Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review – Spirit of Truth and Power

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This collection of papers from the Ninth Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference, published by Rutherford House, who kindly sent me a copy for review, features 12 papers on the subject of the Holy Spirit.

1. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament – David C Searle
One of the key arguments in this is that ministries of the Spirit did not change as dramatically as some have suggested from Old to New Testament. In other words, the types of thing the Spirit is said to do in the NT he also does in the OT. The basic idea seems plausible, but it seemed more an assertion that this is the case rather than a successful proof.

2. Trinity of Life and Power: The Relevance of Trinitarian Theology in the Contemporary Age – Bruce McCormack
McCormack starts by arguing that we must come to grips with the Reality of God as he really is, and resist attempts of our own to define him (particularly from a political or pastoral perspective). We must start with the Bible, not councils. He starts to examine the Biblical evidence for the relationship between Father and Son, particularly noting the theme of the Son’s subordination to the Father, which he argues is not limited to the economy of salvation. He is concerned that, in fear of subordinationism, some have attempted to eliminate this element of subordination from their definition of the Trinity. But the Trinity is not a democracy of persons. Another interesting point he makes is that the fact that the Holy Spirit has been called the “anonymous person” of the Godhead is not necessarily a problem. In fact, the Holy Spirit wills this to be so, since he has a very self-effacing ministry, and thus “we make a mistake if we try to make the Holy Spirit an independent interest in his own right.” The discussion does get quite technical in a couple of places (e.g. on “perichoresis”), but there is some interesting stuff in here.

3. ‘And from the Son’: The Filioque Clause in East and West – Nick Needham
This paper is essentially a historical overview of the controversy between East and West over the ‘Filioque’ clause. He explains the varying positions and emphases of those in the early church, moving on to deal with the controversy over the addition of the clause itself, before an interesting section examining the diversity of opinions amongst modern protestants. Overall it is a well explained paper, but the fine details of the point under discussion can get quite confusing.

4. ‘The Spirit Moved Over the Face of the Waters’: The Holy Spirit and the Created Order – Colin Gunton
Explores various passages linking the Spirit with creation, and laments that the early church Fathers did not give us much help on the role of the Spirit in creation. He quotes Luther who says “it is the office of the Holy Spirit to make alive”. He has an interesting section on the eschatological significance of the Spirit in creation: “Wherever the Spirit is, there the true end of creation is anticipated”. Again a very learned paper which was hard to follow in places for a  theological novice such as myself. The most interesting part for me was his discussion of the Spirit and culture, and whether cultural artefacts (whether works of art or methods of farming) can be considered in some way as inspired by the Spirit.

5. The Holy Spirit in the Life of Jesus – Donald Macleod
Starting by affirming the uniqueness of Christ, Macleod then asks whether it was simply due to his divine nature supporting his human nature. He gives five good reasons why this is not the case, arguing there is overwhelming biblical evidence for the Spirit’s constant presence in the life of Jesus. He draws a helpful connection between the Spirit and the Father – it is through the Spirit that the Father ministers. He argues (as does Hawthorne in the Presence and the Power) that Jesus must have been filled with the Spirit from the womb if John was (Luke 1:15).

He goes on to discuss how Jesus was led by the Spirit, and how the Spirit gifted him for ministry and empowered him to perform miracles. He is particularly emphatic about the role of the Spirit at the cross: “[Jesus] owed his triumph entirely to the ministry of the Holy Spirit”, and points out that it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Rom 8:11). A helpful paper that is essentially going over the same ground that Hawthorne does at greater length.

6. The Spirit and Biblical Hermeneutics – Francis Watson
Watson sets out by outlining two popular conceptions of the relationship between the Spirit and the Scriptures, both of which he rejects. The first view is that “the Holy Spirit bridges the gulf between the text and ourselves, causing what was written then to become divine speech now, addressed to us”. In other words, according to this view, you don’t worry so much about what it originally meant, you just pray for the Spirit to illuminate the text for you.
The second view he rejects is that the Spirit is associated above all with the church, and so we look to the church to lead us into an interpretation of the meaning of the Bible, and that means our understanding may change – the Spirit will again and again cause the Bible to be read differently.
The issue with both views is that they view the Spirit as a solution to some problem with the text. He turns to Acts 2 to show the inextricable link between the words of Scripture and the events of Pentecost – “The Pentecost event is interpreted by Scripture, but Scripture in turn is interpreted by the event.”

