A book on the theology of Revelation likely makes you ask, what is the author’s approach to prophecy, followed by you deciding if you find it interesting all based on that approach being in your lane. What would you think if I told you that you could have a fantastic book on Revelation’s theology and it made no difference at all what your interpretive preferences were? This volume is that book!
In fact, I’m sure Mr. Duvall and I do not agree in our approaches to prophecy and I love this book. I hardly can describe all I found that enlightened me and opened avenues that I will want to travel in future studies. All the volumes in this series so far are impressive, but this is one of the best. Perhaps it is the intense coverage of a smaller portion of Scripture. Perhaps it’s just the fascination of the Revelation. Whatever it is, it’s simply the case.
By the end of chapter 6 you have mostly covered areas typically found in a traditional introduction of a major commentary. When chapter 7 addresses grammar it delves into symbolic language. Some of us might believe not everything he finds symbolic actually is, but he gives nice coverage. The next chapter covers the prevalent use of the OT found in Revelation. Chapter 10 overviews the major interpretive systems that so often dominate discussions and he is gentle in his presentation.
Chapter 11 entitled “A Literary Theological Reading of Revelation” is a lengthy chapter of over 100 pages that gives what I guess we’d call a streamlined commentary. The learning and help in this compact section is impressive.
This work saves the best for last as the final section gives nine extraordinary chapters on the major theological themes. Again, no matter the interpretive grid you filter through, these themes are both profound and undeniable. If I had to pick a favorite, I guess I’d go with the one on worship. If you think about it, how pervasive worship is in Revelation.
I’ll be using this book for years to come. If you give this one a try, I think you might join me.
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.
J. C. Ryle is finally getting his due. Many have enjoyed his work on the Gospels that have been available in one form or another for many years. Banner of Truth has taken on the task of gathering and reprinting many other works of this fervent man. They cut no corners either. He gets the deluxe treatment in these quality bindings with attractive dust covers. To be sure, they look sharp on the shelf, but they are best found in your hands.
Obviously, these books are individual releases, but Banner always gathers them in a lot they call the J. C. Ryle Classics Bundle and offers them in a more affordable way. To me their pricing structure is quite commendable considering the quality of their physical books as compared to the slipshod offerings of some Christian publishers.
Just as I received this set, one volume, “Christian Leaders of the Eighteenth Century”, went out of print (Banner usually brings great books back into print, and it is already back). Still, it was replaced in the classics bundle by a brand new release, “The Christian Race”, that I’ll check out later. Ryle had a second niche in biographical writing. I suppose those in this volume (Christian Leaders) are his heroes and who can blame him. A few well known (Whitefield & Wesley) and nine lesser known men who had God’s hand on them are what he covered. There’s a thread between all of them—revival. God did it, of course, but what men!
“Light From Old Times” is another biographical turn toward stalwart spiritual men. While I had heard of several of them, a few were new to me. Another unique feature is that several of them were martyrs. I must admit that such biography is on a higher plane, even dripping with ethereal beauty. Ryle is not here in a cradle-to-grave vein, but more an admirer explaining why they stand so tall. And tall they do stand, straight and stately.
Perhaps the most famous title in this collection is “Holiness”. I’ve heard it lauded by many for as long as I can remember. It’s not a doctrinal treatise on holiness, but dives deep into practical holiness. Lamentable as it is, most such books aren’t popular, but this one caught on. Strangely enough, this book has an impact far beyond its original target. He addresses certain shallow displays of Christianity popular in his day that’s not of particular interest these days, but the book is in no way hobbled by it. The reason for that success is the timelessness of the biblical material. It’s still just sermons, but they do somehow weave a unified whole that has something meaningful to say about practical holiness. Some sermons here use a Bible character—Moses, Lot, Lot’s wife— to great effect while others tackle a concept directly. Let’s call this one pure gold.
Next is “Practical Religion”. These 21 sermons are a cross between textual and topical. In my opinion, Ryle was especially good in these type sermons. To me, these type sermons are hard to put together and Ryle must have given lots of time to them. The subjects covered are all those he calls “practical religion”. He suggests it might best follow reading “Holiness”. The first sermon “Self-Inquiry” is almost totally topical, but what a catchy verse launches the sermon. The next one on “Self-Exertion” is more textual and revolves around the “strait gate”. The next sermon (“Reality”) is shorter, but piercing. For the preacher, it might suggest several sermons. A specialty of his is going after false professors. Then there are some straightforward sermons that might help even new Christians. In that stretch I thought the sermon on zeal stood out. In the sermon “Formality” the spiritual temperature rises again. In a sermon on the world he sensibly covers separation. That’s not always sensibly presented by many, but he is well balanced here. The sermons continue to be practical. The last 6 are on a clear trajectory to Christ’s Return and Heaven (except for those who went another way in The Great Separation).
