Books

Falls, Thomas B., ed. and trans. Writings of Saint Justin Martyr. The Fathers of the Church. Edited by Hermigild Dressler. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1948.

Justin begins his first apology with the argument that Christians should not be judged simply for bearing the name Christian. If they are to be judged, it should be for real wrongdoing. He then makes the argument that Christians are actually good citizens. In the remainder of the discourse Justin demonstrates how Christ fulfilled OT prophecies. He also deals with similarities between Christianity and pagan philosophy and myths. He claims that pagan myths were inspired by demons who knew of the prophesies of Christ. The second apology is a brief petition on behalf of a Christian who has just been sentenced to death.

The Dialogue with Trypho is a lengthy, styled dialogue between Justin and a Jew named Trypho (though Trypho speaks little). Much of the dialogue is taken up with application of OT prophecy to Christ. Justin’s conclusions are often sound, but his exegesis and reasoning is often flawed. For instance, he rightly concludes that the non-moral aspects of the Mosaic law are not binding on Gentiles, but he reasons that this is because the Mosaic law was given to Israel because of its persistent sin and is therefore a bad law given as a punishment (Eze. 20:25-26; but see Block, NICOT 1:636-41; Alexander, EBC, 836).

Irenaeus of Lyon. Against the Heresies: Book 1. Translated and Edited by Dominic J. Unger and John J. Dillon. New York: Newman Press, 1992.

The first book of Against the Heresies is largely an account of the heresies that the church faced in the time of Irenaeus. These are complicated and sometimes incomprehensible. a benefit of wading through them, however, is the recognition that completely implausible false teaching can seem quite persuasive in a given time and place while, in truth, being entirely empty. This is worth remembering when contemporary heresies seem formidable.

In terms of positive contributions to Christian theology, chapters 8-10 are the most significant. In general, Irenaeus is arguing that the Gnostics wrest Scripture from its context. He uses engaging illustrations to expose what the heretics do with Scripture: a mosaic of a king which is rearranged into the image of a fox; lines taken from throughout Homer and rearranged into a new poem. Interestingly, Irenaeus’s conclusion is not that one should investigate the contexts of the phrases the Gnostics wrest to their own ends, but rather that the rule of truth should be used as a template for performing the restoration. He states this rule of truth in 1.10.1 and 1.22.1. In support of the rule, Irenaeus argues that it is the truth confessed by the church in all parts of the world.

Irenaeus’s argument makes sense in its time. Why wrangle over the exegesis of texts with the heretics if one has the slam dunk argument that the church is unified in its teaching against the heretics (cf. Tertullian, The Prescription against Heretics, ch. 19). This approach would, however, bear bad fruit as church tradition began to diverge from apostolic teaching.

Irenaeus of Lyon. Against the Heresies: Book 2. Translated and Edited by Dominic J. Unger and John J. Dillon. New York: Newman Press, 2012.

Book one describes the heresies faced by the church in the time of Irenaeus. Book two begins a response to these heresies. In much of this book Irenaeus is simply pointing out contradictions and absurdities in the heretical doctrines, but there are several places in which he engages the heretics theologically and thus offers some positive statement regarding Christian doctrine:

• Monotheism: 2.16.3
• God the Creator and his creation: 2.1.1; 2.2.4-5; 2.3.2, 5-4; 2.11.1; 2.28.1
• Attributes of God:
  • Omnipotence, invisibility, sovereignty: 2.6.1-2
  • Divine simplicity and impassibility: 2.13.3
  • Divine transcendence: 2.13.4
• Natural revelation: 2.9.1
• Eternal generation of the Son: 2.28.6
• Recapitulation (Jesus passed through every stage of life): 2.22.4, 5
• Christ truly suffered: 2.20.3
• Offer of salvation: 2.22.2
• Infant baptism? (some think this is implied in a statement that refers to infants being born again): 2.22.4
• Ethics (Irenaeus deals with the heretics’ justification their sin): 2.32
• Against the transmigration of souls 2.33
• On the soul and the intermediate state 2.34
• Resurrection 2.29.2
• Eternal punishment 2.28.7
• Right interpretation of Scripture (warnings against basing doctrine on parables contrary to clear teachings of Scripture): 2.27
• Example of an erroneous tradition (Irenaeus claims that the Gospels (cf. John 8:56-57; AH 2.22.6), and the elders in Asia (who passed on a tradition from the apostle John, and others teach that Jesus lived to his fortieth year before dying): 2.22.5
• Mystery in theology: 2.25.3-4; 2.28
• Love in theology (Love of God is more important than knowledge, for love builds up and knowledge puffs up. Irenaeus clarifies that this is not a polemic against true knowledge, for Paul is an example of one with true knowledge; Irenaeus opposes speculative knowledge that does not tend to increase love toward God or others): 2.26

Irenaeus of Lyon. Against the Heresies: Book 3. Translated and Edited by Dominic J. Unger and Irenaeus M. C. Steenberg. New York: Newman Press, 2012.

