Reformation Worship, Dogmatics, and Cicero

 

Gibson, Jonathan and Mark Earngey, Editors. Foreword by Sinclair Ferguson. Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present. Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2018. 688 Pages. Cloth. $69.99. ($34.99 on sale.) https://newgrowthpress.com/reformation-worship-liturgies-from-the-past-for-the-present/ Beckwith, Carl L. The Holy Trinity (Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics Volume III). Fort Wayne: The Luther Academy, 2016. 412 Pages. Paper. http://lutheracademy.com/lutheran-dogmatics/ Springer, Carl P. E. Cicero in Heaven: The Roman Rhetor and Luther's Reformation. Brill, 2017. ebook received for review. Cloth copy also received. $132.00.  http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/9789004355194 Liturgy, the Trinity, and Cicero. That's quite a lineup this time. Do buy this volume while it is still on sale: Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present is an unique volume. I have not seen anything like it except Volume 53 of the American Edition of Luther's Works (Liturgy and Hymns. J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.) or Robert Webber's Complete Library of Christian Worship, Volume II, Twenty Centuries of Christian Worship. Neither of those resources is as compact or comprehensive as that before us by editors Jonathan Gibson and Mark Earngey. Webber has fewer examples of Reformation liturgies and they are often outlines or excerpts. The translation of LW 53 is often at issue.   Click here to read a sample of this book. Transforming Christian Worship - Twenty-six liturgies, including historical introductions that provide fresh analysis into their origins, are invaluable tools for pastors and worship leaders as they seek to craft public worship services in the great tradition of the early Reformers. Christians learn to worship from the generations of God's people who have worshipped before them. We sing Psalms, because thousands of years ago, God's people sang them. 500 years ago, the leaders of the Reformation transformed Christian worship with the active participation and understanding of the individual worshiper. Christian worship today is built on this foundation. Jonathan Gibson and Mark Earngey have made Reformation worship accessible, by compiling the most comprehensive collection of liturgies from that era, newly translated into modern English from the original German, Dutch, French, Latin, and early English. The structure of the liturgies, language, and rhythm continue to communicate the gospel in Word and Sacrament today. They provide a deep sense of God's call to worship and an appreciation for the Reformers as, first and foremost, men who wanted to help God's people worship. This book will also be of great interest to theological scholars and students who wish to understand early Reformation leaders. A useful tool for individuals, Reformation Worship, can be used as a powerful devotional to guide daily prayer and reflection. By providing a connection to the great men of the Reformation, Gibson and Earngey hope that through their work readers will experience what John Calvin described to be the purpose of all church worship: To what end is the preaching of the Word, the Sacraments, the holy congregations themselves, and indeed the whole external government of the church, except that we may be united to God? Authors Jonathan Gibson (PhD, Cambridge) is ordained in the International Presbyterian Church, UK, and is Assistant Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. He is co-editor with Mark Earngey of Reformation Worship, contributor to and co-editor with David Gibson of From Heaven He Came and Sought Her, and Covenant Continuity and Fidelity: A Study of Inner-Biblical Allusion and Exegesis in Malachi. He is married to Jacqueline, and they have two children: Benjamin and Leila.   Mark Earngey (DPhil candidate, Oxford) is ordained in the Anglican Church of Australia (Diocese of Sydney) and is is a doctoral candidate in historical theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University.  He is co-editor with Jonathan Gibson of Reformation Worship.  Mark is married to Tanya, and they have three children: Grace, Simeon, and Sophia. (Publisher's website) Martin Luther is the author featured in RW Chapter 4 (Form of the Mass, 1523; German Mass 1526). Luther's liturgical reform is conservative. He retains what may be done without sin. He highlights both the hearing and preaching of the Word (115-121) and the Sacrament of the Altar (e.g., 124-5). He removes the canon of the Mass and the invocation of the saints. His focus was Christ. Matthias Mangold (xxxivff) provides a new translation of Luther's German Mass and Michael Hunter freshly translates Luther's Form of the Mass (xxxvi). That this was done is commendable, and reminiscent of a proposed "new" edition of AELW 53 for which donations were solicited through the Good Shepherd Institute of Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne years ago. (I am told that this may still be in the works.  While we Lutherans wait, we have RW as well as https://www.cph.org/p-6291-Martin-Luther-Hymns-Ballads-Chants-Truth-CD.aspx and https://www.cph.org/p-30634-the-hymns-of-martin-luther.aspx).     RW is a great service to Lutherans like me and our readers, a chance to double-check the 1965-published translations of the 1523 by Paul Zeller Strodach (revised by Ulrich S. Leupold)  and the 1526 by Augustus Steimle (also revised by Ulrich S. Leupold). Additionally, musical notation for the 1526 German Mass was done by Joseph Waggoner (xxxvi).   "In translating the liturgies contained in this book, we have adhered to one basic principle: to provide a translation of liturgical texts that faithfully renders the original meaning, but in the English language and punctuation of the twenty-first century that is easy on the modern eye and ear, and conducive to the modern mind. We have also made some formatting adjustments to headings and rubrics where it was deemed necessary" (xxiii-xxiv). LCMS Lutherans used to The Lutheran Hymnal, Lutheran Worship, or Lutheran Service Book will immediately see the connection between what congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod have as liturgies in the hymnals in their pew racks and what Luther intended. If it were possible for Luther himself to visit us on a Sunday morning, he would note much that would be familiar to him.   Robert Kolb is thanked in the Acknowledgements (xxix) "for feedback on the historical introductions" to Luther's liturgies.   The other liturgies contained in the volume are more Calvinist/Reformed and therefore of less interested to Lutherans. One will note changes in the Book of Common Prayer (for a variety of reasons) between 1549 and 1552 (342) even before the more significant changes of 1559 (the infamous "black rubric," outside the scope of this book).   LBR asks "Is it worth the money to buy, the time to read, the shelf space to store, and the effort to teach?". Having Martin Luther's two main works of liturgical reform in a 2018 translation is alone reason for our readers (largely Lutheran pastors, musicians, and confessional laypeople) to purchase, use, and treasure this book.   The authors would have Christians today be more intentional about how they worship when they do. "Our greatest need is for worship in Spirit as well as in truth today. But the liturgies here should stimulate us to careful thought, and cause us to ask how we can apply their principles today in a way that echoes their Trinitarian, Christ-centered, biblically informed content, so that our worship, in our place and time, will echo the gospel content and rhythm they exhibit" (xix). Elsewhere they state, "The argument of this book on Reformation worship is irenic. The liturgies collated and presented here are a subtle encouragement for the modern church to reflect critically on how she worships today" (48).   Yes, purchase this book! Save up for it if you need to, but invest in Reformation Worship from New Growth Press. And now, the latest volume in an appreciated Lutheran set! I am encouraged that new volumes are once again appearing in the series. A Dogmatics Resource Based Upon the Outline and Thought Pattern of the Lutheran Confessions About the Series . . . "In the fall of 1984, Dr. Robert Preus, the president of Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, presented his plans to some of his colleagues for a series to be called Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics. These volumes were to supplement and not replace Francis Pieper's Christian Dogmatics. They were to be directed to pastors, seminary students, and all with an interest in confessional Lutheran theology." From the Preface to Baptism, by David P. Scaer.   