Journal: Central Bible Quarterly
Volume: CENQ 22:4 (Winter 1979)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

CenQ 22:4 (Winter 1979) p. 27

Book Reviews

A Companion to the Study of St. Augustine. Ray W. Battenhouse, Editor. Baker Book House. 425 Pages. 1979. $7.95. Reviewed by Dr. George W. Dollar.

Sixteen students of the life and works of Augustine of Hippo in North Africa combine to publish an excellent source book for students of Church History and those who would try to comprehend the thought of this massive mind of the Ancient Church.

Chapter two on his life, written by Battenhouse of Indiana University, is a careful, factual, worthwhile coverage. Chapter three by an Anglican rector, is the typical Catholic exaltation of the sacraments and to a Fundamentalist, worthless. In chapter ten, the City of God is outlined by a Church History Professor at Berkeley and it reveals the conflict and contrast of the Two Cities.

In chapter seven the writings of the Pelagians are reviewed by an Anglican leader in Liverpool, England. In addition, he looks at the Donatists, their zeal and what to do about traitors. Issues were separation from the suspicious, the seat of

CenQ 22:4 (Winter 1979) p. 28

authority, the Church as Mother, its unity, Catholicity, what should be done about schismatics, and is there a validity of baptism outside of the church and that of traitors.

Chapter eight is on the Pelagians by a Princeton Professor. It deals with the issue of Free Will. God had given free will and how can we relate this to the activity of God? Pelagians stressed human volition. To them God is the author of free will, but man creates his own character with no denial of Grace. Augustine formulated a theology of infant baptism as a sacrament of grace. To Augustine, man’s will was impotent and without capacity to choose.

This is a very resourceful collection of studies and it presents the best side of the Bishop of Hippo and reveres him for his special place in Christian thought. There are many good quotations from many sources for the use of students and pastors.

An Exposition of the Book of Isaiah by William Kelly. Minneapolis: Klock & Klock Christian Publishers, 1979 reprint, cloth, 400 pages, $11.95. From the Foreward by Dr. Rolland D. McCune.

William Kelly was born in 1821 of Episcopalian parents in Ireland. A man of incisive scholastic talents, he was graduated with highest honors in the classics from Trinity College, Dublin. He was converted to Christ and became identified with the Plymouth Brethren in 1841. William Kelly died in 1906.

The 19th century is a significant watershed in the history of prophetic thought. For nearly 1500 years prophetic thinking had been dominated by the historicist approach (i.e. prophecy is fulfil...