Book 3 of Against the Heresies is much more focused on positively stating Christian doctrine. Most of book 3 deals with Scripture proofs that counteract the heretics. But before engaging in the heretics on with Scripture itself Irenaeus makes the case that the Gospels contain accurate tradition from the apostles and that the oral tradition preserved in the orthodox church faithfully preserved apostolic teaching. This leads to an interesting discussion about the composition of the Gospels (including order of composition: Matthew, Luke, Mark) in chapter 1 and about the succession of the bishops of Rome in chapter 2. Irenaeus’s discussion of Scripture and tradition set the church down a trajectory that would need to be corrected by the Reformation. Two things should be noted in Irenaeus’s defense. First, his argument made good sense in its time—in general the church did preserve a more accurate tradition of apostolic teaching than the heretics (though this tradition was not always accurate, see 2.22.5-6). Second, Irenaeus locates apostolic tradition, in the first place, in the written Gospels, and he bases his arguments on Scripture.

The main thrust of book 3 is that there is only one God and that Jesus is the same God as the Father. Noteworthy passages in book 3 are the discussion of the various OT covenants (3.11.8) and the discussion of the virgin birth prophecy of Isa 7 (3.12). A discussion of Irenaeus’s distinctive doctrine of recapitulation takes place in 3.23.

Note especially Irenaues’s comments about the manifest authority of the four Gospels: "Now, the authority of these Gospels is so great that the heretics themselves bear witness to them, and each one of them tries to establish his doctrine with the Gospels as a starting point. The Ebionites use only the Gospel of Matthew. . . . Marcion, on the other hand, mutilated the gospel according to Luke. . . . Those, however, who prefer the Gospel of Mark and divide Jesus from Christ, and assert that Christ remained impassible but that Jesus suffered, can be corrected if they read this Gospel with a love for the truth. Finally, the followers of Valentinus, who make very ample use of the Gospel according to John . . ." 3.11.7

Hart, Jeffrey. The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times. Wilmington, Del.: ISI Books, 2005.

Hart provides an interesting view of post-WWII conservatism in the United States. Perhaps most interesting are his discussions of the various strands of conservatism and their varying visions of life. Hart himself opposes all forms of utopianism. He believes that the nation-state, though imperfect, is a necessary good. Along with this he believes that national defense is also necessary; it is utopian to think otherwise. But he also thinks it is utopian to think the United States can use its military power to bring democracy to the world. He prefers constitutional government to majority rule; Hart is not overly sympathetic to populism. He favors free-market economies—but not when they become a utopian ideal that overrules all other values. Hart believes that the conservative should value beauty and should seek to conserve good literature, art, architecture, and nature. Hart favors traditional religion (he is himself a Catholic, but not one who accepts the infallibility of the magisterium); he denies that evangelical religion is conservative, and he prefers a libertarian stance on moral issues. Thus while he grants that Roe v. Wade "was certainly an example of judicial overreach," he also avers that "simply to pull an abstract ‘right to life’ out of the Declaration of Independence, as some conservatives do, is not conservative but Jacobinical." He sees little value in seeking to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The value in Hart’s book is the unfolding of twentieth century (and now twenty-first century) conservatism by tracing the various competing strands of conservatism, and the debates among these strands, at National Review. For the Christian it is worth considering that some of these strands are more and less compatible with Scripture.

Articles

McClain, Alva J. "The Greatness of the Kingdom Part I," BibSac 112, no. 445 (Jan 1955): 11-27.

McClain, Alva J. "The Greatness of the Kingdom Part II: Mediatorial Kingdom in Old Testament Prophecy," BibSac 112, no. 446 (Apr 1955): 107-124.

McClain, Alva J. "The Greatness of the Kingdom Part III," BibSac 112, no. 447 (Jul 1955): 209-224.

McClain, Alva J. "The Greatness of the Kingdom Part IV: The Mediatorial Kingdom from the Acts Period to the Eternal State." BibSac 112, no. 448 (Oct 1955): 304-10.