7. Proclamation in the Power of the Spirit – Timothy Ward
We have been taught to be suspicious of discourses of power, and the sermon is a prime example. Some preachers seek to avoid this by avoiding any kind of proclamations or exhortations, preferring to share, reflect and imagine. “Preaching goes as tragically astray when it muses and reflects on those matters which it should be proclaiming, as it does when it confidently proclaims what the preacher cannot know”. Ward emphasises the role of the Spirit at work on both the preacher and the congregation. The faithful biblical preacher’s task is best described as “a contemporary re-enactment of the speech act which was performed in the original authoring of the text”. It is vital that the preacher has allowed the Spirit to apply the message to their own life before preaching it.

8. Word and Spirit in Conversion – Paul Helm.
Helm begins by exploring two incompatible answers to what secures our acceptance before God – a moral justification (through infused or personally acquired righteousness), versus a forensic justification (classic Reformation doctrine). He examines the charge that forensic justification logically leads to the justification of antinomianism. He counters this with some interesting arguments from Turretin to help show that while faith alone justifies, that does not mean that faith can exist alone, apart from other virtues such as love. He argues that “faith does not contribute causally to justification, any more than does obedience. Faith is essentially receptive…”. He concludes by observing that the first view of acceptance leads to obedience motivated by fear, while the second has obedience motivated by love.

9. The Holy Spirit in the Life of the People of God – Bob Fyall
Fyall begins with the interesting observation that although Calvary and Pentecost cannot be repeated, they must be reappropriated. He discusses the role of the Spirit in various aspects of church life, and generally rejects the charismatic approaches to meeting structure and spiritual gifts. He uses Eph 5:18 to show how Spirit-filled worship entails singing and teaching. He concludes the essay with reflections on the Spirit’s role in preaching and mission.

10. Acknowledging the Paraclete: Tertullian on the Spirit – David F Wright
Wright begins by telling us that Tertullian espoused ‘New Prophecy’ (Montanism). Then follows a discussion of Tertullian’s theology of the Spirit that goes largely over my head. It is not made any easier by the fact that Wright himself concedes that Tertullian’s arguments can be complex. Of interest was the discussion of Tertullian’s belief that the Spirit could reveal new (and typically much stricter) standards of morality, and how he felt they could be protected from being duped by an evil spirit.

11. ‘God has framed unto us wings of his Spirit and Word’ Peter Martyr Vermigli on Word and Sprit – Peter Ackroyd
The Reformers generally believed that “the primary vehicle of the Spirit’s work, the normal dispensation of the grace of God, was the Word of God.” Peter Martyr was a Reformation-era pastor-scholar, well known at the time, and the first half of this paper recounts his story. Martyr had an emphasis on the Spirit in his writings. He explains the Spirit’s role in union with Christ as “The Spirit grafts the believer into Christ, and grafts his dispositions, property, sense and ‘motions’ into us.” Like Calvin and Bucer, he emphasised the Spirit as teacher. On the relationship between Word and Spirit, Martyr believed that it is the Spirit who is Christ’s agent of regeneration; but the word is the instrument of his work. He believed that study of the Scripture was not possible without the help of the Holy Spirit.

12. The Work of the Holy Spirit in Revival and Renewal – David Smith
Smith starts off by noting the postmillennial optimism of early evangelicalism. He moves on to question some of the assumptions even in Reformed circles about what the Bible teaches on revival. He points out that even in the NT we see the revival fires of Pentecost cooling somewhat. He challenges those who are optimistic about revival as to whether this prevents them facing up to the challenges of discipleship and mission in a post-Christian culture. “The confident announcement that revival is breaking out around us obviously reassures Christians who are deeply troubled by the loss of a Christian culture, and enables them to hang a ‘Business as Usual’ notice on the door of the church.” He goes on to argue that “Whatever the prospects for revival may be, the greatest priority of the churches in the Western world is surely missiological in nature, and this will involve a process of biblical reformation…” He also questions whether all that we call revival is indeed to be considered a genuine advance, citing the tragic story of Rwanda as an example. However he concludes on a more positive note, noting the rapid growth of Christianity in the southern hemisphere.

Summary
There is plenty in here that I found stimulating and interesting. However, some of the essays are quite technical and theologically dense, meaning that this will not be a particularly accessible book to those who have not already done some college level studies. Having said that, despite getting lost in a few places, I did glean a number of useful insights along the way. It is currently available for half-price – £5 on the Rutherford House website.

