Media Details:
• Speaker: Dave Harvey
• Director: Patrick Gines
• Publisher: Shepherd Press (2014)
• Format: DVD
• Run Time: 195 minutes
• ISBN/ASIN#: 1633420922
• List Price: $59.99 (sale at Shepherd Press for $39.95)
• Rating: Must Watch
Blurbs:
“Dave Harvey skillfully exposes the real root of most marriage problems — each spouse is still a sinner. But he doesn’t leave us to wallow in our sin. He shows the way out through the ongoing power of the gospel. This will be helpful for any married couple whether they’ve been married five weeks or fifty years.”
—Jerry Bridges, Author of the Pursuit of Holiness
“Listen closely as Dave Harvey teaches on the struggles that characterize all marriages. His words are clear and inviting. He says it in a way that is fresh and humble. He cuts to the heart of what all of us are like—people needing daily, freely-given mercies from the Lord. And he cuts to the heart of what all of us need—not self-help, not a pep talk, not a few tips, but an active Savior. Listen, take to heart, and you will grow wiser as a husband or wife.”
—David Powlison, Executive Director, CCEF; Senior Editor, Journal of Biblical Counseling
“There is no laboratory for the grace of God like the family home. And there is no relationship so crucial to the work of grace in our homes as our marriages. It’s for these reasons I’m so grateful for Dave Harvey’s careful, wise, and relevant teaching in When Sinners Say I Do. Watch closely with your spouse or spouse-to-be, and let Dave lead you with great experience and pastoral care through the hard places of marriage right into the very throne room of God, where you both will find abundant grace for every need you have from now until your nineties.”
—Jared C. Wilson, Director of Content Strategy, Midwestern Seminary; TGC Blogger, The Gospel-Driven Church
Review:
Marriage is under attack today from all sides. Churches are being pressured to recognize marriages between people of the same gender. Our culture insists on “divorce on demand.” Even in conservative evangelical churches it seems that marriages have never been more unstable. Christians are getting divorced at alarmingly high rates.
Solutions to our dilemma abound. There are countless counseling resources and video series aimed at spicing up your marriage, learning the right “love talk,” or trying increasingly bizarre sexual practices as a way to keep our marriages vibrant.
Dave Harvey points out what should be obvious. The problem with marriages lasting comes down to one simple point. Marriage always involves 2 people and both of them are sinners! His book When Sinners Say “I Do” has helped many Christian couples. Now Shepherd Press has released an 8 part video series in an effort to equip the church with Dave’s important message.
This DVD series showcases Pastor Harvey walking through different passages of Scripture and unpacking the Gospel message that applies to our marriages. He emphasizes that sin is often at the root of relational conflict. He stresses the complementary design of God for man and woman. He preaches contentment and the role of mercy. He talks frankly about sex as God’s gift for each spouse – to be mutually enjoyed. And he points to the power for change: God’s stubborn grace.
The sessions are between 20 and 30 minutes long and focus just on Dave and his message. I appreciate this length as it allows the DVD series to be used both in SS classes and small group settings, or even as a seminar or workshop for a marriage retreat. The shorter time allows for questions and interaction by a local pastor or teacher who leads a group of couples through this material. Included with the video is a link to a .PDF study guide which can accompany the DVD and facilitate group discussion.
The series is appropriate for single adults as well, and they are from time to time addressed. It is also helpful for both older and younger couples — he speaks to the needs of both. In his talk on sex, Harvey is careful to be discreet and yet still direct.
The sessions do not major on the psychology of marriage. More time is devoted to unpacking and applying God’s word and then drawing application to marriage. Harvey’s advice is seasoned with years of ministry experience. He brings appropriate and helpful illustrations to capture the attention of the audience. And his insights are powerful and helpful. People in a variety of backgrounds and situations in life will benefit from this series.
I can’t wait to share this in a group setting – either with our small group or a church SS class. I hope this gains a wide audience and encourages many a couple with Gospel grace for their marriage.
