everlasting. A Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate. Eerdmans, 1989 (262 pages, pb, $24).

When this was written, the author was associate prof of philosophical theology at Calvin Seminary. The book is an outstanding tour of the debate among Christians over the nature of human beings—are we the sort of beings whose soul can exist apart from the body (dualism), or are we so constructed that we are a unity, in which case body and soul are inseparable (monism)? Cooper comes down on the dualist side of the debate. He prefers to call his view “holistic dualism”, as he feels that the Bible indicates that humans were intended to be forever in both body and soul (rejecting the Platonic idea of eternity in heaven as souls without bodies). Yet he sees (correctly, I believe) that the biblical teaching on the intermediate state (between death and resurrection) is not consistent with the monistic views that are quite popular in Christian academic circles. This book, though not very recent, is still in print. [RCN]

Cowan, Steven B., ed. Five Views on Apologetics. Zondervan, 2000.

Perhaps the best overview of evangelical approaches to apologetics to date, this collection of essays is a discussion of apologetic theory, not a handbook of apologetics per se. The essays are weighted slightly toward a more “classical approach” to apologetics, since the “classical approach” (argued by William Lane Craig), the “evidential approach” (argued by Gary Habermas) and “cumulative case approach” (argued by Paul Feinberg) are really all just slight variations of what many would consider the “traditional approach” to apologetics; their differences are only in the kind of evidence they would present (or which evidence they would present first), and how decisively that evidence proves Christianity to be the “only rational worldview.” Specifically, Craig suggests that one should prove the existence of God in general, before moving on to discuss Jesus being God’s one true image/representative. Habermas argues that, if Jesus be God and the evidence for the resurrection proves it, more generalist arguments for theism are superfluous. Meanwhile, Feinberg argues for using any and all evidence, but he insists that no single line of evidence is foolproof; the best that can be achieved is for a variety of evidential arguments to show Christianity to be the most probable of worldview alternatives.

Frame (“presuppositionalism”) and Clark (an apologetic based on “Reformed Epistemology”) present variations of a more Van Tilian approach, though neither represents “pure” (i.e., original) Van Tilianism. Clark’s approach is, perhaps, the most avant-garde in the book; he combines aspects of Van Tilian presuppositionalism with aspects of ad hoc postmodern evangelical apologetics (cf. Cornelius Plantinga) to construct a quite flexible (but admittedly non-foolproof) approach. Clark’s claim to “Reformed Epistemology” seems almost designed deliberately to tweak the more traditional Van Tilians (and, if this was the goal, he succeeds; Frame several times voices his umbrage at the implication that Clark’s approach is “more Reformed” than his).

This book provides a valuable overview and good interaction; it is also valuable in that it demonstrates the development and maturation of evangelical apologetics. It seems that each author is determined not to allow his viewpoint’s traditional weaknesses to become manifest in their discussion. E.g., Craig, the strongest Arminian and most ardent defender of “libertarian human free will,” spends about half of his chapter explaining why the Holy Spirit’s supernatural work on the unbeliever’s heart and mind is essential for any apologetic arguments to “work.” Frame spends over half his chapter explaining how a generally presuppositionalist approach can and does employ evidential arguments for theism and the truth of Christianity. In the end, the reader recognizes that evangelical apologetic approaches are not as far apart as they used to be, and the whole enterprise is, perhaps, becoming more refined. These developments are to the great benefit of the evangelical movement as a whole. [RTM]

Hart, D. G., & Mark A. Noll (eds.), Dictionary of the Presbyterian and Reformed Tradition in America. IVP, 1999.

The strong point of this new dictionary of Reformed thinkers and movements is its focus on distinctly American aspects of Reformed theology, persons, and/or Presbyterian churches. E.g., it includes fairly lengthy entries on “The Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversies,” “Presbyterians and Capitalism,” “Presbyterians and the Civil War,” “the Bible Presbyterian Church,” as well as on people like “Donald Grey Barnhouse,” “Carl McIntire,” and “J. Oliver Buswell” (though, regrettably, not Allan A. MacRae). Often overlooked Southern Presbyterians, like James Hall Brookes, L. Nelson Bell, and Robert McQuilken, are also finally given some long overdue attention.