Book Review–A Praying Life (Paul Miller)

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I must confess that after seeing that the endorsements for this book were all from Reformed theology professors, I feared that this book would be a rather dry but theologically precise exploration of the subject of prayer. I was completely wrong. This is a book about developing an intimate relationship with God through prayer.

It is organised into 32 short chapters, making it an ideal format to work your way through in small chunks while you attempt to apply the insights to your own prayer life. Miller is very honest about the difficulties and struggles we find with prayer, which are largely because we have a dysfunctional relationship with our father, not intimate but distant. We struggle because we are focusing on praying, not on God.

He emphasises being real in prayer, coming “messy”, without pretence. He encourages us that it is OK to pray like a child – wander all over the place and ask for what you want.

Miller argues that Jesus was the most dependent person that ever lived. Because he can’t do life on his own, he prays. When Jesus prays, he is not performing  a duty; he is getting close to his Father.

He devotes some chapters to issues of disappointment and cynicism. Throughout the book he tells stories of his own prayer life, particularly relating to his mute daughter Kim. It is full of very practical examples and advice for how to pray for others, culminating in some examples of his own system of “prayer cards” and journaling.

He has a lot of helpful material on living in your Father’s story, as we recognise that God is retelling the story of his Son in our lives. Gospel stories involve suffering; they are neither comedies (fun but not real) or tragedies (not fun but real), but are stories of hope.

Overall I would say this is an extremely refreshing and inspiring book on prayer. It is theologically sound, very real and honest, and has been very helpful for me as I am well aware I need to learn to pray better.

Book Review–The Message of 2 Timothy (John Stott)

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This is, I think, one of the earliest volumes in the Bible Speaks Today series, originally published in 1973 by John Stott as a standalone exposition of 2 Timothy, entitled Guard the Gospel. Stott sums up the overall message as a call to “guard the gospel, suffer for the gospel, continue in the gospel, and proclaim the gospel”.

The introduction includes a brief survey of the debate over authorship, in which he makes many of the same points made in the intro to The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus. With over 100 pages of commentary devoted to the four chapters of 2 Timothy, he is able to take his time, discuss the meaning of each phrase, and, as always, draw out plenty of practical and devotional insights from the text.

He warns against the temptation to alter the substance of the gospel message, a call that is no less relevant almost 40 years after the first edition was published. He shows how faithfulness to the gospel involves more than just not modifying it, but we are also to live holy lives in accordance with it, demonstrating both purity of doctrine and purity of life. And we are not to hide away while doing so, but we are to proclaim the gospel, which will sooner or later involve us suffering for the gospel.

You can escape persecution by withdrawal from the world, or by assimilation to it. It is only for those who are both in the world and in Christ simultaneously that persecution becomes inevitable.

At the risk of regular readers of this blog finding the conclusions to these reviews predictable and repetitive, I have to say yet again that I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to study 2 Timothy or preparing to teach on it. Stott doesn’t just write with insight, but also with integrity, as his own lifelong passion has been to guard, to live and proclaim the gospel.

Book Review – 1&2 Kings (Peter Leithart)

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The unique selling point of the Brazos Series (also known as the SCM series) is that the volumes are written by theologians rather than biblical exegetes. In a fascinating series preface, the editor Rusty Reno calls into question the validity of approaches that attempt to approach the text of Scripture from a “neutral” mindset in which the expositor impassively and objectively gathers linguistic and contextual evidence, in order to eventually arrive at the “most probable” meaning of a given unit of thought. Rather, he argues that the church has always interpreted the Scriptures from within a theological framework (for example the Nicene Creed), and this serves to guide us as we make interpretive decisions.

The difference in philosophy is apparent right from the start. In the introduction Leithart doesn’t spend his time discussing who wrote it, and when they wrote it, but rather makes a case for seeing Kings as “gospel”, and thus to be read in an “evangelical light”. 1-2 Kings is a prophetic narrative, making it clear that there is no salvation for Israel from within Israel: neither Wisdom, Torah or temple can save them. He also argues that Israel’s history is not only evangelical, but “ecclesial”, the history of the people of God – both Israel and Judah, though divided politically are viewed by Yahweh through the one lens of the covenant.

There is roughly one chapter of commentary per chapter of the 1-2 Kings. In his comments on the early part of 1 Kings, he draws out parallels between Solomon and Joshua, but also very compellingly shows how Kings presents Solomon as a “new Adam”, hence pointing forward to Christ. He shows how the idolatrous failures of successive kings effectively reverse the exodus and conquest, re-Caananizing the land of Israel.