Summary

McClain defines the kingdom of God as "the rule of God over his creation" (13). OT kingdom teaching reveals a number of paradoxes related to the kingdom: it "always existed," but it has "a definite historical beginning. It encompasses all creation, but it can be located at specific times and places on earth; God rules "directly," and God rules "through a mediator;" the kingdom exists because of the "sovereign nature of Deity," and the kingdom is grounded on the Davidic covenant (13). McClain distinguishes the two aspects of the kingdom represented by these contrasting statements as universal and mediatorial. The focus of McClain’s discussion in these articles is the mediatorial kingdom.

In McClain’s view the mediatorial kingdom is focused on the redemption of the human race, and eventually the cosmos. The "mediatorial ruler is always a member of the human race" (18).

Though the mediatorial kingdom had antecedents in the patriarchal families, McClain places the establishment of the mediatorial kingdom at Sinai. This kingdom eventually fails because the hearts of the people were not transformed by the law and because the rulers did not have the perfection needed. Thus the prophets look forward to "an age when the laws of the kingdom will be written in the hearts of its citizens (Jer. 31:33), and its mediatorial Ruler will be perfect in his character, wisdom and ways (Isa. 11:1-4)" (27).

According to McClain, the Old Testament prophets predict "a revival and restoration of the Old Testament kingdom of history" (cf. Mic 4:1, 7-8; Amos 9:11) (114). The re-establishment of the kingdom will be "sudden" and "immediate," its ruler will be both God and man, and his rule will be a monarchy that will bring about justice (115-18). The kingdom’s extent will be world-wide and it will spiritual, ethical, social, economic, political, ecclesiastical, and physical (both in terms of personal health and in terms of the earth’s fecundity) effects (118-23).

McClain finds this same far-reaching kingdom with these far reaching effects declared as at hand by John and Jesus. The kingdom is at hand because the king is presents, but the kingdom is still "contingent." When the kingdom is rejected, Jesus outlines in parables " the future of the kingdom in the peculiar form (hitherto unrevealed) which it will assume during the temporary period of Israel’s rejection" (217). Also, only after the rejection of the kingdom does Christ begin to teach about the church. Jesus then proceeds to Jerusalem, offers himself as the king, and is rejected.

After the resurrection, Jesus spends forty days teaching the apostles about the kingdom. According to McClain, the kingdom is still being offered in the book of Acts, though the church is also taking root. As rejection to the kingdom continues, and as the church grows, the offer of the kingdom passes. McClain says this is why the signs and wonders tied to the offer of the kingdom have now passed away.

At present the kingdom is found on earth only in the sense that "God is engaged in selecting and preparing a people who are to be the spiritual nucleus of the established kingdom" (307). Christians are part of the kingdom, but the kingdom is not yet established. McClain rejects the idea that there is currently a "spiritual kingdom" and that in the future there will be a "visible kingdom" (308).

In McClain’s understanding, the mediatorial kingdom in all its aspects finds fulfillment in the millennium. Once the last enemy, death, is subdued "the purpose of [the] mediatorial kingdom will have been fulfilled" (310). Jesus will still reign, but he will reign no longer as the mediatorial king but as the divine Son with the other Persons of the Trinity.

Evaluation

McClain carefully constructed a plausible theology of the kingdom that takes into account the variety of biblical data about the kingdom. And yet, his proposition raises many questions.

Are the universal kingdom and the mediatorial kingdom really to aspects of the same kingdom? While mediatorial rulers gain the right to rule from God, the universal ruler, the "paradoxical truths outlined by McClain seem to point to two distinct, but related reigns. (This may be picky since McClain is fairly nuanced here.)

Is the mediatorial kingdom’s primary purpose redemptive? Working back from Hebrews 2:5-9 through Psalm 8 to Genesis 1:26-28, one is led to the conclusion that the messianic rule of Jesus is a fulfillment of the Creation Blessing. If this is so, then it seems that the mediatorial kingdom’s function is not limited to redemption (though the prophets make clear that in a fallen world, it includes redemptive purposes). If this is the case this kingdom need not end with the millennium.

Did the kingdom prophesied in the OT and proclaimed as at hand by John and Jesus exist in the Old Testament? While it is true that the Messianic reign has roots in the Davidic covenant, I hesitate to say that this kingdom existed in the Old Testament era. McClain does an excellent job in his section on the prophets detailing the full extent of the kingdom and its effects. These effects are no more than foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

Was the kingdom offered, rejected and postponed in Jesus’s ministry and in the early church? McClain’s affirmative answer here makes sense of the fact that the kingdom prophecies of the OT are not being fulfilled in their entirety at present. But there is another way of making sense of this fact: the kingdom was inaugurated at the first advent but its final consummation is delayed until the second advent. This option makes better sense of the affirmations regarding the fulfillment of kingdom promises that occur throughout Acts.

