Book Reviews

JBTS 1.1 Book Reviews
Book Reviews Issue 1.1
Book Reviews / October 6, 2016

JBTS 1.1 Book Reviews BOOK REVIEW INDEX The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology by Palmer O. Robertson (Reviewed by Stephen J. Smith) Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought by E.P. Sanders (Reviewed by Kevin McFadden) Abschied von der Priesterschrift? Zum Stand der Pentateuchdebatte edited by Friedhelm Hartenstein and Konrad Schmid (Reviewed by Wesley Crouser) A Vision for Preaching: Understanding the Heart of Pastoral Ministry by Abraham Kuruvilla (Reviewed by Si Cochran) Fundamentals of New Testament Textual Criticism by Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts (Reviewed by Andy McClurg) Origins: God, Evolution, and the Question of the Cosmos by Philip Rolnick (Reviewed by J. Daniel McDonald) The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision by Kevin Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan (Reviewed by Justin McLendon) The Song of Songs by Iain Duguid (Reviewed by Brian Koning) A Complete Guide to Sermon Delivery by Al Fasol (Reviewed by Bob Greene) After the Invasion: A Reading of Jeremiah 40-44 (Reviewed by Daniel S. Diffey) Share this on: FacebookTwitterLinkedin

loc atone
Review of Locating Atonement: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics by Oliver D. Crisp and Fred Sanders
Book Reviews , Theology / October 4, 2016

Crisp, Oliver D. and Fred Sanders. Locating Atonement: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015, pp. 256, $26.99, paperback. Locating Atonement is an edited volume drawing together several highly respected theologians and philosophers for the sake of determining where a theory of atonement might conceptually intersect with other prominent theological topics (e.g. the Eucharist, an account of the ascension, or a doctrine of divine wrath). The editors, Oliver Crisp (Fuller Theological Seminary) and Fred Sanders (Biola University), are both accomplished systematic theologians in their own right and conversant with the movement of analytic theology represented by several of the articles contained in this volume. In what follows, I will focus on the contributions of Benjamin Myers (Charles Sturt University) and Eleonore Stump (Saint Louis University), whose articles represent well the scholarly rigor of the volume as a whole. In “The Patristic Atonement Model,” Myers attempts to develop a model of the atonement, which expounds the views of the patristics and serves as an alternative to the Christus Victor model advanced by Gustaf Aulén. Myers offers this alternative to Aulén’s model because the latter model has recently come under criticism by several scholars who claim that Aulén has not…

The Whole Christ
Review of The Whole Christ by Sinclair B. Ferguson
Book Reviews , Pastoral Theology and Ministry , Theology / September 20, 2016

Ferguson, Sinclair B.  The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance – Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters.  Wheaton: Crossway, 2016, pp. 256, $24.99, hardcover. In an age characterized by both self-indulgence and anxiety, Sinclair Ferguson addresses in The Whole Christ the always pressing issues of legalism, antinomianism and assurance of salvation.  Ferguson served as senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina and is professor of systematic theology at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas and author of a number of books, including The Holy Spirit and In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel-Centered Life. Here Ferguson looks back to an instructive moment in Protestant church history – the “Marrow controversy” in early eighteenth-century Scotland – in order to glean insights for handling the relationship between God’s grace and God’s call for obedience in the believer’s life.  The introduction and first chapter shed light on the background and significance of the Marrow controversy, which centered on a book entitled The Marrow of Modern Divinity that was deemed antinomian by some Scottish Presbyterians but was and is believed by traditional Reformed and Presbyterian theologians to contain a sound presentation of the relationship between God’s grace and God’s law in the Christian…

theology as discipleship
Review of Theology as Discipleship by Keith L. Johnson
Book Reviews , Pastoral Theology and Ministry / September 13, 2016