From the General Introduction by Robert D. Preus, General Editor, 1984-95: "For some time now those of us in the Lutheran church who have interested ourselves in the Lutheran Confessions, taught from them, and conducted research in these great symbolic writings have recognized the need for a dogmatics resource based upon the outline and thought pattern of the Lutheran Confessions. Such a resource, heretofore available only in Leonard Hutter's little Compendium Locorum Theologicorum, would address theologians of our day with a truly confessional answer to the theological issues we are facing in Christianity and in our Lutheran Zion today. We were in no way interested in replacing as a textbook in our Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Francis Pieper's monumental Christian Dogmatics, which has served students in our church body and others for three generations. Such an endeavor would have been unnecessary and unproductive. The authors of the various monographs in this Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics series come at their respective subjects from somewhat different vantage points and backgrounds and personal predilections as they practice dogmatics. It was decided, therefore, to issue a series of dogmatics treatises on the primary articles of faith usually taken up in traditional dogmatics since the sixteenth century . . . The volumes making up Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics are not a theology of the Lutheran Confessions; they are rather a series in dogmatics. They differ from other dogmatics books in that they are patterned strictly after the theology of the Book of Concord as they address the issues of today. They follow not only the theology of the Book of Concord, . . . the authors of the present volumes follow the actual pattern of thought (forma et quasi typus . . .) of the Lutheran Confessions. Such a procedure is according to the principle of the Confessions themselves; creeds and confessions are indeed a pattern and norm according to which all other books and writings are to be accepted and judged. This fact will account for the agreement in both doctrine and formulation that the reader will observe within the present entire dogmatics series; the authors bind themselves not only generally to the theology of the Book of Concord, but to its content and terminology (rebus et phrasibus). . . . As a confessional Lutheran dogmatics, the present volume will consciously and scrupulously draw its doctrine from Scripture. All the Confessions, beginning with the creeds and concluding with the Formula of Concord, claim to be and are direct explications of Sacred Scripture. As such, their purpose is never to lead us away from Scripture, nor to summarize the Scriptures in such a way as to make their further study unnecessary. They are written to lead us into the Scriptures…. The Lutheran Confessions themselves never claim to be the final work on the understanding and exegesis of the Scriptures; we recall Luther's statement on oratio, meditatio, tentatio with its blasts against theological know-it-alls and how often this statement of Luther's was repeated by the post-Reformation theologians in their dogmatics works. The Confessions always lead deeper into the Scriptures, especially as new issues arise in new cultures and succeeding generations which must be faced only with theology drawn from the Scriptures and patterned after the Lutheran Confessions. The volumes in this series are dedicated to Francis Pieper, a great confessional Lutheran dogmatician of our church, in the hope and prayer that they will help to achieve what he did so much to accomplish in his day–namely, doctrinal unity and consensus in the doctrine of the Gospel and all its articles among all Lutherans and a firm confessional Lutheran identity so sorely needed in our day." (Publisher's website)   In the nine months I've lived with Carl Beckwith's Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics volume on The Holy Trinity, my appreciation of the volume has grown. I am thankful that more volumes of this series are soon to be completed and available. I am thankful to have a dogmatics series that is "based on the outline and thought pattern of the Lutheran Confessions. I am also thankful for authors who take the Scriptures seriously as God's Word.   Modernity (1, passim) is a challenge to the confession of the Church. We begin not with a natural knowledge of God or human opinion, but with God's own Word. What Christians confess is grounded in that certainty. The national motto, "In God We Trust," deserves a follow-up question, "Which one?" Unionism and syncretism are grounded in uncertainty. Confessional Lutheran Christians emphasize "God's revelation of Himself in Christ—'All other ground is sinking sand' (TLH 370)" (40). Amen to that!   Quotable sermon fodder: "If you find that you cannot talk about the Trinity without also talking about baptism, then you will be at home in the thought world of the Fathers and the Lutheran reformers. If you find that you can talk about the Trinity without even mentioning your baptism, then you will be at home in the thought world of the schoolmen" (44 note 11).   Page 64 is rich in quotes. Sasse: " There is, thank God, no specific Lutheran doctrine on the Trinity." "Assigning positive value to a knowledge of God apart from Christ and His cross belongs to scholasticism, not Lutheranism." Schlink: "the doctrine of the Trinity is the basis for all statements of the Lutheran Confessions." Luther: "Therefore he who wants to ascend advantageously to the love and knowledge of God should abandon the human metaphysical rules concerning the knowledge of the divinity and apply himself first to the humanity of Christ. For it is exceedingly godless temerity that, where God has humiliated Himself in order to become recognizable, man seeks for himself another way by following the counsels of his own natural capacity."   What is the Lutheran approach to the Trinity? Beckwith asserts: Luther was not a systematic theologian. He did not order his theology according to the norms of his day. He offers no doctrine of God apart from the Trinity. He does not start with the natural knowledge and then proceed to revealed knowledge. It is of no use for a person a "to recognize God in his glory and majesty, unless he also recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross." Talk of God's power and glory requires talk of God's weakness on the cross. Such talk makes sense only to the person of faith, to the one justified by God and clothed in the righteousness of Christ. God and faith always belong together for Luther (71).   At Heidelberg, Luther identified two kinds of theologians, the theologian of the cross and the theologian of glory. "The theolgus crucis speaks according to God's self communication in Jesus Christ, which means that God's revelation sets the terms for the discussion—both its possibility and its limits" (90). To better understand why some blame Luther for the evils of modernity, read the Conclusion to Part One (110ff).   Part Two "demonstrates the scriptural identity of the Trinity" (113). "According to the Fathers and the reformers, if we wish to know God, to speak properly about Him and His work on our behalf, we must look to the Scriptures and faithfully expound them" (117). Scholarship and piety find common cause in citing Luther's Psalm 130 hymn: "Though great our sins and sore our woes, His grace much more aboundeth; His helping love no limit knows, Our utmost need it soundeth. Our Shepherd good and true is He, Who will at last His Israel free From all their sin and sorrow" (137, TLH 329:5).  A full discussion of the Trinity includes theophanies: The Angel of YHWH (143ff). How did the Magi know the Christ child? Read note 7 on page 173 for insights from Gerhard, Chemnitz, and Luther. None of the three allowed for natural knowledge alone. Similarly, the conclusion to Chapter 8 on Father and Son points us to the Word: In this chapter we focused on the more dogmatic and precise presentations of Christ's identity. These texts, like those in the previous chapter, place Christ at the center of our confession of God's scriptural identity. We know the Father only through the Son; we know the Son by the Holy Spirit, whom both the father and the Son send to us. Moreover, the texts in this chapter emphasize again the necessity of the Old Testament for our understanding of the person and work of Christ. God alone determines His identity, and this He providentially preserves for us in His Scriptures. Finally, the New Testament makes clear that God's identity is fully revealed at the cross. It is at this very point that we come to know the glory of God in the crucified Christ, seeing our reconciliation with the Father through the saving work of the Son. This we know, confess, sing, and pray by the power of the Holy Spirit" (216-7).   The baptismal formula is discussed (225ff) in the same chapter on The Holy Spirit that the author takes to task those who would deny the Trinity as biblical (see 241ff). The filioque gets its turn in chapter 11, particularly 248 within 245ff. Would Eastern Orthodoxy object to John 16:7 for the Son's "sending" of the Spirit?   Part three sets for a simple rule: "Scripture both warrants and determines the church's talk about God" (267). The filioque returns on page 297 as Lutheran dogmaticians conclude that distinguishing the persons of the Trinity has to do with the order of the persons and their eternal relationship to one another.   For a lengthy discussion of Augusitine's rule (323) and the Lutheran addendum (328), see the whole of chapters 14 and 15.   The author concludes his volume with this reflection on modernism and our confession: We live in a world that has a lot to say about God. We have shown throughout this book that whatever a person says about God bears directly on what that person thinks about himself and the world around him. This means at the very least that any discussion of the Trinity involves a whole lot more than a single article of faith. Scripture makes this clear by correlating right knowledge of God with both worship and ethics. Trinity, gospel, worship, and ethics all belong together. We are mistaken if we think that debates on worship and ethics have no bearing on the gospel and the Trinity. Gregory of Nyssa, like Basil, argued that our confession of the Trinity proceeds from our baptismal faith. This faith, Gregory further insisted, mirrors our worship. "It is not natural that worship make war against faith, but as we believe, so we give glory. Now since our faith is in Father and Son and Holy Spirit, faith, worship, and baptism accord with each other" (364, italics in original).   Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics does not order its theology according to the norms of today. The volumes of the set so far acknowledge the challenges of other confessions and those who doubt God's Word. The timeless outline and though pattern of the Lutheran Confessions provide a framework for confessing the faith anew. Seven volumes are in print. Only six more to go! What has Marcus Tullius Cicero have to do with the Lutheran Reformation?   In Cicero in Heaven, Carl Springer examines the influence of Cicero on Luther and other reformers and discusses the importance of the Reformation for Cicero's continued use, especially in schools, in the following centuries.   Available Previews: ·        Preliminary Material pp.:i–xxi ·        Cicero and Christian Latin Eloquence pp.:1–54 (54) ·        "The Real German Cicero" pp.:55–100 (46) ·        Cicero and Wittenberg Education pp.:101–144 (44) ·        "Cicero Refused to Die" pp.:145–186 (42) ·        Lutheranism and Anti-Ciceronianism pp.:187–242 (56) ·        Epilogue pp.:243–253 (11) ·        Works Cited pp.:255–282 (28) ·        Index of Names pp.:283–291 (9) (Publisher's website)   Professor at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and Professor, Department of English Lang. & Lit. at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Dr. Carl P. E. Springer earned his Bachelor's degree from Northwestern College and a Master's in Biblical Languages, as well as his Ph.D. in Classics, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Springer is best known for his scholarship on the early Christian Latin poet Sedulius, whose collected works he is in the process of editing, and for his studies of Martin Luther's knowledge and use of the classics. He has also completed a book on Luther's edition of Aesop's fables (Our 2014 Review: http://lhplbr.blogspot.com/2014/06/lhp-review-luther.html). Springer has received numerous grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, the American Council on Education, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and others. He has been a Fulbright Research Fellow in Belgium and also was awarded a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to conduct research in Germany. (Adapted from http://media.ctsfw.edu/Person/Details/506) I've been editing a book review journal since December of 2004, served as Headmaster of a classical Lutheran school since April 2009, and yet, there is still something intimidating about Classics. Cicero? Yeah, I had heard "of" him. The way my education was shaped (unlike that of Carl P. E. Springer, cf. Preface; loss of Latin=loss of Cicero, xviii) deprived me of reading much of Cicero at all. This title, of interest to classicists, Lutheran pastors, classical Lutheran educators and home school families, will be of help in reclaiming this Roman rhetor.   Cicero in Heavenis less about the status of Marcus Tullius "Tully" Cicero within the Christian afterlife (though there is some reference to this on 83) and more about the use of Cicero's words, example, and techniques by Martin Luther (57, passim), Phillip Melanchthon (122ff), Johann Sturm (146ff), Johann Sebastian Bach (164ff), and others using existing English translations (Prolegomena, xviii, note 26). Did you know that "Cicero's works were among the first books to be printed, after the Bible" (41)?   Springer notes "a strong, historic tendency within Christianity to oppose the kind of careful, trained eloquence associated with Cicero's name" (1; ). Yet, "A prominent teacher of rhetoric, eventually appointed advisor to Constantine, Lactantius was called Cicero Christianus by Pico della Mirandola because of the graceful elegance of his style, although some of his theological positions were deemed unorthodox" (24). In contrast to an oration in the style of Cicero, the more common Christian practice was a more informal homily. Consider: "Augustine himself preached frequently, without extensive notes, and sometimes even without the biblical text before him" (28).   "The church, as Luther described it, is…(not a "pen-house," but a "mouth-house"), because it is through speaking to each other in 'psalms and hymns and spiritual songs', that the most important work of the church is done, whether it be in the form of praying, teaching, preaching, confession, or worship" (36). Luther knew and appreciated the five traditional categories of rhetoric (inventio, disposition, elocutio, memoria, and pronuntatio; 67). "Luther's style [in Freedom of a Christian] is certainly closer to the hypotactic, periodic style of Cicero's prose than to the clipped sentences and paratactic diction of the Vulgate with which he was so familiar" (72).   Cicero was an influence on the American founders (175ff; as well as Christianity, 247) and many Lutherans in America (181ff), especially C. F. W. Walther, Johann Michael Reu, and Wilhelm Loehe. The latter's book The Pastor mentions rhetoric as important in the essay lead-in to Part Two by a contemporary of Luther. This kind of rhetoric deserves to be restored to a place within seminary preaching courses.   I found the discussion of parrhesia fascinating (89ff), particularly the connection between the word meaning "speaking everything" (95) and how Springer traces it linguistically to the Latin words licentia and fiducia ("confidence," 99) to confession at the time of the Reformation and its connection to the Augsburg Confession (100).   Springer introduces his readers to other topics familiar to his likely readers, including the trivium (112) and the establishment of Christian academic institutions (117ff). Melanchton lectured on Cicero (131ff) and referenced him in his textbooks (134-5), including two books on rhetoric (available on Google Books). "Melanchthon divided the ideal sermon, like an oration, into familiar components: 'exordium, narration, proposition, division into parts, confirmation, refutation, and peroration'" (139 note 98).   Written and delivered from memory or delivered from an outline or notes? See Reu's answer on 186. I ask the author and my fellow readers: Whether written down or delivered with minimal notes, why could preachers today not use the same outline for a Lutheran sermon?   Not all were fans, advocates, or practitioners of Cicero's rhetoric ("Cicero in Hell, 221ff). Why? "Latin began now often to be identified closely with Catholicism" (189) and Cicero with it. "Romantic disregard for imitation and the privileging of originality and poetic genius…" (222). Luther's own references to Cicero were not all positive, as the last chapter demonstrates again and again. Lutheran theology has much greater comfort (and delight) with paradox than Cicero (200-1). Matthias Flacius Illyricus was "one of the main contributors to the anti-Ciceronian movement" (209). There is much history of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod here (e.g. 240-242).  Sadly, Cicero has been de-emphasized even where Latin is still taught (242 note 173).   After reading Cicero in Heaven, I am now convinced that I am the book's intended audience. That gives me much joy. I've been working my way through the Cicero volumes of the Loeb Classical Library while also reading the Cicero Trilogy by Robert Harris (250). Also, in a paragraph that "depends heavily on Korcok, Lutheran Education" we read: "There is now a small but growing 'classical education movement among denominational Christian educators in America.' Beginning already in 1989 with Douglas Wilson's 'Logos School' in Moscow, Idaho, a modestly impressive number of Christian schools and homeschooling organizations have embraced a curriculum featuring Latin on all levels, focusing on the traditional skills taught in the trivium, often drawing on Dorothy Sayers's 1947 essay 'The Lost Tools of Learning.' Rhetoric, Latin, and Cicero figure prominently in such curricula. Some of the schools, like 'Wittenberg Academy,' are Lutheran in orientation. Whether 'classical Christian education' is a movement that is really 'sweeping America' (as the title of one book describing it suggests) remains to be seen, but the amount and degree of interest in the movement suggests that the final chapter on the faithful and vexed relationship between Cicero and Christianity, however short it may be, may have yet to be written" (253). The accreditation of my school was recently renewed by Visitors from the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education. I am a permanent member of that group's Board of Directors. The folks of Wittenberg Academy are among my friends.   I highly recommend this book, even understanding its significant cost.     As I write this review, there are no remaining books to read for review at the former location of my "review book pile." There is the possibility of some commentaries and books of Lutheran interest on the horizon. Our goal is to rapidly read, consider, and review any titles as they arrive.   Rev. Paul J Cain is Senior Pastor of Immanuel, Sheridan, Wyoming, Headmaster of Martin Luther Grammar School and Immanuel Academy, a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education, Secretary of the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and a member of its Board of Directors, Wyoming District Education Chairman/NLSA Commissioner, and Editor of Lutheran Book Review. He has served as an LCMS Circuit Visitor, District Worship Chairman and District Evangelism Chairman. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Rev. Cain is a contributor to Lutheran Service Book, Lutheranism 101, the forthcoming LSB Hymnal Companion volumes, and is the author of 5 Things You Can Do to Make Our Congregation a Caring Church. He is an occasional guest on KFUO radio. He has previously served Emmanuel, Green River, WY and Trinity, Morrill, NE. Rev. Cain is married to Ann and loves reading and listening to, composing, and making music.

