Part Three With a book the size of this one it is not possible to offer comprehensive comments on every chapter. William S. Campbell wrote the article on “Covenant and the New Covenant” in IVP’s Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. His chapter provides a close study on Paul’s understanding of Israel from Romans 9 – 11. Campbell does not believe one should treat these chapter as “a digression from the central focus of the letter” (201). I go backwards …
Category: Book Reviews
Part Two The next chapter in the book is by Alan Kurschner, one of the editors of the volume. It engages G. K. Beale’s view of the chronology of the first part of Revelation 7. Basically, Beale believes that the two peoples mentioned in Revelation 7:4-8 and 7:9-12 are the same but seen at different times; the first appearance of them is upon earth, while the second appearance is in heaven (144). Besides N. T. Wright Beale is the most …
Part One Mark F. Rooker is the next scholar in line and contributes a study of Jeremiah 31:31-37. He delineates the major features of the New covenant which include God’s writing His law on the heart (55-56). He is a little unclear in these pages, but the main thing he points out is the inner working of this covenant which produces a new relationship to God. This comes about as a result of God’s forgiveness of their sin (57). The …
A Review of The Future Restoration of Israel: A Response to Supersessionism, edited by Stanley E. Porter and Alan E. Kurschner, Eugene, OR, Pickwick, 2023, 448 pages, pbk. I reviewed a book on supersessionism a few weeks ago, which you can read here. That book was a bit of a let down to say the least. This is a much bigger book. It is also a book written from a different perspective. All the contributors are premillennial, although not all …
A review of God’s Israel and the Israel of God: Paul and Supersessionism, edited by Michael F. Bird & Scot McKnight, Bellingham, WA, 2023, 188 pages, pbk. Any book that tries to tackle the issue of supersessionism or replacement theology should expect a welcome. Of course, exactly what one means by “supersessionism” has to be addressed, and good representatives of the discussion must be chosen. Sadly, this book fails on both counts. Since the subject of supersessionism has been a …
Review of Adam Lloyd Johnson, Divine Love Theory: How the Trinity is the Source and Foundation of Morality, Grand Rapids, Kregel, 2023, 256 pages, pbk. This book is something of a hybrid; a mix between a philosophy of religion text, an ethics text, a written debate, and a theology book. It’s author is a professor of Rhineland School of Theology in Germany, and also teaches at Midwestern Baptist Seminary. Divine Love Theory makes an important contribution to Christian ethics in …
A review of Brant Pitre, Michael P. Barber, and John A. Kincaid, Paul, A New Covenant Jew: Rethinking Pauline Theology, Grnd Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019, 310 pages, pbk. Over the past several years I have been reading many books on Paul and Pauline Theology in preparation for writing the NT companion volume of my Biblical Theology. This book is written by three Roman Catholic scholars who are widely read in the discipline. The reason I was attracted to this book is …
Review of David B. Schreiner & Lee Compson, 1 & 2 Kings: A Commentary for Biblical Preaching and Teaching, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2022, hdbk, 315 pages. This commentary on the books of First and Second Kings combines exposition with homiletics. This way of doing things was popular in the 19th century (think Lange or the Pulpit Commentaries). As with many of these commentaries, the homiletic portions are often of little use (ironically, one of the best of the bunch is …
A review of Joseph C. Harrod, 40 Questions About Prayer. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2022, 292 pages, pbk. Over the many years that I have been a Christian I have read many books about prayer. I have also written about it on several occasions. Prayer is at one and the same time one of the easiest and one of the most difficult subjects in Christian Theology. Most of the books on prayer that I have read are either too simplistic, or …
A Review of 40 Questions About Arminianism by J. Matthew Pinson, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2022, 395 pages, paperback. Kregel’s “40 Questions About…” series has produced a number of notable books. I myself have reviewed 40 Questions About Biblical Theology and 40 Questions About Heaven and Hell. This book on Arminianism, or more accurately, Classical Arminianism, is written by the President of Welch College, a Freewill Baptist college in Tennessee. J. Matthew Pinson has degrees from Yale and Vanderbilt and is thoroughly …
