Archive for the 'Theology' Category
Scot McKnight. A Community Called Atonement. Abingdon, 2007. 177 pp.
Scot McKnight has just published a book called A Community Called Atonement. McKnight is a first rate biblical scholar at North Park University and the man behind the curtain at the always engaging Jesus Creed blog. Using his exceptional writing skills, McKnight takes what can be a very tedious idea and brings it alive.
McKnight does a wonderful job of rescuing the debate from a narrow abstract battle to make this or that model prevail and relocates the discussion in the larger picture of God’s mission in the world. Atonement is not an end in itself. Atonement is a means toward accomplishing a mission; the mission of restoring of that which has been lost. McKnight locates the central themes of this restoration in the concepts of justice (mishpat), righteousness (tesedeq) and shalom. (128)
Reviewed by Michael Kruse.
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Dave Hunt & James White. Debating Calvinism: Five Points, Two Views. Multnomah, 2004. 432 pp.
One of the purposes of a debate in the formal sense of the word is to persuade. The object is to persuade the audience that your position is the appropriate view to adopt. Over several generations the debate over the theological views developed by John Calvin has become more and more heated. In response, James White (the champion of Reformed Theology) and Dave Hunt (the Opponent of Calvinism) have participated in a lengthy formal debate. The debate has been removed from the classical oral format and collected in the volume Debating Calvinism.
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Thomas R. Schreiner & Shawn Wright. Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ. B&H, 2007. 364 pp.
Believer’s Baptism, edited by Schreiner and Wright, covers a multitude of theological and historical aspects all centered on the rite of Christian baptism. The goal of their presentation is to show that baptism is only for those who have professed faith in Christ and that the practice of infant- or paedo- baptism compromises the gospel itself. The book is well-researched, and the importance and preservation of this sacred Christian rite are found within this study.
Schreiner and Wright organize their presentation in 10 distinct chapters, each focusing on a different historical practice. Each chapter is written by a different author, focusing first on baptism proper and then often expanding the discussion into the mode and method. Each author concludes his section by summarizing his findings and explaining the necessity of holding to a baptismal view that is strictly for those who have professed faith in Christ.
Reviewed by Stewart MacLean Jr.
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Colin E. Gunton. The Barth Lectures. T&T Clark (London), 2007. 285 pp.
It is a book that you listen to rather than read, as you eavesdrop on Professor Gunton taking his class on a guided tour of Barth’s theology from its intellectual background and nineteenth century influences; through its development in the commentaries on Romans, the correspondence with Harnack, and the book on Anselm; and then on into the mature thought of the Church Dogmatics, where the focus is on theological epistemology, the doctrine of God, and the Christology-and-soteriology (the hyphens make a substantive point).
The lectures, of course, were well prepared, replete with handouts and diagrams, but what you hear is not only Gunton’s take on Barth but also his taking on Barth even as he speaks. That is, we not only get theology, we actually get theologising—Barth “is a great man to learn to think theologically with”—as Gunton probes on his feet, sometimes with touching tentativeness.
Reviewed by Kim Fabricius.
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Stuart Bell. Sane Spirituality: Lessons from Corinth for the 21st Century. Sovereign World, 2004. 128 pp.
This book started life as a series of sermons. It is an encouragement to me that publishers seem to be reviving the sermon-book which at one point looked to me like it was fading from use. Bell’s book is definitely aimed at the popular market, but any reader would have much to learn from what he has to say. If you are interested in how a charismatic interprets and applies 1 Corinthians then this is a good place to start.
He has a simple definition of charismatics which he has borrowed from David Pawson—“those who recognise that the gift of the Spirit is to be received and the gifts of the Spirit are to be exercised. . . .
Reviewed by Adrian Warnock.
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Sung Wook Chung, ed. Karl Barth and Evangelical Theology: Convergences and Divergences. Baker, 2007. 302 pp.
This is the second of the two Barth books that I read while on holiday. (See here for my impressions on his Evangelical Theology: An Introduction). This title is a compilation of essays on key ideas in Barth’s theology by leading evangelical scholars. All are agreed that Barth is worth studying and that evangelicals have something to learn from him. Most of the essays are appreciative and yet critical of his theological proposals.
The book has twelve chapters, each by a different scholar. The contributions vary in quality and tone. Several of the essays are really outstanding. The opening essay on Revelation by Gabriel Fackre helpfully introduces and critiques Barth’s understanding of this vital subject. In his A Person of the Book? Barth on Biblical Authority and Interpretation, Kevin Vanhoozer reflects on hostile reaction to Barth’s doctrine of Scripture by evangelicals. . . .
Reviewed by Guy Davies.
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N. T. Wright. Evil and the Justice of God. IVP, 2006. 176 pp.
Woody Allen famously pointed out that the problem is not that God doesn’t exist, but that he is an underachiever. The philosophical tendency for at least the past three centuries has been to assume that the human estimation of God is more significant than the divine estimation of humanity. And “evil” names the extent to which, in human estimation, God’s purposes have invariably been found wanting.
In a lucid treatment of this perennial conundrum, N. T. Wright argues that pondering the “problem of evil” is an activity that displaces us from the business of implementing the healing, restorative justice of God. The problem of evil is philosophically located in theoretical analysis of an inherently distant God—that is, the deist God of the Enlightenment. . . .
Reviewed by Dr. Samuel Wells, Duke Divinity School.
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J. I. Packer. Knowing God. IVP, 1993. 286 pp.
More than one of the books we have offered in the first year of our Book of the Month program have been treatments of the most basic issue of theology—the nature and character of the God we worship. To conclude the year, we are returning to the same theme again. Knowing God is a new classic of Christian literature, a book dedicated to the principle that intimate knowledge of the Creator is the lynch pin of true religion, and that salvation consists in knowing Him.
Packer has become one of the more controversial theologians of our day. Actions taken at the end of his career have rightly led the orthodox to read him with great caution, but while caution is warranted, it would be unwise to categorically disregard a book which has been of great value to the cause of evangelicalism, and particularly to the Reformed understanding of God’s majesty and glory. . . .
Reviewed by Tom Chantry.
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Thomas R. Schreiner & Shawn Wright. Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ. B&H, 2007. 364 pp.
What is the biblical case for believer’s baptism? What biblical support do paedobaptists point to for their belief in infant baptism? What is the relationship between the old and new covenants? What did Alexander Campbell, one of the first voices of the Restoration movement, actually think about baptism?
These questions and more are answered splendidly in Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ. A host of well-known Baptist scholars have collaborated to provide a resource for all who seek to better understand the biblical underpinnings for believer’s baptism. . . .
Reviewed by Trevin Wax.
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Kevin Giles. Jesus and the Father: Modern Evangelicals Reinvent the Doctrine of the Trinity. Zondervan, 2006. 256 pp.
This paperback is not Dr. Giles’ (Th.D., Tübingen University) first book on the topic of the Trinity and the gender debate. This volume has received some notice, with endorsements from Drs. Millard Erickson, Gilbert Bilezikian, and Paul Molnar. Giles’ first premise is that Trinitarian subordinationism is a modern extension of the Arian heresy, anathematized by First Council of Nicea, 325 AD.
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