Category: Book Reviews

As some of you may know, I absolutely love the Old Testament. One day I aspire to be an Old Testament scholar where I do work in Genesis 1-11. However, until then I plod away on blog posts sharing my divine insights into God’s Word with all ya’ll. Recently, I picked up this tasty treat “Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters” by Carmen Joy Imes. I’ve gotta say right off the batt, I loved it. The stress Imes places on the importance of the Old Testament, the love of God’s law and its role in the Christian life, and how she digs deep into the meaning of “taking the Lord’s name in vain” (Ex 20:7) excites me to no end. In my opinion, there can not be enough good Old Testament scholarship in the academy (but maybe I’m a little bit biased).

I don’t know about you, but when I was first started reading the Bible, I was taught that the Old Testament was mostly about two or three things: The age of the earth, the story of Israel for some reason, and a bunch of good morally therapeutic stories we can become better people from. Be faithful like Abraham, or as bold as Moses, or as mighty as David, but never like Jonah (but God will use you anyway). The law is used to sort of place rules around humanity; a list of dos and don’ts. Don’t murder, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain by swearing, don’t steal or cheat and definitely don’t worship other gods (as if they existed anyway right?). I was taught when Jesus and the New Testament happened, the Old Testament became mostly irrelevant, replaced and kinda done away with. The Old Testament became a sort of novelty that none of us really knew what to do with. Personally, the Old Testament was way more interesting because it read more like The Lord of the Rings with battles, love lost, and deceit and the New Testament became a boring monologue from one person (Paul) to an invisible audience (the Church).

It took me a long time to realise this couldn’t be further from the truth. While the Old Testament is full of these things to be sure, it is so much more than all of that. Let me be clear, without the Old Testament, there would be no New Testament, and there would be no Jesus Christ. To this day I’m still discovering the implications and importance of the Old Testament and absolutely loving it. That journey began at Bible College where I started to realise that the Bible was one unified story about God, humanity and our salvation leading to Jesus. I often found myself asking the question “why is none of this taught in our churches?” However, Bible College only gave me the tools to do the digging. It was through years of personal study, resources like The Bible Project and other scholars like Carmen Imes that I fell head over heels in love with the Old Testament. I’m yet to learn Hebrew but it’s on the to-do list.

Personally, Imes has sharpened my thoughts around three main ideas:

1. God’s law (the ten commandments) was given as a gift in response to Israel’s liberation and salvation, not to achieve it.
2. That the law is about Israel living out their vocation so that people may know Yahweh.
3. That Jesus and in turn, the Church united to Christ are the ones who take up this vocation and bear God’s name.

Traditionally, God’s law has been seen as something the Israelites must obey to be saved, to be God’s people. This isn’t entirely wrong. Imes does point out in her book that the law was a fence given to Israel so that life could flourish (pg 35). God does require obedience, however, the law was given and the obedience required comes after salvation, not before it. Imes argues that the law was a gift. She says:

Remember – the Israelites had already been resuced from Egypt when they were given the law. God did not say to them, “Do all these things and I will save you from slavery.” He saved them first, and then gave them the gift that goes with salvation, instructions on how to live as free men and women.

What a freeing truth. God’s law was given to His people as a gift to help them flourish, to help them carry His name, not to achieve salvation. There were no requirements, God simply saw His people in anguish and brokenness and said “I will save them,” and He did. This has some profound implications around my thinking of salvation as a New Testament Christian. God sees humanity and wants to rescue them out of the slavery of this world into His own Kingdom without any prerequisites. It’s only after we’ve been liberated from sin, forgiven, washed clean and united to God in Christ are we then given God’s law (i.e. to love God and others as ourselves) to flourish and carry His name. Which leads me to the next great idea.

Imes argues that the law was given to Israel to help them to live out their vocation. Israel wasn’t giving God’s law as a list of rules to obey otherwise God’s wrath and anger would just come down on them without a second chance. It was given as a gift so that His people could living out their calling, their vocation as the representatives of God on earth. As Imes breaks down the ten commandments in chapter three she argues that the command to not take the Lord’s name in vain should better be translated to not carry the name of Yahweh in a way that would dishonour Him (pg 49). Imes argues that all of Israel was supposed to carry Yahweh’s name in the same way that the high priest was (pg 50-52). Israel was to be a treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation carrying Yahweh’s name before the nations. As Imes says:

As His treasured possession, Israels vocation – the thing they were born to do – is to represent their God to the rest of humanity. They function in priestly ways, mediating between Yahweh and everyone else. They are set apart for his service.

