D. Jeffrey Bingham and Glenn R. Kreider, eds., Eschatology: Biblical, Historical, and Practical Approaches (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2016).
The volume under review serves two purposes. First, it is intended festschrift for Craig Blaising in honor of his sixty-fifth birthday. Second, it is intended to be, “an introductory, student-friendly textbook” on eschatology (p. 31). This work consists of twenty-six essays distributed into four sections: (1) The Doctrine of the Future and Its Foundations, (2) The Doctrine of the Future in the Bible, (3) The Doctrine of the Future in the History of Christian Thought, and (4) The Doctrine of the Future and Christian Ministry. As is typical with festschrifts, readers will find some contributions more profitable than others. The following review will be more selective than comprehensive and will in some sense reflect this reviewer’s interests.
The first section consists of four essays focusing on the doctrine of the future and its foundations. The section kicks off with an essay by Jeffrey Bingham, entitled, “The Doctrine of the Future and Canonical Unity; Connecting the Future and the Past.” This essay consists of two parts, (1) Marcion: Dichotomy and Discontinuity, and (2) Orthodoxy, Harmony, and Discontinuity. Although Bingham treats Marcion with more sympathy than is sometimes the case, he clearly points out that he was in error. After discussing the orthodox counters to Marcion, Bingham writes,
Essential to any Christian eschatology is a Christian philosophy of salvation history and or progressive revelation. This philosophy must account for the differences between the Testaments and dispensations without wandering into the forbidden territory of dichotomy and contradiction. This philosophy must produce a hermeneutic that reads the differences only in linkage with the fundamental concepts of unity: One God, Creator, and father, one Christ, and one history with a common subject and objective in its part. With such a philosophy and hermeneutic, we avoid doing dishonor, as Marcion did, to the one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, both God and human (p. 50).
Another essay of particular interest was Stanley Toussaint’s essay on hope. Toussaint argues that genuine hope must contain both desire and expectancy (p. 54) and then traces how these elements can be seen in the Old and New Testaments. Interestingly, Toussaint argues that the present tense “I Am” in Matthew 22:31–32 does not directly point to the resurrection of the Patriarchs but rather the passage as a whole points to the Abrahamic promises which require resurrection to fulfill (pp. 56–7). The chapters by Charles Ryrie and John and Stefana Lang provide a clear affirmation of the concept of predictive prophecy.
This is not so much a criticism per se, but I think that this section should be placed later in the volume. Methodologically, one should move from the Text to theology. Or in other words, I would switch the order of parts one and two.
The second major section includes eight essays on eschatology in the Bible with four essays devoted to each Testament. In the Old Testament section, Daniel Block’s contribution focuses on Israel’s eschatological salvation in Deuteronomy. Unfortunately, although there is much to appreciate in his chapter, he downplays the messianic significance of the book, even rejecting a messianic reading of Deuteronomy 18:15–19 (p. 113, fn. 20). George Klein develops the concept of waiting on the Lord by a careful examination of the psalms and his explanation of waiting is, and is not, is valuable (p. 174). Mark Rooker’s chapter on the Prophets offers a solid introduction to Old Testament prophets.
In the New Testament section, Darrell Block surveys the Synoptic Gospels by looking at three broad areas; (1) sayings about the future, (2) Parables about the future, (3) the Olivet Discourse and the future, and (4) the future of the individual. David Turner’s essay on John’s writings, particularly John’s Gospel, argues that, “John’s interest is not so much to project what will be as it is to describe what is in light of what will be. What is anticipates what will be; what will be has already begun” (p. 212). Edward Glenny argues that, “Paul’s understanding of the future flows out of and is based upon the core belief that the ends of the ages had arrived in Christ” (p. 227). Similarly, David Allen’s examination of the eschatology in Hebrews and the General Epistles identifies a number of common elements in what is otherwise a fairly diverse group of writings (p. 262). Oddly missing from this survey of the New Testament is any detailed treatment of Acts and Revelation (although Revelation is touched upon in Turner’s essay).
The third major section is devoted to the doctrine of the future in the history of Christian thought. Here, eleven essays cover a broad historical sweep, from the Apostolic Fathers to contemporary Evangelicalism. Most interesting to me were the chapters by Stephen Presley on the Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr and Irenaeus of Lyons and Friedhelm Jung and Eduard Friesen’s study on the doctrine of the future in contemporary European theology.
