Sbjt v14 n3 Book Reviews

8122019 Sbjt v14 n3 Book Reviews

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsbjt-v14-n3-book-reviews 123



95

what they are brought up to do in their respectivechurches or sub-cultural Christ ian groups Part 1

would repay careful study by such people Section A of Par t 2 (Questions Related to Interpretation)is likewise probably new ground for many Chris-tians alt hough much of the content deals with

things that for many are intuitive though bestnot le to chance ere are also practical issuesof becoming beer interpreters and reference tohelps that are available

Section B of Part 2 (Questions Related to Mean-

ing ) deals with some vital issues both practicaland theoretical in determining the meaning ofa text ese include ldquoCan a text have more thanone meaningrdquo ldquoW hat is the overarching mes-sage of the Biblerdquo and ldquoIs the Bible really allabout Jesusrdquo These are crucial questions sincethey relate to the whole task of understanding theBible as Godrsquos word to us Ch ristians in the hereand now

Part 3 takes us to the practical maers of deal-ing with different kinds of texts in the Bible ispart as far as it goes is ful l of useful helps to read-ing the Bible Plummer takes us through some ofthe various genres found in both Testaments suchas narrative prophecy and apocalyptic e treat-ment of genres found mainly in one or other Testa-

ment include proverbs poetry psalms parablesand epistles Each Question is provided with wellthought-out answers that point up the characteris-tics of each genre so that they are not read as some-thing that they are not intended to be

It is this section that I feel lacks an impor-tant dimension Notwithstanding the questionsalready dealt with in Part 2 Section B a reader

wanting to k now how to deal wit h t he Old Tes-tament genres such as proverbs or prophecy maystill well ask aer reading the relevant chapters

ldquoWhat do I do nowrdquo Even though these chaptersfollow one on ldquoIs the whole Bible about Jesusrdquo(to which the answer is an unequivocal ldquoyesrdquo)how one makes the link between narrative or

wisdom te xts a nd Jesus is not i n my opinion atall clear A preacher a Sunday School teacher or

even a Christian parent all wanting to point theirrespective audiences to Christ from say an OldTestament narrative or prophecy might feel thatlile guidance is given as to how one gets from thetext to a Christian application that honors ChristGenre identification is crucial But understanding

the characteristics of say proverbial literature isonly the first part of interpretation of the relevant

biblical textsOf course it is unfair to criticize a book for not

doing what it was never intended to do Biblicalinterpretation is such a n important issue that i nplaces can be rather involved Perhaps it needsmore than one volume in this series to do it jus-tice even at the level of the non-technical readerHow many readers are going to follow up on thesuggested readings to find answers to their furtherquestions Probably not many Given the arti fi-cial constraints of the ldquo40 Questionsrdquo format this

book does succeed in ant icipating a nd aski ng anumber of pertinent questions (FAQs) about bib-lical interpretation and then in providing muchuseful information about them It simply cannotdeal in depth with the issues of interpreting textsespecially from the Old Testament in a way thatrelates them to the New Testamentrsquos claims that

Jesus is subject maer of al l Scripture While pro-

viding a good introduction to the non-technicallytrained its value for preachers and the theologi-cally l iterate is to some extent limited

991252Graeme Goldsworthy Visiting Lecturer in Hermeneutics

Moore eological College Sydney Australia

Apocalypse and Allegiance Worship Polit ics and

Devotion in the Book o Revelation By J Nelson

Kraybill Grand Rapids MI Brazos Press 2010224 pp $2199 paper

J Nelson Kraybill received his PhD from Unioneological Seminary in Virginia He has servedas president of the Associated Mennonite Bibli-



96

cal Seminary e Book of Revelation has been atopic of teaching and learning for the author formore than twenty years He is also the author of

Imperial Cult and Commerce in Johnrsquos Apocalypse When I approach a book on Johnrsquos Revelation

Irsquom always cautious I donrsquot know if Irsquom going to be

engrossed into so much contextual detail that Irsquomstuck in the past with no relevance for today or ifIrsquom going to be surrounded by a hyper-sensationaltelevangelist view that has only a sl ight relevanceto the text To my delight this book was neitherIn addition the usual end-time structures are nothere Kraybill creates a refreshing structure thatcommunicates what he believes is the essentialmessage of Johnrsquos letter His unique approachlends itself to Kraybillrsquos purpose of identifyingthe key political systems of emperor worship the

kingdom of God and how they are influencingpeople in both Johnrsquos day and ours The authorhas struck a great balance in his work Kraybillrsquoscultural understanding of first century Rome willgive any reader a clearer view of the political struc-ture of Johnrsquos day which will be the ty pe in theend of the present age

Joh nrsquos let ter clearly paints a por tr ait of twokingdoms at war As indicated by the title of this

book Kraybil l believes the main emphasis in Rev-elation is worship and understanding worshipintertwined in the political and spiritual forces inthe current and future age Kraybill interprets theemperor worship of Johnrsquos day as the ty pe that wil lencompass men in the end to demand worship Atthe same time he rightly points to the Revelationas a leer which opens up the heavens and givesthe reader a vision of the truelovingjust God

who is in control no maer what ci rcumstancesmay surround a believer991252even marty rdom

is text is recommended for two specific pur-

poses e authorrsquos exegetical and cultural infor-mation on the Roman Empire is outstanding is

book wi ll lend itself to the any student as an aideto understand the culture of the New Testamentin general Kraybillrsquos information expands beyondthe Book of Revelation to help every Christian

understand Jesusrsquo words to followers words suchas ldquocount the costrdquo or ldquotake up your cross andfollow merdquo K raybill clearly defines the politicaland social pressure Rome placed the early churchunder and the cost to follow Christ

Second the judgment of God and the wrath

of Satan in Revelation are extremely violent It was a curiosity of mine to how a Mennonite wouldapproach Johnrsquos Revelat ion as Mennonites aretraditionally pacifists Kraybillrsquos insight into theuse of violence its place and understanding inScripture and the proper Christian response areadmirable

991252Gary D Almon Assistant Professor of Christian Education

e Southern Baptist eological Seminar y

Heaven and Earth in the Gospel o Mahew By Jon-athan T Pennington Grand Rapids MI Baker2009 xv + 399 pp $4299 paper

is book is a revised version of the doctoral dis-sertation of Jonathan Pennington submitted toSt Andrews University in Scotland and origi-nally published by Brill in the Netherlands as theNovum Testamentum Supplements Series Pen-nington currently teaches New Testament at eSouthern Baptist eological Seminary

Before I started reading this book I had simplyassumed that Matthewrsquos preference for ldquoKing-dom of Heavenrdquo instead of ldquoKingdom of Godrdquo

was due to the Hebr aic character of Mat thewThe Evangelist used ldquoHeavenrdquo as a circumlocu-tion for ldquoGodrdquo and employed it in order to avoid

writing the divine na me for God due to h is Jew-ish sensitivities I thought it was rather akin to

modern rabbinic authors who write ldquoG-drdquo forldquoGodrdquo I am quite happy to say that Penningtonhas sowed seeds of doubt in my mind on thistopic In a thorough and robust study of the topicPennington successful ly shows that ldquoKingdom ofHeavenrdquo is not merely a circumlocution for ldquoKing-



97

dom of Godrdquo991252rather it is part of a highly devel-oped cosmological discourse about t he heavensand the earth in relation to God Jesus and theChurch Pennington maintains that ldquoKingdomof Heavenrdquo highlights a particular spatial under-standing of the universe as well as of Godrsquos reign

Penningtonrsquos thesis is based on his observation offour distinctive aspects of Mahewrsquos use of heav-enly language in the Beatitudes Lordrsquos Prayerecclesiological passages Great Commission andldquoKingdomrdquo references (1) Mahewrsquos intentionaldistinction between the singular and plural usesof the Greek ouranosouranoi and his preferencefor the latter (2) the frequent use of t he binarypairing of heaven and earth (3) the use of ldquoheav-enly fatherrdquo and ldquoFather in heavenrdquo and (4) thefrequent use of the phrase ldquoKingdom of Heavenrdquo

The path that the book takes is by critiquingthe consensus built on G Dalmanrsquos earlier workthat ldquoheavenrdquo is used as a circumlocution for Godin Second Temple Jewish literature and the Gos-pel of Mahew (chapter 1) He then proceeds toconduct a general survey about ldquoheavenrdquo in theOld Testament and Second Temple Jewish litera-ture (chapter 2) and also in the Gospel of Mat-thew (chapter 3) Pennington then shows howthis heavenly theme interacts with an array ofother topics in Mahew (chapter 4) ereaerPennington examines several topics in the OldTestament Second Temple literature and Mat-thew including ouranosouranoi (chapters 5 and6) heaven and earth (chapters 7 and 8) God asFather (chapters 9 and 10) the kingdom of God inthe Old Testament and Second Temple literature(chapter 11) and Mahewrsquos usage of ldquoK ingdom ofHeavenrdquo (chapter 12)