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Quick Summaries for April 2018: Preaching to All Ages

 

Pace, R. Scott. Heath A. Thomas, Editor. Preaching By the Book: Developing and Delivering Text-Driven Sermons (Hobbs College Library). Nashville: B&H Academic/Oklahoma Baptist University, 2018. 123 Pages. Cloth. $19.99. http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/products/preaching-by-the-book Bolland, Richard. The Church Is One: Recapturing the Lost Unity Christ Intended for His Church on Earth. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 17, 2018) 132 Pages. Paper. $6.08. https://smile.amazon.com/Church-One-Recapturing-Christ-Intended/dp/1546625860 Kennedy, Jared. Illustrated by Trish Mahoney. The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible. Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2017. 314 Pages. Cloth. $29.99. https://newgrowthpress.com/the-beginners-gospel-story-bible/ Quick Summaries are pithy reviews of releases that cross our desk. These are reviews for when you don't have all day  to decide whether a resource is worth your time, money, storage space, or trouble. +/When this Lutheran book review journal editor requested Preaching by the Book, we knew it would have a Baptist flavor. Chapter 7 on Invitations is as expected, though not overt. (What of John 15:16? What of Joshua 24 in context? How is "Decision Theology" consistent with Romans 2 or Psalm 51:5? Our human will is not strong enough to "decide." Does Scripture not say that we are dead in sin and enemies of God?).    What I wanted our readers to know is the state of training in preaching at a place like Oklahoma Baptist University through one volume of the Hobbs College Library (21-volume set, Commendation Page). One volume in a new series, Preaching by the Book focuses on Developing and Delivering Text-Driven Sermons. A graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis or Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne will be used to more theological rigor, more guidance, and a more solid Christological foundation than this book. For example, I have no doubt that the author of this book and its editor know the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It should be more clear and more central to the book.    All Christian preachers (and their hearers) could benefit from a proper distinction between Law and Gospel. Usually considered a Lutheran distinctive, it shouldn't be. Consider this brief new video summary: [https://youtu.be/GxVi5qKS3pM].    This title is concise, usually to the point, and well-written for its intended audience. Reading as an experienced preacher, I can hear specific advice and counsel in the book as helpful for the students it was written for. Reading as a Lutheran, I see different solutions for common problems. Use of an historic lectionary solves my problem of Selecting a Passage (10). Historic vestments solve my problem with how to dress for worship (15).    The seven-point Process of Sermon Development (18) would greatly benefit from the proper distinction of Law and Gospel. As is, it could lead to a textual and biblical sermon that would leave Jesus out. Such a sermon would not be Christian and would have earned me an F in my homiletics courses.    I appreciated the Investigation chapter's paragraph urging awareness of "historical lapse," both between the events and the record of them as well as that Bible time and today (25). Transitions are important. Don't Grind the Gears (76ff). The advice on visual aids is well taken (87). I would counsel against them as a crutch, would warn about the potential of overuse, and would agree that some could be too distracting, overwhelming, or unhelpful.    The Conclusion was my favorite part because the concluding passage from 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 spoke so clearly about Christ, the true subject of our preaching. Yes, we should carefully discern what theological truth is taught in any passage. We should also look for Christ. Preachers, give your hearers Jesus! +The Rev. Richard A. Bolland brings his decades of pastoral experience to his accessible, deep, and hopeful title, The Church Is One: Recapturing the Lost Unity Christ Intended for His Church on Earth. When we confess one holy Christian/catholic and apostolic Church, we do so as a confession of faith, not a description of what we see in fallen world, a valley of the shadow. Bolland points us to Christ and His Word, exemplified by the Foreword of the Rev. Daniel Preus and his reference to John 17:17, where Jesus says, "Your word is truth" (8).    I agree that our creedal confessions should include the word catholic (not Catholic). To his discussion (22) I would add what I was taught, that the pre-Luther German word "christlich" was an acceptable translation of the Latin "catholica" and that German-origin Lutherans ended up with "Christian" in English for historical reasons and not only anti-Roman reasons.     LBR readers know that we love clarity. Consider page 24: Permit Me To Make My Thesis Clear. Unity in doctrine and practice is divinely intended for the earthly, visible Christian Church. Division and disunity are marks of Satan's activity within the earthly gatherings of God's people. Therefore, any aspect of an institutional church body's activity or behavior that lends itself toward unity in doctrine and practice is Godly, and any aspect of a church body's activity or behavior that lends itself toward division and disunity is of the Devil and results in hindering and obfuscating the Gospel of Christ.   For the author's definitions of Church, Sect, and Cult, see 42ff. For his helpful description of the difference between fides qua creditor and fides quae creditor, zoom in on 51-52. An illustrative list of the errors of the Roman Church by date is found on pages 57-63. The Lord's Supper and its celebration in a local congregation is often a flash point of conflict and misunderstanding. I appreciate the author's bluntness: "Thus, the Lord's Supper is no place for any kind of division. It is no place for variance of views respecting what the Lord's Supper is and what it accomplishes. It is no place for multiple choice doctrine and it is certainly no place for contradictory practices…" (82) Speaking of which, catechesis can be a medicine to differences in teaching and practice in our LCMS. Neglecting catechesis has disastrous consequences: "If people wish to join a Lutheran congregation, but retain non-Lutheran doctrine, practice, and worship forms; then this will be the end of the Lutheran character of that congregation" (108).   I agree with the author and Dr. Luther that the use of one translation is beneficial for the Church (128). If I were to re-word one sentence in the book it would be the last sentence of the first full paragraph on 128. Instead of "Officially adopted hymnals would be the sole source of liturgies and hymnody among us." I would say, "Doctrinally pure hymnals would be the sole source of liturgies and hymnody among us." The Lutheran Hymnal of 1941 does not have the same official "adoption" granted to Lutheran Worship (1982) and Lutheran Service Book (2004/2006).   Focusing on The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod yet of benefit to all Christians, The Church Is One points readers to Christ and His Word, faith in His Word instead of unbelief or human innovation, and unity in the Word of Christ.  Recommended! +/ The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible.  We do like this title. Our concern is to properly understand our terms. Does "Gospel" mean the whole counsel of God or the good news of the forgiveness of sins as a gift in Christ alone? Or both? Consider how the publisher describes this title. How do you explain the gospel to toddlers and preschoolers? Often adults are stumped, but Jared Kennedy's focus on the promises of God makes the gospel come alive to the littlest hearts. Through fifty-two Old and New Testament stories, The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible highlights God's perfect promises. Every page pops with bright colors, playful illustrations, fun learning opportunities, and, best of all each story points children to Jesus. Kids know the value of a promise. Through the gospel, our good and all-powerful God keeps his word and fulfills his promises to us better than we could have ever thought or imagined!  In The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible, author Jared Kennedy traces God's perfect promises through fifty-two Old and New Testament stories, retold in simple and compelling ways with toddlers and preschoolers in mind. Each gospel-centered story highlights God's tale of redemption through Jesus and the unexpected and surprising ways that God's grace and mercy are revealed throughout the Bible. Children will hear the good news of God's love for them clearly expressed in ways that will speak to their young hearts. Brightly colored illustrations highlight the stories and add fun teaching elements of counting, opposites, patterns, and object recognition to keep even the youngest child's attention. Every story also ends with a question that parents and caregivers can use to further reinforce the message. Through reading this book one chapter at a time to your children—or letting them read it to you!—even the youngest kids will come to know that God's promises are especially for them, and that God always keeps his promises. (Publisher's Website).   Designed with the "youngest kids" in mind, The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible, by Jared Kennedy and Illustrated by Trish Mahoney, will be appreciated by its intended audience and their parents. Art and design on cover and inside pages is inviting, creative, and edifying.    The Old Testament is introduced as "Promises Made" in 27 stories, with "Promises Kept" being the overall theme for the remaining New Testament Stories, 52 in all. The stories included are technically paraphrases, which means interpretation and hermeneutics come into play.    Issac's name is reinterpreted as happiness rather than doubt (compare 24 to Genesis 17:17 and 18:12-15).    Repentance is defined as a "turn away" or "TURN AROUND" (187).    Pages 245-27 introduce "communion" as a memorial meal. Lutheran parents would need to reaffirm Jesus' own words:   26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."    I understood the question "Have you ever asked Jesus to forgive you for your sins?" as interpretable in a good way by Lutherans, yet also in a "Decision Theology" way by others (253).    "Trust" can be a helpful age-appropriate synonym for faith, given further instruction as children grow (277, passim).    We've reviewed material from the author's congregation before (http://lhpqbr.blogspot.com/2012/03/hymnody-resurgent-kentucky.html). This story Bible would not be my first choice to recommend to Lutheran parents, yet they could certainly use it in an edifying way for their children. Rev. Paul J Cain is Senior Pastor of Immanuel, Sheridan, Wyoming, Headmaster of Martin Luther Grammar School and Immanuel Academy, a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education, Secretary of the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and a member of its Board of Directors, Wyoming District Education Chairman/NLSA Commissioner, and Editor of Lutheran Book Review. He has served as an LCMS Circuit Visitor, District Worship Chairman and District Evangelism Chairman. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Rev. Cain is a contributor to Lutheran Service Book, Lutheranism 101, the forthcoming LSB Hymnal Companion volumes, and is the author of 5 Things You Can Do to Make Our Congregation a Caring Church. He is an occasional guest on KFUO radio. He has previously served Emmanuel, Green River, WY and Trinity, Morrill, NE. Rev. Cain is married to Ann and loves reading and listening to, composing, and making music.

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Ancient Christian Texts

 

