Posted by Jeff Short on April 7, 2019 · Leave a Comment
How Does the New Testament Use the Old Testament?: A Survey of the Major Views by Michael Vlach
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This booklet is helpful in summarizing the seven major views of how the New Testament writers used/interpreted the Old Testament. Vlach outlines the views in the words of their proponents and provides a few test cases of passages and how the different views read them. This is a complicated issue, particularly when it comes to the hard cases. However, Vlach points out that the majority of uses inarguably use a contextual interpretation. From that perspective, too much can be made of the relatively few places that are harder. These are important issues for they ultimately involve how the Bible is put together, issues of continuity and discontinuity between the testaments, and the possibility of Christians after the Apostles to follow their exegetical methods.
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Posted by Jeff Short on April 2, 2019 · Leave a Comment
Understanding Baptism by Bobby Jamieson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a clear, concise, and readable book. Jamieson does a good job explaining baptism. I greatly appreciated the emphasis on the Gospel in connection to baptism, how baptism is a public profession, and the connection with church membership. I disagreed with his take on the lone Christian and baptism. He overworked the Acts 8 passage on the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. If he had just left that out, this already strong book would’ve been stronger. Overall the book is helpful and worth reading.
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Posted by Jeff Short on April 1, 2019 · Leave a Comment
Hamlet’s BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age by William Powers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is an interesting read. It written ten years ago and is a little dated in some ways. New technologies have always had an upside and downside. Powers goes back through history to discover how thinkers have thought about the new technologies in their day and the effect they had on society. There really is nothing new under the sun. Our day is always on and always connected. There is quite a bit of talk about the problems, but not as much in terms of actual solutions. Technology has developed so quickly, we don’t know the ramifications. Powers offers a few thoughts and talks about his own attempt at combating the overload. I’ve done a few things of my own in this regard. I enjoyed the book.
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How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds by Alan Jacobs
The Politeness of Princes / and Other School Stories by P. G. Wodehouse