Each chapter will typically contain something of an excursus as he goes off for a couple of pages exploring a subject raised indirectly by the text, sometimes theological, sometimes political, sometimes ‘ecclesial’. It makes for very lively reading, as he approaches many subjects from refreshingly different points of view.
Leithart is always looking for parallels and contrasts of the story of Kings and the story of Jesus. He ends each chapter by bringing Jesus into the picture, and thus it serves as a fine example of preaching Christ in all the Scriptures. In fact, often I would get to the end of a chapter and find myself wanting to preach a sermon on the passage – surely the mark of an excellent commentary.

Overall I would say its a great read, and definitely worth checking out if you are either preaching on 1-2 Kings, or want to be inspired to see them in a fresh light.

Book Review–The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus (John Stott)

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Apologies for the lack of posts here recently. My energies recently have been focused on preparing some talks for Southampton and Solent CUs.

Although this commentary does not cover all three pastoral epistles, Stott uses the introduction to discuss the arguments for and against Pauline authorship for the pastorals as a whole. He does not go into exhaustive detail, but the discussion is fuller than normal for the Bible Speaks Today series.

He works verse by verse through the two letters in expository fashion, not just explaining the text, but applying it to contemporary church situations and is always willing to briefly comment on theological issues raised. Both letters contain plenty of material directed to church leaders, a passion that Stott shares, believing that “the health of the church depends very largely on the quality, faithfulness and teaching of its ordained ministers.”

His discussion of gender issues is sensitively handled, and he argues for a creation principle of male “headship” which has varying cultural expressions. This leads him to categorise women teaching alongside men raising their hands and women plaiting their hair – practises that may or may not be appropriate in different cultures as expressions of an underlying principle. It is an interesting suggestion, although it does require him to maintain that the first century cultural expression of this principle is the exact opposite of the modern one in this case.

He suggests that the ministry of deacons includes teachings, and that they functioned as assistants to the elders. The treatment of the subject of money in chapter six is particularly insightful, discussing simplicity and destitution. “Money is a drug, and covetousness a drug addiction”.

The letters of 1 Timothy and Titus have plenty to say on the importance of sound doctrine, a passion that Stott shares. He also highlights the emphasis on the importance of good works that permeates the letter to Titus. He describes Titus as being about “doctrine and duty” – in the church, the home, and the world. He argues that there is an “indissoluble connection” between doctrine and duty and that “any doctrine that does not promote godliness is manifestly bogus”.

As with all Stott’s contributions to the Bible Speaks Today Series, this is one that I would highly recommend for anyone wanting to go deeper in their personal Bible study.

Book Review – The Philosophy of Tolkien (Peter Kreeft)

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As someone who has not read The Lord of the Rings in its entirety (I got about a third of the way through), and who doesn’t have a particular passion for fiction or philosophy, this book might not seem the most obvious of choices for me. But a blog review I read a while ago piqued my interest, I put it on my Amazon wishlist, and lo and behold, it arrived as a Christmas present.

Fortunately, despite its title, this book does not require you to have a deep knowledge of everything Lord of the Rings and Tolkien. Simply having seen the movies will be enough for you to follow along for the most part. However, Kreeft clearly loves the the book and makes the assumption that his readers share his passion. More than that, Kreeft is in full agreement with Tolkien’s Christian (and distinctively Catholic) worldview.

The way the book is structured is to answer about 50 key philosophical questions. For the most part these are nicely phrased in layman’s terms: “Does God exist?”, “Are we both fated and free?”, “Is knowledge always good?”, “Do principles or consequences make an act good.”

As well as covering the most obvious philosophical questions, there are some surprises. “Are angels real?”, “Do things have personalities?”, “How can words be alive?”.

Each question is discussed with a look in the Lord of the Rings for any clues to Tolkien’s worldview as well as some quotes from C S Lewis that state a similar perspective directly. So in many ways, this book is much about the worldview of Lewis as it is of Tolkien.

Whilst the one or two pages devoted to each answer can only scratch the surface of the topic, there is certainly plenty of food for thought. What made Lewis in particular so refreshing (and Tolkien seems to have shared this characteristic), was a kind of old-fashionedness to his point of view – he wasn’t afraid to question whether the “progress” of modern thinking was indeed progress in the right direction.

Despite focusing on the writings of Tolkien and Lewis, Kreeft also has a good way with words and brings some of his own ideas to the table. In a section on the power of music, he claims that “music is the original language. … Poetry is fallen music, and prose is fallen poetry”.