In the conclusion Pennington ex plores the way that Kingdom of Heaven relates to Mahewrsquos

dualistic worldview and his symbolic universeHe also provides an interestingly brief surveyof the reception of ldquoKingdom of Heavenrdquo in theearly church whereby Christians were not look-ing for a political kingdom on earth but for atranscendent one In sum Pennington believes

that understanding ldquoK ingdom of Heavenrdquo in acosmologicalworldview framework has the fol-lowing the implications (1) it emphasizes theuniversality of Godrsquos dominion (2) it makes aclear biblical-theological connection with the OldTestament (3) it strengthens the Christological

claims of the Gospel (4) undergirds the ethicalteaching of Jesus and (5) legitimates and encour-ages Mahewrsquos readers as the true people of GodPennington successfully shows how Matthewintended to reconfigure the worldview of the read-ers so that they would align their behavior beliefsand values with the God who dwells in heaven

e other interesting thing about this book isthat it taught me a new word ldquocornucopiardquo whichmeans ldquoabundancerdquo May Penningtonrsquos work onMahew receive a cornucopia of aention

991252Michael F BirdLecturer in eological Studies

Crossway College

The Hebrew Bible A Comparative Approach ByChristopher D Stanley Minneapolis MN For-tress 2010 xvi + 544 pp $4200 paper

Christopher Stanley is a Pauli ne scholar at StBonaventure University and even though Stan-ley ventured outside his primary field of study inproducing this volume he exhibits a keen grasp ofthe history debates and current trends of thought

with in Old Testament studiesis textbook is designed to appeal to a range

of opinions by claiming to interpret topics fromthe perspectives of three groups of scholars ldquocon-servativesrdquo which ldquoadhere to traditional ideasabout the divi ne inspiration of the Bible and

therefore believe that the Bible should be trustedas a historical sourcerdquo ldquomaximalistsrdquo which donot let religious beliefs ldquointerfere with historicalresearchrdquo yet believe that the ldquomajority of the sto-ries are based on earlier oral or wrien traditionsthat contained significant amounts of historically





99

intriguing connections between the leers of Johnand the leers to the seven churches in Revelation2-3 In view of the lack of consensus regarding 1

Johnrsquos or gani zat ion he rel ies on divi sion s that became standard among scr ibal copyists whichare reflected in the inner margina l numbers of

NA 27 ese are the basis for his detai led exegeti-cal outl ine of 1 John Yarbroughrsquos discussion ofthe theology of John concludes that the center of

Johnrsquos thought is the same as the center of Paul rsquosas argued by Thomas Schreiner ldquothe grandeurand centrality of Godrdquo (27)

Here I can only survey some conclusionsespoused in the commentary but the evidenceadduced for them is of the highest quality Readers

will want to avail themselves of these arguments As the commentar y unfolds Yarbrough helpful ly

identifies Johnrsquos focus on believing doing andloving On 1 John 22 he explains that ldquoJesus didnot suffer for every individual indiscriminately

but part icul ar ly for those whom God knew he would saverdquo agreeing w ith Calvin on the pointthat ldquolsquothe whole worldrsquo refers to believers scat-tered everywhere and in all timesrdquo (80) is doesnot keep him from adding in the next sentenceldquoAnd yet none of this rules out certain positive

benefits991252Godrsquos common grace to humans gener-ally that are spin-offs of the central redeeming

benefit proper of the crossrdquo (81) He also affirmsthat the gospel can be offered to all in good faithOn 212-13 Yarbrough takes ldquolile childrenrdquo torefer to the whole audience which is then dividedinto older and younger with the address to fathersand young men The lust of the flesh lust of theeyes and pride of life in 216 are aptly explained asldquowhat the body hankers for and the eyes itch to seeand what people toil to acquirerdquo (134) e com-ing antichrist in 218 seems to be an individual

whi le the antichrists are r ingleaders of doctrinalaberration or ethical laxity The sense in whichChristians do not sin (eg 36) is that they do notstrike ldquoan advanced or confirmed posture of non-compliance with Johnrsquos messagerdquo (185) e waterand blood by which Jesus came in 56 refer to his

baptism and death (282) The s in unto deat h in516 ldquois simply violation of the fundamental termsof relationship with God that Jesus Christ medi-atesrdquo (310) and this is ldquoto have a heart unchanged

by Godrsquos love in Chr ist and so persist in convic-tions and acts and commitmentsrdquo that betray

unbelief (311)Robert Yarbrough has given us what is in my

opinion the best commentary on the Johannineepistles available Slightly more detailed thanDaniel L Akinrsquos excellent volume (2001 NAC)this will be the first one I turn to and the first Irecommend

991252James M Hamilton Jr Associate Professor of Biblical eolog y

e Southern Baptist eological Seminary

Encounters with Biblical eology By John J Col-lins M inneapolis MN Fortress 2005 243 pp$2600 paper

John J Coll ins of Yale is not to be confused withC John Collins of Covenant Seminar y This

volu me is a collection of essays publ ished overthe course of 30 years These essays ldquoattempt toaddress biblical theology consistently from theperspective of historical criticismrdquo (1) Collinsrejects irrelevance and orthodox Christ ianityrefusing to bracket ldquoout all questions of the sig-nificance of the text for the modern worldrdquo as wellas ldquoa view of biblical theology as a confessionalenterpriserdquo (1-2)

Collins believes that his tory has shown theBible to be erroneous (4) that archaeology ldquoisoften at odds with the biblical account of earlyIsraelite historyrdquo (5) and that ldquoThe testimony

about the conquest of Canaan by divine com-mand runs afoul of modern sensibilities aboutthe morality of genocide No one in modern plu-ralist society ca n live in a world that is shaped

by the Biblerdquo (5) Col li ns evaluates the Biblersquoshistorical ethical and theological claims from



100

a position of superiority He writes ldquoT hink forexample of Abrahamrsquos wi llingness to sacrificehis son depicted as a heroic act of faith of thecommand to slaughter the Canaanites the lawsabout slavery or the treatment of women Anyaempt to apply [the Bible] to a modern situation

or to deduce ethical principles from it must beapproached with caution It is also too dan-gerous to be removed from public discussion andrelegated to the realm of unquestioned belief andacceptancerdquo (7)

Considering the last century of discussion Col-lins explains ldquoere have always been aempts byreligious conservatives to evade the consequencesof historical criticism for biblical theologyrdquo butBrevard Childs has sought to move beyond theproblems not by rejecting or disputing historical

criticism but by granting it ldquono theological impor-tancerdquo Collins writes that Childs failed because ofinconsistency because there never has been anynormative canon like Childsrsquos because Childsrsquosapproach lacks ldquoexplanatory powerrdquo lacks a her-meneutic like Bultmannrsquos that would ldquoprovide thecommon ground necessary for intelligibilityrdquo and

because Childsrsquos proposal isolates ldquobibl ical the-ology from much of what is vital and interestingin biblical studies todayrdquo Collins concludes thatChildsrsquos approach is ldquoself-defeatingrdquo (15)

Collins rightly points out that ldquoHistorical criti-cism consistently understood is not compatible

with a confessional theology that is commied tospecific doctrines on the basis of faithrdquo He insistsldquoIt is however quite compatible with theologyunderstood as an open-ended and critical inquir yinto the meaning and function of God-languagerdquoCollins holds that historical criticism is t husthe best framework for doing biblical theology

because ldquo it provides a broad framework for schol-

arly dialoguerdquo991252with everyone except orthodoxChristians991252and in th is case the ldquomain contri-

bution of the bibl ical theologian is to clarif y thegenre of the biblical material in the broad sense ofthe way in which it should be read and the expec-tations that are appropriate to itrdquo (22)

For Collins theology should be ldquoan academicdiscipline which is analytical rather than confes-sionalrdquo and provides the valid contribution of ldquotheanalysis of biblical God-languagerdquo He explainsthat ldquoThis model is designed for the academyrather than for the church but its practical value

should not be underestimatedrdquo (27) Biblical the-ology contributes to the history of religions

Knowing as he does that the book of Daniel was wr itten af ter the event s it prophesie s and was falsely aributed to Daniel Collins exploreshow ldquoas Childs observes lsquothe issue continues totrouble the average lay readerrsquordquo991252the issue thatldquoe writer were he not Daniel must have lied ona most frightful scalerdquo (28) As mentioned aboveCollins embraces a belief system he finds superiorto the Biblersquos on historical theological and ethical

levels so he is able to see that in the case of Daniel whi le ldquothe common people accepted the ar ibu-tion [to Daniel] or the message would lose muchof its effectrdquo the ldquocircle of authors In view ofthe urgency of the message considered the lit-erary fiction justi fied and that it did not detractfrom the religious value of the revelationrdquo (29) SoCollins can see from his perspective that the ends

justi fy the means but what he does not e xploreis the way that991252if he is correct about what theydid991252the ends of these authors are betrayed andundermined by the means they used