About the Speaker: Dave Harvey serves as the Pastor of Preaching at Four Oaks Community Church in Tallahassee, FL. He serves as the Chairman of the board of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF), as well as the Chairman of the Board of the Sojourn Network. He is the author of a number of books, including Am I Called, Rescuing Ambition, and When Sinners Say “I Do.” Dave lives in Tallahassee, Florida with his wife, Kim. They have four grown children.
Today among conservative evangelicals there is a concerted effort to defend the “biblical” position that the earth is young. Growing up in fundamentalist Baptist circles, I like many others, simply assumed this was the Bible’s clear teaching. I also assumed that this was the historic position of the church.
There are plenty of good arguments for young earth creationism (YEC) as it is known today. These arguments have persuaded a majority of evangelicals that this is the Bible’s teaching and the position to stand for.
But has support for a young-earth position always been this widespread? Judging from the last 200 years, the answer appears to be a decided no. Today, that support is weakening and authors Kenneth D. Keathley and Mark F. Rooker have recently given us a book to help evangelical Christians sort through this question and the wider creation-evolution controversy. In their book, 40 Questions about Creation and Evolution, Keathley and Rooker point out that the young earth position took center stage only in the last 50 years.
Before I provide an excerpt with their comments, I do want to speak briefly about this helpful book. I appreciate the openness each author has in carefully laying out the evidence (good and bad) for the various positions that evangelicals hold. One of the authors favors young earth creationism, and another leans toward the old earth view. But both take pains to speak charitably of the other positions and honestly about the difficulties of his own view. Their irenic candor and careful grappling with the major positions, is what makes this book such a joy to read. A full review of this book will come later, but for now, I wanted to offer this excerpt for your reading and possible discussion.
Here is an excerpt related to the origins of today’s young-earth creationism. I should note that unlike some other works which point out the history behind the YEC position, this book does not malign that view and in pointing out the history it does, is not using the “guilt by association” tactic either.
The Rise of Young-Earth Creationism
As we noted earlier, most Christians, including evangelicals, accepted the view that the universe was millions and perhaps billions of years old. [My comment: he is speaking of Christians in the 18th and 19th Centuries.] This is true up through the first half of the twentieth century. R.A. Torrey (1856-1928), who helped to found both Moody Bible Institute and Biola University and who edited a series of books called The Fundamentals (from which we get the term “fundamentalist”), held to the gap theory. Even William Jennings Bryan, of the Scopes Monkey Trials fame, held to a day-age interpretation of Genesis 1.
Two of the most ardent anti-evolutionists of the twentieth century were W.B. Riley (1861-1947) and Harry Rimmer (1890-1952). Riley, editor of The Christian Fundamentalist and president of the Anti-Evolution League of America, held to the day-age position. Riley insisted that there was not “an intelligent fundamentalist who claims that the earth was made six thousand years ago: and the Bible never taught any such thing.” Rimmer, a self-educated layman and apologist known for his debating skills, held to the gap theory. In a celebrated series of debates, the two men argued for their respective positions with Rimmer generally considered to have been the victor.
Until 1960, the view that the proper interpretation of Genesis requires that the earth be less than 10,000 years old was advocated almost exclusively by George McCready Price, an apologist for Seventh-Day Adventists. Seventh-Day Adventists believe that the writings of their denomination’s founder, Ellen G. White, are divinely inspired and are to be treated as Scripture. White claimed she received a vision in which God carried her back to the original week of creation. There, she said, God showed her that the original week was seven days like any other week. Price worked tirelessly to defend White’s position as the only view that did not compromise biblical authority.
In 1961, John Whitcomb (1924-) and Henry Morris (1918-2006) published The Genesis Flood, which has sold over 300,000 copies and launched the modern creationist movement. Whitcomb and Morris argued that Ussher’s approach to determining the age of the universe was generally sound and that he universe must be less than 10,000 years old. Combining flood geology with the mature creation hypothesis, The Genesis Flood presented a compelling case for young-earth creationism. It would be difficult to exaggerate this book’s impact in shaping evangelical attitudes toward the question of the age of the earth. In many circles, adherence to a young earth is a point of orthodoxy. (p. 187-188)
When I first learned this, I was amazed. It freed me to rethink the matter from a new light. If good Christian leaders like R.A. Torrey, B.B. Warfield and the like could uphold direct creationism yet allow for an old earth, perhaps the matter is not such a do-or-die point. This doesn’t speak to the acceptance of evolution or a rejection of a historical Adam. The book’s authors do draw some clear lines in the sand, but when it comes to the age of the universe, that is a matter on which they agree to charitably disagree. May more of us follow this approach to the controversy. The age of the earth need not be a slippery slope, and good Christians are found on both sides of this debate.