Johnson, Keith L. Theology as Discipleship. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2015, pp. 192, $20, softcover. Theological dialogue is standard practice among scholars engaged in the halls of academia. These conversations are necessary and helpful, and it benefits the church greatly for scholars to remain steadfast in their specific academic pursuits; however, the church is not served fully if theology is restricted to the solitary confines of scholarly engagement. Theology must be applicable to the whole of life, and the church needs scholars to speak in this important conversational space as well. Keith Johnson (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary), associate professor of theology at Wheaton College, addresses the need for theology to be recognized as far more than an academic discipline. Johnson helpfully shows that theology is central to discipleship for believers. Theology as Discipleship is an excellent work that will help thoughtful students beginning theological studies. Johnson’s book was born out of questions and conversations Johnson encountered from students in his introductory theology courses at Wheaton College. His students questioned the relevance of theology to daily Christian living, and they also expressed legitimate concerns that theology might stifle one’s daily walk with Christ due to the tendency of quarrels and…

silence and beauty
Review of Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering by Makoto Fujimura
Book Reviews , Philosophy , Theology / August 30, 2016

Fujimura, Makoto. Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2016, pp. 261, $26, hardback. Makoto Fujimura is a distinguished contemporary visual artist, specializing in a traditional Japanese style of painting known as nihonga. As the founder of the International Arts Movement and the director of the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary, Fujimura is a prominent voice in the field of theology and the arts. He has written multiple books in this field, including Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture (NavPress, 2009) and Culture Care (Fujimura Institute and International Arts Movement, 2014). In Silence and Beauty, Fujimura interacts with Shusaku Endo’s acclaimed twentieth-century novel, Silence, to explore the nature of faith and grace in the midst of failure—and to engage with philosophical issues such as the problem of evil and the hiddenness of God in times of suffering (pp. 27-28). For Fujimura, Endo’s novel grants insight into the nature of Japanese culture, aesthetics, and Christianity. The novel chronicles the apostasy of seventeenth-century Christian missionaries to Japan who publicly renounced Christ by stomping on fumi-e, which are “relief bronze sculptures [of Jesus and Mary]” (p. 23). Those…

A Time to Keep
Review of A Time to Keep: Theology, Mortality, and the Shape of Human Life by Ephraim Radner
Book Reviews , Philosophy , Theology / August 15, 2016

Radner, Ephraim. A Time to Keep: Theology, Mortality, and the Shape of Human Life. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016, pp. 304, $49.95, hardback. The significance and meaning of the anthropos has and continues to capture the imagination of ancient and contemporary reflections. Several recent reflections highlight human constitution, the afterlife, sexuality, and race, among others. Ephraim Radner’s A Time to Keep touches on these important topics, but his approach is unique. Radner claims that an understanding of humanity must take into account the theological nature of time. Radner makes an important contribution that advances a rich vision of humanity situated in the scriptural story, guided by various theological authorities, and informed by the social sciences. Radner advances the argument that humans are relational (i.e., filliated) beings shaped and molded by God’s design of creation, redemption, and death. On that basis, he exhorts us to count our days. Our days are numbered as creatures. Between birth and death, we have a vocation and purpose. Life, death, toil and generative relationship shapes and forms the patterns of human living (p.16). Radner sees this reality in the “figural” portrayal of redemption in “tunics of skins” or clothes, which is a metaphor for the…

paul sanders
Review of Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought by Sanders
Book Reviews , New Testament / June 24, 2016

Sanders, E. P. Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015, pp. 777, $39, paperback. E.P. Sanders is one of the most well-known New Testament scholars in the world today due to the tremendous influence of his 1977 book Paul and Palestinian Judaism. His commanding explanation of the “pattern of religion” found in rabbinic and Second Temple Jewish sources turned Pauline scholarship away from previous caricatures of Judaism to a fresh interaction with the primary sources. It also laid the foundation for the “new perspective” on Paul. But although we are familiar with Sanders the scholar, in this book we meet Sanders the teacher. Paul is a book written by the retired Duke professor for undergraduate students. It is a complete exposition of the apostle’s undisputed letters, and, while Sanders has written several books on Paul, this is the first one in which he addresses all of Paul’s thought in one place. This book gives us another side of Sanders—here we get a peek inside of his lecture hall where Sanders quotes Shakespeare, Milton, Kipling, and Poe; explains how he teaches his Greek students to bring out the force of Paul’s phrase me genoito (“Hell, no!”); tells us…

