Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Friday, August 16, 2013

Dockery, David S. (Ed.): Holman Bible Handbook

Dockery, David S. (Ed.). Holman Bible Handbook. Nasheville, MN: Holman Bible  Publishing, 1992.

I read these 892 pages over a week while in port in Toulon, FR, going back to 1993. Others were out and about; I’d been to France too many times to care to run “hither and thither…again.”  I dug in and read it. It is time for a retour and an effort at collation of notes and other volumes “under one roof.” One goal here:  pull disparate notes, hither and thither, and put “under one roof” replete with notes, bibliography, and in a general format such as this book—but with a sensitivity to history, systematic theology, Reformed Confessions, and “that old Prayer Book” tradition that has disappeared. 


The General Editor is Mr. (Dr.) Dockery.  There are 77 PhDs who are contributors: most are “American evangelicals” of the Baptist flavor with a sprinkling (pun intended) of Presbyterians and 1 Anglican.  There are no Lutherans, Methodists, Romanists, or Orthodox contributors.  Of course, there are no Pentecostal contributors since so few of them, in the main, have PhDs insofar as we have seen. Ergo, we expect upon review to find no find Prayer Book, Confessional or liturgical concerns. It will be this nationwide and “broad behemoth of evangelicalism.”  Amongst the 1000s of gems here--and there will be them, we will be on the look-out for our specific concerns…while retaining fundamental charity to neighbors on the other side of the fence;  we will do this while remembering Robert Frost’s dictum that “Fences make for good neighbors;” and, we would add, while “keeping their growling and barking dogs in their yards.”

The foreword tells us the focus is “learning about God and His Self-revelation.”  This is essential and central; it is the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter one; upfront, this is central and vital. This book is not a commentary, encyclopedia or atlas, but will have elements of those things.

The book follows five parts.

Part One:  The Bible

1.      Names, contents and characteristics of the Bible

2.      Inspiration and authority of the Bible

3.      Canonicity of the Bible

4.      Uniqueness of the Bible

5.      Unity and variety of the Bible

6.      Jesus Christ and the Bible

Part Two:  The Bible in the World—Settings and Context

1.      Ancient civilizations

2.      Ancient Near Eastern Religions

3.      Life in Bible times

4.      Biblical chronology

5.      Biblical archaeology

6.      Geography and topography of the Ancient Near East

Part Three:  Bible in the Church/A Focus on Churchly Concerns

1.      How to understand the Bible

2.      Reading Scripture

3.      Teaching and preaching the Bible

4.      History of Biblical interpretation

5.      History of English translations

6.      Differences in Biblical manuscripts

Part Four:  Bible and Its Message/The Heart of this Volume.  Here there will be a section-by-section exposition with themes addressed as progress is made.

1.      Pentateuch

2.      Historical Books

3.      Poetic and Wisdom Books

4.      Major prophets

5.      Minor prophets

6.      Between Testaments

7.      Gospels

8.      Acts of the Apostles

9.      Pauline Letters

10. General Letters

11. Revelation

Part Five: The Bible and Christian and Faith

1.      Christian Faith and Christian Community

2.      Christian Faith in History

3.      Christian Faith, World Religion, and Christian Mission

One goal here:  pull disparate notes, hither and thither, and put “under one roof” replete with notes, bibliography, and in a general format such as this book—but with a sensitivity to history, systematic theology, Reformed Confessions, and “that old Prayer Book” tradition. Having said these things, we are glad for such an effort as this book;  more specifically, it will help to cure the Schleiermachian Marcionism evinced in the American Episcopal world.  But, we hold forth, delighting in the LORD.
 

 

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