The problem? Israel failed woefully at this. They constantly fell into idolatry and sin as they misrepresented Yahweh to the nations. Which brings us to the final thought I loved in this book.

Imes beautifully and biblically argues that Jesus is the true Israel. She carefully traces this idea through the Gospel of Matthew where she compares the obvious imagery in Jesus’ story to that of Israel. Here are some examples (among many others) that she mentions:

She goes on to argue that because Jesus is the perfect image of God, that because He is in covenant relationship with the Father, Jesus ultimately fulfils all that Israel failed at. Therefore, our election is about representation, taking God’s name and carrying it to the ends of the earth (pg 164-166). The law is given to the Church as a gift for human flourishing as we’re united to God in Christ.

This was a very brief overview of Imes’ book. All in all, it was a really great read and I recommend that people read it to gain a healthier understanding of the relationship between the law and the Christian. 10/10.

1. On The Road With Saint Augustine by James K. A. Smith

Already one of my favourite theologians, James K. A. Smith, the author of “Desiring the Kingdom” and “How (Not) to Be Secular” delivers another timely book for the wayward soul. Smith brilliantly lays out and takes apart modern existentialism (the Western meta-narrative) while being sympathetic to the restlessness of the human heart. Restlessness Smith argues is a part of the human experience, it’s a part of our nature. However, the never-ending journey is not our home. Instead, God is. This book is a must-read for those, like me, who find themselves at the crossroads of life without a map or a guide. This book is for the exiles and sojourners who can’t settle and especially for the Christian who has become disillusioned with Western Existential Christianity.

  2. Old Testament Theology For Christians by John H. Walton

You may not know it, but there is a fight happening right now on the fields of theology to uphold the Old Testament. John H. Walton (one of my favourite Old Testament scholars) enters the fray with this timely book. Author of the Lost Word series, a commentary on Genesis and many other great books on the Old Testament, this book in particular stresses the importance of not divorcing the Old Testament from the New Testament, instead, seeing the continuity and relevance of the Old Testament for Christians. Furthermore, Walton challenges our readings of the Old Testament as he invites us to leave aside our modern notions of how Scripture should be read and instead, interpret it on its own terms. A must-read for any serious student of the Old Testament.

  3. The Unseen Realm by Micheal S. Heiser

In his book “The Unseen Realm” Heiser focus’ on ancient near eastern context to help uncover what the Bible has to say about the spiritual realm, angels, demons and even God Himself. Meiser argues that ancient Israel lived in a polytheistic world and that particular worldview would have informed the way they understood these things. Heiser does so with a lot of research, precision and grace as he tackles this difficult topic. Another must-read for those wanting more insight into what the Bible has to say about the spiritual realm and its inhabitants.

  4.  In The Shelter by Padraig O Tuama

Padraig O Tuama is a poet and theologian (albeit a liberal one) who writes with a lot of insight into the nature of humanity. Despite the things I disagree with him over, I feel like he’s one of those people we can learn a lot from.

  5. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

A great book if you’re into historical fantasy. Set in old Russia, the story follows the life of a young girl Vasya who can communicate with mythological creatures of tales she was told as a child. The book itself explores the conflict between Christianity and the old stories and folklore of Russia as Christianity dominates Russian life. Exceptionally fascinating and even though Christianity is painted to be the bad guys in the story, it serves as a reminder to those of us who would use religion for the wrong reasons (something we’re all privy to). I highly recommend it.

Take a seat, sit back and peruse the theological landscape of the 21st century. One doesn’t have to look far to notice that traditional perspectives of God’s wrath, violence and judgement are in a bloody war with more progressive interpretations and theology. The more progressive positions on God’s wrath abandon the traditional ways of thinking and instead strive to replace them with what is knowing as a “cruciformed hermeneutic.” In other words, everything we see in Scripture (particularly in the Old Testament) must be interpreted in light of the revelation of Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross. This cruciformed hermeneutic is championed by Gregory A. Boyd who is an esteemed pastor, theologian and scholar who has written his magnum opus “The Crucifixion of the Warrior God” and at a more popular level, his abridged version “Cross Vision.” This post will be focused on his later work.