Overall I would say that despite losing me in a few places (especially when talking about ‘Faerie’), this was a very interesting angle to approach these philosophical questions from. Kreeft also succeeds in demonstrating how, whilst at first glance The Lord of the Rings is absent of any reference to God, Christ or even religion, Tolkien’s Christian worldview shines through very clearly.

Book Review–Seeking the Face of God (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

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This book contains nine “reflections on the Psalms” from the famous preacher Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. What is curious about this book is that it contains no preface or introduction explaining why these particular sermons were chosen for this volume. Obviously nine sermons is no systematic coverage of the Psalms and, starting with sermons on atheism (Ps 14:1) and dead religion (Ps 50:21), it is not obvious that the original series (if indeed there was one) was necessarily on the topic of “seeking the face of God”. Whilst a couple of the sermons are clearly follow-ons from the previous one, there is no other indication that these form either part or the whole of a series. A footnote reveals that at least one of the sermons was preached in 1957.

Following the evangelistic thrust of the first two sermons, the remainder of the sermons focus in on the importance of knowing God. Lloyd-Jones has a way of homing in on single phrases that other expositors might rush past to get to the more readily “preachable” verses. An example would be his two-part treatment of Ps 84, in which he devotes an entire sermon to Ps 84:3.

For me, the high points in this brief volume are the sermons in the second half, particularly the one on Ps 63:1-3. It is in these sermons that the book earns its title of “Seeking the Face of God”, as Lloyd-Jones presses home the importance of knowing God’s presence. The most important thing is to know that God is with us, that we have access to him, and that we can enjoy his presence, in the most humbling, the most difficult, the most truing of circumstances. He makes several of the same points that he does in the sermons contained in “Joy Unspeakable”, arguing that we need to become “God intoxicated”, and that we give him no rest until he has satisfied the longing of our hearts and granted us the Spirit in fullness.

Are you enjoying God? We are meant to. Shame on us if we are not.

Just because a man is an outstanding preacher, does not mean you can select a bunch of his sermons and automatically get a coherent book. However, despite its slightly disjointed start, I really enjoyed these reflections on the Psalms, and especially appreciated the fact that Lloyd-Jones is not content to simply be a master expositor, helping us understand the meaning of the text, but also preaches to the heart, urging us to desire to know God personally.

Make it the central thing of your life to gaze upon God, to arrive at a knowledge of Him that will be intimate and personal, a communion with Him that will ravish your heart and cause your soul to rise up to Him. Seek His face, and go on seeking it.

Book Review–Joy Unspeakable (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

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This book contains 24 sermons from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Lloyd-Jones is of course well known and highly regarded in evangelical circles for his outstanding preaching gift. However, the position he argues for in this book is a controversial one, particularly amongst those who otherwise would agree with his every word.

In this book, Lloyd-Jones builds a biblical case that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a distinct experience from conversion. He sees it as the most urgent need for the church of the present day to be baptised in the Spirit, which he believes is the same thing as saying that we need revival.

The first chapter establishes his conviction that the baptism or “sealing” with the Spirit is distinct from conversion. Amongst many examples he gives, he points to Jesus’ own experience of being baptised with the Spirit. He is keen to emphasise the experiential nature of the baptism – it is a kind of “drenching” with the Spirit.

The chief marks of the baptism he highlights are a great joy, a real assurance, and power for witness. He does not believe that it is directly related to sanctification, although it is of course a great encouragement to growth in holiness. He urges those who do not have “joy inexpressible” to seek the baptism. He does not believe that the baptism can only be received once.

Pentecostals and charismatics however should not assume he is uncritically “on their side” in this debate. Though he rigorously refutes cessationism, he also critiques certain charismatic ideas as well. Perhaps most notable is his stress on the sovereignty of God in giving the baptism and gifts. He rejects any assumption that you simply have to follow certain steps to receive them, or that they can be “claimed”. He is highly suspicious of anything that could be interpreted as psychological manipulation or the power of suggestion. Instead he urges people to earnestly seek to receive the baptism, but at the same time indicates that we cannot force God’s hand.

He manages to show tremendous balance throughout. He is aware of the danger of quenching the Spirit on the one hand, and of gullibly being led into error on the other, and is equally forceful in warning against both. Perhaps most impressive is his determination to follow the Scriptures wherever they lead, even if that put him at odds with many of those who moved in the same reformed evangelical circles. He was determined not to interpret Scripture in light of our experience, but to evaluate our experience (or lack of it) in the light of Scripture.