For the present reviewer this collection ofessays contributes lile to the discussion of bib-lical theology because Collins is not actually

writi ng about bibl ical theolog y Th is col lectionof essays presents the aempt of a learned man toargue that even though he has rejected the Bible

what he says about the Bible remains relevant forethics and theology ere is a remarkable tensionin the pages of this volume as Collins seems to

recognize as he tries to ex plain away the realitythat he has replaced what he sees as the exclusiveintolerant faith based claims of those who believethe Bible with his own set of faith based claimsthat exclude and refuse to tolerate those who

believe the Bible In the process of exclud ing and



101

refusing to tolerate those who believe the BibleCollins wants to w rite in such a way that whathe says about the Bible remains relevant to those

who care about the Bible Such an approach seemsdoomed to fail since it is internally inconsistent

991252James M Hamilton Jr Associate Professor of Biblical eology


e Holy Spirit By F LeRon Shults and A ndreaHollingsworth Grand R apids MI Eerdmans2008 viii + 156 pp $1600 paper

It used to be said and with good reason that thedoctrine of the Holy Spirit was ldquothe Cinderella

of theologyrdquo but such cannot be said now Bookson the Spirit have multiplied dramatically in thepast forty years or so due to the emergence of theCharismatic movement and the worldwide spreadof Pentecostalism as well as t he re-discovery ofthe Trinity by scholars and church leaders alikeIn this current wave of interest in the Spirit thisrecent study by F LeRon Shults professor of the-ology at the University of Agder KristiansandNorway and Andrea Hollingsworth a PhD can-didate at Loyola University is one of t he betterstudies of the historical development of Christianthinking about the Spirit

e authors see two main sources shaping thisdevelopment991252Scripture and ldquothe cultural con-text of the Churchrdquo (17) With regard to the laerthey are alert for example to the influence of Mid-dle Platonism on such second and third centuryChristian authors as Justin Martyr and Origen(18ndash23) and t hat of A ristotelian ism on T homas

Aquinas (42) e authors also point out the pas-

toral concerns that gu ided much of the patrist icpneumatological reflection (25-29 32) and rightlynote the vital role played by the Cappadocians inthe advance of this reflection (25) e key leaderopposing the Cappadocians however was not thesomewhat shadowy Macedonius as Shults and

Hollingsworth claim but Basil of Caesarearsquos one-time mentor and friend Eustathius of Sebaste (25)

August inersquos interpretation of the eternal proces-sion of the Spirit from the Father and the Son the filioque is seen as having roots in Scripture (35) but also anthropological presuppositions (33-34)

Differing f rom the authors however this reviewer would tend to view scr iptural concerns as beingthe more dominant influence (33)

After a ver y hel pful review of the med iev alscene991252both East and West991252as it relates to theSpirit (38-44) the authors deal with the Reform-ers Regi n Prenterrsquos semina l work on Lutherrsquospneumatology Spiritus Creator (1953) rightlyorients their discussion of Luther e treatmentof Calvin though is not as helpful His influentialformulation of the inner witness of the Spirit is

overlooked entirely while his struggle to affirmthe rectitude of classical patristic terminology asit relates to the Trinity991252the use of terms such asousia and hypostasis991252is not fully recognized

The tradition that comes from Calvin andfellow Reformed theologians what is calledldquoReformed scholast icismrdquo (59) is depicted asone that hardly mentions the Spirit (though cp49) What the authors do not consider howeveris the tremendous contribution made by theReformed tradition in the British Isles namelyPuritanism In a major lacuna none of the greatPuritan divines who wrote extensively on theSpirit991252Richard Sibbes John Owen John Flavelomas Goodwin or John Howe991252is referencedlet alone discussed In fact whatever else the Puri-tans may have been991252social political and eccle-siastical Reformers991252they were primarily menand women intensely passionate about piety andChristian experience By and large united in theirCalvinism the Puritans believed that every aspect

of their spiritual lives came from the work of theHoly Spirit

Another great era of interest in the Spi rit theeighteenth century is focused in three pages (60-62) and on three figures Nicholas von Zinzendorf(his middle name Ludwig is used instead of the



102

more normal Nicholas in the book [60]) JonathanEdwards and John Wesley Zinzendorf is under-standably included because of his unique991252atleast for the eighteenth century991252description ofthe Spirit as ldquoMotherrdquo Edwardsrsquos Trinitarianismis seen as critical to understanding the Ameri-

can theologian while the l inks of Wesley withpatristic streams of pneumatology and his life-long concern to link pneumatology and ethics arehighlighted

In their treatment of the nineteenth and twen-tieth centuries the authors point to the enor-mous influence exercised by Charles Hodge overReformed thought in North A merica as well asupon twentieth century fu ndamentalism andevangelicalism Interest in the Spiritrsquos work wasnarrowed to his inspiration of the Scriptures and

his sanctification of believers (68) ere seemslile doubt that it was this legacy in part that pre-

vented Reformed fundamentalist and evangeli-cal theologians from adequately responding toPentecostalism a s it emerged in the first decadeof the twentieth century (68-72) e treatmentof twentieth century authors from the ecumeni-cal feminist and liberation theology traditionsis helpful in mak ing sense of these different tradi-tions as they relate to pneumatology (72-82) isis followed by a superb overview of such twen-tieth century theologians as Karl Barth (who itis argued played a key role in reviving interestin the Trinity) Karl Rahner Sergius Bulgakov

Wolart Pannenberg Juumlrgen Molt mann Dav idCoffey and Robert Jenson (82-88)

The final section of the essay portion of the book is a provocative look at the fut ure shape ofpneumatology ere have been significant shisin philosophical perspectives in the course ofthe last one hundred years and the authors are

desirous of seeing these shifts reflected in the way we conceive of t he Holy Spirit Shi s in the way we think about the concepts of person mat-ter and force Shults and Hollingsworth believeshould open up new vistas (93-94) though theyare not without an awareness of the way each of

these new vistas also brings challenges991252dangerssuch as pantheism tritheism (a danger faced byproponents of the social analogy of the Trinity)and an imbalance when it comes to the relation-ship between divine sovereignty and human

voluntarism

e final third of the book (99-150) is a superbldquoAnnotated Bibliographyrdquo that could easily bepublished as a stand-alone piece

991252Michael A G HaykinProfessor of Church History and

Biblical Spiritualitye Southern Baptist eological Seminary

Dietrich Bonhoeer 1906-1945 Martyr Thinker

Man o Resistance By Ferdinand SchlingensiepenTranslated by Isabel Best New York TampT Clark2010 xxx + 439 pp $2995

Although Dietr ich Bon hoef fer (1906 -45) on lylived for the first half of the twentieth century theGerman theologian is one of the most influentialChristian thinkers of that entire century ereis of course a deep level of interest generated ina life like his that was lived in such world-shakingcircumstances e unrelenting stream of bookson his contemporary Winston Churchill is evi-dence of the same But there is no doubt that hisprofound existential reflections on the questionof what it means to be a Christ ian in our modern

world991252reflections that were lived out in the hor-rors of the Nazi regime991252are a key reason for thearaction of this German theologian W hateveronersquos belief about the rectitude of Bonhoefferrsquosdecision to be actively involved in the July 1944plot to kill Hitler there is without a shadow of a

doubt much to be learned from this remarkableman about Christian discipleship

This new biography of Bonhoeffer by pastor-theologian Ferdinand Sch lingensiepen whosefather was involved in the Confessing Churchand who is himself a close friend of Eberhard





104

ously skews t he evidence Of course freedomfrom external coercion has always been a majorconcern of Baptist apologetics But up unti l thetwentieth century this emphasis has generallynever been at the expense of a clear and explicitconfessionalism

Of the many confessions of faith that Baptistshave produced991252and they have produced a goodlynumber991252none has been more influential than theSecond London Conession popularly known as the

1689 Conession It was not only the confession offaith adopted by the majority of Baptists in theBritish Isles and Ireland from the seventeenth tothe nineteenth centuries but it was also the majorconfessional document on the American Baptistscene where it was known as the Philadelphia

Conession o Faith (1742) and which added an

article on the laying on of hands and also one onthe singing of psalms hymns and spiritual songs

Among Southern Baptists this confession playedan influential role as The Charleston Conession

