Posted by Jeff Short on August 15, 2019 · Leave a Comment
The Kingdom of God: A Baptist Expression of Covenant & Biblical Theology by Jeffrey D. Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book sets out the view of 1689 federalism and does a good job distinguishing between different covenant theology views. Johnson provides a good explanation, then, of the difference between a full covenant theology, like that of Presbyterians, and the covenant theology of Reformed Baptists. So this book provides a good basis of why I am neither Presbyterian nor Reformed Baptist, though this is not all that could be said on that. The issues are core fundamental hermeneutic issues. 1689 Federalism is distinct from covenant theology but still holds to a dichotomous view of the Abrahamic covenant and partially conflates the covenants, coming near the covenant theology view of monocovenant and polyadministration. Of course, this hermeneutic yields the typical conventions of amillennialism, i.e., supersessionism, already/not yet kingdom, already/not yet binding of Satan, etc.
I was surprised, but delighted, that Johnson pointed out errors with the covenantal nomism of New Perspective and Federal Vision. There is a lot of good in this book and it is a good treatment of the biblical theology of covenants and kingdom. I appreciated the author’s tone and approach. I didn’t detect the condescension and dismissive that can often accompany these discussions. Johnson was fair in presenting his views and this is the type of writing that can be helpful, even where you disagree.
View all my reviews
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.
View all my reviews
Posted by Jeff Short on February 28, 2019 · Leave a Comment
Gospel and Kingdom: A Christian Interpretation of the Old Testament by Graeme Goldsworthy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a good book in its central thesis of interpreting the Old Testament in light of the Gospel. This is generally a good overview of biblical theology. The kingdom is certainly a prominent theme throughout scripture we must be aware of when looking at smaller portions. His view of the kingdom is not entirely in line with Scripture, though quite consistent with reformed dichotomous covenant theology and the over realized eschatology of amillennialism. It turns as you would expect in certain places. This is still a good resource for seeing Christ in the Old Testament.
View all my reviews
« Previous Page — Next Page »
The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers: Learning to Interpret Scripture from the Prophets and Apostles by Abner Chou
The Scriptures Testify about Me: Jesus and the Gospel in the Old Testament by D.A. Carson