Jerome. Thomas P. Scheck, Editor. Thomas C. Oden and Gerald L. Bray, Series Editors. Commentaries on the Twelve Prophets, Volume 2 (Ancient Christian Texts). Downers Grove: IVP Academic/InterVarsity Press, 2017. 412 Pages. Cloth. $60.00/$54.00 on sale.  https://www.ivpress.com/commentaries-on-the-twelve-prophets-vol-2 Eusebius of Caesarea. Jonathan J. Armstrong, Translator. Joel C. Elowsky, Editor. Thomas C. Oden and Gerald L. Bray, Series Editors. Commentary on Isaiah (Ancient Christian Texts). Downers Grove: IVP Academic/InterVarsity Press, 2013. 332 Pages. Cloth. $60.00/$54.00 on sale. https://www.ivpress.com/commentary-on-isaiah Cyril of Alexandria. David R. Maxwell, Translator. Joel C. Elowsky, Editor. Thomas C. Oden and Gerald L. Bray, Series Editors. Commentary on John, Volume 1 (Ancient Christian Texts). Downers Grove: IVP Academic/InterVarsity Press, 2013. 375 Pages. Cloth. $60.00/$54.00 on sale. https://www.ivpress.com/commentary-on-john-vol-1 Cyril of Alexandria. David R. Maxwell, Translator. Joel C. Elowsky, Editor. Thomas C. Oden and Gerald L. Bray, Series Editors. Commentary on John, Volume 2 (Ancient Christian Texts). Downers Grove: IVP Academic/InterVarsity Press, 2015. 394 Pages. Cloth. $60.00/$54.00 on sale. https://www.ivpress.com/commentary-on-john-vol-2 We return to the IVP Academic Series Ancient Christian Texts for this review.   Jerome (c. 347-419/20), one of the West's four doctors of the church, was recognized early on as one of the church's foremost translators, commentators, and advocates of Christian asceticism. Skilled in Hebrew and Greek in addition to his native Latin, he was thoroughly familiar with Jewish traditions and brought this expertise to bear on his understanding of the Old Testament. Beginning in 379, Jerome used his considerable linguistic skills to translate Origen's commentaries and, eventually, to translate and comment on Scripture himself.  Jerome began writing commentaries on the twelve minor prophets in 392 while preparing his Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. After completing Nahum, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Habakkuk, he was interrupted in 393 by the Origenist controversy, after which he became a vocal critic of Origen of Alexandria. He finished his commentaries on Jonah and Obadiah in 396. These seven commentaries are available in the ACT volume Commentaries on the Twelve Prophets, Volume 1. We reviewed Volume 1 of Jerome's Commentaries on the Twelve Prophets last July: http://lhplbr.blogspot.com/2017/07/lutheran-book-review-titles-for-july.html The Origenist controversy and his commentary on Matthew occupied Jerome's time for the next several years. He finally completed his commentaries on the rest of the twelve prophets in 406. This volume, edited by Thomas Scheck, includes those final five commentaries on Zechariah, Malachi, Hosea, Joel, and Amos.   Throughout these commentaries, Jerome refers frequently to the work of previous commentators, and his spiritual exegesis relies heavily on the exegetical work of Origen - though he acknowledges that "I have not followed them in everything." Jerome hears in these texts God's judgment and mercy not only on Israel but especially on the Christian community. In Amos, for example, he says that "whatever we have said about Judah refers to the church." He wrestles especially with the scandalous message of Hosea, which he refers to as drowning with Pharaoh during the crossing of the Red Sea. But he trusts that "the ways of the Lord are the reading of the Old and New Testament, the understanding of the holy Scriptures."   By sharing the wisdom he received from these biblical texts, Jerome's magisterial commentaries help us walk more faithfully in God's ways. (Publisher's Website) This 2017 volume includes Jerome's extant commentaries on Zechariah, Malachi, Hosea, Joel, and Amos.   The Volume Editor's Introduction assesses Jerome's exegetical method and most important contributions to biblical studies (xv). Julian criticized Jerome for not being careful enough (xviii). Such criticism was also that of Augustine, who criticized Jerome's "exegesis" (xxxi). Erasmus enters the debate in 1516 (xxxix). Erasmus' influence, including inaugurating a Jerome renaissance that same year, led to the Council of Trent enshrining "Jerome's Latin Vulgate as the authoritative text of the Bible of Roman Catholicism" (xl).   One of the surprises Christian readers find in some translations of Zechariah 3 is "Jesus the high priest…clothed with filthy garments…" (18) "Joshua" is a more well-known translation here. The Christian application of the text (with contrast) is clear in the final paragraph of commentary on 1-5b (19-20). By chapter 14, Jerome explains 1-2 with help from Josephus and Tacitus (98). I appreciate the time and attention given to good footnotes. Note 36 on 119 draws our attention to Erasmus' appeal to Malachi 1:2-5 in his attempt to refute Luther's De servo arbitrio. I stand with Luther and Malachi.   The Lord calling His people is something in common between Hosea 1:10-11 (158) and Hosea 2:16-17 (167). Jerome's explanation of "Baal" is interesting.   The Editor sees Cicero as one of the philosophers (265 note 35) alluded to in Jerome's commentary on Joel 1:4. Quintillian (266 note 41) is referenced on the same verse.   Pages 287ff will give preachers illustration ideas for Joel 28-32a for Pentecost Day.   Readers should note Editor footnote 295 on page 297 with regard to chiliasm. The next ACT volume was published in 2013.   Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260--ca. 340), one of the early church's great polymaths, produced significant works as a historian (Ecclesiastical History), geographer (Onomasticon), philologist, exegete (commentaries on the Psalms and Isaiah), apologist (Preparation for and Demonstration of the Gospel) and theologian. His Commentary on Isaiah is one of his major exegetical works and the earliest extant Christian commentary on the great prophet. Geographically situated between Alexandria and Antioch, Eusebius approached the text giving notable attention to historical detail and possible allegorical interpretation. But above all, employing the anologia fidei, he drew his readers? attention to other passages of Scripture that share a common vocabulary and theological themes, thus allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. Here, for the first time in English, Jonathan Armstrong provides readers with a highly serviceable translation of Eusebius's notably difficult Greek text, along with a helpful introduction and notes. (Publisher's website)     Though Eusebius was not the first Christian commentator on Isaiah, "Eusebius's work is the first Christian commentary on Isaiah to have survived antiquity" (xxvi).   Eusebius brings John 6:46 to bear on Isaiah 6:1 (27). 7:14 is clearly Christological: "But then you, O house of David, after you received a sign of a good omen from the Lord, you appealed to him and named him Emmanuel. For he who has such a surname will procure salvation for you: believe and obey what he commands" (36).   