(1767)1 which became the basis of e Abstract o

Principles the statement of faith of e SouthernBaptist eological Seminary2

is new leather-bound edition of the Second

London Conession is indeed welcome ere werea number of editions in the twentieth century3 butthe advantage of this edition is not only the beau-tiful format in which it has been produced butalso its having James Renihan as the editor andthe inclusion of the original letter to the readerand the addendum on baptism that accompaniedthe 1688 publication4 Renihan is currently oneof the most diligent and carefu l scholars of sev-enteenth-century Calvinistic Baptist life and hisldquoForewordrdquo provides an extremely helpful intro-duction to the Conession detai ling both its prov-enance and its importance e inclusion of the

original leer to the reader and the addendum on baptism are also very welcome since they deepenthe twenty-first century readerrsquos understanding of

both the irenicism and rock-like convictions of themen who signed the Conession5

e list of the original signatories of the Con-

ession is also included (69-70) It is quite a list ofBaptist worthies Among them are the two greatpioneers of Baptist life Hanserd Knollys and Wil-liam Kiffin the most important Baptist theologianof the seventeenth century Benjamin Keach andthose remarkable preachers Hercules Collins and

Andrew Gifford Sr ere is a typographical erroron page 70 in this list of signatories ChristopherPrice was from Abergavenny not Abergayenny

An added bonus to this edition is the inclusionof what is known as Keachrsquos Catechism t houghBenjamin Keach actual ly had nothing to do withthe writing and publication of this catechism Inthe minds of seventeenth-century Protestantsand Baptists are typical in this regard confessionand catechism went together It too is nicely intro-duced by Renihan

ENDNOTES 1The sole area of difference between t he Philadel-

phia Conession and the Charleston Conession was

the laerrsquos omission of the article on the laying on of

hands e 1767 Charleston Conession was reprinted

in 1813 1831 and 1850 2For details of the links between the Charleston Con-

es sio n and the Abstrac t o Pr inc ipl es see Mi chael

A G Hayki n R oger D Duke and A Ja mes Ful ler

Soldiers o Christ Selections fom the Writings o Basil

Manly Sr amp Ba sil M anly Jr (Cape Coral Florida

Founders Press 2009) 36ndash40 3See ings Most Surely Believed Among Us e Bap-

tist Conession o Faith (London Evangelical Press

1958)991252this edition of the Conession has been

published in North America by Gospel Mission

Choteau Montana and Valley Gospel Missions

Langley British Columbia A Faith to Cone ss T he

Baptist Conession o Faith o 1689 (Haywards Heath

Sussex Carey Publications 1975 and 1977) The

Baptist C onession o Fai th 1689 e d Peter M asters(London The Wakeman Trust 1981) See also A

Conession o Faith (1677 ed repr in a facsimile edi-

tion Auburn Massachuse s BampR Press 2000) 4For an exposition of the Conession s ee Samuel E

Wald ron A Modern Exposition o the 1689 Baptist



105

Conession o Faith (Darlington Co Durham Evan-

gelical Press 1989)5The Conession was published in 1677 1688 and

1699 but apparently not in 1689 at was the year it

was adopted at the General Assembly of the Particu-

lar Baptists in London (ix)


Biblical Spiritualitye Southern Baptist eological Seminar y

Why Wersquore All Romans e Roman Contribution

to the Western World By Carl J Richard LanhamMD Rowman amp Lilefield 2010 xviii + 301 pp$2695

A number of recent books have reminded modernmen and women that they are deeply in the debtof various peoples of the past According to thetitles of two such books it was the Irish who savedcivil ization and the Scots who built the modern

world (omas Cahi ll How the Irish Saved Civi-

lization [1995] and A rthur Herman How the

Scots Invented the Modern World [2001]) Anysuch reminder is salutary for as a rule modernstend to think of themselves as self-made men and

women is new work by Carl Richard professorof history at the University of Louisiana L afay-ee picks up this same sort of theme but with adifference this book is essentially an overview ofthe entirety of Roman civil ization Aer a concisesummar y of Roman history from the early daysof the Republic to the fall of the Empire in thefih century (chapter 1) Richard examines suchthings as administration and law (chapter 2) engi-neering and architecture (chapter 3)991252an area in

which due to men li ke Sex tus Jul ius Front inus(35-103983137983140) the water comm issioner of R omeRoman genius shone (59)991252poetry (chapter 4)philosophy and historical works (chapters 6-7)in order to demonstrate that while the Greeks arerightly accorded a key place in the edifice of Occi-

dental culture (see his comments in chapter 9)Rome needs to be recognized as havi ng far moreinfluence By and large Richard who has special-ized in writing works relating to the influence ofclassical civil ization on the West is able to sustainhis thesis

In the final chaptermdashldquoThe Rise and Roman-ization of Christianit yrdquo (chapter 10)991252Richardexamines the emergence of Christianity in theRoman world its rise to dominance in that worldunder Constantine and eodosius I in the fourthcentury and the way in which Christianity was tosome degree Romanized in the process Richardhelpfully lays out the main reasons for the successof Christianity (260-69) even noting such thingsas the difference between pagan and Christian

views of humility (268) He argues that the Chris-

tian focus on love was central to the tr iumph ofthe Christian faith As he notes ldquono other religionhad made it the chief obligation of its adherentsrdquo(266) Surprisingly he comments that withoutPaul Christianity probably would have perished(256) ere is no doubt that Paul was a key fig-ure in the advance of the Faith Lukersquos repetitionof the narrative of his conversion in the Book of

Acts no less than three times certain ly indicatesthat the New Testament historian saw it that wayBut no early Christian would ever have arguedthat Paul was so indispensable that without himChristianity would have disappeared

It is also noteworthy that Richard has somestrong words for what he calls ldquoreplacement the-ologyrdquo namely the idea that the prophecies ofthe Old Testament that refer to Israel are actu-ally to be fulfilled in the realm of the Church notnational Israel In a word such a view is ldquononsensi-calrdquo (272) Here Richard fails to take into consid-eration the way in which the New Testament itself

interprets some of these prophecies and so sets apaern for later patristic exegetes

Overall though this is an excellent study thatcould be used to great advantage in survey coursesof the Roman world and would be very helpfulin orienting students of the New Testament and



106

early Christianity to t he matrix of the AncientChurch


Biblical Spirituality


Out o My Bone The Letters o Joy DavidmanEdited by Don W King Grand Rapids MI Eerd-mans 2009 387 pp $2800

It may be that the best known utterance of JoyDavidman recorded by Warnie Lewis on her firstand rather shocking visit to Magdalen College isldquoIs there anywhere in this monastic establishment

where a lady can relieve herselfrdquo It was this rathershocking woman however of whom C S Lewis

wrote this epitaph

Here the whole world (stars water a ir

And field and forest as they were

Reflected in a single mi nd)

Like cast off clothes was le behind

In ashes yet with hope that she

Re-born from holy poverty

In lenten lands hereaer may

Resume them on her Easter Day

W h at hu ma n m i nd however poor a ndcramped cannot help but reflect the whole worldis is what the mind is made for and what it doesfor no other reason that it has two eyes and standsupon two legs But that is not of course what Joyrsquoshusband wished to have the reader understandabout her He wanted to explain as best he could

why he loved her as the last and greatest gi the

comprehending gift of the world he had grate-fully received from its Creator991252not simply stars

water ai r field and forest simply considered butas the cataphatic emblems of Deep Meaning andSweet Desire for which he had no words Evenin his own world he had a living Narnian star

explain to young Eustace flaming gas is only whatstars are made of not what they are

Joy told a correspondent that of her wr iting Jack liked the poetry best and it is there not in hercorrespondence one discovers her mind ldquopan-ther-likerdquo as a fitting companion for hismdashhow

she could be his intellectual and spiritual peerNeither do her leers go far in explaining his fasci-nation with her why she came to fill a remarkably

Joy-shaped space in his heart as the last stroke of agreat artwork painted on the canvas of Jack Lewis

whose removal by t he same Ar tist was his greattrial of faith and which marked the beginning ofthe end of his life on earth e epitaph was alsohis own for the words were of Joy but the stoneon which they were graven was his own heart

If the sort of correspondence found here

doesnrsquot touch the poetical depths it does ex hibitthe framework of character from which the poetry

was suspended apart from which the poet cannot be known Although there is only minor evidencehere of a pantherine mind there is plenty of theleonine character in which it crouched Contain-ing Joyrsquos known extant correspondence from theage of 26 to her death in 1960 at 45 of its 170-oddletters 100 are to her husbandmdasheventual ly ex-husband991252William (Bill) Lindsay Gresham esecond largest number went to Chad andor Eva