“Knots Untied” is the Banner title that introduced me to Ryle outside his work on the Gospels. It piqued my interest and brought me back for more.
“The Upper Room” is a tidy collection of sermons and addresses gathered in old age from across his ministry. Two popular offerings of Ryle are included here: “The Duties of Parents” and “Thoughts for Young Men” that are often reprinted alone. I read them to advantage years ago. Before those two sermons are some exciting offerings by Ryle. Almost out of place among them, though, is an address on the simplicity of preaching. He got very practical with that article, but it does lay out some good things for any new preacher to consider. The sermons were my favorite in this book. While perusing these sermons, I felt a keen desire to return to these texts and preach them someday myself. That’s always a good sign of a successful sermon.
I’m not surprised that one of these volumes was entitled “Old Paths”. That is where he lived even in his day. Can you imagine what he’d say about our day? I suspect he’d be right too. The subjects are ones you’d think would never go sideways among believers as they are the core beliefs—inspiration, sin, forgiveness, justification, conversion, faith, repentance, etc.— though they often do. These are topical sermons. Few really do topical sermons well, but Ryle consistently does. There’s a mass of thoughtful learning here given in a pastoral style.
Finally, “Charges and Addresses” might not be the best of these books as it is certainly a hodgepodge. I’m guessing only those who really love Ryle will be attracted to this book. But here you are thinking about getting this lovely J. C. Ryle Classics Bundle, so I guess that would be you. Only the most revered authors get these type sermons in print. That’s Ryle.
You see loving hands putting this Ryle set together. Their work provides beauty for us all. Ryle loves Jesus, His Word, and possesses a pastoral tenderness that suggests he’s quite fond of us as well. You can’t go wrong here.
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.
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.
This is a nice Bible atlas! I’d seen in the past its earlier iteration called “The Lion Atlas of Bible History”. When I saw that work decades ago, I kind of thought it stood out in some ways, but over the years it started to look quite dated, and I didn’t often consult it. In this polished rebroadcast, it again has “pop”. Its being so easy on the eyes serves to highlight its judicious choices for coverage. In short, it has exactly what you’ll likely be looking for in a Bible Atlas.
The list of things that I like about this volume is quite long. Its maps are vivid, scaled appropriately, and imaginatively designed. The charts and graphs are well chosen. The pictures, especially of Bible sites, were fantastic and nice to just pause and drink in. A Bible Atlas is not a book that you usually read from cover to cover, but anything that tickled your fancy certainly had wonderful text to go with it. I thought every article was excellent and said so much without overly accumulating paragraphs.
It was one of the better Atlas as well in providing a variety of maps for specific Bible events. Some Bible Atlases try to cram large swaths of Bible history into one map. What you have here is more to my liking for sure.
I thought this atlas was especially successful in providing chronological and archaeological data. It always mentions conservative dating respectfully, even if the authors appear to lean another way. Actually, it’s even good at laying out the reasons why there is debate about certain dates in the first place. For example, the dating of the Exodus, and why it is debated, is clearly presented.
We as Bible students are particularly blessed as there are a plethora of outstanding Bible atlases in print. Be sure to consider this one as one of your main options.
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.
Fascinating! I’ve just never read anything before on the material covered here. I’ve read Bavinck, of course, but here he digs in with that penetrating style of his in a place I need led by the hand.
Somehow I missed the publishing event of this three-volume set and make my introduction through this volume 3. When it arrived, I laid other things aside and jumped in. You probably wouldn’t normally label an ethics book captivating. As good as Bavinck is, you might not call him captivating usually either as he is quite exacting in his approach. His gift is depth of content. What a mind he possessed and to read him makes you a learner. Still, I can’t believe how quickly I went through this work.
The bulk of the book is on “The Life Spheres in Which the Moral Life Must Manifest Itself”. As heady as that title is, the material distills a mountain of study and lays it at your feet in around 200 pages. Along the way, he covers family, the “duty” to marry (hadn’t thought of that), qualifications for marriage (who you can marry), betrothal and wedding, essence of marriage, and divorce.
