Buswell Bulletin: Book Highlights – March 2022
Each month we highlight recently acquired books that are of particular interest or importance. (Inclusion on this list is not an endorsement.)
Your Guide to Writing Quality Research Papers: For Students of Religion and Theology (4th ed.)
Nancy Jean Vyhmeister and Terry Dwain Robertson
Zondervan Academic, 2020
Previous editions of this book have long held a place on our guide to research and writing resources accompanied by a star of high recommendation and this description:
Nancy J. Vyhmeister has provided an indispensable guide for seminary students. An excellent guide to writing, the book is tailored to the theological context, covering exegetical writing in addition to thesis writing. This book provides a citation guide with examples, advice on footnoting, steps toward developing the research project, and aids for taking notes. This is an essential resource for students of religion and theology.
Publisher description:
This is the fourth edition of a time-tested resource for students writing papers in the fields of religion and theology. It provides essential guidance for writing assignments typical in graduate programs in religion and has served as a standard textbook for seminary research courses. The fourth edition is updated to include information on Turabian 9th edition, SBL Handbook 2nd edition, new resource lists, and additional help with online resources and formatting issues. Most importantly, this new edition is revised from the perspective of information abundance rather than information scarcity. Today's research mindset has shifted from "find anything" and "be satisfied with anything" to "choose intentionally" reliable and credible sources. Quality Research Papers will guide students through an overabundance of online and library resources and help them craft excellent essays.
In Quest of the Historical Adam: A Biblical and Scientific Exploration
William Lane Craig
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2021
Publisher description:
Was Adam a real historical person? And if so, who was he and when did he live?
William Lane Craig sets out to answer these questions through a biblical and scientific investigation. He begins with an inquiry into the genre of Genesis 1–11, determining that it can most plausibly be classified as mytho-history—a narrative with both literary and historical value. He then moves into the New Testament, where he examines references to Adam in the words of Jesus and the writings of Paul, ultimately concluding that the entire Bible considers Adam the historical progenitor of the human race—a position that must therefore be accepted as a premise for Christians who take seriously the inspired truth of Scripture.
Working from that foundation of biblical truth, Craig embarks upon an interdisciplinary survey of scientific evidence to determine where Adam could be most plausibly located in the evolutionary history of humankind, ultimately determining that Adam lived between 750,000 and 1,000,000 years ago as a member of the archaic human species Homo heidelbergensis. He concludes by reflecting theologically on his findings and asking what all this might mean for us as human beings created in the image of God, literally descended from a common ancestor—albeit one who lived in the remote past.
Jack Collins writes in his endorsement:
This is a book for those who want to pursue the truth. Here William Lane Craig combines thorough research and judicious weighing of the arguments to show that the biblical picture of human origins, rightly understood, can match very well with the best results of the sciences—again, rightly understood. He holds all of these disparate disciplines accountable to the requirements of sound reasoning. Craig’s honesty and bracingly relentless logic make it a pleasure to follow his detailed discussions and allow us to feel the attraction of his proposed location of Adam and Eve. He challenges and equips us to engage these issues at his own high and responsible level, for which I thank him.
See also: C. John Collins, “Exegetical Response: A Cost-Benefit Evaluation,” Sapientia, Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, January 11, 2022.
Augustine and Tradition: Influences, Contexts, Legacy; Essays in Honor of J. Patout Burns
Edited by David G. Hunter and Jonathan P. Yates
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2021
Publisher description:
This extensive volume examines and evaluates Augustine as both a receiver and a source of tradition. The contributors—all distinguished Augustinian scholars influenced by J. Patout Burns and interested in furthering his intellectual legacy—survey Augustine’s life and writings in the context of North African tradition, philosophical and literary traditions of antiquity, the Greek patristic tradition, and the tradition of Augustine’s Latin contemporaries. These various pieces, when assembled, tell a comprehensive story of Augustine’s significance, both then and now.
Contributors: Alden Bass, Michael Cameron, John C. Cavadini, Thomas Clemmons, Stephen A. Cooper, Theodore de Bruyn, Mark DelCogliano, Geoffrey D. Dunn, John Peter Kenney, Brian Matz, Andrew McGowan, William Tabbernee, Joseph W. Trigg, Dennis Trout, and James R. Wetzel.
Reformed and Evangelical across Four Centuries: The Presbyterian Story in America
Nathan Feldmeth, S. Donald Fortson, Garth M. Rosell, and Kenneth J. Stewart
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2022
Publisher description:
Reformed and Evangelical across Four Centuries tells the story of the Presbyterian church in the United States, beginning with its British foundations and extending to its present-day expression in multiple American Presbyterian denominations. This account emphasizes the role of the evangelical movement in shaping various Presbyterian bodies in America, especially in the twentieth century amid increasing departures from traditional Calvinism, historic orthodoxy, and a focus on biblical authority. Particular attention is also given to crucial elements of diversity in the Presbyterian story, with increasing numbers of African American, Latino/a, and Korean American Presbyterians—among others—in the twenty-first century. Overall, this book will be a bountiful resource to anyone curious about what it means to be Presbyterian in the multidimensional American context, as well as to anyone looking to understand this piece of the larger history of Christianity in the United States.