Walsh (14) and the third were of the young Joy tothe poet and novelist Stephen Vincent Beneacutet (8)There is one to her son David and one to C SLewis e leers to Bill nearly all concern mon-ies he had promised to send to England for thesupport of her and their two sons991252monies whichhe hadnrsquot sent or were in very serious arrears sothat Joy in the d ays before she was s upported

by Lewis and whose priority was first to pay forthe best educations she could afford for the boys

oen lived in severe povertyIt is in t hose letters to the ever-improvident

sexually unfaithful and occasionally religious Billhowever in which the framing of her charactercan be most clearly seen ey are an interestingtightrope act that required a great deal of literary





108

few of us have educational backgrounds that arestrong in literary studies we need help in seeingand appreciating literary conventions we mightotherwise not even know are present in the texte Literary Study Bible can help readers to see lit-erary motifs and developments in the Bible and to

understand how literary form affects theologicalmeaning With the possible exception of prover-

bial l iterature v irtual ly a ll other literary genresrequire the reader to see individual passages aspart of a larger usually organic context Oneof the greatest potential benefits of The Literary

Study Bible is that it can assist readers in grasp-ing the big picture of the Bible and the way that

big picture affects the interpretation of individua lpassages of Scripture

Each book of the Bible is prefaced with an

introduction that points out the literary featuresfound in that book For example the introduc-tion to Genesis has sections devoted to genres theliterary concept of a hero the storylines the castof characters unifying motifs inferred literaryintentions theological themes and Genesis as achapter in the master story of the Bible e entireBible is divided into small readable units and eachunit is headed by a literary introduction ere areno footnotes other than the textual notes accom-panying the English Standard Version translation

The note that introduces Genesis 24 ldquoIsaacGets a Wiferdquo is a happy example of how literaryconsiderations enable the reader to see elementsof truth in the narrative that he might otherwiseoverlook

Chapter 24 is a love story and we can note at the

outset that the storyteller satisfies the human

interest in love stories by devoting a whopping

sixty-seven verses to the episode in which Isaac

conducts the courtship of his wife by proxyEven though the story may seem to belong to

Isaac rather than Abraham it is actually an

extension of Abrahamrsquos domestic role since it

was his responsibility to find a wife for his son

The spirit in which Abraham undertakes the

quest for Isaacrsquos wife surrounds it with relig ious

significa nce (vv 5-8) We are to understand that

Abraha m was concerned to protec t the cov-

enant line which stipulated that the covenant

would be perpetuated through his family e

two lead characters in the romance drama are

the servant who undertakes the journey andRebekah the bride of choice One way to bring

the servant in to focus is to ponder the litany of

things that make him one of the most aractive

minor characters in the Bible We can get a grip

on Rebekahrsquos characterization by scrutinizing

the story for details that would commend her

as a future wife e story has a nice abundance

of suspense and it is a drama in miniature with

speeches and dialogue fully reported e first

meeting of Isaac and Rebekah (vv 62-67) is a

masterpiece of atmosphere tenderness and

understated emotion

While the notes are oen academic they a reliberally sprink led with thought provoking spiri-tual obser vations that are readily applied Forexample in the note introducing the destruct ionof Sodom the editors write concerning Lot ldquoeman who had reached for the stars in terms of suc-cess prosperity and affluence ends up as a caveman We also learn in Lotrsquos later life that it iseasier to get the family out of Sodom than it is toget Sodom out of the familyrdquo

ere is a significant amount of material fromthe editors991252I would estimate that around twentyto twenty-five percent of e Literary Study Bible consists of editorial remarks Unlike other studyBibles where the reader may consult the notesonly when puzzled or when especially interestedin a topic the editors apparently expect us to readall that they have written Granted it is usually

advantageous to do so especially when literar yignorance is so rampant but stil l the perseveringreader must be commied to the editorsrsquo funda-mental premise literary considerations are crucialto understanding the Bible ey admirably estab-lish this fundamental premise in the editorsrsquo pref-



109

ace and introduction which regrettably manyreaders may neglect to read

e Literary Study Bible is an excellent resourceeven for the reader who uses it only as a refer-ence but a more thorough reading wi ll pay richdividends A guide for reading the entire Bible

through in a year is appended and if the discern-ing reader reads every note for every readingthrough the year he or she will gain a vast treasureof literary sensibilities and skills that will greatlyincrease understanding of and appreciation forGodrsquos literary masterpiece the Bible

991252Jim OrrickProfessor of Literature and Culture


Aer the First Urban Christians e Social-Scien-

tific Study o Pauline Christianity Twenty-Five Years

Later Edited by Todd D Still and David G Hor-rell New York TampT Clark 2009 175 pp $2995paperThe contents of this book were derived from atwo-day sy mposium held in September 2008 toreassess the contributions made to New Testa-ment studies since the 1983 publication of The

First Urban Christ ians The Social World o the

Apostle Paul by Wayne A Meeks e editors col-laborated together with six scholars (includingMeeks) with the hope ldquothat this work will servenot only to introduce a new generation of studentsto Meeksrsquos book but also to provide an outline ofcurrent discussion and debate in the various areasaddressed in e First Urban Christiansrdquo (preface)

Meeksrsquos landmark work e First Urban Chris-

tians was compr ised of si x chapters whe re headdressed issues such as the first-century urban

environment social stratification how the soci-eties influenced the formation of local churcheshow conflict was handled rituals and patternsof belief and life He wrote from the presupposi-tion that when it comes to studying the ApostolicChurch ldquoIf we do not ever see their world we can-

not claim to understand early Christianityrdquo (e

First Urban Christians 2nd ed 2) In a renewedattempt to describe the social history of earlyChristianity Meeks continued the process (whichhad started in the 1970s) of moving New Testa-ment scholarship into a more interdisciplinary

direction wedding literary analysis with theologi-cal reflection historical studies and sociologicalanthropological and psychological theories

e contributors to Aer the First Urban Chris-

tians work diligently to fulfill the hope statedabove and in numerous ways advocate this con-tinued direction articulated by Meeks DavidHorrell responds to some common crit iques toMeekrsquos methodology while arguing for the ongo-ing development of the social-scientific study ofthe New Testament Peter Oaks arg ues for using

Pompeii as a model in which to understand beerthe urban environments of the Pauline churchesBruce W Longenecker addresses socio-economicprofiling of the first-century believers Edward

Adams examines many of the scholarly develop-ments since Meeks Todd D Still includes a chap-ter on the establishment and exercise of authorityin the first churches Louise J Lawrence writeson ritual related to life and death Dale B Martinexami nes the correlations between the paernsof belief and life Wayne A Meeks concludes the

work by reflecting on the various chapters and hisown views since the publication of his book underconsideration

e academic nature of this book and the per-spectives of various contributors make for a chal-lenging read While it is not necessary to have reade First Urban Christians before reading Still andHorrellrsquos work I would strongly encourage thereader to do so While the var ious authors of this

book provide some excel lent summarizat ions of

Meeksrsquos book most of the time they assume thereaderrsquos familiarity with his original work ere isalso the natural assumption that readers are famil-iar with weighty concepts such as ritual symbolsymbolic realities organizational structuressocial structures discourse analysis structural-



110

ism post-struct uralism and the thoughts of thefathers of classical sociology Durkheim Weberand Marx Regardless of these challenges Still andHorrell have provided us a glimpse into the worldof praise and criticisms that have followed Meeksrsquos1983 publication

991252J D Payne Associate Professor of Church Planting

and Evangelisme Southern Baptist eological Seminary

Commentary on the New Testament Verse-by-Verse

Explanations with a Literal Translation By RobertH Gundry Peabody MA Hendrickson 20101072 pp $4995

Wouldnrsquot it be great if anytime you had a questionabout a particular text you could call your old Bibleprofessor from seminary and get a brief homilet-ically-oriented summary of the textrsquos meaningRobert H Gundryrsquos Commentary on the New Tes-

tament provides just this sort of information inone published volume Scholar-in-residence andprofessor emeritus at Westmont College Gundrydiscusses every verse in the New Testament inthis 1072-page magnum opus Well-known forhis commentaries on Mahew and Mark and his

widely-used Survey o the New Testament Gundrydistills decades of scholarly experience in workingparagraph-by-paragraph th rough the New Testa-ment991252focusing on the divinely inspired humanauthorrsquos meaning with an eye to modern-dayexplication of the passage As an interesting addi-tional feature the English version of the biblicaltext quoted throughout this volume is a formallyequivalent (word-for-word) translation done by

Gundry himselfIn reviewing this text I did not read the entire

volume but sampled various texts throughout theNew Testament Gundry writes in a clear engag-ing style and demonstrates a wealth of knowledgeI think it very likely that I w ill refer to this book

in the future991252especially when I am looking for arespected New Testament scholarrsquos concise opin-ion on a thorny text at being said I must alsoexpress three reservations about this book

