Book Reviews

PrintOne of the rapidly growing fads within evangelicalism is the Enneagram of Personality. The Veinots, who lead the discernment ministry, Midwest Christian Outreach, joined by Marcia Montenegro, former New Ager, who ministers through Christians Answers for the New Age, have decided to address this movement. Their conclusions expose the Enneagram as emerging from occult and mystical sources, lacking biblical foundation, and spreading numerous errant theological views, including a false gospel and defective means of sanctification. This small volume is not a detailed study of the Enneagram. Only in the first chapter is much attention given to the Enneagram as a system, and only on page 40 is an attempt made to detail the meaning behind the nine types that make up the Enneagram. Rather, the contribution made by the authors focuses mainly on the origins, the promoters and the unbiblical claims made by supporters of the Enneagram. Concerning the origins,…(Read More)

PrintOwen Strachan, Associate Professor of Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has written a contemporary study on the doctrine of anthropology. The book is written with theologians, seminarians, pastors, and serious Bible students in mind (p. 6), although most of this material is accessible to the non-scholastic believer. While Strachan …(Read More)

PrintBill Johnson is the foremost promoter of the fourth wave of Pentecostalism, known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Strangely, in an interview with Christianity Today, Johnson denied being part of the movement but, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck… When Heaven Invades Earth, although …(Read More)

PrintAs I write this review I am in the process of using The Enneagram, A Christian Perspective as a primary sourcebook for a larger article on the Enneagram; reference to that article will reveal further insights into this particular book. Written in 1989 under the title of Discovering the Enneagram: …(Read More)

PrintTwenty-eight authors contributed to What is Dispensationalism? edited by Paul Miles, who established and directs Grace Abroad Ministries, the publishers of this book.  This multi-author volume accomplishes what it set out to do—explain dispensationalism, which is defined as “a school of thought that results from reading the Bible plainly and, …(Read More)

PrintThis volume is not a dialogue among evangelicals concerning the mission of the church; it is far more ecumenical than that.  But by bringing together leading thinkers from five different theological traditions, a crosscurrent of views is well represented.  Stephen B. Bevans (Roman Catholic), Darrell L. Guder (mainline Protestant), Ruth …(Read More)

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, …(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)