Thus instead of seeing, with McClain, a mediatorial kingdom in existence from the time of Moses until the exile, a kingdom which will remain in abeyance until the Second Coming, I would see no mediatorial kingdom in the Old Testament, the announcement of the kingdom’s nearness by John and a presence of the kingdom in the person of Christ. The kingdom is inaugurated in the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, but it will not be finally consummated until Christ returns.

Despite these differences, I still find McClain’s work helpful in a number of areas. He does helpfully distinguish the universal and mediatorial kingdom passages; his second article helpfully deals with some of O. T. Allis’s objections to premillennialism; his treatment of the "extensive nature of the kingdom" is masterful as is relation of each of the elements of OT kingdom prophecy with Jesus’s kingdom teaching; and his discussion of John 18:36 is also well done.

Millar, J. Gary. “Land.” New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2000. pp. 623-27.

God promised to give land to Abraham and his seed (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:14-16; 15:18-21; 17:8; 26:3, 4, 24; 28:3-4, 13-15; 35:9-12). God has the right to give the land to Israel because he owns the whole earth. Thus the land given to Israel is God’s land (Lev. 25:23; Deut. 32:43; Josh 22:19; Is. 14:2, 25; Jer. 2:7; Ezek. 36:5; 38:16; Joel 1:6; 32). God has entrusted the land it Israel in his grace to them (Deut. 1:20-21, 25, 35; 3:18, 20; 4:1, 40; 6:1, 10, 18; 7:1, 8, 12; 8:1, 18; 9:5; 10:11; 11:9, 21; 12:1; 19:8; 26:3, 15;27:3; 30:20; 31:7, 21, 23; 34:4). The description of the land as abundantly fruitful (an land "flowing with milk and honey") "guarantees the restoration of intimacy with God in terms which recall the description of Eden" (623).

Obedience to God’s law is a significant feature of the OT’s teaching about the land. "The land is the place where Israel has the opportunity to obey God’s commands" (Deut. 12:1; cf. 6:1; 26:1; 27:1-3) (624). The land could only be gained and retained if Israel is obedient (Lev. 26:32-39; Num 13-14; Deut 4, 27-30). Land for Israel represented its relationship with God. Land in Israel was inherited by the son, and occupation of the land indicated that Israel was God’s son.

The NT does not develop a theology of land to the extent that the OT does. In Millar’s view the relational idea of Christians receiving an inheritance from God is the primary use of this theme (see Matt. 5:5; 25:34; John 15; Col. 1:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; Heb. 4:1-11).

McKeown, J. "Land, Fertility, Famine." Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2003. pp. 487-91

McKeown defines the semantic ranges of land words in the OT, highlights God’s sovereignty over land, its distribution, the expulsion of sinners. He notes the responsibilities given to mankind regarding the land in Genesis 1 and the fact that punishments for sin in Genesis 1-11 all relate to land. The land promises to Abraham are recounted. The gracious gift of the land along with the requirement for Israel’s obedience is noted. The significance of the Promised Land as a new Eden is noted, but with the caveat that problems caused sin must be regulated.

Williamson, P. R. "Land." In Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books. Edited by Bill T. Arnold and H. G. M. Williamson. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2005. pp. 638-43.

Williamson notes that in the historical books, Israel’s history is told with primary reference to the land: how it is obtained, trespassed, secured, expanded, lost, and restored. Williamson also notes the theme of the land as Israel’s inheritance, the requirement of Israel’s obedience, and judgment in the form of invasion, famine, and exile. In the end, the historical books end "on a note of hope rather than one of fulfillment" (642).

Allison, Jr. D. C. "Land in Early Christianity." In Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments. Edited by Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1997. pp. 642-44.

