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Liberating the Gospel

Nov 22, 2020 | 2016 - Winter, Book Reviews, Free Winter 2016

Liberating the Gospel

Author David Smith
Publisher DLT £12.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780232532333

Today’s globalised world shares many of the characteristics of the Roman Empire: migrants, beggars, favelas, the poor thrown off their land by large businesses. Jesus’s message has been sanitised so the author helps us to see afresh its challenge. Smith draws on the work of Tom Wright, Ched Myers and others to look at Jesus, Paul and Revelation, paying particular attention to the socio-economic context that both the writers and readers of the Scriptures experience and draws out new insights from the text, critiquing the inequalities of our globalised world. The churches should not merely cater for spiritual needs but be counter-cultural. The author is a little naïve when it comes to New Testament scholarship but he engages in what he calls ‘deep listening’ to the message of Jesus and the New Testament writers. Preachers will find vivid detail about life during New Testament times among those to whom Paul wrote.

DEREK JAY

 

History, New Testament Analysis

 

St Paul – The Misunderstood Apostle

Nov 22, 2020 | 2016 - Autumn, Book Reviews, Free Autumn 2016

St Paul – The Misunderstood Apostle

Author Karen Armstrong
Publisher Atlantic Books £14.99
Format hbk
ISBN 9781782398134

This is a short and very readable biography of St Paul for the general reader. It is, however, written on the basis that Paul only wrote seven of the letters attributed to him and that the Acts of the Apostles is unreliable. As a result, for example, the events after Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem, including his journey to Rome, which are covered in the last seven chapters of Acts, are dismissed as largely or entirely legendary. Armstrong has a tendency to state rather than justify her opinions. For example, the statement that ‘Luther’s signature justification by faith’ was ‘quite alien to Paul’s thought’ is not validated in the text. Given the frequent references to ‘faith’ and being ‘justified’ in both Romans and Galatians, this would seem a serious omission.
Although the view of Paul in the book is mostly positive, he is still portrayed at the end of his life as having largely failed in what he was attempting to achieve. Given this failure, the book does not, in my opinion, adequately explain how the church both survived Paul’s execution and Jesus’ non return nor why, in the light of this ‘failure’, Paul’s letters should have been kept and treasured. Even though I disagreed with much in the book, I still found it interesting.

TIM WHITTLE

 

Biography, New Testament Analysis

 

Three Mountains to Freedom

Nov 22, 2020 | 2016 - Autumn, Book Reviews, Free Autumn 2016

Three Mountains
to Freedom

Author John Dudley Davies
Publisher Deo Publishing £18.95
Format pbk
ISBN 9781905679355 (2016)

‘You can judge a book by its cover’ so the saying goes. While trying not to do that, I do like a cover to give me a clue what the book is about and that feature is lacking in this otherwise useful book. The back cover notes help by telling me the book is about Galatians but makes no reference to the meaning of the phrase ‘Practice Interpretation’ which appears there. I found the answer in the introduction, and from thereon I began to grasp the author’s intention. There are lots of illustrations – many taken from the author’s experiences in Wales and South Africa, and a fast moving and engaging narrative. Questions at the end of each chapter, together with themes for thanksgiving and prayer are useful to study groups but they are of equal value for use in private study. Would I buy it? Knowing what lies within the covers, most definitely ‘yes’ but for me, this book’s cover lets it down.

CHRIS BRACEGIRDLE

New Testament Analysis

 

Reading Luke for the First Time

Nov 22, 2020 | 2016 - Summer, Book Reviews, Free Summer 2016

Reading Luke for the First Time

Author Wilfrid J Harrington OP
Publisher Paulist Press/Alban Books £9.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780809149308

At the start of a new lectionary year, it can be useful to read through the whole gospel, accompanied by a short and simple guide. Harrington’s book is such a guide, taking the reader through many of Luke’s central themes and contrasting when appropriate with the other Gospels. Helpfully, the author demonstrates links with the Acts of the Apostles, seeing both books as two parts of the same work. As this is an introduction, I would have hoped for a fuller bibliography but there is a useful glossary of main terms used. If you are looking for a commentary to assist in sermon preparation, then you need to look elsewhere.  If you want an overview of the gospel and its relationship with other New Testament material then this is a good place to start.

CHRIS BRACEGIRDLE

New Testament Analysis

 

Peter’s Preaching: the Message of Mark’s Gospel

Nov 21, 2020 | 2016 - Spring, Book Reviews, Free Spring 2016

Peter’s Preaching:
the Message of
Mark’s Gospel

Author Jeremy Duff
Publisher BRF £9.99
Format pbk
ISBN 9780857463500

This is a latecomer to the Markan library, and is not a commentary but a guide to reading Mark’s gospel. It is based on the idea that what we have in Mark’s text is a kind of compendium of Peter’s preaching, written down by Mark – who incidentally seems not to have been the young man who ran off naked after Jesus’ arrest. The author presents us with a different way to read Mark’s gospel, taking a thematic approach – miracles, the identity of Jesus, parables – and shows how carefully the original text was structured to make particular points. Duff writes accessibly and intermingles biblical exposition with some telling contemporary illustrations. There is a wealth of preaching material here and many helpful insights. The author also includes some interesting historical and contextual comments, such as that Mark was perhaps responsible for encouraging the use of the new codex format in preference to the more traditional scrolls. This highlights the one failing of Duff’s book – the lack of references to any other literature. But this book is not offered as an academic text and his credentials are attested by his time as a New Testament tutor at Oxford – so we can take his word on trust. In the same way he encourages us to receive Mark’s gospel as Peter’s word to the early church – and to us – about the good news that is Jesus Christ.
MARION GRAY

New Testament analysis

 

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