The fourth and final section related to the doctrine of the future and Christian ministry consists of three essays. Among them, the most helpful is probably Denny Autrey’s inquiry into how eschatology affects or informs pastoral ministry.
By way of broad evaluation, this is a good, but uneven, volume on eschatology. It functions well as a festschrift but is less suited in its desire to be a “student-friendly textbook” on eschatology. The treatment of eschatological content is uneven. Some aspects of eschatology have a fair amount of overlap between various essays whereas other areas are inadequately addressed or not addressed at all. This volume also lacks a glossary, indices, and visuals that would make it truly “student-friendly.” In sum, this work is probably more beneficial for those who are already familiar with biblical eschatology than for the beginning student.
Thanks to Kregel for providing the book used in this review.
Sotheby's will be auctioning Charles Ryrie's million dollar Bible collection on December 5 in New York. Items being offered "will include some 200 lots of manuscript and printed Bibles, ranging from the tenth-century “Benton” Gospels in Greek (estimate $50/$80,000) to a beautifully illuminated thirteenth-century Italian manuscript Bible in Latin (estimate $150/250,000) to two leaves surviving from the Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz about 1454 (estimate $50/70,000 each). But the core of the Ryrie Collection is the remarkable run of early English translations of the Bible, including multiple very rare early editions of the versions prepared by Myles Coverdale and William Tyndale, the latter of whom was martyred. Most remarkably, the Ryrie Collection includes a manuscript of John Wycliffe’s New Testament, produced in England about 1430 (estimate $500/800,000). The Authorized, or King James version is also well represented, including the tallest copy known of the first edition, from the celebrated library of Louis Silver (estimate $400/600,000). First and other early editions in many other vernacular languages are represented as well, including German, Spanish, Italian, Irish, Welsh, and the Indian Massachusett language."
You can read more about the auction in this article. Start saving your shekels!
Those interested in reading a summary of Larry Hurtado's most recent book, Destroyer of the God's might want to check out this article in Catalyst magazine.
Jason Duesing has a thoughtful post here on the lack of and need for "gentlemen theologians."
Faculty Focus has good post here sharing the results of a readers' survey on the challenges of teaching higher education. Although I did not participate in this survey, a number of the findings seem to be true to my own experiences.
Matt Emerson has a great reminder here that biblical studies and systematic theology are "covenanted friends."
Many of you may have already heard about some exciting discoveries at Tel Lachish announced a few days ago by the Israel Antiquities Authority here. There are a number of news reports out there. I would start here for additional information and here for the most pictures. You can also access a free PDF copy of Pamela Magrill's 2006 book, A Researcher's Guide to the Lachish Collection in the British Museum here but note that this is a listing of finds with no pictures.
The free Logos Book of the Month for October is Romans by Craig Keener in the New Covenant Commentary series. You can
also purchase Revelation by Gordon Fee in the same series for $1.99 or
enter to win the entire six-volume series. For all these offers
you can go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.
I am encouraged by this Chicago Tribune article on the fact that people are apparently still reading. I am firmly committed to the proposition that those who are involved in ministry should be readers.
Some readers might already be aware of this, but one can access free PDFs of the current and past issues of the Journal for Inductive Bible Study here.
Jason DeRouchie has a good discussion here on the meaning and implications of Proverbs 22:6.
John Dyer has a fascinating post here on the history of Bible software.
Ian Paul has a helpful post here covering some good resources for preaching the Gospel of Matthew. In the post, mention is made of a commentary list by Antony Billington but the link takes you to a bio. Here is the link to the actual document.
Old Testament scholar Elmer Martens has passed away. I especially appreciated his work God's Design: A Focus on Old Testament Theology. You can read more about Martens here.
Andy Stanley recently preached a message that seemed to minimize the value of the Bible in the Christian faith (see here). In think that two posts here and here provide some of the better responses to Stanley.
David Murray shares Dale Van Dyke's advice on preaching Old Testament narratives here. And Jesse Johnson has some helpful thoughts here on true and false repentance in 2 Samuel 19.
Andrea Eidinger has a great post here answering that question and she also has this great flowchart.
HT: Mike Burer
See this New York Times article on a charred fragment containing the first two chapters of Leviticus. The scroll was read using a new computer imaging program. This scroll was found in 1970 and has been dated by Ada Yardeni and Emanuel Tov to the first century AD.