Allison recognizes that the Old Testament and Second Temple literature taught that God would regather Israel to a new land. However, since the land texts in the NT do not specifically mention a renewed Israel, but instead point more generally to a renewed earth or a worldwide millennial reign, Allison concludes the land has become "a symbol of some transhistorical reality" (643)) In fact, "holy space is where Jesus Christ is (Ign. Smyrn. 8.2); and because as risen Lord he is free to move where he will, there can be no sacred as opposed to profane territory, no genuine ‘holy land.’ Christ’s ubiquity as a spiritual presence universalizes the notion of holy space and so inescapably relativizes the sanctity and significance of the land promised to Abraham’s descendants" (644). This seems to be a far-ranging conclusion based on pretty weak argumentation. Would it not be more reasonable to assume the Old Testament background in instances when the land theme arises, rather than assuming that it is rejected? This would especially be so in cases such as Luke 13:29; Matthew 19:28 ; and Revelation 20 in which there are clear OT parallels. Furthermore, a "literal messianic kingdom centered in Israel" is not mutually exclusive of "a new or renewed earth" (644). John Goldingay’s approach is sounder: "The New Testament’s silence on the theme of Israel may thus imply that this theme should be taken for granted, not that it should be rejected. . . . The New Testament makes explicit that in Christ the temple and the sacrificial system lose their literal significance. If it had meant to suggest that this happens with the promise of the land, it would have had to make this explicit, too. But while it once or twice applies the rest/inheritance motif to Jesus, it never directly suggests that the First Testament promise regarding the land is fulfilled in him. We might infer that this promise is one to which God says yes in Jesus not in the sense that his coming fulfills it but in the sense that his coming confirms it, guarantees that like all other promises it will be fulfilled. It could naturally follow that the positive purpose of God lies behind the Jews regaining a home for themselves in Palestine. God’s commitment to Israel had to find expression in seeing it has a home; otherwise it is not a commitment at all. The New Testament’s concern with the being of the Jewish people cannot but imply a concern with the land of Israel." John Goldingay, "What Is Israel’s Place in God’s Purpose?" in Key Questions about Christian Faith: Old Testament Answers (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010), 200.

Janzen, W. "Land." The Anchor Bible Dictionary 4:143-154

In the Old Testament theology section Janzen’s most helpful comments are his summaries of the prophetic literature on the land (his treatment of the Pentateuch and Historical Books mirrors the content of other works). In the New Testament theology section, he sees affirmations of the OT land theology, abrogation of it (especially in Hebrews), symbolic use of it, and extension of it to the nations. Janzen’s analysis of the New Testament data is problematized by his failure to recognize a coherent theology within that Testament, much less a coherence between the testaments. Nonetheless, the article does gather a good amount of data together.

Allen, Ronald B. "The Land of Israel." In Israel: Land and the People. Edited by H. Wayne House. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1998.

Allen argues the following in this essay: through the whole earth is the Lord’s, he has selected the land of Israel as his special possession, a place where he has chosen to accomplish the most significant acts in his work of Redemption. He has promised in covenant that this land is the possession of the nation/people of Israel. This is an unconditional promise ultimately, but there are conditions for particular generations enjoying it. Presently Israel does not meet those conditions, and thus cannot claim the land as a divine gift. It does have a legal right to the land according to international actions of the UN. The Christian should see God’s providential working in preserving the Jews and in opening a homeland for them even though the spiritual transformation of the people and the fullness of the promises to them are not yet accomplished.

Kaiser, Jr., Walter C. "The Land of Israel and the Future Return (Zechariah 10:6-12)." In Israel: Land and the People. Edited by H. Wayne House. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1998.

Kaiser argues that Zechariah 10:6-12 confirms that the return to the land prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel was not fulfilled in the returns documented in Ezra and Nehemiah. He also addresses arguments to the effect that the land promise was conditional (and thus has no future fulfillment), was given to Israel for a long period of time but not in perpetuity (and thus the promise has lapsed), or was abrogated or redirected by the NT.

Jelinek, John A. "The Dispersion and Restoration of Israel to the Land." In Israel: Land and the People. Edited by H. Wayne House. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1998.

Jelinek investigates Leviticus 24 and Deuteronomy 28-30 as a basis for the Bible’s teaching about Israel’s exile and restoration. He then surveys teaching on these themes throughout the remainder of the Old and New Testaments. He concludes that the land promise to Israel was unconditional, that the covenant did stipulate exile for breaking the covenant, and that a restoration was promised to the nation. This restoration to the land involved a spiritual restoration with an inward circumcision of the heart that made obedience possible. The New Testament reveals that the Holy Spirit, the means of this internal circumcision, has been given. Israel as a whole remains unrepentant, however. Paul prophesies, however, the future conversion of the nation. This connects to the promises of restoration given earlier.

Muller, Richard A. “The Place and Importance of Karl Barth in the Twentieth Century: A Review Article.” Westminster Theological Journal 50, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 127-156.