First as with a ny book of this length I differ with the author on some interpretations For exam-

ple in Gundryrsquos discussion of Mahewrsquos genealogyof Jesus he asserts that the names of the immediateancestors of Joseph are highly sy mbolic namesThough he does not explicit ly deny that suchnames correspond to historical persons he failsto comment on that issue nor does he aempt toreconcile the list with the corresponding genealogyin Luke (Here I prefer the treatment of MahewrsquosGospel by the early church father Julius Africanus

who asser ts that Mat thew g ives u s Josephrsquos bio-logical lineage while Luke gives us Josephrsquos legal

lineage via Levirate marriage) Gundryrsquos brevityof discussion highlights an accompanying prob-lem9912521072 pages (the length of this book) soundslike a massive tome until you consider the complexdebates that rage over numerous texts in the NewTestament At several places I hoped for a bit moreexplanation (eg in the discussion of the millen-nium in Revelation 20)

Another hesitation I have w ith Gundryrsquos com-mentary is his rigid application of an almostldquoclassroom stylerdquo word-for-word approach totranslation is method results in not a few idio-syncratic renderings (eg ldquoOur God is an incin-erating firerdquo [Heb 1228]) I also wonder if thisapproach does not illegitimately imply superiorityto formally-equivalent tra nslation theory I fearthat repeated appeals to such overly-literal ren-derings wil l wrongly result in some readers feel-ing uneasy about the many good readable Bibletranslations we have in English

A f inal hesitat ion I have with Gundr yrsquos com-

mentary is his stated resistance to providing theo-logical sy nthesis for apparently divergent biblicalassertions (eg the Biblersquos warnings against fallingaway alongside biblical assurances of believersrsquoperseverance) Yes we need to allow biblical textsto function in their stark forms991252whether as com-



111

forts or warnings Yet in the end a person in thepew is going to ask questions such as ldquoCan I losemy salvationrdquo I would argue that biblical scholarscannot simply leave theological integration to sys-tematic theologians

Few persons have the expert ise to produce a

one-volume tour-de-force of this sort Gundryclearly does Even with the reservations I expressabove I commend this work as containing manyhelpful reflections on the New Testament from ahighly respected scholar

991252Robert L Plummer Associate Professor of

New Testament Interpretatione Southern Baptist eological Seminar y

Psychology in the Spirit Contours o a Transorma-

tional Psychology By John H Coe and Todd WHall Downers Grove IL Intervarsity Press 2010422 pp $2200 paper

Psychology in the Spirit by John Coe and Todd Hallis a 422-page book that seeks to bring a ldquonewrdquo per-spective to the Christian counsel ing table atperspective is the ldquotransformational psychology

viewrdquo is view is seen as formidable enough anddifferent enough to be added to what used to be

Psycholog y amp Chri st ianit y Four Views to makeup the fif th official view of the new publicationChristianity amp Psychology Five Views There aresome differences but when all is said and doneperhaps this ldquotransformational viewrdquo is not differ-ent enough By their own admission the authorsseek to ldquoshow how it accommodates the otherapproaches avoiding their weaknessesrdquo991252but inactuality they donrsquot avoid a few of the key weak-

nesses of the Christian integrationistrsquos approach(200) Even though there are some well statedmotivational differences and some uniquenessin how their functional perspective is communi-cated this ldquonewrdquo view at its heart in a very realsense is not so new at all

The book is laid out in vie sections founda-tions methodology content the praxis of soulcare and the ultimate goal W hile these majorheadings seem clear cut the book is not by anymeans a straight forward or easy read and there-fore must have onersquos fu ll attention and c areful

evaluation to determine what is actually beingproposed With phrases like ldquoa true psychologistrdquoldquohigh-road head knowledgerdquo ldquolow-road gut levelknowledgerdquo ldquoaachment filters rdquo and Kierkegaardrsquosldquo I-ness rdquo the reader must stay his evaluation untilthese things are fully unfolded ere is so muchthat could be addressed in this book (both posi-tive and negative) but there is not space enoughhere to do justice to all of them

Perhaps the most troubling presupposition that becomes apparent in the transformational view of

counseling is too high a view of the ldquotruth rdquo gleanedfrom the ldquosciencerdquo of psychology and its too low a

view of Scripture Coe and Ha ll use ldquotruth rdquo andldquorealityrdquo interchangeably and hold up the ldquorealitiesof creationrdquo or ldquonatural realitiesrdquo (truth discovered

by the observation and interpretation from manrsquosstudy of man) as the missing ldquotruthrdquo for the needsand troubles of man ey w rite about the needfor the Christian psychologist to do psychologyldquoanewrdquo themselves with a wholistic approach to

what is known as faith and science to see both asscience (natural realities) and both as faith (Godrsquos

wil l and revelation) is approach is fraught withsubjectivity and the same old misconception thatthe different levels of knowledge are equal in cer-titude It is the long-standing error of equalizingGodrsquos Word and natural observations by sayingldquoall truth is Godrsquos truthrdquo e familiar mistake oflumping so ldquosciencerdquo of psychology in with thehard science of empirical and un-theorized data isclearly a contributing factor Leaning too heavily

on the reason of fallen man to determine ldquotruthrdquoor ldquorealityrdquo is another Nowhere in the book isthere any claim of Scr ipture (the infal lible truth)itself being the foundation for their model neitherdo they outline the important use of Scripture toevaluate said ldquorealitiesrdquo



112

In a discussion of ldquodoing psychology as a uni-fied vision of reality in faith rdquo it is said ldquoIt [the termlsquoChristian realitiesrsquo] is not meant to arbitrarilydichotomize religious and secular realities Bothare realities in Godrsquos worldrdquo (Synopsis 206 andpage 83) What is even more starl ing is that the

authors would seem to li ldquosciencerdquo above Godrsquos wr itten revelation when t hey say ldquoth is psychol-ogy does not merely have as its data the naturalphenomena of the person but includes lsquoChris-tian realitiesrsquo as a legitimate datum of sciencerdquoand ldquopsychology needs to give its lsquotruthrsquo to thechurchrdquo and ldquothe scriptures a re importantto help frame and give insight to our natural lawreflections on life [rather than to evaluate them]rdquo(83 206 338 204) At the very least it is clearthat these authors see the natural ldquorealitiesrdquo on a

functional par with Scr ipture and possess a mys-tical (rather than Word-based) approach to theSpirit that doesnrsquot help their view of truth eitherese things are f urther revealed in other state-ments the authors make

[O]ur transformational approach is a mandate

to do psychology in faith anew to do the first

hand work of discovering a psychology of a

person that is science open to the experience of

the Spirit and open to the truths from Scripture

as well as open to truths from observation and

reflection on ourselves on other human beings

and on what others have thought about human

nature (Synopsis 202)

Psychologists who have experienced the pres-

ence of the Holy Spirit in prayer will be more

sensitive to understand and explore the experi-

ence in their theory and research (90)

We do not know these Chr istia n tenants to betrue because we suppose them Rather they are

true because they correspond to or are born out

in the experience of reality they are as certa in

as the knowing of my own existence and of other

objects (82 emphasis added)

Coe and Hall use the idea of the Old Testa-ment sage and the Proverbs to make the case thatldquotruthsrdquo discovered by the discipline of psychol-ogy are just as much Godrsquos truth as His written

Word and just as much needed is also al lowsthem to ldquoreject the idea that Scripture is the only

place for finding [truly needed] wisdom or pre-scriptions for living well in God and that psy-chology and its [softly] scientific methodologyshould be only descriptive in naturerdquo at best (208)The authors present the Old Testament sage ofthe Proverbs as the tr uest and oldest version of apsychologist doing psychology as God intendedin that he looks to natu re and the observationof man to determine truth to l ive by This is astrange twisting of scriptural truth In actualitythe Proverbs (as is all of Scripture) are the writ-

ten revelation of God given by the inspiration ofthe Holy Spirit as the very words of God (thoughmany of the proverbs are clearly conveyed as gen-eral truisms rather than intended to apply in allsituations) They are not wisdom discovered bythe writerrsquos own observation and interpretationfor prescription The author of Proverbs looksto (and the Holy Spirit uses) what he knows ofnature manrsquos actions and his own experience toillustrate Godrsquos truth that is supernaturally givento him (oen an application of the Torah)

On a positive note this transformation viewdoes indeed seem somewhat different from otherChristian psychology views in its communicatedemphasis on the character and spirituality of thepsychologist himself and in the stated motivationof all of his efforts as a ldquogoodrdquo or transformed psy-chologist Even the needed character and spiritu-ality of the psychologist is fundamentally linkedto the ultimate motivation the authors initially liup as the very purpose for the existence of man to

love God and neighbor like Christ for the gloryof God At the very crux of their perspective istheir capitalization on the fact that man is f unda-mentally created relational in nature in order toflourish in his union with God in an un-bifurcatedmanner and thereby affect his Christ-likeness and



