Bible, Theology & Philosophy

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

^{Note: This article is reprinted with permission from As I See It, a monthly electronic magazine compiled and edited by Doug Kutilek. AISI is sent free to all who request it by writing to the editor at [email protected].}

Read Part 1.

Williamson, Paul R. Sealed with an Oath: Covenant in God’s Unfolding Purpose. New Studies in Biblical Theology, Volume 23. Downers Grove, ILL: IVP Academic, 2007. Paperback, 224 pages. $23.00

(Review copy courtesy of InterVarsity Press.)

Baptists in America trace their movement directly to the first Baptist churches that emerged from English separatism during the middle third of the seventeenth century. From the very early years, they have wrestled with the problem of finding an organizational pattern that would allow them to work together in cooperative enterprises. Three particular needs have made this problem acute.

Things that appear to be the same are sometimes quite different in important ways. When judicial activists appeal to the rule of law, for example, they may use exactly the same language as originalists, but their meaning is very different. Discussions of mysticism tend to be like that.

Some fundamentalist leaders have recently and publicly registered their objections to Calvinism, but they prefer not to be called Arminians. They believe that both Calvinism and Arminianism are man-made systems that predetermine one’s interpretation of Scripture. These leaders wish to start at the other end, with Scripture, and to arrive at a conclusion on the basis of the study of the text. Consequently, they prefer to be called Biblicists.

Once upon a time, a band of vigorous tribesmen occupied a high and arid plain. They were surrounded by snow-covered peaks, and what little water they had trickled down from the glaciers and snowfields above. Water was precious to them, for their lives depended upon it. They took care not to waste a drop.

Last time, we heard from Dr. A. Philip Brown, editor of A Reader’s Hebrew Bible (Zondervan, 2008). Now we hear from Dr. Bryan W. Smith, a close friend and collaborator with Phil Brown on this project.