After summarizing several books on Barth that emerged in the 1980s Muller evaluates Barth’s role as a theologian who mediated between liberals and conservatives. While acknowledging the draw that Barth has had on members of both groups, Muller concludes that Barth has actually constructed a new extreme rather than a mediating position. Muller concludes that Barth’s major value lies in his critiques of liberal theology and his call for conservatives the engage with issues raised in the modern world. But Muller does not find Barth’s theological position convincing: his theological exegesis often fails to truly exegete texts, his theology exists in the realm of words and concepts but distances itself from history and reality, and despite, Barth’s many discussions of the great tradition of the church, Barth "presents the tradition all too frequently only to deviate from it and, in so doing, points away from itself to treasures that are not its own."

Bolt, John. “The Greening of Spirituality : A Review Article.” Calvin Theological Journal 30, no. 1 (April 1, 1995): 194-211.

Bolt’s own conclusion summarizes his article nicely: "As this review has tried to show, the vast amount of literature on theology and ecology requires careful sorting and weighing. There is much that is interesting and valuable, there is far too much that is pagan and theologically goofy. In addition, there is also another caution that is called for, in my judgment. During the decade of the seventies, evangelical Christians became sensitive to the problem of poverty and hunger in the world. Ronald Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger served as a manifesto of that concern. Two decades later it is fairly evident that Sider’s analysis and moderately socialist solutions to the problems of global poverty and hunger were seriously flawed. Many well-intentioned Christians enthusiastically signed on to bankrupt ideas with evangelical fervor. The irony here is that critiques of the Sider approach were available even then but not taken seriously. Facing a related but distinct problem in the global environmental crisis, the lessons of that mistake should not be lost. Specifically, Christians who are concerned as they should be about the integrity of creation and human stewardship of it, have an obligation to listen to Her Majesty’s loyal opposition in this matter. Become familiar with the divisions in the scientific community itself about the actual threats of environmental disaster. . . ."

Harmless, William. "Augustine the Bishop." In Augustine in His Own Words. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010.

Harmless draws on Augustine’s own writings and on Possidius’s Vita to sketch Augustine’s ordination, episcopal duties, and retirement. The text is sometimes encouraging as it reveals Augustine’s piety and concern for doctrinal and personal purity. His wisdom in dealing with difficult situations is often on display. Yet the text is sometimes discouraging as the departure from a biblical church order along with various abuses that will grow out of that departure are clearly already developing.

But what is the motive, that enlivens the believer in the pursuit of more extended spiritual knowledge ? Is it that he may live upon the airy breath of human applause ? No, rather that he may praise his God with uprightness of heart. We always find, that as our mind is dark, our tongue is dumb, our lips are sealed, and we are unable to bear a testimony for our God. But when "he opens our understandings" to " learn his judgments," he will next " open our lips, and our mouths shall shew forth his praise."

Charles Bridges, Exposition of Psalm CXIX, as illustrative of the character and exercises of Christian experience, 15.

Books

Tolkien, J. R. R. Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1980.

In addition to containing enjoyable tales and further information about Middle Earth, Unfinished Tales also provides a hermeneutical lesson about canonical interpretation. "The Quest of Erebor" provides background to the story of the Hobbit from Gandalf’s perspective. Just as the significance Bilbo’s discovery of the ring was altered when The Hobbit is read in light of the Lord of the Rings, so the significance of Smaug’s death and the re-establishment of the King under the mountain is changed when placed in Gandalf’s perspective of the wider war against Sauron. Something similar happens in Scripture. While passages of Scripture must be understood first in their own literary context (as Bilbo’s finding of the ring or the Battle of the Five Armies must first be understood in their role in the story of The Hobbit), they should also be read in light of the canon as a whole. In this way later passages of Scripture may enrich the meaning of earlier passages of Scripture.

Pennington, Jonathan T. Reading the Gospels Wisely: A Narrative and Theological Introduction. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012.

Pennington provides an introduction to the Gospels from the perspective of an evangelical participant in the theological interpretation of Scripture "movement." Pennington’s work reflects both the strengths and weaknesses of a TIS approach.

