Abstract
Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism
edited by Christopher M. Date, Gregory G. Stump, and Joshua W. W. Anderson; foreword by John G. Stackhouse, Jr.
Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2014. 368 pp. $40.00. ISBN 978-1-62564-598-2.
Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished forever in hell. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the “second death”—an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism.
The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment, Third Edition
by Edward William Fudge; foreword by Richard Bauckham
Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2011. 420 pp. $46.00. ISBN 978-1-60899-930-9.
As the foreword notes, this volume has been “the fullest and most thorough exposition and defense of the view that the fate of the unsaved will be final destruction, not (as in the traditional doctrine of hell) eternal torment.” First published in 1982 and now fully updated, revised, and expanded, Fudge examines the complete teaching of Scripture on the subject of final punishment, engages critics, and chronicles main developments (such as the growing acceptability of conditional immortality) that have occurred since 1982. He concludes that hell is a place of total annihilation and everlasting destruction, although the destructive process encompasses conscious torment of whatever sort, intensity, and duration God might require in each individual case.
Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin: Theological, Biblical, and Scientific Perspectives
edited by Hans Madueme and Michael Reeves
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2014. 352 pp. $26.99. ISBN 078-0-8010-3992-8.
The Christian doctrines of original sin and the historical fall of Adam have been in retreat since the rise of modernity. Here leading scholars present a theological, biblical, and scientific case for the necessity of belief in original sin and the historicity of Adam and Eve in response to contemporary challenges. Representing various Christian traditions, the contributors shed light on recent debates as they present the traditional doctrine of original sin as orthodox, evangelical, and the most theologically mature and cogent synthesis of the biblical witness. This fresh look at a heated topic in evangelical circles will appeal to readers interested in the creation-evolution debate.
Genesis and Christian Theology
edited by Nathan MacDonald, Mark W. Elliott, and Grant Macaskill
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012. 364 pp. $36.00. ISBN 978-0-8028-6725-4.
This volume contributes to the renewed convergence of biblical studies and systematic theology—two disciplines whose relational disconnect has adversely affected not only the academy but also the church as a whole. In this volume twenty-one noted scholars consider the ancient book of Genesis—one of the richest resources for Jewish and Christian theological reflection— in dialogue with historical and contemporary theological reflection. Their essays offer new vistas on familiar texts, reawakening past debates and challenging modern clichés. William P. Brown, Gary A. Anderson, Ellen T. Charry, and R. Walter L. Moberly are among the contributors.
The New Testament and Ethics: A Book-by-Book Survey
edited by Joel B. Green
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.176 pp. $19.99. ISBN 978-1-8010-4936-1.
The acclaimed Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), a major reference tool with over five hundred articles, was written to respond to the movement among biblical scholars and ethicists to recover the Bible for moral formation. It offered needed orientation and perspective on the vital relationship between Scripture and ethics. This convenient text makes essays selected from that volume more readily available for use in classroom and personal study, providing a book-by-book survey.
Theologians in Their Own Words
edited by Derek R. Nelson, Joshua M. Moritz, and Ted Peters
Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013. 288 pp. $29.00. ISBN 978-1-8006-9880-5.
In brief, straightforward autobiographical statements, twenty-three distinguished theologians and scholars of religion discuss the development of their central insights and convictions in light of their life stories. The result is a fascinating range of insights into the close connection between life and theology. The volume includes previously published selections from Dialog: A Journal of Theology, as well as pieces specially commissioned for this volume. Robert Jenson, Martin Marty, Nancey Murphy, Wolfhart Pannenberg, John Polkinghorne, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Letty Russell, and Kathryn Tanner are among the contributors.
Global Perspectives on the Bible
edited by Mark Roncace and Joseph Weaver
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2014. 384 pp. $83.47. ISBN 978-0-205-89532-8.
This volume collects writings from a variety of geographic, social, cultural, political, economic, and religious settings. The book features forty chapters, each comprised of four short, accessible essays on a specific biblical text. This design creates a focused, dynamic conversation of perspectives, which will in turn prompt engaging conversations in the classroom. Students will learn about themselves and their own particular context as they explore the ideas and contexts of other biblical interpreters from around the globe. The book features discussion questions at the end of each chapter and is available in a variety of formats, digital and print.
Faith and Feminism: Ecumenical Essays
edited by B. Diane Lipsett and Phyllis Trible
Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014. 273 pp. $35.00. ISBN 978-0-664-23969-5.
This volume brings together leading voices in biblical studies, inter-religious encounters, theology, and ethics. Originally delivered as part of the Phyllis Trible Lecture Series at Wake Forest University School of Divinity (2003–2013), these essays demonstrate the breadth of feminist interpretation on compelling topics: interpretation of sacred texts; Judeo-Christian and Islamic perspectives; gender and sexuality; race and cultural identity; and ecology and religion. An international group of sixteen writers, both established scholars and new voices, contribute. They include Ivone Gebara, Elizabeth A. Johnson, Susan Niditch, Gail R. O’Day, Mercy Amba Oduyoye, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Emilie M. Townes, and Phyllis Trible. Readers can explore the impact of feminism on faith and faith on feminism.
Feminist Biblical Studies in the Twentieth Century: Scholarship and Movement
edited by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
The Bible and Women: An Encyclopaedia of Exegesis and Cultural History, Vol. 9.1. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2014. 452 pp. $76.95. ISBN 978-1-58983-583-2.
This volume traces the intellectual history and institutional development of feminist biblical studies in the twentieth century. It locates feminist biblical studies as scholarship engendered by the women’s movement and takes stock of feminist biblical scholarship around the globe. The essays discuss the beginnings, institutional situations, theoretical hermeneutical approaches, scholarly and grass-roots interpretations, and the future of feminist biblical scholarship on each continent to illustrate differences and commonalities on an international and intercultural level. Charting the twentieth-century rupture in male-dominated reception history, the book focuses on biblical studies in a feminist key. Judith Plaskow, Melanie Johnson-DeBaufre, Shelly Matthews, Susanne Scholz, Elsa Tamez, and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza are among the twenty-three contributors.