Part One Universal Salvation When I speak of Young’s universalism I am not referring to the belief that Jesus Christ provided an atonement for every sinner; a position which I hold. I am instead talking about the liberal theological teaching that God will save everybody, whether or not they have placed their trust in His Son. Because of the author’s encounters with hurt and pain it is understandable that he has searched for a god who is safe and accepting. …
Category: Book Reviews
A Review of Wm. Paul Young, Lies We Believe About God, Simon & Schuster, 258 pages, pbk Wm. Paul Young is best known as the author of the astoundingly successful book The Shack. He has also written two other works. All his books deal with pain and suffering and seek to offer hope. Unfortunately, Young’s brand of hope, although it presents itself as Christian, and indeed has been understood as such by many, is not anchored in the biblical portrait …
Leslie T. Hardin, The Spirituality of Paul, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2016, 190 pages. This book is written in a lively and engaging style by a professor of New Testament at Johnson University in Florida, an institution connected to the ‘Stone-Campbell’ Restoration Movement. The University’s Statement of Faith expresses clearly the major bone of contention between Restorationist churches and Evangelical churches: Faith, repentance, confession of faith in Jesus, baptism (immersion) and prayer are for the remission of past sins, and …
A review of The Kingdom of Speech by Tom Wolfe. Audiobook read by Robert Petkoff, 2016. This little book by the novelist and contemporary commentator on modern culture Tom Wolfe is worth the attention of anyone interested in the enigma of language. An enigma it is, more especially if one does not understand language as God ordained. Wolfe would appear to be an example of this point of view. So if Wolfe does not connect language to the Creator, but …
Book Review: The Case For Jesus: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Christ, by Brant Pitre, New York: Image, 2016, 242 pages, hdbk. I suppose that the first thing I ought to say is that this is not The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, nor is it related to the set of books spawned by it. This is a new work by a Professor at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Coming from the desk of a Roman Catholic …
Review: Eschatology: Biblical, Historical and Practical Approaches by D. Jeffrey Bingham and Glenn R. Kreider, editors. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2016, 501 pages. This book is a celebration of the work of Craig A. Blaising. Though I am not a Progressive Dispensationalist, I do like Blaising’s writing. He always approaches a subject from interesting angles, and usually makes important points. The book is divided into the three sections of the subtitle, plus a beginning section on foundational matters. The list …
A Review of Allen P. Ross, A Commentary on the Psalms, Volume 3 (90 – 150), Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1042 pages, hardback Finally we have the third and final volume of the Kregel Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms by Allen P. Ross, Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School. This one covers Psalms 90 through 150 and brings the complete set to three thousand pages. The first two volumes were outstanding. I have found that I turn to …
A review of Eugene H. Merrill, A Commentary on 1 & 2 Chronicles, Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2015, 637 pages, hdbk Among readers of the Old Testament (you know, those creatures of legend that used to inhabit churches), the Books of 1 and 2 Chronicles would not rank too high on their list of favorites. Even zealous preachers would, given the choice, prefer to go through 1 & 2 Kings rather than Chronicles. But these neglected books (one book in the …
The Territories of Science and Religion by Peter Harrison, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015, 320 pages. The battle between Science and Religion has been presented to the wider public as a struggle between reason and superstition. In the present intellectual climate, where the ghosts of logical positivism have been far from exorcised from the corridors of scientific thinking, any countering of the reigning attitude is most welcome. The volume under review is an absorbing historical account of the way …
Tough Questions about God and His Actions in the Old Testament by Walter C. Kaiser, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2015, 176 pages, pbk God Almighty will always have to suffer the inquisitions of his rebellious creatures, at least until He sorts out the waywardness epidemic of creaturely independence which is the bequest of the presence of sin. It won’t do to answer these jibes with “God can do anything He likes”, we must be prepared to educate unbelievers about the justice …