Strong points in the book in include:

• Pennington’s examination of what the Gospels are (including a survey of how the word "gospel" is used in the Gospels, Gospel as a genre, the relation of Gospel to bioi, and the purposes for which the Gospels were written. Pennington settles on the following definition: "Our canonical Gospels are the theological, historical, and aretological (virtue-forming) biographical narratives that retell the story and proclaim the significance of Jesus Christ, who through the power of the Spirit is the Restorer of God’s reign" (35).
• an examination of the historical nature of the Gospels that interacts with N. T. Wright’s work on the historical Jesus. Pennington rightly refuses to pit history and theology against each other. But he faults Wright for "methodological naturalism" and for building his theology not upon the Gospel texts themselves but upon his reconstructed background. Pennington argues that the Gospels must be received as testimony. As such they are historical, but they are also theologically shaped.
• Pennington’s detailed method that moves the reader from narrative analysis through to personal and pastoral application. This may be the most useful part of the book. This section of the book will be received most beneficially if it is practiced on several Gospel texts rather than merely read. It is this section that is worth the price of the book.

Weak points include:

• pitting the epistles, especially the Pauline epistles, against the Gospels. Pennington is a conservative evangelical, so he recognizes the full inspiration and importance of both the Gospels and the epistles. But he accepts the common charge that evangelicals privilege Paul and justification and the expense of the Gospels and the kingdom. He seems to over-react by arguing the Gospels should be privileged. Just as he argues that the Epistles cannot be understood apart from the storyline provided in the Gospels, so I would argue that the Gospels cannot rightly be understood apart from the more propositional revelation in the Epistles. All parts of the canon work together.
• wrong reaction to the historical-critical method that emerged in the Enlightenment period. Like many theological interpreters Pennington argues for a return to patristic hermeneutics with an openness to spiritual sense of Scripture. But pre-critical interpretation cannot be limited to the fathers alone. The problems with their multi-sense approach to interpretation was already becoming clear by the end of the Middle Ages.* The Reformers are both pre-critical and decisively reject the allegorical method of the fathers. They provide a better hermeneutical model.** The approach of the Reformers will provide Pennington with all the richness of meaning that he desires to find. And in any event, the approach of the fathers cannot be adopted without addressing the problems that led it the abandonment of their approach.

In all Pennington’s work provides a helpful approach to reading and understanding the Gospels, but he could strengthen his approach by engaging more critically with aspects of the Theological Interpretation "movement."

* See Nicholas M. Healy, "Introduction," in Thomas G. Weinandy, Daniel A. Keating, and John P. Yocum, Aquinas on Scripture (New York: T & T Clark, 2005), 7-9; Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (University of Notre Dame Press, 1964), 281-92.

** See T.H.L. Parker Calvin’s Old Testament Commentaries (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1986), 70, 81; idem, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, 2nd ed. (Louisville: WJK, 1993), 282-85.

DeYoung, Kevin. The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism. Chicago: Moody, 2010.

DeYoung provides an excellent entry-level introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism.

Peterson, David. Possessed by God: A New Testament Theology of Sanctification and Holiness. New Studies in Biblical Theology. Edited by D. A. Carson. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1995.

Peterson’s main point is that sanctification language in the New Testament almost always refers to what theologians term positional sanctification rather than progressive sanctification. It is this definitive work of God which grounds Christian growth in holiness and transformation into Christlikeness. Peterson wishes to rescue Christians from the debilitations of moralism and perfectionism by encouraging them to live the Christian life in light of what Christ has already accomplished for them and the goal of glorification that he will bring about for them. Peterson’s general thrust seems biblically substantiated, though I have the sense that Peterson may be a bit more rigid on hagiasmos words than is warranted (he wants to read in a positional sanctification background into hagiasmos texts in which a progressive idea is present). Peterson also seemed overly critical of the Puritan writings on sanctification without engaging them deeply. Nonetheless, the book is helpful, especially in its treatment of living between the cross and the resurrection.

Articles

Carson, D. A. "The Beauty of Biblical Balance." Themelios 37.2 (2012): 178-81.

While granting that not all aspects of life are to be balanced (e.g., love for God with all our being), Carson does highlight several areas in which Christians ought to seek balance: (1) Using time in a balanced way to faithfully carry out work, family, ministry, and other obligations; (2) balance in biblical emphases (note unity and purity are not equally balanced: doctrinal truth is nonnegotiable; unity is desirable but can become compromise); (3) feeding from all parts of the Bible, from a wide spectrum of biblical themes, with attention to the storyline of Scripture; (4) wisdom in applying the Scripture to those with differing spiritual conditions; (5) "balance in integrating complementary truths that lie on the edge of great mysteries, not least complementary truths about God."

Yarbrough, Robert W. "Bonhoeffer as Biblical Scholar," Themelios 37.2 (2012): 185-90.

An overly brief argument that attempts to make the case Bonhoeffer should provide an example to evangelical biblical scholars. The article was underdeveloped to the point of not being very helpful.