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Review of The Flow of the Psalms by O. Palmer Robertson
Book Reviews , Old Testament / June 7, 2016

Robertson, Palmer O. The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2015, pp. 302, $ 21.99, paperback. Palmer Robertson is director and principle of African Bible University in Uganda and is the author of many books, including The Christ of the Covenants (P&R, 1987), commentaries on the books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah in the New International Commentary Series (Eerdmans, 1990), and The Christ of the Prophets (P&R, 2008). His latest work, The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology, represents one of the most recent contributions to the ongoing investigation of the “shape” and “shaping” of the Hebrew Psalter. Robertson’s burden in this book is to show that the Psalter is not a random collection of psalms; rather, it exhibits an intentional arrangement or “flow” from beginning to end (p. 50). Two preliminary chapters precede Robertson’s attempt to demonstrate the presence of this “flow” within the Psalter. Chapter two draws attention to twelve different elements of basis structure in the Psalter, while chapter three is devoted to a discussion of the Psalter’s redemptive-historical framework. The heart of the book then follows in chapters five through nine, where Robertson traces the predominant structural,…

Origins book cover
Review of Origins: God, Evolution, and the Question of the Cosmos by Philip Rolnick
Book Reviews , Philosophy / May 23, 2016

Rolnick, Philip. Origins: God, Evolution, and the Question of the Cosmos. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2015, pp.vii + 252, $39.95, hardback. Philip Rolnick serves as Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota as well as Chair of the Science and Theology Network in the Twin Cities. In addition to Origins, Rolnick has authored and edited several books, such as Person, Grace, and God (Eerdmans, 2007), Analogical Possibilities: How Words Refer to God (Oxford, 1993), Reflections on Grace (Cascade Books, 2007), and Explorations in Ethics: Readings from Across the Curriculum (Greensboro College Press, 1998). Rolnick has also written numerous chapters in books, articles, and book reviews whose topics range from evolution and theology to anthropology. Origins is a helpful book for any student of the Bible who seeks to understand the current debate between evolution and theology. Rolnick approaches Origins with the view that “science and religious faith are not only compatible, but even mutually illuminating” (p. 4); they are “partners in the search for truth” (p. 5). When it comes to the origin of the universe, “divine creativity and reason are unquestionably present and scientifically discoverable” (p. 6). Thus, for the believer today, learning…

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Review of The Song of Songs by Duguid
Book Reviews , Old Testament / May 3, 2016

Duguid, Iain M. The Song of Songs. Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 2015, pp. 160, $15, paperback. Iain Duguid (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of religion and Old Testament at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Duguid has written several works including Hero of Heroes: Seeing Christ in the Beatitudes (P&R Publishing, 2001) and Ezekiel and the Leaders of Israel (Brill, 1994). He has also contributed volumes to several commentary series including the Reformed Expository Commentary (Daniel, Esther & Ruth), the NIV Application Commentary (Ezekiel), and Preaching the Word (Numbers). Song of Songs is a work that will benefit both student and pastor in their study of Solomon’s love poem. Duguid wrote Song of Songs based on “a conviction that it [Song of Songs] was not generally being preached adequately (or at all) in the evangelical or Reformed circles in which I move” (p. 9). The book sets out to provide a comprehensive commentary on the text to alleviate this perceived shortcoming. This is accomplished methodically by examining questions of authorship and date, themes and structures, and concluding with an analysis of the text itself. Duguid’s work shines in two areas. First, his sensitivity to the hermeneutical issues and tendencies at…