Book Details:
• Author: Donald R. Sunukjian
• Publisher: Weaver Book Company (2014)
• Format: paperback
• Page Count: 113
• ISBN#: 9780989167147
• List Price: $14.99
• Rating: Highly Recommended
Blurbs:
“These model sermons remind us that exposition should be interesting, relevant, and at the same time thoroughly biblical.”
—Erwin W. Lutzer, Senior Pastor, The Moody Church
“Sunukjian is one of the best at wedding solid biblical exposition with creative and relevant applications. His artful use of imagination and penetrating questions in connecting the listener to the text is an invaluable guide for faithfully preaching the ever true and practical Word of God.”
—Mark L. Bailey, Professor of Bible Exposition and President, Dallas Theological Seminary
“The best way to learn how to preach well is to copy the masters. Sunukjian’s Biblical Preaching for the Contemporary Church series puts into print a wealth of biblical expositions that are worth imitating.”
—Greg R. Scharf, Professor of Pastoral Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Overview:
There is nothing like great preaching. A gifted man expounding the riches of God’s Word and applying God’s truth to our everyday lives is something every Christian needs. Good preaching breeds good preachers, and what better way to learn how to preach than by listening to a master of the craft preach and studying how he does it.
Invitation to Philippians is a demonstration of effective preaching. Now reading a sermon is not the same as experiencing one, but the warmth and conversational tone that pervades this book make it the next best thing. The book includes eleven sermons through the book of Philippians along with a brief introduction. Each sermon is situated with an introduction that draws the reader in, and then chuck full of poignant application and a clear explanation of the main thrust of the passage at hand.
Donald Sunukjian is a master preacher, and has written a widely used text on preaching: Invitation to Biblical Preaching: Proclaiming Trugh with Clarity and Relevance (Kregel). His comments on the text are relevant and timely, and illustrate well both how to emphasize the point of the text and also how to capture and maintain the attention of one’s audience.
Occasionally he builds in dramatic effect, such as using a step-stool to illustrate Christ’s coming down to our level. His sermons are very engaging and interesting — almost to a fault. The only critique I would have would be that the text and arguments of the text could be emphasized more and greater attention could be paid to parallels and other Scriptures which support the preacher’s point.
Excerpt:
This excerpt comes from the section on 1:27-30.
When we stand for the truth and cannot be scared off, even though we suffer for it, it’s a proof to us that we are genuinely saved and that we belong to God.
Why is this the case? Why does our standing firm and suffering for the truth become a proof to us that our salvation is secure?
Because suffering is God’s way of identifying those who are his. Suffering is God’s way of confirming those who belong to him. Suffering is God’s recognition, God’s assurance that you are living worthy of heaven’s kingdom.
[After pointing to 2 Tim. 3:12 and Acts 14:22, he continues:]
Suffering is God’s way of identifying those who are his. Suffering is God’s gift of assurance that you truly belong to Christ: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have. (1:29-30).” (p. 47-48)
Evaluation:
This book is easy reading and would serve as a touchstone for planning a sermon or teaching series on Philippians. I know it has challenged me to spend more time thinking about how I present my sermons and what engaging illustrations and poignant applications I can offer. Spending time to work on this side of preaching more promises to bless readers and help ensure the main point of the text is caught not just taught. I recommend this work and trust that other titles in the Biblical Preaching for the Contemporary Church series will be as helpful for pastors, teachers and eager students of God’s Word.
Series Description:
This six-volume series by veteran preacher and teacher of preachers provides a model of preaching using a combination of solid scholarly study, fidelity to the meaning and intent of the biblical author, oral clarity, contemporary relevance, humor, and creativity. “Pastors who plan on preaching through any of these biblical books,” says Sunukjian, “could be drawn to these sermons as models or as stimulating prompters for their own messages.”