Williams, Sam. "Toward a Theology of Emotion," Southern Baptist Theological Journal 7, no. 4 (Winter 2003): 58-72.

Williams offers helpful definitions of feeling, emotion, and affection in which he distinguishes the three. Williams then defends the idea that God, because he is a person (and given explicit Scripture), is not an emotionless being. Williams concludes with an examination of human emotion under the headings of creation, fall and redemption. An excellent treatment.

Paula Fredriksen and Judith Lieu, "Christian Theology and Judaism," in The First Christian Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church, ed. G. R. Evans (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.

"To spin the straw of traditional religious narrative into the gold of philosophically coherent and elevating theology, Hellenistic intellectuals availed themselves of allegory. . . . Allegory enabled the enlightened reader to see through the surface level of a text to its spiritual message, to understand what the text truly meant in contrast to what it merely said. Grammar, rhetoric, philological finesse: all these tools of classical paideia might be brought to bear on an ancient story to turn it into a philosophically lucid statement of timeless truth." 86

Holmes, Michael W., ed. and trans. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007. [Read: First Clement, The Letters of Ignatius, The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians, The Martyrdom of Polycarp, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Epistle to Diognetus, Fragments of Papias]

First Clement and the Epistle to Diognetus remain my favorite post-apostolic writings. I don’t enjoy Ignatius as much, but it did strike me this time through that his discussion of a biship and a council of elders may reflect a situation in which one elder (the bishop) has a leadership role among the elders rather than merely indicating the rise of an episcopacy. Barnabas is interesting in that he argues that the Jews ought to have understood the Torah spiritually from the beginning. He seems to be saying that the Israelites did not need to observe the food laws or perhaps even the sacrifices. They should have simply drawn the spiritual lessons from them. It seems that the relation of the Old Testament to the believer was a real problem for the early church.

Henry, Carl F. H. God, Revelation and Authority (Volume III: God Who Speaks and Shows: Fifteen Theses, Part Two). Waco, TX: Word, 1979. [Read Thesis Eight, pp. 9-163]

Henry, like Charles Hodge, is a favorite whipping boy among recent theological theorists. While not above critique, Henry’s work contains much valuable material that should not be neglected. Henry’s defense of propositional revelation remains especially relevant and runs throughout his work. Henry is often more nuanced in his defense of propositional revelation than his critics allow for. Also of interest in this opening section of volume three are Henry’s discussion of the concept of mystery (3:9-11), his discussion of the kingdom of God and its relevance to Christian political engagement (3:69-74), his treatment of the person of Christ (3:108-117), and his defense of the Resurrection (3:147-63). Of special interest is Henry’s lengthy treatment of Jewish objections to Christianity (3:118-46) and his treatment of issues related to synoptic Gospels (3:84-91). On this latter topic Henry includes good discussions of oral tradition, Q, form and redaction criticism, the language Jesus spoke, ipsissima verba vs. ispsissima vox. In my estimation, Henry shows greater wisdom in this discussion than many other evangelical treatments.

No doubt we think we can avoid the Pharisee’s error. God was not for him, we say, because he was contemptuous toward the publican; we will be tender to the publican, as Jesus taught us to be, and then God will be for us. It is no doubt a good idea; it is we’ll that we are tender toward the publican. But what is our attitude toward the Pharisee? Alas, we despise him in a truly Pharisaical manner. We go up into the temple to pray; we stand and pray thus with ourselves: ‘God I thank thee that I am not as other men are, proud of my own righteousness, uncharitable toward publicans, or even as this—Pharisee.’

J. Gresham Machen, What is Faith? (New York: Macmillan, 1933), 80.

At this point, we must reiterate that all our primary faculties or capacities (intellect, will, conscience, and emotion) are equally involved in imaging God and equally corrupted by sin. This is important because, ‘It is sometimes argued that unless one asserts the primacy of the intellect, one may justly follow any or every sort of emotion. But this would be true only in the non-Christian concept of the nature of man. Only in the non-Christian concept of man are the emotions inherently unruly; they have become unruly only because of sin. But, when sin has entered into the mind of man, the intellect is as unruly as are the affections. The whole man refuses to subject itself to the rule of God. When a saved sinner learns to control his passions, the reason is not primarily that he has understood the meaning of the primacy of the intellect as a psychological truth, but the primary reason is that in the whole of his being he is born of God.’

Sam Williams. "Toward a Theology of Emotion," Southern Baptist Theological Journal 7, no. 4 (Winter 2003): 68 citing C. Van Til, An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1978) 34..