Throughout the book, he illustrates his points with stories of people throughout history who have met with God in remarkable ways. Some have criticised him for making the baptism seem “out of reach” to ordinary people by focussing on these particularly exceptional examples. But that would be slightly unfair, since he takes pains to point out that this experience is available to all kinds of people, even those with the most level-headed of dispositions. Others criticise his emphasis on the sovereignty of God by appealing to Luke 11:13 as a promise that we will receive when we ask. However, he does address this concern, and again it is his determination that we settle for nothing less than the real thing that prevents him from endorsing various charismatic attempts to guide people into receiving the experience.

Although this is quite a long book, I would say it remains essential reading for those wanting to fully examine the biblical evidence on the matter of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He shows how almost all the evidence in the gospels and Acts points in this direction, and is willing to interact with all the counter-arguments that are usually raised (including 1 Cor 12:13). Most importantly though, it stirs up a hunger to personally receive more of the Spirit, and calls us to earnest prayer for our churches to experience true revival.

Book Review–The Message of Matthew (Michael Green)

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This volume was first one of the Bible Speaks Today series that I read, and the one that set me down the path of reading the whole series. I decided to re-read it in December, to see if it was as good as I remembered.

Michael Green had in fact already written a previous commentary on Matthew in 1988, which forms the basis for this one (published in 2000). The introduction covers the arguments for and against Matthean authorship and he devotes considerable space to discussion of structure, favouring a proposal by Elizabeth and Ian Billingham. He concludes the introduction with a brief, but fascinating overview of recent commentaries and literature on Matthew.

Green clearly has a lot of knowledge of the history, beliefs and customs of the first century, and these inform the commentary throughout, but he avoids becoming overly academic, and he keeps his main focus on the message of Matthew for us today. For example, he often applies Jesus’ warnings to Israel to the church, believing that we stand in real danger of making many of the same mistakes that the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day did.

His coverage of the Sermon on the Mount is good, but concise, probably because John Stott has a much fuller exposition which is also part of the Bible Speaks Today series and which complements the present volume nicely. Green’s passion for evangelism comes out in a challenging exposition of Matthew 10.

Green is also prepared to touch upon current trends in biblical interpretation, such as a section where he rejects Sanders’ presentation of the Pharisees with their “covenantal nomism”. Like Tom Wright, he favours interpreting the “coming of the Son of Man” as a reference to AD 70, leading him to interpret the “gathering of the elect” as describing world mission. He is also willing to occasionally discuss Matthew’s differences with the other Synoptics, offering resolutions to perceived contradictions, and highlighting where the other accounts shed additional light on the story.

He often arranges his comments thematically on a chapter rather than strictly commenting verse by verse. His understanding of the structure of Matthew leads him to look for common themes running through the major “teaching blocks” of Matthew. For example, he interprets chapter 18 as being about “internal relationships” in the kingdom.

He sees the woes of chapter 23 as a “studied parallel” with the beatitudes, and is even prepared to pronounce a few woes of his own on modern day church ministers. “There is nothing so repulsive as dead religion, and there is a lot of it about”.

He devotes a good amount of space to covering Jesus’ death and resurrection. One interesting suggestion was his idea that Matthew may not have intended us to take the accounts of the graves opening and holy people walking around (Matt 27:52-53) in a strictly literal sense – it may have been the “heavenly Jerusalem” in which they walked. Its not an idea I had heard before, and I am not fully convinced by it, since it does not adequately explain the inclusion of the phrase “appeared to many”. His chapter on the resurrection gives both evidence for believing  the resurrection, as well as a summary of its theological implications.

Overall I would say that this is an ideal book for someone who wants to go deeper in their study of this gospel, but perhaps doesn’t feel ready to tackle a full-blown commentary (D A Carson’s Matthew in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary remains one of my other favourites on this book). It will give you some fresh angles to look at Jesus’ teaching from, plenty of helpful bits of background information, a more cohesive picture of how the various parts of Matthew fit together into a whole, and perhaps its greatest strength is showing how all the teaching of Jesus in this gospel remains directly relevant to the present day church.

Book Review–City of God (St Augustine)

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A couple of years ago I decided I would like to try reading on of the “Early Church Fathers”, and spotted this Penguin edition of Saint Augustine’s “City of God” for a very reasonable price. I did not however, pay attention to the page count. This is a massive work, at well over 1000 pages of small print, and required the perseverance of a saint to get through.

