Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 141:563 (Jul 1984)
Article: Book Notices
Author: Anonymous

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BSac 141:563 (Jul 84) p. 284

Book Notices

Jesus Christ Is God. By Robert L. Sumner. Murfreesboro, TN: Biblical Evangelism Press, 1983. 329 pp. Paper, $9.95.

Here is an excellent examination and expose of Victor Paul Wierwille and his cult, “The Way International.” This rapidly growing movement is exposed and refuted as totally unbiblical in its teachings regarding Christ and the gospel. Sumner, editor of the Biblical Evangelist, has produced a work which is thorough and well documented.

R. P. Lightner

Plants of the Bible. By Michael Zohary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. 223 pp. $16.95.

This fascinating book by the professor of botany at Hebrew University in Jerusalem is subtitled, “A complete handbook to all the plants with 200 full-color plates taken in their natural habitat.” Fruit trees and forest trees, plants by rivers and plants of the wilderness, field crops and garden plants, wild herbs and thorns and thistles, even drugs and spices—these are all beautifully pictured with biblical, botanical, and historical information. An introductory section on “Biblical Man and His Environment” includes excellent summaries on the topography, soils, seasons and climate, vegetal landscapes, agriculture, and trade in biblical times in Palestine. This is a very helpful volume.

F. D. Lindsey

The Old Testament and Criticism. By Carl E. Armerding. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983. 134 pp. Paper, $6.95.

The author asserts that evangelical Old Testament critics must avoid both the “traditional conservative” and “rational critical”

BSac 141:563 (Jul 84) p. 285

extremes. He analyzes four critical methods (literary criticism, form criticism, structural analysis, and text criticism), suggesting the limitations and benefits of each. Armerding’s discussion of the highly complex discipline of structural analysis is especially helpful. He explains how this method differs from other synchronic literary approaches (such as rhetorical criticism). While he welcomes the recent trend toward studying the literary structure of biblical texts (seen, e.g., in Fokkelman’s works), he warns that structuralism (defined in the strictest sense in accordance with the theories of Levi-Strauss) may not be of any value in biblical interpretation because of its anti-historical presuppositions (pp, 92–96).

R. B. Chisholm, Jr,

Beginning Old Testament Study. Edited by John Rogerson. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983. v + 157 pp. $8.95.

This introduction to the academic study of the Old Testament reflects the...

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