About the Author: Donald R. Sunukjian (Ph.D., UCLA; Th.D., Dallas Theological Seminary) is Professor of Christian Ministry and Leadership at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, where he has taught preachers since 1996. Before that, he taught preaching at Dallas Theological Seminary for more than ten years. He has also served as senior pastor for fourteen years and is the award-winning author of Invitation to Biblical Preaching: Proclaiming Truth with Clarity and Relevance (Kregel), which is a leading textbook on the craft of preaching. Sunukjian has conducted pastors’ conferences in most metropolitan centers of the United States and maintains a regular preaching schedule.
Book Details:
• Editor: Gregory K. Beale
• Category: Biblical Theology
• Publisher: Baker Academic (2011)
• Format: hardcover
• Page Count: 1072
• ISBN#: 9780801026973
• List Price: $54.99
• Rating: Must Read
Review:
Christians today are blessed with a wide variety of resources for studying the Bible. In America, it seems that every few months some must-read theology book hits the press and promises to revolutionize our understanding of God’s Word. And many of these books truly are helpful. We really have no excuse for not understanding Scripture more and being more conformed into the likeness of Christ, given the endless resources meant to help us do just this.
At the same time, however, this abundance of resources can serve to puzzle us and leave us lost in an ever expanding maze of theological conundrums. The specialization in biblical studies doesn’t help. Specialists write on the Gospels, or on Paul’s letters, to the virtual exclusion of the input from other New Testament, or Old Testament books. OT specialists develop their understanding and grow in their study completely apart from their NT counterparts. And with the study of God’s Word being so cranial, simple insights and the role of the Holy Spirit’s illumination tend to be ignored. And then today’s scholars often ignore the insights of previous generations, who found Christ throughout the Old Testament, but weren’t versed in the latest scientific insights from form and redaction criticism or literary theory. Many have seen this widening gap, between academia and the church pew, and yearned for scholarship that matters: academic insight for average individuals. And some have hoped for a whole-Bible, biblical theology that would span the differing worlds of OT and NT scholarship and put the entire Bible back together again.
G. K. Beale may have given us just this. His magnum opus is an ambitious project that seeks to integrate the storylines of the Old and New Testaments, and unfold how the New Testament unpacks the promise of the Old as it unfolds for us the glories of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New, Beale displays a masterful grasp on the academy as well as an expert understanding of the second temple Judaistic literature, Ancient Near Eastern writings, and the latest scholarship on both biblical testaments. He is a humble servant of the church, however, and seeks to answer questions the average churchgoer will face and remains ever practical even as he explores a wide array of various topics. And while his book requires careful and (at times) strenuous reading, it truly integrates the entire canon of Scripture in a way that has promise to bring together Old and New Testament scholarship for the service of the church.
The Storyline of the New Testament
The task Beale sets out for himself is huge, and his book is too. With over 960 readable pages, this book will take the average reader some time to conquer. It took me about a year to wade my way through it, although admittedly I tend to be a fickle reader and so left the book for seasons at a time. Beale sets out to explore the unifying center of the New Testament and finds this in a storyline. Each part of the following storyline gets developed in detail and by the end of the book he has adequately proven his thesis. Here is Beale’s NT storyline:
Jesus’s life, trials, death for sinners, and especially resurrection by the Spirit have launched the fulfillment of the eschatological already-not yet new-creational reign, bestowed by grace through faith and resulting in worldwide commission to the faithful to advance this new-creational reign and resulting in judgment for the unbelieving, unto the triune God’s glory. (p. 958, italics and underlining removed)
Recapping the Old Testament
One of my favorite sections in Beale’s work was his few chapters spent detailing the Old Testament’s own storyline. He uses the first three chapters of Genesis as a key for unlocking the story of the entire Old Testament. Adam was to be a vice-regent of God, extending His rule throughout the world. But Adam failed, and was exiled from the Edenic paradise of fellowship with God in a garden-temple. From this wilderness, God called out his people Israel, referred to as God’s firstborn son, and they received an Adamic calling to be vice-regents of God extending the glory of His name as a beacon of light to the nations, centered in their garden-like promised land of paradise – where God would have His name dwell. But they too failed, and were exiled from their special place of fellowship with God. For those unfamiliar with Beale’s extensive work on developing the theme of the Temple throughout the Scripture (cf. Beale’s The Temple and the Church’s Mission, IVP 2004), it is touched on in this section and more fully developed later as Beale turns to the New Testament.
