Posted by Jeff Short on March 11, 2021 · Leave a Comment
God 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.
View all my reviews
Posted by Jeff Short on March 7, 2021 · Leave a Comment
Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism by Ben C. Blackwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book compiles articles from several scholars going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Romans in light of the literature and historical context of second temple Judaism. The authors compare and contrast the letter with writings from the Qumran community and the Apocryphal books, etc. to see what influence they may have had on Paul’s thinking.
Overall it was a good read. The book is insightful at times and also conjecturing and speculative at others. I don’t agree with the views of some that we have to read Paul through this particular lens in order to rightly understand him. However, this setting was a part of his milieu and does inform our understanding of the socio-historical setting of the New Testament.
View all my reviews
Posted by Jeff Short on January 14, 2021 · Leave a Comment
Reading Romans after Supersessionism: The Continuation of Jewish Covenantal Identity by J Brian Tucker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m not thrilled with the term post-supersessionism as it could be construed that the non-supersessionist reading of the New Testament is new or more recent. The author acknowledges that supersessionist hermeneutics dominate contemporary scholarship, and I suppose that does give the appearance of being the traditional view. It would have been good to have had some treatment of the historicity of continuist, non-supersessionist hermeneutics.
Tucker focuses on Romans 9-11 and interacts with both the text and scholarship on different sides of this discussion. By the end of the book, he did a good job of bringing out the plural nature of the promises to the fathers, so fulfillment necessarily includes aspects of descendants of Abraham (Israel), land, and Gentiles inclusion.
I’m not entirely convinced by his arguments in Romans 14. He is influenced by the “spheres of influence” view of the continuing relevance of Torah. I personally need to do more work in this area, but it seems that view falls short in its assessment of the old covenant relationship to the new covenant and the extent of old covenant fulfillment. Further, it seems to divide the old covenant law into divisions nowhere made in scripture and doesn’t account for the all-or-nothing view in epistles such as Galatians or James, not to mention the book of Hebrews and the covenants discussion there. However, the continuing relevance of Torah is not entirely germane to his argument for non-supersessionist readings.
I appreciate the book and recommend it for study.
View all my reviews
Posted by Jeff Short on January 7, 2021 · Leave a Comment
This Do in Remembrance of Me by Arie Elshout
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book is a Dutch reformed treatment of the Lord’s supper. It’s a blend of introspective, puritanic pietism and expositions of confessions, catechisms, and liturgies of men more so than Scripture. There were some surprising statements here and there, like something about Christ as prophet, priest, and king and how we can receive him as one now and the others later. The Lord’s supper was pushed as a sacrament that confers grace to the partakers. Elshout made a reference to Hebrews 4:16, but slipped “the Lord’s table” in there where “the throne of grace” is, making that quite a different statement. I’m afraid the heavy introspectionist approach has the net effect of making the Lord’s supper more about self-examination than the sacrificial death of Christ. It has some good, but there are better books on the subject.
View all my reviews
« Previous Page — Next Page »
The Joy Project: An Introduction to Calvinism, with Study Guide by Tony Reinke
Book Review: Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism
Posted by Jeff Short on March 7, 2021 · Leave a Comment
Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism by Ben C. Blackwell
This book compiles articles from several scholars going chapter by chapter through Paul’s letter to the Romans in light of the literature and historical context of second temple Judaism. The authors compare and contrast the letter with writings from the Qumran community and the Apocryphal books, etc. to see what influence they may have had on Paul’s thinking.My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Overall it was a good read. The book is insightful at times and also conjecturing and speculative at others. I don’t agree with the views of some that we have to read Paul through this particular lens in order to rightly understand him. However, this setting was a part of his milieu and does inform our understanding of the socio-historical setting of the New Testament.
View all my reviews
Share this:
Filed under Reviews, Short Booklog · Tagged with Commentary, New Testament, Paul, Reviews, Romans