Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 16:1 (Spring 2019)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

[Electronic Edition Editor’s Note: The footnotes in the print edition restarted with each individual book review. In this edition they have simply been numbered consecutively. The original numbers have been retained within the body of the footnote text.]

Best Bible Books: New Testament Resources. By John Glynn. Edited by Michael H. Burer. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2018. 318 pages. Paperback, $27.99.

Best Bible Books is an update of John Glynn’s Commentary and Reference Survey, which saw its tenth edition in 2007. Glynn was a freelance author and proofreader who, unfortunately, passed away in the year of the publication of his last edition.1 Michael Burer has carried on Glynn work both as the editor as well as a contributor in this volume. Other contributors include Darrel L. Bock, Joseph D. Fantin, and J. William Johnston. Each of these scholars serve in the New Testament Studies Department at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS), which requires that all faculty affirm “seven core doctrines of evangelical faith”: “the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, the Trinity, Christ’s full deity and humanity, the spiritual lostness of the human race, Christ’s substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection, salvation by faith alone in Christ alone,” and “the physical return of Christ.”2 As a result, the reader can be sure that the lens through which these resources have been viewed is grounded within the evangelical camp. These contributors aim to follow Glynn’s lead in providing laypeople, pastors, and seminary students with a guide for buying the best New Testament (NT) resources and commentaries with their limited budgets and busy schedules in mind.

Burer noted a few large and small changes from Glynn’s previous approach. The first and most noticeable change is the omission of the Old Testament and theological resources, which he plans to include in future editions. The second change is a shift in the way that commentaries are handled. Each commentary is listed alphabetically with a mini-review denoting its approach, format, and usability. Each listing receives a rating of either good, better, or best. Burer divided the commentaries as either technical and semitechnical (focus on languages and history) or expositional (emphasis on application). The reader will find the structure and organization of these ratings to be simple to understand and user-friendly.

The heart of this work might be described as a commentary on NT commentaries. This large section is subdivided by NT books or groups of NT books as scholars commonly group them. Bibliography entries contained in this sectio...

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