Sign me up as a fan of the beatific vision! Before I had barely paid attention to the whole concept, and thought, at most, well, that’s a sweet little idea. Now Mr. Parkison has won me over.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Remember in the Psalms: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Well here the kisses are between scholarly work and devotional manna. I suppose he was aiming at scholarly, but the devotional came bursting out. How the scholarly rigor didn’t bury the moving manna is beyond me. But I’ll take it.

There were places, to be sure, where he played with the fire of scholasticism that has burned up many a good book, but somehow he darted back out into the sun quite often. The chapters in question are three and four. Here he worked through the history of how the beatific vision has developed and been viewed. He even dared enter into the debated points and with charitable grace he kept it interesting and productive to matters of faith. I was about to be perturbed when he started down the pointless path that this lined up with Reformation thinking. Isn’t being biblical enough? But I couldn’t do it. Every time I tried he said some other touching thing.

Before these chapters were ones explaining what the beatific vision even is and its biblical credibility. Let me describe it this way, this gazing upon God takes some of the things that seem most big picture to me and tied them together in a way that they should have always been. I need not rehash it. You can read it yourself. But it sure moved me.

Chapter 5 (“Retrieval for Reformation Evangelicals”) has as dull a title as possible, but it was full of life. And it grew more so as it went along. There was doctrinal profundity in spades. Its gift was tying all back to a full orbed Trinitarian theological understanding.

The final chapter takes this grand doctrine and rubs it on like healing oil all over many facets of the Christian life.

How have I never heard of Samuel Parkison? I bet I’ll be watching for his name in the future.

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.