Craig L. Blomberg

This volume was helpful to me when I was first starting out, but it has not aged well. Alas, an additional two decades of the "debate" has left the arguments in this book sounding naive and disingenuous at best.

It may have once been possible to argue in good faith that "complementarian" theology isn't fundamentally harmful to women (and everyone else), but today, this approach is just attempting to normalize misogyny. If I did not have that previous positive experience, I would say that show more much less kindly.

Women in ministry exist, and have existed, and will exist, no matter what arguments people make. Any approach that does not start with acknowledging this fact, and with treating women who are actually in ministry with dignity and respect, is "a chasing after wind", as someone once wrote. show less

Neither Poverty nor Riches is the best book about wealth I have ever read. It is practical, comprehensive, scholarly, balanced and thoroughly biblical. Blomberg’s central point is a simple one: that extreme poverty and extreme wealth are not to be tolerated – hence the title which is drawn from Proverbs 30:8, ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches’.

To give an indication of the challenge of the book, Blomberg argues that the rich should give more than 10% (perhaps many times that show more amount), to enable the poor to give less. But he takes a global perspective, reminding Western readers that the vast majority of us are firmly in the ‘rich’ side of the scales. And he reminds us that spiritual growth in the area of stewardship is ‘a necessary sign of [spiritual] life’.

Thankfully, Blomberg never falls into the trap of declaring all riches as evil, or advocating asceticism. God’s gifts are to be enjoyed, he reminds us, but they are also to be shared.

If I have one criticism it would be that in the chapter with application there is an emphasis on the relief of material poverty in the world that was not apparent in the earlier exegesis. As I read the New Testament (or the Old for that matter) I see a wide concern for the spiritual well-being of all people, and a narrower concern for the material well-being of believers. That is not to say we should be callous towards the non-Christian poor, or that we should only bring Bibles and not bring bread. But it is to say that when it comes to loving our neighbour, the Bible seems to make our two priorities the sharing of the gospel with the world, and caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

That, however, is a relatively minor criticism. If you want to think about the Bible’s teaching on wealth and poverty I know of no better book. show less

Deals with the question of textual accuracy, and the selection of the canon in a thorough way, then to my surprise gets on to the problem of multiple translations, commenting that there are so many of them that people are beginning to ask whether anyone really knows what it means? In fact he says many modern translations fundamentally agree, and there is no point in the continuing quarrels about the details.
Then he gets into inerrancy, and its alternatives. Here he is very helpful and it show more seems to me reasonable. i.e. he does not push the idea too far! Throughout the book are detailed references in which he vigorously defends his ideas and complains about some of his critics. In fact the book is at all times outspoken and vigorous which makes for an enjoyable read. Next he tackles the possibility of different genres in the OT, coming to conservative conclusions but open to liberal interpretations in a refreshing way. As to miracles he feels we dismiss them too easily, and in fact they are still going on so what's the problem with them in the NT?
It is shocking to see the toxic atmosphere he seems to have to live in and he complains that this stringency is putting many people, especially the young, off the whole Christian scene. he wishes everybody would be much calmer and more polite.
Most chapters spend most of the time dealing with doubters but each chapter also has a section addressing the hypercritical, or ultrasound, pointing out how bad tempered they can be. show less

Summary: A New Testament Introduction covering Acts through Revelation, with introductory material and commentary, review questions and bibliography for each book, useful as a textbook or reference.

Some of the introductory New Testament texts for college or seminary that I have read are dense and turgid reads. Not this new edition in which Craig L. Blomberg and Darlene M. Seal combine up to date scholarship with a highly readable text. The text for each book of scripture includes some of the show more standard introduction sections including discussions of authorship, date, audience, purpose, genre, and structure. Where relevant, as in Acts, material on textual criticism, sources, and chronology vis a vis Paul are included. A commentary summarizing the text and dealing with textual and interpretive questions follows organized on the basis of the structure provided. Review questions are included for students as well as concluding applications. A select bibliography offers recommendations of advanced, intermediate, and introductory commentaries, as well as other relevant scholarly works on the book in question.

A fifty-eight page introductory article to the Pauline epistles is also included. The first portion covers the life of Paul including the question of the nature of the Damascus road encounter–conversion, call, or commission–or perhaps all three? Then the authors turn to epistolary writing, uses of rhetoric, genres, literary forms, their occasional nature, and the mechanics of letter writing. This part includes with questions about pseudonymity (they judge this lacking acceptance in the first century) and the collection and canonization of Paul’s epistles. They then turn to Paul’s theology, summarizing contemporary discussions of the New Perspective, the question of Paul and Jesus, Paul and the Old Testament and recent scholarship seeing apocalyptic and empire themes in Paul. I thought this an excellent, succinct discussion of Pauline scholarship with all the key figures appearing in the bibliography.

A few highlights of the authors’ discussion of various books may give a flavor of this introduction:

*While noting the boundary marker treatment of “works of the law” they see a more general reference to Torah-obedience, and justification referring to imputed righteousness–though relational and transformative rather than “impersonal and transactional.”
*They argue for the unity of 2 Corinthians (an A-B-A structure) with a lost letter between it and 1 Corinthians.
*They foresee a large scale turning of Jews to Christ foretold in Romans 11 but that this does not require repatriation.
*They favor the Pauline authorship of Ephesians, with Paul giving an amanuensis greater liberty in writing within directions on topics to address, and that the letter was likely intended to be a circular letter.
*They survey the discussion of the authorship of the pastorals, often thought to be pseudonymous works. They go with the unanimity of the church fathers and attribute these to Paul, allowing for an amanuensis, perhaps Luke, to account for the stylistic differences.
*On 1 Timothy 2:11-15, they offer a helpful chart of the interpretive decisions involved in this passage. They do not commit to a view, suggesting the need to hold views tentatively. They propose that even within more traditional interpretations, there are not constraints on women serving on pastoral teams or as part of church leadership. This seems like an attempt to find a via media between complementarian and egalitarian position with a complementarian flavor that will probably satisfy few.
*I found the outline of James structuring it around three iterations of three key themes quite helpful: trials in the Christian life, wisdom, and riches and poverty. Similarly, seeing Hebrews structured around five warnings was a rubric that seems to arise from the text.
*Perhaps the most difficult book to square with traditional claims of authorship is 2 Peter, which much of modern scholarship considers late, and pseudonymous, noting the dependence on Jude, and significant stylistic differences. They note the claim of the author to have witnessed the transfiguration, that the stylistic differences argue against pseudonymity, that Symeon Petros in 1:1 is elsewhere used only in Acts 15:14 and sounds like a signature.
*The treatment of Revelation takes a premillenial, though not dispensational reading.

Overall, the approach is theologically conservative and evangelical, though nuanced and appreciative of other scholarship. Reflective of the publisher, it seems its target audience would be Baptists schools and seminaries and educated pastors and laity. Yet the engagement with other scholarship and views makes it representative of the best of this tradition. It is an introduction where a committed evangelical is able to read with, rather than against, the grain of one’s convictions as it were, while being introduced to the range of scholarship. And as observed earlier, one of the great strengths of this work is the readable, flowing text that one needn’t fight with to understand. It’s greatest challenge comes in the trenchant applications that question how one will live and act on truth outside the study and classroom.

____________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less