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Marshall

This document provides a review of the book "The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology" which is a collection of essays honoring the work of Max Turner, a British New Testament scholar with an interest in pneumatology. The reviewer summarizes that the contributors to the book are highly respected scholars and the essays are of high quality. Specifically, the reviewer found the essays by Bennema on the giving of the Spirit in John, Tilling on divine Christology in Ephesians, and Menzies on Luke's portrayal of a persecuted church to be thoroughly enjoyable. The reviewer concludes that the volume provides an excellent exegetical foundation for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and should be consulted by both exe

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Jim West
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869 views2 pages

Marshall

This document provides a review of the book "The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology" which is a collection of essays honoring the work of Max Turner, a British New Testament scholar with an interest in pneumatology. The reviewer summarizes that the contributors to the book are highly respected scholars and the essays are of high quality. Specifically, the reviewer found the essays by Bennema on the giving of the Spirit in John, Tilling on divine Christology in Ephesians, and Menzies on Luke's portrayal of a persecuted church to be thoroughly enjoyable. The reviewer concludes that the volume provides an excellent exegetical foundation for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and should be consulted by both exe

Uploaded by

Jim West
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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I. Howard Marshall, Volker Rabens, Cornelis Bennema, eds.

, The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012), ISBN: 978-0-8028-6753-7.
Max Turner is a British New Testament scholar well known in the circles of Pentecostalism in the United Kingdom. Pentecostalism is his own spiritual heritage and his interest in the Holy Spirit doubtless has its roots in that experience. The essays in this Festschrift (a fancy German word indicating a collection of essays offered to a senior scholar in recognition of and appreciation for his or her work in the field of biblical or theological studies) all have to do with pneumatology, either directly or tangentially. All are offered by students and friends of Turner and the contributors are, to a man, exceptional writers- itself a remarkable fact given that collections of essays usually have a mixture of good, average, and poor submissions. Many of the contributors will be well known and some are truly giants in the field of biblical studies. Readers will instantly know the names of Bauckham, Carson, Dunn, Green, Levison, Marshall, and Walton. Younger scholars, up and comers, like Tilling and Rabens and Heliso may not have the name recognition the others do, but their essays are just as good (and Tillings is the best of the collection). Space prohibits (as do the constraints of time), a thorough examination of each essay though it must be said that each deserves such a going over. I will merely say here that I found the pieces by Bennema (The Giving of the Spirit in John 19-20: Another Round, pp. 86-104), Tilling (Ephesians and Divine Christology, pp. 177-197), and Menzies (The Persecuted Prophets: A Mirror Image of Lukes Spirit-Inspired Church, pp. 52- 70) simply thoroughly enjoyable. Those three did some brilliant work and each is to be commended. Bennema insists that the giving of the spirit is a three stage process in step with the process of Jesus glorification, whereby the two conditions for the reception of the spirit are fulfilled on different occasions ( p. 86). His thesis may, or may not hold water but his case is argued so well that its difficult to quibble. Tilling maintains that Ephesians is further evidence of a divine-Christology, though one expressed in relationship. This coheres with Pauls likely relational epistemology, and offers an ontology for conceptualizing the coexistence of evidence, in

Ephesians, which scholars such as Fee and Dunn would unnecessarily set in opposition (p. 197). Those interested in the quite full development of Tillings ideas will want to consult his soon to be published volume on the subject of Christology. Menzies shows that Luke writes to a community facing persecution. He writes to offer a battered community guidance and encouragement, and countless witnesses through the ages will agree that he has accomplished this goal (p. 70). The volume also contains an appreciation of Prof. Turner and the usual indices and a list of Turners publications, which is really quite impressive. Oftentimes when in graduate school we were told by our esteemed Professors that Exegesis was the bedrock upon which Systematic Theology must be built. Systematic theologians need exegetes in the same way that bakers need flour. Without proper exegesis, systematic theology is flawed from the very start. I note this truism because at hand readers have the indispensible exegetical foundation for a very persuasive and exceedingly useful Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. In other words, this volume is an extremely desirable exegetical tributary feeding the stream called, potentially, a new and modern pneumatology. Dogmaticians working in the subject area of the Holy Spirit should consult it. Exegetes working in the subject area of the New Testament should as well. It is a blockbuster and if it were a film, critics would give it two thumbs up. I certainly do.

Jim West Quartz Hill School of Theology

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