The Role of Eschatology
Beale’s emphasis on the already-not yet, new-creational kingdom, has led many to dismiss his book as one long extensive defense of amillennialism. I would contend that such a dismissal is short-sighted and a biased misreading of his work. His eschatology doesn’t neatly fit into any one theological system, and he prefers the description “inaugurated eschatology.” His discussion of the key terms for “the end times” in both the Old and New Testaments goes a long way toward proving his contention that “in order to understand the NT in its full richness, we must have a keen acquaintance with how the biblical authors viewed the ‘end times'” (p. 16). He argues that the New Testament sees the end times as here in one sense, but not yet fully here. And that the entire New Testament cannot be understood apart from realizing the role eschatology plays. The NT authors understand themselves to be living in the last days, in the beginning fulfillment of what the Old Testament foretold.
New-Creation and Kingdom
Perhaps Beale’s most distinctive contribution to NT biblical theology is his emphasis on the role new-creation plays both in how one understands the kingdom, and in how one understands everything from justification to judgment in the New Testament. Christ’s resurrection was the promise and presence of the new creation, invading our world of space and time. The uncreating of evil has begun, and the recreation of a new world has commenced – and our very spiritual lives with the progress we make in sanctification, is part of God’s making all things new (2 Cor. 5:17, Rev. 21:5).
The Church as End-Time Israel
This is where many people will stumble over Beale’s approach. Some will point to his embrace of the Sabbath and paedo-baptism as errors flowing from his fundamental misunderstanding of the distinction between Israel and the church. I would ask those who will differ fundamentally here to take time to read Beale as there is still much to be gained from his work. But I am convinced his unpacking of the biblical development of the church as end-time Israel is worth the price of the book. He continues his approach of reading Scripture from a grammatical, historical approach – treating the books as the original recipients would have, understanding the genre and tracing out the history of intertestamental biblical interpretation (as an insight into possible ways the NT authors would have understood OT Scripture), and methodically builds an air-tight case for the NT as presenting the church as the heir of the promises made to OT Israel. At this point, I’d like to take some extra time to restate his case for the sake of my readers. And to be clear, Beale is not claiming the church replaces Israel, but that it actually is “the transformed and restored eschatalogical Israel,” being made up of Jew and gentile believers, alike.
Beale finds a “presuppositional basis” for the church being true Israel in some of the hermeneutical presuppositions he claims underlie the exegetical approach of the NT authors. Chief among these is the concept of “the one and the many.” In the OT we often find kings, prophets, or family heads representing their families, or nations who will receive blessing or judgment because of the actions of the “one” representing “the many.” Rom. 5 and 1 Cor. 15 make a similar argument with Christ and Adam. Secondly, Jesus is presented in Scripture as “the true Israel.” And He thus represents the church. Beale elaborates:
Those who identify by faith with Christ, whether Jew or gentile, become identified with him and his identity as true eschatological Israel…. people are identified by faith with Jesus as God’s Son, and so they become “adopted sons of God.” …people become identified by faith with Christ as being in the eschatological image of God, so they begin to regain that image. (p. 652)
And since Israel was a corporate Adam — God’s firstborn — living in its own “garden of Eden,” tasked to do what Adam had failed to do, it follows that Christ as the Second Adam, actually fulfilled what both Adam and Israel was meant to do. Christ as such, is the New Israel – and Beale shows how numerous themes in the New Testament attest to this fact. Then Beale shows how repeatedly throughout the Old Testament, Gentiles were included in Israel and her mission — and now with Christ’s bringing the end-times upon us, the identifying marks required to be a part of Israel of old (circumcision) have been replaced by that of spiritual circumcision and spiritual unity of Christ — who is the head of the church. Beale points out that it is thus the “legal representative” or “corporate” hermeneutic which under-girds this identification of the church as true Israel, rather than an “allegorical or spiritualizing hermeneutic” (p. 655). What Beale then goes on to systematically demonstrate, is that the Old Testament prophecies that Gentiles will become part of the Latter-Day True Israel, using such passages as Is. 49, Ps. 87, Is. 19, Is. 56, Is. 66 and others. Then he shows how the New Testament repeatedly claims that it is in the church that specific prophesies about the restoration of Latter-Day Israel are coming to pass. I appreciate also how he delineates the variety of specific names and descriptors of Israel from the Old Testament are applied to the church – and with so many OT descriptors of Israel given to the church, it is not surprising to see the actual term Israel bestowed on it as well, in Gal. 6:17.
