Book Review: God Gave Wine: What the Bible Says About Alcohol

God Gave Wine: What the Bible Says About AlcoholGod Gave Wine: What the Bible Says About Alcohol by Kenneth L. Gentry Jr.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gentry presents the moderationist view of alcohol in this book. He primarily restricts himself to the biblical data and interacts a good bit with opposing views. It is interesting where I have seen this debate lead people. If you’re truly engaged in a debate over the issue, you’re likely to talk about personal examples or history, the science of fermentation and pasteurization, the testimony of chemists, cultural practices of preservation in antiquity, a lot of quibbling over words, or even to the headquarters of Welch’s, and I do know at least one man who contacted them for help in settling these debates. I am surprised how quickly we leave the text of Scripture to have this debate out over a number of other issues.

Gentry does a good job of sticking to the Biblical data. He does address some common objections and common scripture passages used in favor of prohibitionism or abstentionism. It is a helpful book to think through the subject from the Bible.

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