Book Reviews - 4/26/10

Book Reviews – 4/26/10

We Have Seen His Glory: A Vision of Kingdom Worship, Ben Witherington, III, 2010, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, ISBN 9780802865281, 166 pages, $16.00, softcover.

Worship is a major focus in Scripture, and should be an equally crucial focus in the life of the Church. Indeed, as Ben Witherington points out in We Have Seen His Glory, worship is the goal of salvation—that redeemed sinners give praise, honor, and glory to God as He created them to. But often, he says, we move the focus of worship from God to ourselves and replace authentic worship with idolatry of self, time, or tradition.

Witherington, a professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, takes a look at New Covenant worship largely through the perspective of John’s writings. He begins in John 4, when Jesus engages the Samaritan woman to teach the fundamental reality of His coming that worship was not about being in this place or that place but about coming to God “in spirit and truth” through the person of Christ. He follows this theme through to Revelation 4 and 5 where all creation bows to the Lord seated on the throne and to the Lamb.

Extrapolating from these Scriptures, Witherington paints a picture of worship that is all about God’s glory, reflected in those He has redeemed. True worship, he reminds us, is about “putting God in His place,” ascribing to Him the praise due Him both for His attributes and actions. Activities that seek to placate and puff up churchgoers in the guise of praise are anything but worship. True worship is the antithesis of entertainment.

We Have Seen His Glory is a worthwhile addition to the notable books available on worship; its call to shed our selfishness and our cultural addiction to the casual in order to prepare our hearts for worship in spirit and truth is delivered with conviction and clarity.

Justin Lonas

Target: All/Worship Pastors
Type: Worship
Take: Recommended

Interpreting Gospel Narratives: Scenes, People, and Theology, Timothy Wiarda, 2010, B & H Publishing, Nashville, ISBN 9780805448436, 233 pages, $24.99.

The writers of the Gospels infused their accounts of Jesus birth, life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection with personal encounters. Jesus did not come to earth teaching truth while sequestered from everyday life—He interacted daily with very real people in very real cultural settings.

In Interpreting Gospel Narratives, Timothy Wiarda points out that the Gospels highlight the individuals who Jesus engaged with more purpose in mind than simply reporting the facts or adding authenticity to the story of Christ. He makes the case that the writers deliberately show these individual encounters to show the breaking of God’s kingdom into the world in the microcosm of Christ’s breaking into the lives of individuals who cannot leave His presence unchanged.

Wiarda covers a variety of angles in teaching pastors and Bible students the principles of literary interpretation of Scripture. His focus seems to be both on teaching this method and emphasizing that such a literary approach enhances rather than challenges traditional theological and historical exegesis. He advocates an approach to studying and teaching the Gospels that utilizes both methods to illuminate the full truth of Scripture.

Though at times wordy and academic, the book serves as a good reminder that we cannot understand the power and person of Christ in purely theological terms, and that His incarnation was a fundamentally interpersonal act. He redeems literary criticism of Scripture from its usual haunts of textual deconstruction and applies it to biblically sound exposition. It should be a beneficial addition to any pastor’s library and an eye-opener to any serious students of the Word.

Justin Lonas

Target: Pastors/Teachers
Type: Hermeneutics
Take: Recommended