The way the book is structured is very interesting. It actually consists of 22 “books”, each of which contain around 20-30 “chapters”. These chapters are quite often only a couple of pages long, and each chapter has a full sentence for its title, summarizing the main point made in the chapter. This is very helpful and it breaks working through a book of this size into manageable chunks. If Augustine was alive today, I am sure he would blog each chapter, and tweet his chapter headings.

The first major part of the book is devoted to defending Christianity against accusations that because Christians did not worship the Roman gods, they were to blame behind the recent sacking of Rome by the Goths. Augustine sets about showing how this is a ridiculous allegation. One of his major counter-arguments is to show how many similar and worse atrocities occurred in the Roman empire before the advent of Christianity:

“How can our opponents have the effrontery, the audacity, the impudence, the imbecility (or rather the insanity) to refuse to blame their gods for those catastrophes, while they hold Christ responsible for the disasters of modern times?”

This moves him onto his next major theme, which could be called “The Gods Delusion”, where Augustine starts to examine the vast pantheon of gods worshiped by the Romans, pointing out all kinds of ridiculous inconsistencies, particularly relating to how the areas of jurisdiction of different gods overlapped. For example, if the goddess “Victory” gives all victory in war, then what exactly does Jupiter, king of the gods do?

He makes short shrift of astrology, stating that “it is blatantly obvious that multitudes of people conceived or born at the same time as each other have greatly differing destinies”. Along the way he makes some incisive comments on the relationship between “divine foreknowledge and human free will”, which he argues are not incompatible.

For God would never have created a man, let alone an angel, in the foreknowledge of his future evil state, if he had not known at the same time how he would put such creatures to good use, and thus enrich the course of world history by the kind of antithesis which gives beauty to a poem.

Elsewhere he states that “God was not unaware of any event in the future, and yet he did not, by his foreknowledge, compel anyone to sin”.

He then moves into what is essentially a book review and critique of the massive works of Marcus Varro. Augustine has great respect for Varro’s intellect, but criticises him for not having the guts to disbelieve in the gods. He again pokes fun at the the ridiculous parcelling out of small domains to gods. A favourite example of his were the three different gods for the door, the hinges, and the latch. He can be quite humorous in places, nowhere more so than when he discusses the whole plethora of gods required to ensure that a newly married couple get to have sex, ending with him wryly commenting that he felt sorry for the bridegroom who didn’t seem to have anything left to do for himself!

One lesson perhaps we can draw from Augustine is his willingness to engage deeply with the beliefs of the pagan culture. He clearly knew a lot about Roman beliefs, philosophy, myths and history, and from that position was able to make a very thorough critique of the whole system.

Moving on from gods, he turns to consider the philosophical ideas of Plato (which he thinks is the philosophy closest to Christianity). He asks what the “Summum Bonum” (the ultimate good) is, and here defines it by saying that “man’s true good should be found not in the enjoyment of the body or mind, but in the enjoyment of God”, although later in the book he says that “eternal life is the Supreme Good and eternal death the Supreme Evil, and that to achieve the one and escape the other, we must live rightly”.

In a rather obscure chapter he deals with a prevailing pagan idea that “demons” serve as mediators between humans and the gods, which presents a nice opportunity for him to show how Jesus is the only mediator between man and God. He also argues that God exists outside of time and therefore sees the future as having already happened.

Although most of the first part of the book is a critique of Roman beliefs, he does along the way begin to build a case for belief in the God of the Bible. This leads into the second major part of the book which is essentially a tale of two cities – the city of God and the city of man. Augustine interprets the whole of human history in terms of these two cities.

He begins with creation, and defends the biblical account, based on his conviction that “the Bible never lies”. Although he generally takes a literalist interpretation, he is not always as dogmatic as you might expect. For example, on the duration of the “days” of creation, he says “What kind of days these are is difficult or even impossible for us to imagine, to say nothing of describing them.”

One of the great things about reading this book is the number of surprising directions he goes off in. For example there is a chapter on “the perfection of the number 6”, which as someone who enjoys mathematics I appreciated. Maybe we need more theologians who share his conviction that “the theory of number is not to be lightly regarded, since it is made quite clear, in many passages of the holy Scriptures, how highly it is to be valued.” He includes a fascinating (although possibly circular) argument to prove your own existence: I exist; and if I’m mistaken, then I must exist in order to be mistaken. Or how about this for the most bizarre quote I came across: in discussing people who have remarkable physical capabilities, he reports that “a number of people produce at will such musical sounds from their behind (without any stink) that they seem to be singing from that region”.

