Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 164:656 (Oct 2007)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Matthew S. DeMoss

BSac 164:656 (October-December 2007) p. 492

Book Reviews

By The Faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary

Matthew S. DeMoss, Editor

The Problem with Evangelical Theology: Testing the Exegetical Foundations of Calvinism, Dispensationalism and Wesleyanism. By Ben Witherington III. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2005. xii + 294 pp. $29.95.

In this book Witherington, professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary, calls evangelicals back to a theological method that is more biblical and exegetical. The problem with evangelical theology, he suggests, is “its insufficient grounding in the Bible, particularly the New Testament” (p. 255). “Evangelicalism has lost touch with its Reformation principles and in particular with its necessary attention to the details of the Bible and the need to stick to the text and heed the cry ‘sola Scriptura’ and its corollary ‘semper reformanda’ ” (p. xi).

The reader is introduced to Witherington’s concerns about insufficient attention to Scripture through three examples. The phenomenal success of Rick Warren’s books The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church is evidence of a “radically individualistic Calvinism” (p. x). The Left Behind series is representative of “a Dispensationalism that is miles away from the intent of Jesus, Paul, and John of Patmos when it comes to understanding and using biblical prophecy, and in particular apocalyptic prophecy” (p. x). “This whole approach to prophecy ignores the most important principle of interpretation that the Reformers insisted on—namely, sticking to the plain, originally intended, sense of the text” (p. x). He also asserts that “at least one-third of” Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ “is found nowhere in the Bible, and indeed at various points it introduces some unsettling and even unbiblical notions” (p. xi).

Witherington’s “overture” then concludes, “These three examples illustrate very well the ethos of Evangelicalism at this juncture in regard to the matter of concern for this study” (p. xi). It seems that the author’s purpose in these opening comments is to provide illustrations of the problem addressed in his book. He asserts that “the problem with Evangelical theology at this juncture is that it is not nearly biblical enough” (xi). It is odd, therefore, to read near the end of the book: “I cannot stress enough that we should not be doing theology in reaction to anything” (p. 249). But was not this book written as a reaction to a problem in evangelical theology?

BSac 164:656 (October-December 2007) p. 493

The book’s first part, “Augustine’s Children: The Problems w...