Commentary on 42:15: In speaking of the mountains and hills, he alludes to the rulers of the people, and the grass refers to their sin. He threatens to raze to the ground their vanity and the arrogance of those who rule over them and to dry up their grace. Because these things are said concerning them—that is, the teachings that were once abundantly supplied to them like rivers—he says I will turn into islands. And yet also there will be areas among them that become stagnant for lack of spiritual water, so that they become comparable to marshlands, and he says I will dry up these places (214). The editor notes a supercessionist tension in Eusebius's exegesis of Chapter 49 (245 note 34). Preachers will appreciate extensive commentary on Isaiah 52 and 53. Consider the Christology of this comment on 52:13: "But this servant or slave of God, who was 'filled' with all 'wisdom' and understanding, contained the Word of God in himself" (261). Also this on justification in 53:11-12: "For 'the spirit of wisdom and understanding rested on him' in order that the intelligent might be perfected and the worthy might be justified because he justifies them" (265). The  volume editor is LCMS. From www.csl.edu: Dr. Joel Elowsky is a professor of Historical Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Elowsky has been a faculty member since 2014. He is the director of the Seminary's Center for the Study of Early Christian Texts and also is a researcher for the Center for Early African Christianity at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. His interests and areas of expertise include early church studies, history of exegesis, mission work and African Christianity. He earned a Master of Philosophy (2008) and Ph.D. (2009) from Drew University in Madison, N.J. After studying at Westfield House in Cambridge, England, and Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario, he transferred to Concordia Seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity (1990) and Master of Sacred Theology (1992). He received a bachelor's degree from Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Mich. (1985). He served as associate professor of theology at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon (2010-14), as an adjunct professor of religion at Drew University (2000-04); and later as research director of The Center for Early African Christianity at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa. (2009-14). Elowsky's first call was with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod SELC District as a mission developer in Galloway Township, N.J. (1992-2000). He served as operations manager/research director for Thomas Oden's 29-volume Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (IVP) from 2000-10, which has been translated into at least seven languages. While serving in that capacity he also served vacancies at Trinity Lutheran Church in Morris Plains, N.J.; Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Montville, N.J.; and Our Savior Lutheran Church in Fairlawn, N.J. Since 2004 he has been part of the ecumenical group, Evangelicals and Catholics Together. He also has served as a participant in dialogs between evangelicals and the Vatican, delivering a paper there on Scripture and tradition in 2010. He also is a board member of the Chinese Academic Consortium and a member of the International Patristics Society and the Society for Biblical Literature (SBL). He serves as the president of the Institute for Classical Christian Studies, which has ties with Yale University. He also has lectured extensively in Africa as a researcher and lecturer for the Center for Early African Christianity formerly housed at Eastern University and now located at Yale, where he continues to lecture in Africa on behalf of Concordia Seminary. He initiated two other publication series: the five-volume Ancient Christian Doctrine and the 14-volume Ancient Christian Texts, as well as the Ancient Christian Devotional. He has edited or authored numerous books and articles including: John 1-10 in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Vol IVa  (InterVarsity Press, 2007) John 11-21 in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Vol IVb (InterVarsity Press, 2007) We Believe in the Holy Spirit in Ancient Christian Doctrine Series, Vol. 4 (InterVarsity Press, 2009) Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity, 3 Volumes, 5000 pages. Eds. Angelo DiBerardino, Thomas C. Oden, Joel C. Elowsky, James Hoover (InterVarsity Press, 2014) Cyril of Alexandria:  Commentary on John, Vol II. trans. David Maxwell, ed. Joel Elowsky, Ancient Christian Texts Series (InterVarsity Press, 2012 and 2015) "Exodus in the Fathers" in The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception and Interpretation. Thomas B. Dozeman, Craig A. Evans and Joel N. Lohr, eds. Part of the Formation and Interpretation of Old Testament Literature Series  (Brill, 2014) "Alexandrian Theology and Contemporary African Thought" in A New History of African Christian Thought: From Cape to Cairo, edited by David Ngong (Routledge, 2016) Elowsky has finished working on a translation of Athanasius' Letter to Marcellinus, which is published as an e-book with ICCS Press, and also was used in the Africa Study Bible. He is currently working on an Encyclopedia of Early African Christianity to be published by the same publisher, which will be a condensation and selective editing of the larger Encyclopedia of the Early Church with new articles germaine to the African church. Elowsky's wife, Joy, plays organ for Seminary chapel services and also assists in conducting the Seminary Chorus. She is an organist at Glendale Lutheran Church in St. Louis. The Elowskys have two sons and a dog named Hubert. When not traveling or teaching, Elowsky likes to spend time sailing in northern Michigan. Interests: Early church studies History of exegesis Mission work African Christianity Between 2013 and 2015 ACT implemented a slight change in format. Previously, all footnotes for a page were included between double lines that covered the whole bottom of each page. The difference is seen clearly when examining both volumes of Cyril's Commentary on John. The second volume shows the new format: footnotes for each column are listed between double lines for that column. It's pretty cool to see another LCMS face alongside St. Cyril!  From www.csl.edu: Dr. David R. Maxwell is the Louis A. Fincke and Anna B. Shine Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. A faculty member since 2004, he also is professor of Systematic Theology. He received his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. (2003); a Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology from Concordia Seminary (1995, 1997); a Master of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis (1995); and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas in Austin (1991). He was ordained at Trinity Lutheran Church in Elkhart, Ind. (2003). At the Seminary, he teaches courses in systematic theology, patristics, history of exegesis and Latin. His primary research interest is the early church, particularly the Christological controversies of the fourth through sixth centuries. He also works in the field of patristic exegesis and recently produced a translation of Cyril of Alexandria's Commentary on John (InterVarsity Press). He is currently working on a translation of Cyril of Alexandria's commentaries on Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Hebrews. He has delivered a number of presentations on Lutheran identity, both in the United States and in Indonesia. He plays the organ regularly in church and at the Seminary. In conjunction with playing the organ, he has written on the theological symbolism in the organ music of J.S. Bach, particularly Bach's "Clavierübung III," which is based largely on Luther's catechism hymns. Interests: Christology History of exegesis Cyril of Alexandria   Why read these two volumes from Cyril of Alexandria? Consider this from the General Introduction:    "It is ironic that our times, which claim to be so fully furnished with historical insight and research methods, have neglected these texts more than scholars in previous centuries who could read them in their original languages.        This series provides indisputable evidence of the modern neglect of classic Christian exegesis: it remains a fact that extensive and once authoritative classic commentaries on Scripture still remain untranslated into any modern language. Even in China such a high level of neglect has not befallen classic Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian commentaries (ix).   The Translator's Introduction reminds us:    "Cyril's polemics against the Jews are directed primarily against their refusal to believe that Jesus is God by nature" (xviii). Of Luther the same could be said. "Cyril divides the commentary into twelve books [e.g. xxvii], and the books are further divided into chapters…" (xix) "Books 7 and 8 of the commentary have been lost, except for fragments that have been preserved in various catenas on the Gospel of John" (xxi). "….the view that Antioch and Alexandria represent such a sharp dichotomy between two exegetical methods that are fundamentally opposed to each other has largely been discredited" (xxii).   