With the land promise, Beale once again unpacks how the Old Testament itself leads us to expect that the land is typological, pointing to a greater reality, and that it will become greatly expanded and universalized. And the New Testament shows us just this, as it also brings the church in to the recipients of that very promise (see Rom. 4:13, Matt. 5:5 and others).
Additional Themes
Beale’s work covers a host of additional themes my review cannot cover in detail. He highlights how the expected tribulation of Israel was being experienced by the New Testament church, and still is in most parts of the world today. He gives space to the new-creational marks of the church such as Sabbath observance (although his view on this finds it radically altered through Christ’s work), worship, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, church office and the NT Canon. He looks at the work of the Spirit as part of the inaugurated end-time new creation as a chief theme in the NT story. He also gives space to the Temple and to idolatry and the image of God being restored. He also explores questions such as how much the Old Testament saints would have enjoyed this same experience we do in the NT. And he concludes his book focusing on the glory of God as the purpose for the very storyline itself.
Evaluation
I was told that you don’t pick up a book like this and read through it. You just use it as a resource. And for many that is going to be how they will encounter Beale’s work. Thankfully, it is organized in a very clear way with helpful indexes and a detailed table of contents that is sure to help such a reader. Those who want a taste of Beale’s work could read the first few chapters, and chapter 27 – which recaps the entire work giving each theme a brief yet fairly detailed overview. Others might find it more useful to read through Beale’s section on resurrection or justification, or the question of Israel and the church as they study that topic out further. The footnotes will point you to other important discussions in the book so that you won’t miss something you need in getting Beale’s take on a given subject.
I differ with Beale on a few matters, most notably baptism, but I found the exercise of plodding my way through his work to be immensely helpful. My copy of the book has numerous notes, underlines, and countless dog-eared pages. I have already turned back to parts of this book for the second or even third time now, and know I’ll be returning to this book for many more years in the future. This truly is a monumental work, and one that even a layman like me can appreciate. Granted, I have had some theological training, and at times this book does go deep. But for the most part, Beale’s work is accessible and has takeaways that pastors and teachers as well as students, will benefit from. More importantly, Beale helps one find a compass through the maze of the two testaments of Scripture. And his work is detailed enough to stand the test of time. It carefully explains how the New Testament authors arrived at the conclusions they did, and follows their thoughts after them, reading the Old Testament in a careful and ultimately Christ-centered way. I encourage you to find some space on your shelf for Beale’s A NT Biblical Theology. Dip your toe in, get wet, then take the plunge and bask in the beauty of a fully developed Biblical Theology. You won’t regret it.
Author Info: G. K. Belae (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the coeditor of the Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and the author of numerous books, including the Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament and commentaries on Revelation and 1 and 2 Thessalonians.
Details:
• Author: Norman Jeune III
• Category: Church History
• Publisher: Zondervan (2012)
• Format: glossy cards
• Count: 288 individuals
• ISBN#: 9780310328582
• List Price: $26.99
• Rating: Recommended
Review: Next month, Zondervan is releasing an interesting twist on studying church history and theology: Theologian Trading Cards: A Fun Way to Learn Church History and Theology developed by Norman Jeune III. These cards are promising as a tool for educators and parents who seek to make the study of church history and theology fun.