Synopsis Purioris Theologiae / Synopsis of a Purer Theology: Latin Text and English Translation, Vol. 3: Disputations 43–52
Volume edited by Harm Goris, translated by Riemer Faber
Brill, 2020
Publisher description:
This bilingual edition of the Synopsis Purioris Theologiae (1625) provides English readers access to an influential textbook of Reformed Orthodoxy. Composed by four professors at the University of Leiden (Johannes Polyander, Andreas Rivetus, Antonius Walaeus, and Anthonius Thysius), it offers a presentation of Reformed theology as it was conceived in the first decades of the seventeenth century. From a decidedly Reformed perspective, the Christian doctrine is defined in contrast with alternative or diverging views, such as those of Roman Catholics, Arminians, and Socinians. The Synopsis responds to challenges coming from the immediate theological, social, and philosophical contexts. The disputations in this the third volume cover such topics as the sacraments, church discipline, the role of civil authorities, and eschatology. This volume also presents a thorough historical and theological introduction to the whole of the Synopsis.
Jesus the Great Philosopher: Rediscovering the Wisdom Needed for the Good Life
Jonathan T. Pennington
Brazos Press, 2020
Publisher description:
Highly regarded New Testament scholar and popular teacher Jonathan Pennington argues that we need to recover the lost biblical image of Jesus as the one true philosopher who teaches us how to experience the fullness of our humanity in the kingdom of God. Jesus teaches us what is good, right, and beautiful and offers answers to life's big questions: what it means to be human, how to be happy, how to order our emotions, and how we should conduct our relationships.
This book brings Jesus and Christianity into dialogue with the ancient philosophers who asked the same big questions about finding meaningful happiness. It helps us rediscover biblical Christianity as a whole-life philosophy, one that addresses our greatest human questions and helps us live meaningful and flourishing lives.
The Book of Job: A History of Interpretation and a Commentary
Stephen J. Vicchio
Wipf and Stock, 2020
Publisher description:
This book is the product of fifty years of scholarship. It consists of two main parts: the first is an essay on the history of interpreting the book of Job in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The second part is a commentary on the book.
Matthew R. Sayers, Associate Professor of Religion & Director of Religion and Philosophy at Lebanon Valley College, says:
Staggering in scope and detail, Vicchio’s work is a monumental contribution to biblical exegesis. From the long history of commentary on Job he weaves a rich, complex tapestry that integrates the well-known and the obscure thoughts on the man from Uz into a work that is simultaneously a classic evocative of the best of a deep interpretative history and a modern scholastic work of astounding academic rigor.
The Beatitudes through the Ages
Rebekah Eklund
William B. Eerdmans, 2021
Publisher description:
The Beatitudes are among the most influential teachings in human history. For two millennia, they have appeared in poetry and politics, and in the thought of mystics and activists, as Christians and others have reflected on their meaning and shaped their lives according to the Beatitudes’ wisdom.
But what does it mean to be hungry, or meek, or pure in heart? Is poverty a material condition or a spiritual one? And what does being blessed entail?
In this book, Rebekah Eklund explores how the Beatitudes have affected readers across differing eras and contexts. From Matthew and Luke in the first century, to Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham in the twentieth, Eklund considers how men and women have understood and applied the Beatitudes to their own lives through the ages. Reading in the company of past readers helps us see how rich and multifaceted the Beatitudes truly are, illuminating what they might mean for us today.
Dale C. Allison Jr. writes in the foreword:
Beyond being a boon for exegesis, this book is a treasure of sermonic possibilities. It holds much that is not on the pages of the commentaries that typically line the shelves of pastors’ offices. So if one is looking for fresh thoughts for preaching, they are here in abundance.
Atonement: Jewish and Christian Origins
Edited by Max Botner, Justin Harrison Duff and Simon Dürr
William B. Eerdmans, 2020
The essays in this book are drawn from a symposium on atonement held at the University of St. Andrews in 2018.
Publisher description:
A historical survey of atonement theology through ancient Jewish and Christian sources
What is the historical basis for today’s atonement theology? Where did it come from, and how has it evolved throughout time? In Atonement, a sterling collection of renowned biblical scholars investigates the early manifestations of this core concept in ancient Jewish and Christian sources. Rather than imposing a particular view of atonement upon these texts, these specialists let the texts speak for themselves so that the reader can truly understand atonement as it was variously conceived in the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Pseudepigrapha, the New Testament, and early Christian literature. The resulting diverse ideas mirror the manifold perspectives on atonement today.
Contributors to this volume—Christian A. Eberhart, Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Martha Himmelfarb, T. J. Lang, Carol A. Newsom, Deborah W. Rooke, Catrin H. Williams, David P. Wright, and N. T. Wright—attend to the linguistic elements at work in these ancient writings without limiting their scope to explicit mentions of atonement. Instead, they explore atonement as a broader phenomenon that negotiates a constellation of features—sin, sacrifice, and salvation—to capture a more accurate and holistic picture. Atonement will serve as an indispensable resource for all future dialogue on these topics within Jewish and Christian circles.
Jonathan R. Robinson, writing in Reviews in Religion & Theology 28, no. 1 (p. 23–25), concludes:
The individual essays of this collection are simply excellent. Within their respective areas of interest, each contributor makes a valuable contribution. While the volume maintained a consistently high standard of essays, the divergent focus from themes … to particular books … or even small sections of books … meant the coverage of issues and texts had several significant gaps. … Notwithstanding, this is an important volume and a valuable resource, essential reading for anyone interested in the subject of atonement.