Readers new to ACT will appreciate the Translator's Advice for Reading (xxiv). For example:   Do not skip Cyril's citation of Scripture in an attempt to "get to the point." Cyril's handling of Scripture is the point. See Cyril do theology using syllogisms (John 1:9; Read pp. 52-57 to better understand pp. 43-52). Book Two begins with what we call John 1:29 (75).   Cyril's explanation of 2:19 covers nearly a column and makes reference to Matthew 12:39-40, Psalm 35:11, and Psalm 27:12 (94). His commentary on Nicodemus in 3:1-2 is a worthy illustration of the double-minded man of James 1:8 and Psalm 86:11.  "Nicodemus is quite ready to believe, but since he is overcome by an unhealthy regard for others and does not ignore other people's opinion, he refuses to be forthright and divides his mind in two. He 'cripples' his intention and is weak 'in both knees,' as it is written, [1 Kings 18:21] pressed by the argument of his conscience that he should believe because of the surpassing quality of the miracles but estimating that the loss of his leadership of the people is intolerable since he was a 'leader of the Jews.' Thinking that he can both preserve his reputation with them and secretly be faithful, he makes the darkness of the night a coworker in his scheme, and he comes to Jesus. And by coming in secret, he is convicted of being double-minded" (96). Remember hearing "The Holy Things for the Holy Ones" from Dr. Nagel in class or the title pages of Eucharist and Church Fellowship in the First Four Centuries? Don't miss the phrase in an extended commentary (276-289) on 7:24 (287, 287 note 354).   Between 2013 and 2015 ACT implemented a slight change in format. Previously, all footnotes for a page were included between double lines that covered the whole bottom of each page. The difference is seen clearly when examining both volumes of Cyril's Commentary on John. The second volume shows the new format: footnotes for each column are listed between double lines for that column.   Volume 2 picks up with Book Six/John 8:44.   Cyril finds 9:2-3 a perfect text (22ff) in order to better explain Exodus 20:5-6 (26, known to Lutherans as the Close of the Commandments in the Small Catechism).   For notes on the missing Books 7 and 8, see 71, and 72-114. One section in these missing books is 12:3-40 on the Jews. Cyril says,  "This statement, however, applies not to all [the Jews] but only to the unbelievers. Many of them believed after all" (110-11; cf. Translator's Introduction, both volumes). Need a fresh yet ancient sermon illustration for Holy (Maundy) Thursday? See 13:34 (137ff). Easter Season preaching will benefit from reading Cyril on 14:16-17 (178ff), 14:25-26 (197ff), and 15:26 (245ff). Jesus makes Genesis 1:26 clear in 17:6-8 (279). Where would Cyril stand on the filioque? Consider note 158 on 296. Good Friday preachers will welcome reading 350ff on 19:30.   Calvinists will cringe to read Cyril on 20:19-20:  "Let no one say, 'How did the Lord enter unhindered with his solid physical body when the doors were locked? Rather one should realize that the divinely inspired Evangelist is not speaking of someone like us, but of him who is enthroned with God the Father and who easily accomplishes whatever he wishes…" (364) On 20:21-23, Cyril comments on absolution:  "The Spirit bearers forgive sins in two ways, at least as I understand it. They invite to baptism those to whom baptism is due because of the purity of their life and their tested allegiance to the faith, while they hinder and exclude from divine grace those who are not yet worthy. Or another way they forgive and retain sins is that they rebuke the children of the church who are sinning and they forgive those who repent, just as Paul handed over the fornicator in Corinth 'for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit might be saved' and admitted him into fellowship once again 'so that he might not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow,' as he says in his epistles. So when the Spirit of Christ who is in us performs the actions that belong to God alone, how could the Spirit not be by nature God, since he is naturally invested with the glorious honor of the divine nature and has authority over the holy law?" (372). One notes that Luther borrowed from this section in explaining The Office of the Keys. I found the concluding paragraph of the commentary (on 21:25, 386) to be linguistically and theologically elegant: "The multitude of the divine signs, he says, is vast, and the catalog of his deeds is clearly innumerable. But these have been taken from many thousands since they are able to bring the most profit to the hearers. Let the one who is teachable and loves instruction not blame the author of this book, he says, if he did not record the rest. Indeed, if every individual accomplishment had been recorded with nothing left out, the immeasurable multitude of books would have filled the world. We maintain that , as it is, the power of the Word has accomplished more than enough. Anyone may see that thousands of miracles were accomplished by our Savior's power. The preachers of the Gospels, however, wrote down the more glorious ones, it seems, and the ones that could strengthen the hearers in an incorruptible faith and give them instruction in morality and doctrine. That is so they might be glorious in the orthodox faith and adorned all over with works that aim at reverence. Then they might greet the heavenly city and be joined to the church of the firstborn and so enter the very kingdom of heaven in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God the Father and with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen." Consider adding both volumes of Cyril to your commentary library.   Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 378-444), one of the most brilliant representatives of the Alexandrian theological tradition, is best known for championing the term Theotokos (God-bearer) in opposition to Nestorius of Constantinople. Cyril's great Commentary on John, offered here in the Ancient Christian Texts series in two volumes, predates the Nestorian controversy and focuses its theological firepower against Arianism. The commentary, addressed to catechists, displays Cyril's breathtaking mastery of the full content of the Bible and his painstaking attention to detail as he offers practical teaching for the faithful on the cosmic story of God's salvation. David R. Maxwell provides readers with the first completely fresh English translation of the text since the nineteenth century. It rests on Pusey's critical edition of the Greek text and displays Cyril's profound theological interpretation of Scripture and his appeal to the patristic tradition that preceded him. Today's readers will find the commentary an indispensable tool for understanding Cyril's approach to Scripture. (Publisher's website)     This review brings us up-to-date on all extant volumes of Ancient Christian Texts. We reviewed all volumes of Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Ancient Christian Dogmatics, and to date, only one volume of Reformation Commentary on Scripture. We hope to review supplemental AC paperbacks, future ACT volumes, and wish to be considered to review volumes of RCS.   Rev. Paul J Cain is Senior Pastor of Immanuel, Sheridan, Wyoming, Headmaster of Martin Luther Grammar School and Immanuel Academy, a member of the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education,Secretary of the Wyoming District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and a member of its Board of Directors, Wyoming District Education Chairman/NLSA Commissioner, and Editor of Lutheran Book Review. He has served as an LCMS Circuit Visitor, District Worship Chairman and District Evangelism Chairman. A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Rev. Cain is a contributor to Lutheran Service Book, Lutheranism 101, the forthcoming LSB Hymnal Companion volumes, and is the author of 5 Things You Can Do to Make Our Congregation a Caring Church. He is an occasional guest on KFUO radio. He has previously served Emmanuel, Green River, WY and Trinity, Morrill, NE. Rev. Cain is married to Ann and loves reading and listening to, composing, and making music.

