New Releases from IVP

The good people at Intervarsity Press occasionally send me free books to review and I love it. Now that I’m done with my M.Div, I hope to increase my blog production along with my Greeek NT reading as well as review more books. A few days ago I received the Fall 2012 Academic Catalogue and there are couple of titles I’m particularly interested in:

Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views

This is the most recent edition of the spectrum series which provides various approaches to a particular issue in debate with one another. This volume is devoted to a topic of perennial personal interest, how to read the Bible. It will be interesting to see how each of the five contributors disagree about appropriate strategies for reading the Bible. They are categorized with each contributor as:

• Historical-Grammatical Approach – Craig Blomberg
• Redemptive-Historical Approach – Richard Gaffin
• Literary/Postmodern Approach – Scott Spencer
• Canonical Approach – Robert Wall
• Philosophical/Theological Approach – Merold Westphal

A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology, by Kelly M. Kapic

In the tradition of Helmut Thielicke’s classic, A Little Exercise for Young Theologians, Kapic’s book attempts to introduce the nature and significance of studying theology. I am convinced that good introductory books are both crucial and extremely difficult to produce. I look forward to seeing what this one has to offer.

Neighboring Faiths (Second Edition) by Winifried Corduan

Initially released in 1998, this second edition is intended as an updated introduction to the religions of Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, African traditional religions, Native American religion, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Baha’i, Chinese popular religion and Japanese religions. Although not my primary area of interest, interfaith dialog is an increasingly important issue that requires thoughtful attention from academics and laymen alike. Additionally, the church where I serve will be teaching about some of these religions and their differences with Christianity in a few months so I’ll need an introduction like this. I look forwarded to becoming more informed about these venerable traditions and how to dialog honestly and appropriately.

Exposing Myths about Christianity, by Jeffrey Burton Russell

There are so many off-handed statements made about Christianity and Christian history that are often untrue but commonly accepted. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to parse out the truth from fiction. I am a firm believer in rigorous historical detail to document the development of ideas and the origin of beliefs. This looks to be an interesting and important contribution in that vein.