113

other relationshipsis was a worthy encouragement and a quite

commendable perspective However where thespotlight or focus really lands and how affected bysecular thought their methodology and content isconcerning it is not so commendable As a result

of a consuming goal to help others be the rela-tional beings they were created to be this in itselfis what their counseling becomes all about Hallexplains t hat his own counseli ng is ldquorelationalpsychoanalytic and aachment based approachto therapyrdquo that employs several of the traditionalrelational therapeutic techniques (339)

In other words aer an apparent recognitionof manrsquos most ulti mate motivation (the glory ofGod) the rest of their discussion methodologyand content is unmistakably void of the ldquoglory of

Godrdquo part Furthermore well into the book it isclear that the transformation referred to is mostlythe transformation of the psychologist into arelationally ldquoopenrdquo individual hi mself and thetransformation of the clientrsquos ldquoaachment filtersand their capacity to loverdquo (350) It is proposedthat relational blocks and intuitive relationalresponses the subject of which ldquoare the core ofa relational view of human nature and develop-mentrdquo stand in the way of their relationship withGod and others (240) ese negative filters arepresented as a result of ru ling gut-level uncon-scious knowledge or deep intuitive beliefs thatthat cannot be easily known or helped by cogni-tive means (this is Freudian) I see this as in directopposition to what God tells us about our trans-formation that it is accomplished by the renewingof our mind991252our thoughts beliefs and desires991252

by the Spir it of God usi ng His Word (Rom 122and described in Phil 46-8)

It also is proposed by Coe and Hall that psy-

chotherapy that employs many traditional modali-ties is what it takes to facil itate the transformationthat is necessary to help troubled Christians growin their union with God and in their responsesto people and events Most assuredly this ideais not new What is being said and has been said

in many other ways is that 1 Salvation (a funda-mentally changed heart through forgiveness) 2the indwelling o the Holy Spirit (His work and ourdependence on His power) 3 an increasing recog-

nition o the supreme value o Christ and knowing

Him (and the infer iority of all else) 4 sin conessed

and turning rom it (repentance) 5 the writtenWord o God recognized agreed with and intention-

ally applied to thoughts belies desires and actions

(Godrsquos character teachings and promises) 6the Body o Christrsquos involvement 7 alertness to the

spiritual battle that rages and a looking orward

to our hope (Christrsquos return dwelling with Himand the absence of sin and suffering) are not suf-ficient to grow us in our relationship with God totransform us into Christ-likeness and to help us

bring more and more glory to God Godrsquos Word

tells very differently It teaches us that these trulyinspired realities employed are the needed andsufficient elements of change according to GodEach and every one of these things is so intricatelylinked to the personal application of the wrien

Word of God that truly sanctifies us ( John 1717)Other issues that need addressing or further

addressing in this book are the idea of the sub-conscious the knowledge spiral of science valuescontingent communication or ref lective self-functioning human aachment the realized selfthe place of reason and intellect the purpose anduse of general revelation and the proper view ofthe social sciences and how to interact with them

What I gained from reading this book is a renewedfervor just to be a Bible-wise counselor who is cer-tainly willing to explore some of the more ldquohardsciencerdquo data a nd non-interpreted observationsof the field of psychology but in a very criticalmanner (with the Word of God) and only for thepurpose of seeing if it can shed practical light on

Godrsquos wrien revelation or its application (not theother way around) e Apostle Paul aptly warnsus about the dangers of teachings that are outsideof Scripture and how we build on the foundationof Christ (Col 28 16-19 23 1 Cor 310-14) eseteachings often give the appearance of wisdom



114

but donrsquot meet the l itmus test of Godrsquos Word Ileave you with these passages to consider abouttransformation 2 Timothy 316-17 2 Corinthians98 2 Peter 13 Psalm 197-11

991252Stuart W Sco

Associate Professor of Biblical Counselinge Southern Baptist eological Seminary

Congregation and Campus North American Bap-

tists in Higher Education By William H BrackneyMacon GA Mercer University Press 2009 499pp $4900

From the prolific pen of William H Brackneycomes another helpful study in American Baptist

life Similar to his efforts to unite the wide diver-sity of Baptist theology under a single title in e

Genetic History o Baptist ought (MUP 2004)Brackney once again casts a broad net in an effortto tell as a single story the diverse and at timescontroversial developments of education amongBaptists of North America

He introduces the study w ith a consideration ofBaptist identity Baptists began as a diverse group

with no un ited theological position Henc e itshould come as no surprise that this ldquo highly varie-gated religious traditionrdquo has produced a complexnetwork of educational traditions While the earli-est schools were organized by Baptist groups pri-marily for their own constituencies neither those

who attended the schools nor eve n those who were al lowed to teach were li mited to the Bap-tist family It was this inclusiveness that Brackneyidentifies as the first of three chief characteristicsof Baptist education Second no religious tests

were required for students or faculty at least for

most of the Baptist schools Students came fromdiverse relig ious t raditions991252post-ReformationProtestantism generally991252and were al lowed toremain as they came Moreover professors teach-ing in the schools also could hold to non-Baptistreligious sentiments such as Presbyterianism or

Methodism Finally there was ldquoa broad intellec-tual and cu ltural understanding of training forministr yrdquo not merely focusing on the Bible but on

broad areas of educationBrackney traces his history through the vari-

ous categories of educational efforts that Baptists

aempted from manual labors schools to collegesto seminaries for the training of the ministry Ashe recounts this complex story he introduces thereaders to an enormous amount of research intodozens and dozens of schools many of whichhardly had the momentum to commence andfailed nearly as quickly as they began e historyincludes brief stories of schools long forgottenis is the workrsquos most important contributione collection of materials is simply amazing andone comes to realize that Baptists took education

seriously raising up new schools at every oppor-tunity Having worked among the Baptists in sev-eral Canadian provinces Brackney is a lso able totell insightfully the contribution that CanadianBaptists made to higher education Brackney alsoincludes an important discussion on the contribu-tions of Baptists not affiliated with major Baptistgroups ese independent Baptists have ar isenlargely in the twentieth centur y in response totheological liberalism in the older Baptist asso-ciations ey too have made numerous aemptssuccessful a nd otherwise at providing diverseeducational opportunities to their respectiveconstituencies All in all the collection of datais so vast that only a seasoned and accomplishedhistorian could have attempted it Baptists oweto the author a debt of gratitude for charting the

variegated landscape of Baptist education As Brack ney ends the story he concludes that

Baptist identity has devolved over its history Hesuggests that numerous issues contributed to

this devolution including financial pressures anddenominational affi liation But it was the nakedchallenge of liberalism which Brackney fails toidentify clearly that brought the most significantchallenges in Baptist educational life Theologi-cal liberalism sought hegemony between Baptists



115

north and south Historically Baptist schoolslike Brown University and the University of Chi-cago two of his exemplars eventually moved well

beyond their Baptist roots and embraced secular-ism It is here that the analysis falls short North-ern Baptist education has been hit especial ly hard

by the devolution of Baptist identity At the begin-ning of the twentieth century on the eve of thefundamentalist-modernist controversy NorthernBaptists had six major seminaries (Newton Col-gate Rochester Crozer Chicago and Berkeley)and numerous colleges with which they partnered

who tu rned out mi ni sters for the Convention By the end of the twentieth century those sixhad been reduced to two that are still meaning-fully identified as part of the Baptist traditionThe prospects for t hese two schools look rather

bleak Recently those seminaries Andover New-ton eological Seminary and Colgate-Rochester-Crozer Div init y School (CRCDS) considered amerger that would have reduced t hat number to

just one s chool Whi le t hese seminar ies are notthe only schools that currently serve the AmericanBaptist Churches USA these historic institutionsthat were the nurseries of Baptist ministr y in thenineteenth and early twentieth centuries todaydo lile to serve their founding tradition e Uni-

versity of Chicago Divinity School started by JohnD Rockefeller Sr and his associates was largelya Baptist effort but has long since had any realBaptist identity CRCDS has fallen on such hardtimes in recent years that it was forced to divestitself of the bulk of its stellar library e AmericanBaptist Historical A rchives that used to be housedin its grand building was moved to Atlanta GA

because of denomi nationa l budget ar y concernsand because CRCDS could not contribute to itsmaintenance In its recent history CRCDS even

had a retired Presbyterian minister as its presidentBrackney sees the broad diversity in Baptist

life often as a good thing a part of the polyge-netic nature of Baptist identity However it wasthis misguided diversity that allowed the board ofBrown University under the leadership of William