Colin Adam's post, "Preachers, Plagiarism and What to
Do with My Peter O’Brien Commentaries" is worth reading, especially his advice on staying on the right side of the line.
Todd Chipman has some sound advice on striking the right balance in using the biblical languages here.
Those interested in reading
Aramaic and Syriac might be interested in this forthcoming Facebook group. The fun starts on October 16. For more information see this blog post.
George Athas has an interesting take on Lot's actions in Genesis 19. You can access his blog post with a link to his article in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures here.
The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member.
Kevork B. Bardakjian and Sergio La Porta, eds.
The Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition: A Comparative Perspective
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9938
Reviewed by Olga Vardazaryan
Rodney J. Decker
Reading Koine Greek: An Introduction and Integrated Workbook
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10021
Reviewed by James F. McGrath
Reviewed by Steven Thompson
Brian R. Doak
The Last of the Rephaim: Conquest and Cataclysm in the Heroic Ages of Ancient Israel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9584
Reviewed by Debra Scoggins Ballentine
Israel Finkelstein and Nadav Na’aman, eds.
The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7983
Reviewed by Fred L. Horton
Reuven Hammer
Akiva: Life, Legend, Legacy
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10747
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz
Reviewed by Pieter de Vries
F. Stanley Jones, ed.
The Rediscovery of Jewish Christianity: From Toland to Baur
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8564
Reviewed by Jeffrey L. Morrow
Reviewed by Jonathan M. Potter
Tremper Longman III
Proverbs
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10569
Reviewed by Bálint Károly Zabán
Timothy Mackie
Expanding Ezekiel: The Hermeneutics of Scribal Addition in the Ancient Text Witnesses of the Book of Ezekiel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10462
Reviewed by Christopher Dost
Joseph A. Marchal
Philippians: Historical Problems, Hierarchical Visions, Hysterical Anxieties
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10221
Reviewed by Katherine A. Shaner
Sheila E. McGinn, Lai Ling Elizabeth Ngan, and Ahida Calderón Pilarski, eds.
By Bread Alone: The Bible through the Eyes of the Hungry
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9908
Reviewed by Vicky Balabanski
Peter Oakes
Galatians
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10275
Reviewed by Matthew V. Novenson
Preston M. Sprinkle
Paul and Judaism Revisited: A Study of Divine and Human Agency in Salvation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=9583
Reviewed by Kenneth D. Litwak
The lasted volume of the Journal of Biblical Literature is now out. Here is a list of the articles with links to abstracts.
Editor’s Foreword. Snared by Words? (Proverbs 6:2): On the Perils of Editing
Adele Reinhartz
preview
Demons in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East
Anne Marie Kitz
abstract
Rereading 1 Kings 17:21 in Light of Ancient Medical Texts
Andrew R. Davis
abstract
The “God of the Fathers” in Chronicles
Troy D. Cudworth
abstract
Where Art Thou, O Hezekiah’s Tunnel? A Biblical Scholar Considers the Archaeological and Biblical Evidence concerning the Waterworks in 2 Chr 32:3–4, 30 and 2 Kgs 20:20
Mary Katherine Yem Hing Hom
abstract
The Destruction of the Samaritan Temple by John Hyrcanus: A Reconsideration
Jonathan Bourgel
abstract
The Compositional Development of Qumran Pesharim in Light of Mesopotamian Commentaries
Bronson Brown-deVost
abstract
Baruch’s Jerusalem: The Conception of Jerusalem in 1 Baruch 4:5-5:9
Ruth Henderson
abstract
Semitic Poetic Techniques in the Magnificat: Luke 1:46–47, 55
Hugo Méndez
abstract
One of the Days of the Son of Man: A Reconsideration of Luke 17:22
Ryan P. Juza
abstract
On Paul’s Second Visit to Corinth: [Palin], Parsing, and Presupposition in 2 Corinthians 2:1
Stephen C. Carlson
abstract
Paulus als Yischmaelit? The Personification of Scripture as Interpretive Authority in Paul and the School of Rabbi Ishmael
Michael Benjamin Cover
abstract
Jesus’s Testimony before Pilate in 1 Timothy 6:13
Michel Gourgues
abstract
Emotional Physiology and Consolatory Etiquette: Reading the Present Indicative with Future Reference in the Eschatological Statement in 1 Peter 1:6
Troy W. Martin
abstract
