Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Grace Theological Journal
Volume: GTJ 11:2 (Fall 1990)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Ruth: A Story of Gods Grace, by Cyril J. Barber. Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1989. Pp. 198. n.p. Cloth; reprint ed., Chicago: Moody Press, 1983.

This reprint of a 1983 Moody Press volume is presented by Loizeaux as “an expositional commentary” [title page] written “for the Bible student rather than the Bible scholar” Dacket]. Initially the material was prepared for publication in two [presumably] Christian magazines and later reworked into a series of weekly Bible studies for the library staff of International Christian Graduate University where the writer was serving as a consultant [preface].

The author’s rhetorical abilities coupled with his concern to address the relevancy of Biblical text will undoubtedly prompt a warm reception of the work, particularly for use in Bible study groups.

The methodology employed in the book, however, is seriously flawed. Several particulars make the point. First, and perhaps of greatest concern, is the writer’s clear penchant for addressing the text via a psychological paradigm. Chapter 1 [“The Dynamics of Life’s Decisions”], for example, is a more psychologically oriented case study in the exercise and consequences of decision making than an exposition of the text. At one point in chapter 3 the writer refers to the fact that “modern research has identified five characteristics that are of fundamental importance to each one of us,” [52]: a sense of personal autonomy, sexuality, an internalized sense of morality, a career choice, and a hope for the future. The next several pages are then devoted to looking at Ruth’s situation through that grid. That these are “of fundamental importance to each one of us” may be true; but that they are the spectacles through which the narrative was intended to be read is subject.

Equally problematic is the writer’s bent toward “creating text”—a trait that is demonstrated in different ways. The tendency is seen in Chapter 1 where Barber presumes to reflect greater insight into Elimelech’s motives than the biblical writer himself. Typical of the work is the making of assertions which exceed the text. In a paragraph entitled “A Case in Point” [Chapter 1] Barber asserts that the family of Elimelech farmed land in Moab for about ten years following his death and prior to the deaths of Mahlon and Chilion. The text, however, shows no concern over the family occupation during the ten year period in question. A general unwillingness to live with enigmas and anomalies, some of which are most likely intentional, characterizes Barber’s approach to the narrative. At times this discomfort with the original author’s ambiguity leads Barber to “append the text.” Theological enhancement of the narrative by the ...

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