Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 150:599 (Jul 1993)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Introducing Christian Doctrine. By Millard J. Erickson. Edited by L. Arnold Hustad. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992. 423 pp. $25.00.

Since its release in 1985, Millard Erickson’s three-volume Christian Theology has been recognized as a comprehensive, contemporary, and erudite evangelical survey of Christian doctrine. Now in collaboration with L. Arnold Hustad, professor of philosophy and theology at Crown College, Erickson offers Christian Theology in a condensed version. As stated in the preface, Introducing Christian Doctrine is presented as an introductory textbook for Christian liberal arts schools and Bible colleges. The style and content are the same as that in Christian Theology, but this streamlined volume has removed technical discussions suited for seminary-level readership.

Erickson, research professor of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, is conversant with a broad spectrum of scholarly opinion. Even as a condensed edition, this volume provides a generously comprehensive survey of doctrine. When treating opposing views, the author is charitable and fair. A Calvinistic approach is adopted in his discussion of soteriological issues.

For the most part criticisms raised against Christian Theology apply to the condensed volume as well. (For Bibliotheca Sacra reviews, see volume 143 [January-March 1986]: 75-76 and volume 144 [January-March 1987]: 108-9.) In particular the discussions of dispensationalism are scant and even misrepresentative. The survey of eschatology is rather brief. Not all readers will agree with Erickson’s arguments for progressive creationism (p. 127), or for a posttribulational rapture (p. 394). Also as an introductory theology text, the value of this book would be greatly enhanced by a glossary.

These criticisms notwithstanding, this book is unhesitatingly recommended for use in Christian colleges. It will also be helpful for laypersons who want a survey of Christian doctrine from an evangelical perspective outside the Dallas Seminary tradition. However, at the discretion of Christian educators, specific areas of doctrine will need to be supplemented by more current and substantive material.

Robert A. Pyne and Gary L. Nebeker

God, Creation, and Providence in the Thought of Jacob Arminius. By Richard A. Muller. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991. 309 pp. Paper, $15.95.

Jacob Arminius has received considerably less attention than one would expect, given the prominence of the issues associated with him. This book is the first full-length work on Arminius in 20 years.<...

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