Cross Vision was a great book to read, easy to follow, thought-provoking, very challenging at times. Like I mentioned in my review on Rob Bell’s “What is the Bible?” there’s never a time where I’d say “don’t read this book.” Every book is probably worth reading, meditating over and then considering in light of the Bible. Boyd is no exception to this rule, in fact, I’d encourage people to read if for no other reason then it is good to be challenged on ideas we’ve held for granted for so long. We all need to be rethinking and revisiting things we’ve been taught to make sure we remain faithful to the story of the Bible. To do this Boyd brings out some very heart-wrenching parables to drive his point home. Here’s one of those stories for the sake of the review:

It’s a few thousand years ago. A young Canaanite couple is enjoying an afternoon with their newborn infant. Like everybody else in their small town, this couple has heard rumors of a warring nomadic tribe called the Hebrews who worshipped a mighty warrior god named Yahweh. But the people of their town had prayed and made sacrifices to their chief god, Baal. And since Baal had protected them from other warring tribes and deities in the past, they had hope that the Hebrews would not attack their town. On this day, however, their prayers and sacrifices prove futile. This couple hears the battle horns and war cries of an approaching army. They see and hear neighbors screaming and frantically running down the dirt path outside their tiny hut. Their hearts pound as they stare at each other for a brief bewildered and terrified moment. Suddenly realizing what is taking place, the teenage mother sweeps up her newborn, the husband grabs his sword, and they turn to run out the door. Unfortunately, they’re too late. Before they reach the door, two sword-wielding Hebrew soldiers appear before them screaming, “Praise Yahweh! Yahweh is great!” The terrified husband raises his weapon, but the soldiers quickly run their swords through him. Seeing the hopelessness of her situation, the petrified mother curls up in the corner of her hut, crying and shaking as she clutches her wailing infant. As the two Hebrew soldiers approach her with their bloodied swords raised above their heads, she holds up her baby, begging the soldiers to at least have mercy on her infant. One of the soldiers is moved and hesitates for a moment as he thinks about his own young wife and newborn daughter. His comrade notices his hesitation and reminds him that Yahweh had specifically commanded Moses to have his people worship him by showing no mercy toward anyone or anything. “The mother and baby must also be offered up to Yahweh,” he the first soldier reluctantly nods his head, closes his eye, and shouts, “Praise be to Yahweh!” as he puts his full weight and strength into his falling sword. Both soldiers are splattered with blood as the sword splits the young mother’s skull. The other soldier then shouts the same praise as he bludgeons the crying infant to death.

Picture this on CNN or Fox News. This is a gut-wrenching story of how those early Canaanite conquests in the book of Joshua may have played out. Anyone today would call this genocide, and rage in protest if not vomit at such an incident. We’d be protesting and petitioning our governments to get involved and put an end to such injustice. Fair enough, I totally get that. I’d probably be protesting as well. The problem is, however, we want just that, someone to get involved and for there to be justice. There is this innate sense of retribution and a desire for justice that screams out in every one of us.

At this point, it is worth pointing out that I have written a two-part series here and here on the issue of God’s violence and wrath that will help give shape this discussion. However, in short, I’d like to say this. This is a blurry issue. I think where things become messy is in how God is presented in Scripture, and whether or not we’re ok with the person we see. Is God loving? Absolutely. Except, let’s stop defining love by our 21st Century Western standards and just take God for who He is portrayed in Scripture. This, I believe is ultimately where Boyd fails. I understand why he reinterprets God’s acts of “violence” (I’d say judgement in response to sin), but it just doesn’t stack up to the entire biblical story. God is ultimately about redeeming all of creation through Jesus, yes. But sometimes He also has to remove sinful people, places, and nations in order to achieve that ultimate goal.

Boyd is a great writer, theologian, pastor and brother in Christ. In a debate, I probably couldn’t hold my own against him but I’d still love to chat with him over a steaming hot cup of coffee. Read the book, it is a great read but stack it against other books like “Is God a Moral Monster?” by Paul Copan and “Confronting Old Testament Controversies” by Tremper Longman III (to be released in April) that I believe do a more faithful job in dealing with the issue of God’s violence and wrath.

All in all, I’d give this book a 7/10. Read it, love it, hate it, but most of all be challenged and prayerful about it. Never swallow any pill without reading the label if you catch my drift.