Journal: Grace Theological Journal
Volume: GTJ 10:2 (Fall 1989)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

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GTJ 10:2 (Fall 89) p. 241

Book Reviews

The Canon of Scripture, by F. F. Bruce. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988. Pp. 349. $19.95. Cloth.

Although retired from academic life, F. F. Bruce continues to be a productive scholar. The Canon of Scripture is a tribute to the erudition and Christian faith of this long-time professor at the University of Manchester. This work considers all the pertinent questions relative to the canon of both the Old Testament and the New Testament and is therefore broader in scope than Bruce Metzger’s Canon of the New Testament, which Bruce acknowledges with gratitude. It is clear, nevertheless, that Bruce’s major concern is the New Testament, about which questions surrounding canonicity are more numerous and controversy is more extensive.

Those who read The Canon of Scripture should prepare for a strenuous mental exercise. The subject is complex, and Bruce has written as a scholar for other scholars. Readers without extensive knowledge of early church history would find this work bewildering. They would do better to read R. Laird Harris, The Inspiration and Canonicity of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1957), which covers the subject in a reliable and much less technical manner.

For those with the requisite background and a keen interest in the subject, Bruce has much to offer. He has studied all the issues thoroughly and has cited all the major witnesses to the process of canonization in a masterpiece of research. His method is to trace the development of Christian thinking from the patristic period through the Middle Ages into the Reformation. The conclusion presents his treatment of the criteria for canonicity and is the most important part of the book. One would do well to read this section first. An extensive bibliography lists books only, but the footnotes cite many valuable articles. This work belongs in every theological library.

James Edward McGoldrick
Cedarville College

2 Chronicles, by Raymond B. Dillard. Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 15. Waco: Word, 1987. Pp. 323. $24.95. Cloth.

Word Biblical Commentary has added a valuable contribution in Raymond B. Dillard’s Commentary on 2 Chronicles. The work is intended to be a continuation of Roddy L. Braun’s commentary on 1 Chronicles (Word, 1968) with which Dillard acknowledges his agreement “in the main” (p. xix). This includes maintaining separate hands in Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles (per Williamson, Japhet).

GTJ 10:2 (Fall 89) p. 242

The commentary follows the familiar format of WBC. Each of the 33 sections begins with a bibliography, followed by a translation into English. The textual and gramm...

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