Christian Book Notes

Morgan, Christopher W. and Robert A. Peterson.  The Glory of God:  Theology in Community.  Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010.  256 pp.  $23.99.  Purchase at Westminster for less.

Introduction

The Glory of God is the second book in the Theology in Community series.  You can read te review of Suffering and the Goodness of God–the first book in the series.  The editors are Christopher W. Morgan who is professor of theology and associate dean of the School of Christian Ministries at California Baptist University. Robert A. Peterson is professor of systematic theology at Covenant Theological Seminary. They have co-edited two other books:Hell Under Fire and Faith Comes by Hearing. Some of the writers for this volume include Stephen J. Nichols, Andreas J. Kostenberger, and Bryan Chapell.

Summary

Divided into 8 chapters, the reader will be treated to a few essays that will enable him to meditate on the glory of God as seen throughout the entire Bible.  The first essay looks at God’s glory in the past and present in a general sense.  The next four chapters view the glory of God throughout the Bible–in the Old Testament, the synoptic gospels, Acts, and the general epistles, John’s Gospel and Revelation and then the Pauline Epistles.

The final three chapters look at the implications of holding consistently to the doctrine of the glory of God.  Chapter six offers an exhortation to moving toward a complete theology of the glory of God while Bryan Chapell, president of Covenant Seminary offers a chapter on one’s pastoral theology in light of the glory of God.  J. Nelson Jennings, concludes the work with a missional theology of the glory of God.

Review

While I would have liked to see the Old Testament divided up into at least one more chapter, I found the essays to all be enlightening and challenging.  There is much to learn from these works.  It is important to note that the essays are written at a more academic level that probably limits their accessibility.  It follows then, why there are so many (helpful) footnotes.

The nice aspect of this series is that each essay can stand alone while also relying on the other essays to build a greater theological doctrine.  The challenge is to take what has been learned and apply it to one’s everyday life.  This, ultimately, is the goal of the series.  Fortunately, it is a goal that has been met by each of the first two books thus far.

Recommendation

The Glory of God and the Theology in Community series in general is an excellent edition to someone library.  The reality is, however, that not everyone can (or would want to) read this work.  Given the academic nature of the essays, I would only recommend this book to anyone serious about studying doctrine.  I would like to recommend it to everyone at a general level, but I fear that it would wind up being like the day we learned hand to hand combat in basic training for the U.S. Army–you learn just enough to be a real danger to yourself!