While I have occasionally been disappointed by the exclusion of certain American Presbyterians (especially disappointing since some non-Americans are included; e.g., Herman Bavinck, Abraham Kuyper), I have more often been surprised to find helpful entries in this volume on persons and subjects that I could not find elsewhere. Under 300 pages, one should not look to this volume to be an exhaustive reference tool. As a supplement to the Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith (ed., Donald K. McKim [Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992}), however, it is invaluable. (Cf. also the Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology, ed. Nigel Cameron, David Wright, David Lachman, and Donald Meek [Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1993]). [RTM] 

Hunter, George G., III. The Celtic Way of Evangelism. How Christianity can reach the West … Again. Abingdon, 2001 (144pp, pb, $15).

A delightful work that points to early Celtic evangelism and missions and asks how the lives and ministries that gave the Gospel such freedom and power in Celtic society might strengthen the Church’s witness today. Hunter sets forth a compellingly suggestive (rather than programmatic) vision of an indigenous church that powerfully affected the surrounding culture, and suggests parallels in our context. A book worthy of serious consideration by pastors and others concerned with outreach. [FCP]

Kerr, Hugh T., & John M. Mulder, eds. Famous Conversions. The Christian Experience. Eerdmans, 1983, reprinted 1996 (265 pages, pb).

A delightful book, now back in print, that records—in their own words—the testimonies of Christians from the Apostle Paul through Charles Colson. Each testimony is introduced by a brief biographical sketch; the introduction is an excellent brief “theology of conversion”. Great material for devotional reading, sermon illustrations, or simply to see the variety of the work of God in the human heart. [FCP]

McGrath, Alister E., ed. Christian Literature. An Anthology. Blackwell, 2001 (xx+752+44 pages, pb).

In compiling this voluminous anthology, Alister McGrath intended to help readers enjoy the range and contribution of English Christian literature of the past two thousand years, based on the writings of ninety-one authors from Clement of Rome to Garrison Keillor. The selections are well-chosen, and placed in their setting by an introduction to each period (Patristic, to 600; English & Irish, c. 600-1050; Middle Ages, 1050-1500; Renaissance & Reformation, 1500-1700; Modern, 1700-), an introduction to each author and his or her text, as well as a set of “Questions for Discussion/Study” for each selection. This would be a marvelous tool for a reading group in a church, as an evangelistic tool for the literary-minded (or curious), or to accompany a course in church history or historical theology, as well as providing excellent illustrative material and food for thought for the minister. Highly recommended. [FCP]

Overman, Dean L. A Case Against Accident and Self-Organization. Rowan & Littlefield, 2001 (245 pages, pb, $18.95).

The author is another lawyer (in addition to Phil Johnson and Wendell Bird) who has gotten interested in the presuppositions, logic, and data of the origins controversy. Like Johnson and Bird, Overman has read an enormous amount of material, and has a surprisingly good handle on it. He concentrates, as the title suggests, on the materialist (atheist, naturalist) claim that the universe always has been, or merely happened, or is one of an infinite set of baby universes, and that life arose by accident or by some unknown natural process that generates order or complexity out of disorder or simplicity. A well-done tour which is (reasonably) readable by the lay person. The foreword, interestingly, is by Wolfhart Pannenberg. [RCN]

Rambo, Lewis R. Understanding Religious Conversion. Yale University Press, 1993.

Rambo provides an inductive, sociological investigation of the factors that typically contribute to a person’s conversion from one worldview to another. Though Rambo has some evangelical credentials (e.g., he taught at TEDS at one point), he has either left evangelicalism altogether (he now teaches at San Francisco TS) or has taken great pains to not allow his evangelical commitments to affect his sociological investigation; he treats conversion to Islam or atheism as sociologically equivalent to conversion to “Bible-believing Christianity”.

This does not eclipse the value of his study, however. He demonstrates inductively (and convincingly) that average persons do not instantly or immediately change their worldview. Rather, such a radical paradigm shift is normally preceded by some sort of “crisis” (physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual) that sends the person on a “quest” for meaning, personal significance, or transcendental truth. Usually, the switch from one worldview to another is made gradually and incrementally, with a would-be “evangelist” coming alongside the person in their quest, allowing them to envision “from a safe distance” the implications of taking on a new identity and joining a new community of “believers.”

