Book Reviews

PrintWalter Kaiser’s classic book on exegesis and preaching is still valuable and greatly needed.  His concern, when he wrote in 1981, was to close the gap that existed between the study of the text of Scripture and the delivery of the message (pp. 8, 48).  That gap still exists today, and thus the current need to continue to study Toward an Exegetical Theology.  Kaiser calls his approach the syntactical-theological method of exegesis and sermon building (p. 9).  There are two issues being addressed:  exegesis and delivery of the exegetical message. The bulk of the book explores the first of these, including discussions concerning hermeneutics (pp. 25-30), authorial intent (pp. 21, 33, 59, 79, 83, 106), differences between meaning and significance (p. 32), definition of exegesis (pp. 43-44), and the history and importance of gramatico-historical hermeneutics (pp. 44-47, 55, 60-61, 87-89, 197), although Kaiser proposes a name change to syntactical-theological method…(Read More)

PrintMichael Winship is a professor of history at the University of Georgia and a prolific author of historical volumes.  In Hot Protestants, a term used by their contemporaries for Protestants who would later be called puritans (p. 1), Winship traces the history of puritanism from its roots in the 1540s …(Read More)

PrintThis book contains short biographies of four important Puritans who lived during the struggles of the Stuart Regime.  Alexander Henderson and Samuel Rutherford represent the Scottish Puritans, and John Bunyard and Richard Baxter represent the English.  All the accounts are interesting and offer insight into the life, times and matters …(Read More)

PrintElizabeth Mburu is African by birth but received her theological training at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (PH.D.). She is a professor of New Testament and Greek and on the board of the Africa Bible Commentary.  Thus she is well suited, both by her personal background and by her education and …(Read More)

PrintAndy Johnson, associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, has contributed this short volume to the 9Marks: Building Healthy Churches Series. As advertised, Johnson is not promoting a complicated missions program, but rather providing straight forward, wise and biblical insights into how a local church can develop …(Read More)

PrintIt would be impossible to improve on the author’s given outline: The present author will provide a consistent and accurate biblical verse by verse exegetical commentary of Romans 5:12-21.  Following this exegesis, several scriptural proof texts from both the Unlimited Atonement and Limited Atonement proponents will be presented and correctly …(Read More)

PrintThe Cost, written by well-known author and preacher Steven Lawson, is a simple, straight-forward proclamation of what it means to be a true disciple of Christ based upon Luke 14:25-35. In the biblical account, a large crowd was listening to Jesus.  The crowd was composed of many levels of interest …(Read More)

PrintJourney is a short book devoted to the basics of hermeneutics. It is a rather standard guide, varying little from other conservative grammatical-historical approaches to interpreting Scripture, however it has several unique features.  First it is a short work, easily read and thus highly accessible for most Christians wanting a …(Read More)

PrintFor over two decades, John Metzger has been involved in Jewish Ministries and is well qualified to tackle the controversial role of the Mosaic Law in the church age.  In short, he views the Old Testament Law as no longer operative, having been replaced by the Law of Christ.  Actually, …(Read More)

PrintIn the opening words of the Preface, professor Kevin Vanhoozer lays out the intention of the book: “Hearers and Doers is intended to help pastors fulfill their Great Commission to make disciples, with emphasis on the importance of teaching disciples to read the Scriptures.”  Later he elaborates his thesis: To …(Read More)

PrintWhile the extent of the atonement has been debated since the Reformation it has taken on new energy recently.  One of the best ways to get a handle on any difficult theological subject is to allow opposing views to be expressed by scholars who truly know, and can clearly represent …(Read More)