This would be an appropriate point to say a word or two about Augustine’s hermeneutics. He accepts the validity of allegorical interpretation (such as the Song of Solomon refers to the church), and in principle allows it in other places such as Genesis (e.g. the door in the ark representing where the spear went into Christ’s side), so long as the historicity of the accounts is not denied. He actually shows more restraint than I was expecting, recognising that allegory is of necessity speculative, and any findings must be in harmony with the clear teaching of other parts of Scripture (i.e. they must be tested by “the rule of faith”). He is also extremely Christocentric in his hermeneutics, looking for Jesus at every point, an approach I appreciate even if I am not convinced with everything he claims to find.

But there are a few oddities. One is his insistence on defending the Patriarchs at every possible juncture. He stretches credulity with his attempts to put a positive spin on Abraham and Jacob’s every action. So for example he argues that Abraham is from a family of Hebrew speaking God-fearers, and defends him against any wrongdoing in sleeping with Hagar. Even more incredible is his claim that Jacob didn’t use deceit to obtain the blessing!

Another quirk is his stance towards the Septuagint, which he sees as a divinely controlled translation (believing that each of the 70 translators independently created the same translation), and hence while he acknowledges discrepancies between the Hebrew and LXX, he argues that both are right.

Augustine often gets bad press for his stance concerning sex. To be honest, he doesn’t say a lot about it in this book, but he does claim that before the fall, conception did not involve sexual lust, and indicates that he thinks passionless sex would be the ideal state of affairs. An indicator of perhaps ascetic tendencies comes when he needs an example of a particularly dishonourable desire: he chooses wishing for yourself “the provision of extravagant banquets”.

Having very slowly gone through the Genesis story, Augustine picks up pace and rushes through the Exodus through to David in just a couple of pages. He then takes some time to discuss the “era of the prophets”, where he attempts to demonstrate as many different prophecies relating to Christ as possible.
When he gets onto the end times, he seemed to me to be clearly articulating an amillennial position. However he is not too dogmatic about it, since after summarising the Bible’s teaching on the end times as: “Elijah the Tishbite will come; Jews will accept the faith; Antichrist will persecute; Christ will judge; the dead will rise again; the good and the evil will be separated; the earth will be destroyed in the flames and then will be renewed.”, he then goes on to admit that it might not be exactly in that order. Perhaps the most novel part of his eschatology was the claim that even believers who are alive at the second coming will briefly die, before being brought to life into their resurrected bodies.

The final two books deal with eternal death, and eternal life. It is important to him to make the case for a physical, bodily existence in both places, which leads him to answering all kinds of bizarre objections raised to the idea of either eternal pain in hell or eternal physical life in heaven. He hints at believing in the possibility of some kind of purgatory. There is a remarkable chapter in the final book where he recounts all the miracles of healing he has witnessed or knows of first-hand. As he ponders the physical nature of the eternal state, he wonders in what sense we will be able to see God (naturally he accepts that we will be able to see Jesus, but since God is Spirit, he does not take it for granted that he will be physically visible to us):

perhaps God will be known to us and visible to us in the sense that he will be spiritually perceived by each one of us in each one of us, perceived in one another, perceived by each in himself; he will be seen in the new heaven and the new earth, in the whole creation as it then will be; he will be seen in every body by means of bodies, wherever the eyes of the spiritual body are directed with their penetrating gaze.

The final chapter is a wonderful end to the work, and a very profound meditation on eternal life (or life in the “heavenly city” as Augustine would say). He says that God “will be the goal of all our longings; and we shall see him for ever; we shall love him without satiety; we shall praise him without wearying. This will be the duty, the delight, the activity of all, shared by all who share the life of eternity.” When he ponders whether there will be free will in heaven, he concludes that “the will will be the freer in that it is freed from a delight in sin and immovably fixed in a delight in not sinning.”

Hopefully that gives you a taste for some of the contents and highlights of this substantial volume. There is no denying that this book is hard work, particularly if like me you are not accustomed to reading ancient literature and are ignorant of the beliefs and history of Augustine’s day. However, in amongst the perplexing bits, and the downright strange bits, and the seemingly obscure points he sometimes addresses, there are lots of fascinating insights to be gleaned.

Reading it made me think of how much the church needs writers and thinkers of his calibre, to give a well researched and reasoned Christian response to the diverse worldviews of our own day. His depth of knowledge and learning, not just of the Scriptures, but history, pagan beliefs, philosophies made him the ideal man to write this work of apologetics.