Month: October 2024

Romans (NTL) by Beverly Gaventa

/ jimmyreagan / Leave a comment

This volume brings the NTL quite close to completion. The volume on Romans in any New Testament series will tell you much about its theological predilection. That is surely true here. This series gives perhaps the clearest presentation of a mediating or critical perspective. That is not my perspective at all, but I often read at least one entry from that side of the fence to stretch myself. This series’ best contribution is often theology that really gets you thinking. This volume succeeds along all those lines.

In fact, Gaventa is an especially translucent writer (or she has a grand editor). Your eyes will easily glide along the page understanding fully her thinking whether you agree or not. Often, when you don’t agree you will still find not as abrasive of arguments as we commonly find. If you are of her theological persuasion, you may develop a deep appreciation of this book.

After a large bibliography, she jumps into the Introduction. She begins by jumping into an orientation to how she approached this commentary including her influences. I wish more commentators used that method. I found she was true throughout to what she said here and I appreciate the transparency.

Again, appreciating transparency and agreeing with what was transparently presented are not the same thing. For example, she says she reads Paul “with a hermeneutic of generosity.” She then cites as an evidence things Paul has said. She states “and there are, to be sure, elements in the letter that disturb me, particularly Paul’s use of same-sex relations as evidence of humanity’s refusal to recognize God as God.” That statement raises far greater questions than merely commentary matters on Romans like, say, what moral system do we use to judge the Word of God? I mean, what’s higher or truer that we could use? If it can be produced, why aren’t we studying it instead of Romans anyway? See what I mean.

At least she tries. In her commentary on Romans 1&2 she twists the passages relating to homosexuality until they are contorted beyond recognition. Her description of Roman views of gender hierarchy (page 68) are beyond the pale in describing what Paul was saying. It came across as an act of desperation that on the one hand apologizes for what Romans actually says to saying it’s still a good book on the other. I can’t see how that would satisfy people on either side of the fence. Don’t misunderstand—I’m neither obsessing on this issue or stating it’s one of the main themes of Romans, but I do believe it might help you understand what you have in store for yourself between the covers of this volume.

With that settled, expect nice exegesis within the confines of her perspective. When she’s on, she’s really on because of her superior writing skills. Barth is clearly her greatest influence and that tells you what to expect doctrinally. Theological nuggets are to be found as well.

If you are like me and are conservatively minded and seek light on a different perspective with theological assists, you will find what you are looking for here. If you possess a critical mindset, you will too.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Job (EEC) by Duane Garrett

/ jimmyreagan / Leave a comment

Here’s a bright, new commentary on the fascinating Book of Job from one of the leading commentary series of our day (EEC). The task fell to prolific commentator Duane Garrett. Ages ago he tackled other Wisdom books in the NAC series. Though that was a perfectly usable volume, it was the work of a rookie. Here the seasoned player steps to the plate and delivers a mature work on Job. I have not read everything he has ever written, but this is the best work he has done out of what I have used.

From the first pages of the Introduction his skills are apparent. He’s well researched, he distills that research to clearly state what the scholarly world has thought, and then he is not afraid to make a conclusion. With kindness to us he does it all without excessive verbiage.

I find myself in sympathy with most of his conclusions as well. The scholarly world has moved on from dating Job closer to Abraham and I just can’t go with them. The older generation had far better reasoning there and the new arguments strike me as vacuous. Garrett makes a strong argument for seeing chapter 28 as an inserted Wisdom Poem. I’m not sure, but he lays it out for you to decide.

He begins with the chiastic structure of Job and is spot on. Whether what he said above about chapter 28 is correct or not, it is the center of the chiasm it seems for sure just as says. The rest of the Introduction is well done. He writes with clarity on textual issues, genre, and biblical parallels.

There’s plenty of meat on the bone in the commentary proper as well. Exegesis, explanation, and theology are first rate. Some of those speeches are exceptionally challenging and there’s excellent help here.

So where does this one rank among commentaries on Job? Hartley (NICOT) is the most similar. He blows many others away as they commentate through a dark haze and so rob Job of its theological beauty. I guess, then, we will have to rank this as our best option for Job in the major commentary category.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

The 30 Days Series Bundle by Trevin Wax

/ jimmyreagan / 2 Comments

This gorgeous set is a boon to one’s devotional life. It’s actually three popular titles to use for one month each with a morning, mid-day, and evening reading. The first one covers all 150 psalms in a month. That’s a cool undertaking for sure. The next volume covers the life of Jesus by a collection of key passages in the Gospels. The final one comes from the letters of Paul.

Every entry has a short call to prayer followed by a “Confession of Faith” for morning entries. The evening portion substitutes a “Confession of Sin”. Next, there’s a canticle followed by the Biblical reading. After the Gloria, you get the Lord’s Prayer in every entry. The selection ends with a short famous prayer and a blessing. It’s a nice design.

The set itself makes you think of an heirloom set. The volumes look so sharp in the slipcase. These books will easily last for many years.