By itself, this book is clearly inadequate, from an evangelical standpoint. It gives no attention to the truth or falsehood of any particular worldview, much less to the role of the Holy Spirit in conversion. Nevertheless, for evangelical Christian leaders who are already well-equipped in regard to these aspects of the issues, Rambo’s insights may add a new dimension to one’s view of evangelism, discipleship, and apologetics in our contemporary age. [RTM]

Spiegel, James S. Hypocrisy. Moral Fraud & Other Vices. Baker, 1999 (147+37 pages of notes & bibliography; pb, $15).

An intriguing philosophical and psychological investigation of the nature of hypocrisy and self-deception. Spiegel (assoc. prof. of philosophy, Taylor) sketches the historical discussion of hypocrisy, then describes different types of moral inconsistency in order to attempt a definition, which he develops in conversation with other approaches. A thought-provoking look at a universal human condition, that ends with a very helpful discussion of four forms of the oft-adduced argument that “The Church is full of hypocrites!” An excellent resource for personal enrichment or as background for preaching or teaching personal ethics. [FCP]

Svendsen, Eric D. Who is My Mother? The Role & Status of the Mother of Jesus in the New Testament and Roman Catholicism. Calvary Press, 2001 (334 pages, pb, $24.99).

A revision of the author’s PhD dissertation at Greenwich School of Theology (UK), this irenic but carefully exegeted biblical study of Mary should help clarify this topic that separates evangelicals and Roman Catholics. After an overview of RC Mariology, the author devotes chapters to Marian issues in Matt 1.18-25, particularly the meaning of the Greek word translated “until” in the NT, the LXX, and extra-biblical literature. He also investigates the NT material on the brothers of Jesus, the status of Mary in the Synoptics, (especially in Luke-Acts), so-called marian symbolism in Luke, Mary in the Gospel of John, and Mary in Revelation 12. He concludes with some suggestions regarding a NT Mariology. There are also several helpful appendices. The book is not listed on amazon.com, but the publisher is at www.calvarypress.com. [RCN]

Other Subjects

Comfort, Philip, & Daniel Partner, eds. The One Year Book of Poetry. Tyndale, 1999 (c. 800 [unnumbered] pages, hb).

A daily devotional guide based on poems from across the traditions of the Church. The poems, selected for “the virtue of [their] content”, are “at the very least, compatible with biblical Christianity” (from the Introduction). Each day’s reading includes a one-page poem and a page of commentary, with some longer poems spread across several days (e.g., “The Hound of Heaven” fills five pages/days). The comments generally elucidate and apply the poem, rather than discuss its poetic form, and suggest a related biblical text. Indices by poet, title, first line, and topic (but not by Scripture) make individual poems more immediately accessible (there is no table of contents). A well-planned resource that will greatly encourage anyone who uses it. [FCP]

Witherington, Ben, III, & Christopher Mead Armitage. The Poetry of Piety. An Annotated Anthology of Christian Verse. Baker, 2002 (175 pages, pb $17).

Witherington (prof. of NT at Asbury TS) and Armitage (prof. of English at U of North Carolina) present the work twenty-eight poets from the late sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. They briefly introduce each poet, and then follow his (most of the authors are male) poem with a simple literary analysis (“The Poetry”), theological critique (“The Piety”), and a few devotional “Questions for Reflection”. Most of the authors are represented by one poem—the exceptions tend to be older writers (e.g., Donne, Herrick, Herbert, Marvell, but also Hopkins, Eliot). The authors do not—unfortunately—address the issue of why Christians should read poetry, and this book implies that poetry’s primary purpose is devotional, so that the poems are judged primarily on their theological accuracy. Blake’s “Jerusalem”, for example, is condemned since we are not called to ecological efforts to build the New Jerusalem (90). Christians just discovering poetry will doubtless find this a helpful introduction (although they will probably find a standard text book, such as Perrine’s Sound & Sense more helpful), and some of the particular insights offered are helpful. A nice source for a church trying to start a poetry circle—something that might be a wise form of outreach in our society. [FCP]

Contributors
RTM R. Todd Mangum (ext. 132)
PGM Philip G. Monroe (ext. 142)
RCN Robert C. Newman (ext. 153)
FCP Frederic Clarke Putnam, ed. (ext. 150)
JRV J. Robert Vannoy (ext. 130)