H P Faunce an avowed liberal to change thepolicy that saw Brown completely lost to Baptistidentity Until Faunce a Baptist was required toserve as Brownrsquos president Brown is chief amongnumerous colleges and universities that have lileor no connection today with the Baptist faith that

brought them to life and whose devoted follow-ers built and endowed them ese schools werelost simply because there was no doctrinal basisupon which they could be retained e traditionof doctrinal conformity has been more robustin Southern Baptist education especially in itslead seminary The Southern Baptist Theologi-cal Seminary in Louisville KY As a result of theconservative resurgence (1979-2000) SouthernBaptists began to take their theological identitymore seriously e denomination in general and

its seminaries in particular have embraced a moreconsistent doctrinal standard W hile it is true thatBrown and many other schools did not have nar-row Baptist creeds it is hard to imagine that itsearly Baptist leaders envisioned the possibility ofsuch a wide diversity quite detached from bib-lical orthodoxy which came to dominate theseschools e nineteenth century saw the gradualdissipation of theological belief and witnessed aslow departure from biblical religion among Bap-tists and other groups By the time the DivinitySchool of the University of Chicago was a decadeold few of its faculty held to any thing remotelyresembling historic Christianity It is regreablethat the author did not probe this angle of thestory more fully so that other Baptists today whostill retain a biblical form of Christianity whichour Baptist forebears all embraced whether they

were Calv inists or Ar minia ns might be war nedagainst repeating the mistakes of our forbearers

Still the work is a very helpful and widely

researched study that deserves a careful read byall Baptists who love their heritage and long tosee their youth trained in the Baptist way It is a

welcome and needed addition to the history ofeducation among the people called Baptists



116

991252Jeffrey Paul StraubProfessor of Historical eology

Central Baptist eological SeminaryMinneapolis MN

Liberalism without I llusions Renewing an Ameri-can Christian Tradition By Christopher H Evans

Waco TX Baylor University Press 2010 ix + 207pp $2495 paper

Can religious liberalism be renewed Liberalism was a powerful movement for most of the twen-tieth century possessing broad popular supportand extensive cultural and political influence Butsince the 1970s liberal ismrsquos popular base in t hechurches has w ithered considerably its cultura l

and political leadership has waned and its institu-tional strength is increasingly isolated to universi-ties and seminaries

In this book Christopher Evans professorof church history at Colgate Rochester CrozerDivinity School summons h is fellow liberals toa concerted effort to save liberalism from its cur-rent malaise Evans does not expect liberalism toregain its former glory He believes however thatliberalism can be restored to health and influence

Renewing liberalism wil l require it to dispense with some of the ldquoil lusionsrdquo of its gl or y days Above all it must dispense with its preoccupation with establishing Chr istendom Liberals soughtto Christianize America and the world and they

believed that the church rsquos labors would establishdemocratic societies characterized by justiceequality and goodness991252they would inauguratethe promised kingdom of God Contemporaryliberals Evans says must sele for something lessey must labor for a just society but recognize

that this is an unaainable idealRenewing liberalism will also require that it

restore an emphasis on personal piety Personalfaith and piety constitute the fundamental sourceof powerful religious movements Christianityrsquossocial power thus depends largely on its power

to heal the heart and to provide meaning andpurpose to individuals American evangelicalismsucceeds here Evans says and for th is reason hasachieved considerable social power

Liberalism must learn from evangelicalism atthis point Evans urges If liberalism will only tap

into the Biblersquos deeper themes of love redemp-tion and reconciliation it can be renewed Lib-erals must therefore wrestle with ldquothe meaningof Christ a nd of salvationrdquo and take seriouslythe question of what it means to follow ChristEvans recognizes that this requires liberalismto reconnect with the faith traditions of historicChristianity

is I believe is the very thing that liberalismcannot accomplish Liberal thinkers have beentrying to find their way back to the precritical

premodern faith of t he church since at least t he1970s But the way is blocked by criticism Lib-eralismrsquos commitment to a naturalistic biblicalcriticism makes a ny straightforward acceptanceof the first-century gospel impossible

The personal faith that gives meaning andpower to individual Christ ians hinges on confi-dence in the Biblersquos gospel message that the solu-tion to personal guilt alienation and fear is faithin Jesus Christ who was crucified and rose againfrom the dead that all who believe in him mightnot perish but have eternal life Criticism destroysconfidence in t he truthfu lness of this gospelLiberalism cannot ex pect to achieve real gospelpower without a return to the ancient gospel

Liberalismrsquos commitment to criticism has cutthe movement from the taproot of the Christiangospel991252the truthfulness of scriptures e with-ering of its churches and its isolation in the acad-emy will continue until it abandons natural isticcriticism for faith in the supernatural inspiration

of the scriptures But then it will not be liberalism

991252Gregory A WillsProfessor of Church History




95

what they are brought up to do in their respectivechurches or sub-cultural Christ ian groups Part 1

would repay careful study by such people Section A of Par t 2 (Questions Related to Interpretation)is likewise probably new ground for many Chris-tians alt hough much of the content deals with

things that for many are intuitive though bestnot le to chance ere are also practical issuesof becoming beer interpreters and reference tohelps that are available

Section B of Part 2 (Questions Related to Mean-

ing ) deals with some vital issues both practicaland theoretical in determining the meaning ofa text ese include ldquoCan a text have more thanone meaningrdquo ldquoW hat is the overarching mes-sage of the Biblerdquo and ldquoIs the Bible really allabout Jesusrdquo These are crucial questions sincethey relate to the whole task of understanding theBible as Godrsquos word to us Ch ristians in the hereand now

Part 3 takes us to the practical maers of deal-ing with different kinds of texts in the Bible ispart as far as it goes is ful l of useful helps to read-ing the Bible Plummer takes us through some ofthe various genres found in both Testaments suchas narrative prophecy and apocalyptic e treat-ment of genres found mainly in one or other Testa-

ment include proverbs poetry psalms parablesand epistles Each Question is provided with wellthought-out answers that point up the characteris-tics of each genre so that they are not read as some-thing that they are not intended to be

It is this section that I feel lacks an impor-tant dimension Notwithstanding the questionsalready dealt with in Part 2 Section B a reader

wanting to k now how to deal wit h t he Old Tes-tament genres such as proverbs or prophecy maystill well ask aer reading the relevant chapters

ldquoWhat do I do nowrdquo Even though these chaptersfollow one on ldquoIs the whole Bible about Jesusrdquo(to which the answer is an unequivocal ldquoyesrdquo)how one makes the link between narrative or

wisdom te xts a nd Jesus is not i n my opinion atall clear A preacher a Sunday School teacher or

even a Christian parent all wanting to point theirrespective audiences to Christ from say an OldTestament narrative or prophecy might feel thatlile guidance is given as to how one gets from thetext to a Christian application that honors ChristGenre identification is crucial But understanding

the characteristics of say proverbial literature isonly the first part of interpretation of the relevant

biblical textsOf course it is unfair to criticize a book for not

doing what it was never intended to do Biblicalinterpretation is such a n important issue that i nplaces can be rather involved Perhaps it needsmore than one volume in this series to do it jus-tice even at the level of the non-technical readerHow many readers are going to follow up on thesuggested readings to find answers to their furtherquestions Probably not many Given the arti fi-cial constraints of the ldquo40 Questionsrdquo format this

book does succeed in ant icipating a nd aski ng anumber of pertinent questions (FAQs) about bib-lical interpretation and then in providing muchuseful information about them It simply cannotdeal in depth with the issues of interpreting textsespecially from the Old Testament in a way thatrelates them to the New Testamentrsquos claims that

Jesus is subject maer of al l Scripture While pro-

viding a good introduction to the non-technicallytrained its value for preachers and the theologi-cally l iterate is to some extent limited

991252Graeme Goldsworthy Visiting Lecturer in Hermeneutics

Moore eological College Sydney Australia

Apocalypse and Allegiance Worship Polit ics and

Devotion in the Book o Revelation By J Nelson

Kraybill Grand Rapids MI Brazos Press 2010224 pp $2199 paper

J Nelson Kraybill received his PhD from Unioneological Seminary in Virginia He has servedas president of the Associated Mennonite Bibli-



96

























97










Crossway College










99


























100























101





















102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























96

























97










Crossway College










99


























100























101





















102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























97










Crossway College










99


























100























101





















102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116


























99


























100























101





















102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























99


























100























101





















102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























100























101





















102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























101





















102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























102










voluntarism














104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116


























104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























104








































105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























105


























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























106








wrote this epitaph





























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116


























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























108



































understated emotion






109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























109



























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























110





















111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























111























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























112






























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























113

























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























114


991252Stuart W Sco






















115




















116
























115




















116
























116






















Documents

Sbjt v14 n3 Book Reviews