Here’s why the book is so fascinating. He gathers all the Bible says and on some points the Bible says little specifically. He covers what Christian groups have thought from the most to least known. What you will discover is the lack of consistency among Christians. He is not so “dogmatic” except where he feels the evidence warrants it. He is honest enough not to just trumpet his opinion. He also shows how these ethics have often showed up in laws. It’s a bit tilted towards Dutch law, but that’s understandable as he ministered there. You will at least leave this book knowing what questions you must ask yourself.
The last third of the book changes direction. It addresses philosophical ethics first. I thought he was good at probing the subject, putting it in perspective, and making sure to not allow it to plow over the gospel. In the last part, contemporary morality is covered. You can decide for yourself how contemporary it is. In my view, we must at least wrestle with some of the things he brings up.
I want to consult Bavinck on any subject he covers. I may not agree, but I know I’ll be richer for reading it. Here he plows fields off the beaten trail, and I highly recommend it. 
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 subtitle “Retrieving the Nicene Doctrine of the Triune God” tells what we have here. Forty authors giving forty articles covers that subject from every vantage point imaginable. The list of authors is something of a who’s-who as well. Still, it’s a book more likely to have one pick and choose which articles to read rather than reading cover to cover. It’s an incredibly learned resource.
It’s something of a polemic too. These authors are passionate for Nicene Doctrine, perhaps to a fault. I say that because you’d think that it would moor itself to Scripture first and then show how Nicene doctrine is true to Scripture. You would also think it would call for allegiance to Scripture rather than the writings of the Nicene Council. I think the case could probably be made, so why not make it? Here it was just assumed. Still, some of us feel that there are times that Greek philosophy has too much influence, and that viewpoint would never be accepted in this book.
Along the same lines, deep doctrinal understanding is assumed. A newer Christian trying to learn doctrine would not need to begin here. This book is for those already a bit seasoned in theology.
After those caveats, this book is a tremendous resource. There are so many articles that give such opportunity to wrestle with these great things. Several I read had some things that I would not fully agree with, but they gave excellent opportunity to hone my thinking. There were several articles that really interested me, and were quite helpful to me, addressing what has become the battle between classical trinitarianism and social trinitarianism. For the record, I would lean toward classical trinitarianism.
This book will be quoted for years. I simply can’t think of another book on trinitarianism that comes close to this volume in depth. It is a treasure trove of learning. If you can’t learn from this book, you aren’t even trying.
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.
Joel Green who has been connected to Luke for over 25 years in my mind on account of his popular commentary in another series here turns his attention to James. I’ve been hearing for some time that he also was preparing a major commentary on Acts, so this volume on James was a surprise for me. Apparently, his career has shifted to take on a lot of editorial work as well as he is now the main editor of the NICNT series. In any event, he seemed to enjoy James as he wrote this commentary. It’s as if key parts of James’ emphasis really resonated with him.
Perhaps another surprise is the length of this commentary. It barely comes in at 200 pages. That almost makes it comparable to a TNTC volume. I’ll confess that he makes good use of the pages he used, but clearly he felt no need to drone on and on. Taking it for what he clearly intended it to be, I will label it a success.
Yet another surprise about this commentary, that ultimately does it no harm, is the organization of the book. When you get to the end of the 15-page introduction, you will think to yourself, well, that was good; but where’s the rest of it? And just when you begin to think that he has cut it short, you will jump into the commentary proper and find that he has worked several other of the introductory issues into the text of the commentary.
For example, in explaining the first verse, he describes the authorship and audience of the book. He doesn’t argue for James, the Lord‘s brother, being the author, but he is ambivalent toward it. To his mind, more or less, it doesn’t matter either way. People would take it as if James wrote it according to his view. That seems bizarre to me, but at least we won’t have to hear him attack authorship the rest of the volume. My bias would be that he is more mediating in his theological position than I would be comfortable with, and I came with those expectations, but found that he did not really make those positions the focus of this work.
He covers structure in the commentary on 1:2-27. It made sense. From there, his commentary writing was a mature work. He even had helpful graphs at times. He would offer us an excursus at opportune times throughout the work. He perhaps came to James with his own bias, or at least his own pet subjects, but his professionalism kept him on track.
In an ultimate test of the work for me, I was up for studying a particular passage in James and really read slowly and carefully what he shared on that passage. To be honest, it was really helpful to me. It stretched my thinking and gave me new pathways of thought for interpretation. This volume would be a good secondary option for a commentary on the book of James.
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.