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Received for Review

 

Keating, Ray. Reagan Country (A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel). Manorville, NY: Keating Reports, 2018. 309 Pages. Paper. Kindle available.  http://www.pastorstephengrant.blogspot.com/ (N)

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Received for Review

 

Pace, R. Scott. Heath A. Thomas, Editor. Preaching By the Book: Developing and Delivering Text-Driven Sermons (Hobbs College Library). Nashville: B&H Academic/Oklahoma Baptist University, 2018. 123 Pages. Cloth. $19.99. http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/products/preaching-by-the-book

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Received for Review

 

Gibson, Jonathan and Mark Earngey, Editors. Foreword by Sinclair Ferguson. Reformation Worship: Liturgies from the Past for the Present. Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2018. 688 Pages. Cloth. $69.99. ($34.99 on sale.) https://newgrowthpress.com/reformation-worship-liturgies-from-the-past-for-the-present/ Bolland, Richard. The Church Is One: Recapturing the Lost Unity Christ Intended for His Church on Earth. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 17, 2018) 132 Pages. Paper. $6.08. https://smile.amazon.com/Church-One-Recapturing-Christ-Intended/dp/1546625860

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Received for Review

 

Kennedy, Jared. Illustrated by Trish Mahoney. The Beginner's Gospel Story Bible. Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2017. 314 Pages. Cloth. $29.99. https://newgrowthpress.com/the-beginners-gospel-story-bible/

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