It would be impossible to not benefit from these books and I recommend them. Mr. Wax envisioned these volumes masterfully and you will be blessed.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

CSB Notetaking Bible, Expanded Reference Edition, Brown LeatherTouch Over Board

/ jimmyreagan / 1 Comment

Here is a lovely Bible for those who enjoy note taking directly in your Bible. As for the translation, this is the Christian Standard Bible, which is one owned by Holman Publishers. There’s a short article at the beginning where they explain their approach to making this translation. They say they combine the best of formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence to produce what they call optimal equivalence. I did a little checking and they offer the KJV as well.

The one in front of me for review is the “Brown Leather Touch Over Board”. It’s an attractive hardback volume that seems well crafted. Others options they provide are “Cream Suede Soft”, “Floral Cloth Over Board”, and “Sea Depth Leather Touch”. They are all nice and cater to various tastes, but I prefer this brown one by far.

They give ample room for notes. To have that space for notes you have to give up something. Even though it’s a reference Bible, there’s not many other features outside those references. That’s no problem though because you’d only pick this one if you specifically wanted space for notes. Personally, I love a Bible with the note taking space. I’ve used one for many years. My scribbled notes would be worthless to others and probably illegible. Still, they are so helpful to me. Mark me down as firmly in the note taking Bible camp.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Answering the Psalmist’s Perplexity (NSBT) by James Hely Hutchinson

/ jimmyreagan / Leave a comment

Though the topics can be narrowly constructed, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the NSBT series. Can you believe this volume is #62 in the series? Regarding narrowly defined subjects, perhaps this one is even more so. Because of that, this book may not find as big a round of acceptance as the others. When you are sixty-two titles deep into a project, you clearly have a homogeneous audience that can be easily described. So why do I feel perhaps that mutual admiration society might not hold up in this case? Well, it’s more, to be sure, the fault of the subject than the author.

He’s jumping into the covenant theology- dispensational theology divide. But he dives deeper still using a 7-model spectrum running from Westminster Covenantalism to Classical Dispensationalism. Though Models 1-5 are more on the Covenant Theology side and 6-7 on the Dispensational Theology side, you are still going to make six out of seven groups at least marginally unhappy.

Let’s give credit where credit is due—he lays out well the seven groups and is fair minded to those even farthest from him. He makes clear the whole Continuity versus Discontinuity that is the trendy way to lay out the issue. Continuity is God’s people (Israel and the Church) are mostly the same ties to Covenant Theology while Discontinuity separates them in distinct ways and ties to Dispensationalism.

Instead of stating Hutchinson’s viewpoint or my own, I’d rather mention the larger problem. His approach reminds me of walking into an opulent room and focusing on one immaculate lamp. It is a nice lamp, but what about that gorgeous mahogany desk? Must the room forever be oriented to the lamp? You mean I can’t talk about the couch or the ceiling tiles unless I speak in terms of the lamp? That’s the problem to my mind with either Covenant Theology or Dispensationalism. They are asked to explain more than they can. Their adherents see them as more a throne in a throne room, but I say they’re still a lamp. Nice lamps, ok, but not strong enough to bear the weight of the room. They explain something, but no where near everything. Less esoteric, less enticing to scholarly vanity, and more accessible to the common Bible believer, are ideas like Jesus, or say relationship between the Trinity and us. Make these ideas (I’ve learned much from all seven of the viewpoints while having some clear opinions on some of those issues) the condiments and Jesus the meal and what a feast we can have.

Let’s move on before someone gags on my review. The richness of this volume is to take the Scripture Index and use with all the texts he uses in Psalms. He can help with exegesis.

He’s a clear writer too. Surely we can do better than the term “New-Covenant Newness”, but he communicates his line effectively.

Agree with Hutchinson and you’ll love the book; not fully agree and you’ll see the boundaries more carefully; agree or not and use the exegesis for Psalms and you’ll be helped at least.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

How Do We Know? by Dew and Foreman

/ jimmyreagan / Leave a comment

Here’s another volume in the “Questions in Christian philosophy” series that distills what I imagine would be a semester-long class. I enjoyed the earlier one on Logic especially, and found this one on epistemology helpful too. Though I read theological works regularly, this material is new to me. The subject itself, not the author’s writing, can be challenging. At times philosophy has split the hair too finely on what it is to “know”, and yet how powerful is the thought that we can “know” something.

As for the book itself, it’s clearly written. Often the examples are catchy and effective to make the idea clear. I imagine Dew and Foreman would be engaging teachers. The only problem I had with the book is that too often they wouldn’t pick a side. They never failed to give you the strengths and weaknesses of every viewpoint, but it almost seemed like they never champion any one of them. They never really forged their own new way forward either. Since this was newer material for me, perhaps I wanted that feature more than usual. Especially I wanted to know how a Christian ought to think as so many of the philosophers were not Christian. I am not saying they didn’t give information that you could dig out, perhaps, and find your own opinion. But that design would be better for those who are well-versed on the subject. I hope my one criticism of the book is not actually more one of my own self than of the authors, but I’ll leave that to your judgment.

Still, when I have a question on epistemology, I’ll be reaching for this book.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.