Here’s the latest in this delightful series on biblical theology. Several of the volumes take the same subject—the sweep of the biblical story—and tell it from a unique vantage point. So it’s Genesis to Revelation again, as always in this series it is in chunks, this time told from the standpoint of kingdom.
Perhaps more than other title in the series it tells the broader story more, and perhaps better, than that of its perspective—kingdom in this case. The book had so many interesting tidbits and theological nuggets with even a dash of helpful exegetical hints. In this volume, I’d especially glance at the footnotes if I were you.
On kingdom it was helpful. Many passages you’d expect are covered. I figured the messianic Psalms would get great coverage, but he clearly didn’t see them as essential to his discussion. Where, in the most critical omission, was Psalm 110? It seemed to me he presented more depth up to David, but was more streamlined thereafter. He saw Matthew as having its obvious importance in his theme, but could have developed it more.
He didn’t really touch Israel versus either the church or whether it was substituted, etc.. That’s a battleground for dispensationalists and covenant theologians. Most books written on kingdom would pick a hill to die on, but that wasn’t an intense theme for him. It’s obvious to me which side he is on, but he wasn’t as explicit as some in this series either. On the plus side, he was never condescending either.
I hope I haven’t made it sound like I dislike this book, or that it is a failure. It’s still a very pleasant and helpful read. It will give you a lot to chew on about biblical theology, even if I wouldn’t call it the most important book on the theme of Kingdom itself.
I don’t line up exactly where the writers of this series do theologically, but every book in the series, including this one, has been a great blessing to me.
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.
A master exegete tackles the toughest book for exegesis in the New Testament. What could be better than that? I often think of Moo as a Pauline scholar, but he already has an excellent work on James to his credit. Hebrews is not for amateurs and this book is a win for us.
At first, I saw the 17-page introduction and I thought, you’ve got to be kidding! Silly exaggerations entered my mind—was he not going to give this the same level of intense work he gave other commentaries? Reading it run all that silliness right out of my mind. When he made the case with perfect clarity for all that we just can’t know about Hebrews, things that make up the bulk of many Introductions, you realize that there was no need for more pages. Perhaps a few pages more on structure would have been nice, but that is never going to dominate his writings.
On to the commentary of the text—wow! He is an exegete par excellence. Honestly, I felt like I was reading someone in awe of the text accompanied by a rock-ribbed determination to be true to it wherever it took him. I offer up the warning passage in Hebrews 6 as a case in point. It was the text first and his theological predilections second. It’s hard for me to fully express how much I respect that. I’m not sure I agreed with his final conclusions completely, but I am better for having read it. I’ll never study the passage again without reading it.
This may be the best commentary for exegesis on Hebrews available. Peter O’Brien’s commentary is the only one I felt that way about before, but it’s in a defunct status now anyway. Moo needs no commendation from me, but I offer it nonetheless.
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.
This is an awesome series, but mark this one with the Edward Klink volume as my favorites. In the old battle of the trees versus the forest this one pulls off a coup by taking the trees to construct a grand forest. And oak trees at that.
Strangely enough, I almost thought it might be a dud. I mean where a new author (Mitchell Kim) takes the work of an old author ( G. K. Beale) and makes a new book from the old book just didn’t sound like a winning proposition to me. Why not just get the old book? After reading this work, I’m of a different mind. Either get both books, or get this one, but I’d recommend not getting the old book over the new one.
The old book (The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God) is a masterwork of its kind, but this one reads better…a lot better. Mr. Kim is not just riding the coattails of a seminal work, but he took the vitamin-filled book and made it tasty to the palate. At times, it even had its devotional moments. I learned AND I enjoyed it.
So the theme of Creation, or Eden, as the first Temple is quite familiar to me, but the connections made here were the most compelling I’ve seen. As the book traveled through the Tabernacle and Temple it revealed threads that I had frankly missed. The book reached a profound level for me when it got to Jesus. Especially the statements Jesus made about the Temple were far more packed with meaning that I realized. The final chapter on the New Jerusalem as the Temple was, without hyperbole, thrilling for me.
Only the chapter on Eden’s ministry fell flat for me. The interpretation for Revelation 11 just didn’t seem plausible to me. As with every title in this series, the authors swear by Covenant Theology. I don’t fully subscribe to that viewpoint, but some of these larger concepts transcend our typical divisions. We view from the mountain tops here.
Beale is a genius. Kim has the winsome writing down. Together they made this one is a gem!
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 Reagan Review 