Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 40:1 (Oct 2025)
Article: Book Review: "Preaching The Book Of Ezekiel: A Neglected Prophet"
Author: Anonymous

SATS 40:1 (October 2025) p. 90

Book Review: Preaching The Book Of Ezekiel: A Neglected Prophet

Biwul, Joel K. T. 2025. Preaching the Book of Ezekiel: A Neglected Prophet. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. x, 110 pp. ISBN: 978–1–0364–4720–5. Approx. 1463.45 ZAR (62.99 GBP). Ebook.

Professor Joel K. T. Biwul is an Old Testament and pastoral studies Professor and is a tenured professor at ECWA Theological Seminary (JETS), Jos, Nigeria. He has been a Research Fellow in the Department of Old and New Testaments in the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, since 2016. He is also a visiting scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey, USA. He is the author of Preaching the Scriptures (2018). His interest in the prophecy of Ezekiel is evident by the research he has done in that area including A Theological Examination of Symbolism in Ezekiel with Emphasis on the Shepherd Metaphor, “The Restoration of the ‘Dry Bones’ in Ezekiel 37: 1–14: An Exegetical and Theological Analysis,” and “The Vision of ‘Dry Bones’ in Ezekiel 37: 1–28: Resonating Ezekiel’s Message as the African Prophet of Hope.”

Joel Biwul seems to speak the mind of the average reader when he notes in his motivation that Ezekiel can be enigmatic and unapproachable. The poetic nature of the book and its complex prophetic nature put the modern-day reader off. Biwul hopes to spark an interest in preachers to read, mine, and preach Ezekiel’s prophecy and ultimately for readers to listen to Ezekiel. He employs a rhetorical-discursive approach to explore the historical, political, social, religious, and psychological contexts of Ezekiel to open up and hopefully simplify the difficulties that Ezekiel poses. Biwul appeals that Ezekiel remains relevant to contemporary readers because modern-day challenges parallel those of the ancient world (p. 5).

Biwul weaves the book around four questions that constitute the plan of the book. The first question, “Why should we preach Ezekiel?” is answered in Chapters 1–3. Chapters 4–5 are preoccupied with the second question: “What should we preach from Ezekiel?” Chapter 6 deals with “How should we preach from Ezekiel?” and Chapter 7 answers the question, “What’s the benefit for the modern reader?” An introduction opens the book, expressing Joel Biwul’s motivation and appeal, and a conclusion summarizes Biwul’s work.

In the first chapter, Biwul tackles the why question. He contends that preaching Ezekiel matters today because it is one of the sixty-six books of the Bible, ...