13. Christ Crucified: A Theology of Galatians. Thomas R. Schreiner. 2024. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy] [christian nonfiction, theology, bible commentary, 4 stars]
First sentence: Galatians heralds the truth of the gospel, and this gospel stands as the authority over all people everywhere.
Who is this book for? Who is this book not for? I feel that the casual bible reader with little to moderate experience with scholarly deep-dives will struggle with this book. Primarily for two reasons: first, Galatians is a weighty book to unpack. It covers some of the same topics as Paul's letter to the Romans, however, it is less general, more specific, and more layered. You have a LOT of decoding context to do before you even get to the theological bits. Second, the book is scholarly. This in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It is what it is. This is not something that can be read, understood, comprehended, mastered by a casual read-through. It requires YOU the reader to engage in complex, weighty theological ideas and concepts so that you can keep up or follow along with the author. If your understanding begins to weaken, if things begin to slide right on over your head, there is no "catching up" and "muddling through" and hoping that the next chapter will clarify. For those more experienced with [weighty] theology and are used to reading scholarly books--textbooks even--then this one will prove an easier go.
One thing that I was able to appreciate was its clarity. You might be confused. Didn't I just say this one was too complex for the average reader? (And I am definitely in that grouping with this one. I struggled.) The book is clearly laid out and organized. It tells you what to expect in each part or section, each chapter. Each chapter has a CONCLUSION which sums up the main points of the chapter. If nothing else, the conclusions help clarify some of the arguments. If not for the conclusions, then I might have given up all hope of finishing this one.
What I did read and understand--there were some bits--I found thought-provoking. I appreciated that he was trying to put the book into context and piece together WHAT Paul's opponents actually-actually believed instead of just diving into the Scripture itself. If Paul is arguing THIS in response, can we figure out more clearly WHAT position(s) were being held. At one point it was like theological algebra--solving for x. The discussion on circumcision, for example, brought up some points that I had not considered.
I decided to rate four stars because I think most likely what is here is solid theologically, I just couldn't quite understand it well enough to fully engage and benefit from it. Perhaps ministers and teachers could benefit more from it because it was written more on their level.
No comments:
Post a Comment