Description
The cards have a glossy finish with colorful borders surrounding black and white photographs, or more frequently classic portraits or artists’ depictions of the various characters. The 288 individuals highlighted in this set span all of Christian church history from the early second century down to influential theologians and philosophers today. Just like a typical sports card, the back of each card gives biographical information and details the significance of the “player.” It isn’t stats that are given pride of place, however, instead the series highlights influential works, famous events and the martyrdom of the various “athletes.”
The set of cards is divided into several “teams” or groupings of characters by theme, era or some other distinguishing factor. Some of these teams seem a bit of a stretch when you see who makes up that particular team, and others make you wonder why they were included in a set of “theologian” trading cards. But for the most part, the groupings are understandable. I’ll list them below:
Orthodoxy Dodgers (Heretics)
St. James Padres (Church Fathers, Apostolic Era)
Avingnon Crusaders (Medieval, excluding Mystics and Monks)
Constantinople Hesychasts (Orthodox Church)
Munich Monks (Hermits, Monks and Mystics)
Geneva Sovereigns (Later Reformed Church and Early Reformers)
Wittenberg Whistle-Blowers (Early Reformers and Later Lutheran Church)
Munster Radicals (Radical Reformation and Anabaptists)
Canterbury Monarchs (English Reformers, Anglicans and Puritans)
Los Angeles Knights (Fundamentalists and Evangelicals)
Berlin Aggiornamentos (Contemporary)
Jerusalem Resourcers (Contemporary)
St. Pius Cardinals (Roman Catholic, particularly post-Reformation)
Serampore Preachers (Missionaries)
Athens Metaphysicians (Philosophers)
Minor Criticism
Before I critique these cards, I should stress I saw a pre-published version of them. So some of the criticisms may not apply. I noticed a few inconsistencies, such as not marking Jan Hus or Balthasar Hubmaier as martyrs, yet noting on their cards that each was burned at the stake. And then John Knox is marked out as a martyer but he did not die a martyr’s death. Some of the descriptions too, of the figures included don’t contain some pertinent details, such as Athanasius’ letter which included the first list of the canonical 27 NT books, and no mention of the lasting hymns authored by Bernard of Clairvoux and Ambrose of Milan. The absence of Peter Waldo and Michael Sattler and the scarcity of female figures (one could imagine Lady Jane Grey’s inclusion in the Canterbury Monarchs “team,” for instance) also are notable. And when it comes to the inclusion of the Puritans or later Fundamentalist and Evangelical figures, many will notice the absence of such men as Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Matthew Henry, J. Frank Norris, J.C. Ryle and Billy Sunday. And the most glaring absence of all, is that of Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers.
I hope some of these deficiencies were corrected before publication. I’m at a loss to know what the differentiation is between the Berlin Aggiornamentos and Jerusalem Resourcers which both seem to be a list of influential theologians. I’m sure the descriptions of those groups were beefed up prior to release. Also puzzling is the blank picture with a question mark that adorns the front of some of the cards. Perhaps this indicates there is no picture or artist’s depiction available for the individual.
Recommendation
I don’t want to downplay these cards too much with the above minor criticism. By and large they are informative, interesting and fun. The cards are attractive and will appeal to those of a Reformed or scholastic bent. I can envision them being used in homeschools and Christian schools in the junior high to high school level, or even younger than that. They will spur more research into the various figures, but I’m not so sure they’ll actually be traded. Since you get the set, there’s nothing to trade for. Unless teachers use them as rewards and then, the trading would ensue!
These cards would make a great gift for a young theologian-to-be, and I expect they’ll find their way beneath many a Christmas tree this year. If you’re looking for more ways to keep your children interested in the study of the Christian faith, this set will be a tool you won’t want to ignore.
Author Info: Norman Jeune III coordinates the provision of pastoral care to children and their families as the Lead Hospital Chaplain at Children’s Hospital in Orange, California. Norman holds a M.A. from Talbot School of Theology, Biloa University and is also the cofounder of the popular theological blog Christians in Context, ChristiansinContext.com.
Media Details:
