Borland, James A.

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Liberty UniversityDigitalCommons@LibertyUniversityFaculty Publications and Presentations School of Religion3-2001Review: All Things New: The Significance ofNewness for Biblical TheologyJames A. BorlandLiberty University, jborland@liberty.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubsPart of the Biblical Studies Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons,Epistemology Commons, Esthetics Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, History of PhilosophyCommons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, History of Religions of WesternOrigin Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Other Religion Commons, and the ReligiousThought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Religion at DigitalCommons@Liberty University. It has been accepted forinclusion in Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Liberty University. For more information,please contact scholarlycommunication@liberty.edu.Recommended CitationBorland, James A., "Review: All Things New: The Significance of Newness for Biblical Theology" (2001). Faculty Publications andPresentations. Paper 18.http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubs/18Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.All Things New:  The Significance of Newness for Biblical TheologyJames A BorlandJournal of the Evangelical Theological Society; Mar 2001; 44, 1; ProQuest Religionpg. 136136 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 44/1 in introductory discussions of textual criticism, but is here described with special clarity, and well illustrated. Chapter 4, "Working with Masoretic Notes," is another outstanding discussion, describing different types of notes (e.g. "frequency notes," "qualitative notes," "notes giving parallels"), and ending with a narrative interpre-tation and explanation of 14 Mp notes. The heart of the book, however, is chap. 5, "A Glossary of Masoretic Terms," which contains an alphabetical list of nearly every term found in Mp of BHS, an explanation of the term, alternate forms, and several examples of its use, which are fully and accurately explained (with the very rare confession that the precise mean-ing or significance of a particular note is unknown). This section is easy to use and written clearly enough to benefit students just beginning to read the Hebrew Bible. Pedagogically, the book would be strengthened by examples of how the choice of, e.g. qere or ketib, affects the reading of the text (or, even better, where different trans-lations have followed one reading or the other), which might help motivate students to learn more about the Masorah. That is, granted the presence of Mp in BHS (and, presumably, BHQ), why should students learn [about] this apparently pedantic material? Any teacher can address this need, but some examples would strengthen an already most impressive tour de force. This work is not intended to displace Ginsberg (which does not address the inter-pretation of the Masorah) or Yeivin (which seems to be designed for those who do not really need it), but it will encourage students, not frighten them away, and should draw them into the study of this fascinating field. With an extensive bibliography (including a list of thirteen reviews of BHS), and a Scripture index, this book will be a most useful tool that fulfills its authors' goals. I am delighted to recommend it most highly. Frederic Clarke Putnam Biblical Theological Seminary, Hatfield, PA All Things New: The Significance of Newness for Biblical Theology. By Carl B. Hoch, Jr. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995,365 pp. $19.99. The late Carl Hoch, Jr., NT scholar, Th.D. with highest honors from Dallas Theo-logical Seminary, ETS member and professor at Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary, has produced a work worthy of wide reading by Biblical theologians and NT scholars and students. The work is a carefully constructed, yet interesting treatment of the new covenant, but it also elucidates the meaning of new wineskins, new teaching, new commandment, new creation, new man, and several similar items. Hoch's exegesis and theological insight are exceptional. His expression is lucid, his research thorough. I learned much and recommend this work wholeheartedly. Hoch interacts with the latest and best sources from broad contexts-evangelical, liberal, and Catholic, including non-English writings. The bibliography-twenty-five pages and over six hundred entries-boasts the most recent research. One reason this volume claimed my interest was the way it bridges so many theo-logical topics. Ecclesiology, eschatology, and Christian ethics all depend, as Hoch notes, on whether one sees much "newness" in the NT. Should we identify Israel and the Church, equate the OT priesthood and Christian clergy, replace circumcision with infant baptism, call Sunday the Christian Sabbath, and use the Mosaic law as the rule of life for Christian believers? Not seeing newness tends to that end. Hoch Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.MARCH 2001 BOOK REVIEWS 137 believes "a continuity does exist between the testaments and needs to be spelled out carefully" (p. 54). He asks, "Did Christ come to patch up or to change?" The parable of the new wineskins demonstrates the latter. "Newness is centrally important to the New Testament. That is why the New Testament is called the 'new testament' or 'covenant'" (p. 55). In one chapter, Hoch gives seven reasons for holding that the new covenant is actually a new covenant and not a renewed old covenant. He gives a studied look at the contexts of each of the major new covenant texts-Ezekiel 11 and 36, Jeremiah 31, Luke 22,1 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 7-13-and treats the problem of Paul and the Law. Hoch is fully abreast of the best scholarship on each topic and is able to evaluate and integrate it into all his arguments. Many practical lessons accompany Hoch's superb exegesis. Each chapter also includes a brief annotated bibliography suggesting further study. Each aspect of Hoch's presentation is extensive. For example, he shows how Christ's teaching is "new" with regard to fifteen different issues, an exposition of the observation that Christ's teaching was "new doctrine" with authority (Mark 1:27). Hoch includes a much-needed emphasis on the ethical implications of the new man. He does not hold that "ethics are nice but not necessary" (p. 178). Church unity will only be experienced as believers practice certain virtues: they "experience the unity subjectively that Christ has created objectively" (p. 178). These virtues are humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love. As a practical application, Hoch chides the church's emphasis on externals, criticizing it for "preaching against practices such as smoking, drinking, dancing, and card-playing, but ignoring greed, slan-der, backbiting, strife, and enmity" (p. 183). It was refreshing to find such prac-tical notes in a theological treatise. Mter detailing the distinctiveness of newness as seen in salvation history, par-ticularly in Luke-Acts and the Pentecostal events, Hoch devotes nine chapters to expound the ways this newness is referenced in the NT. Hoch's final part of the book deals with the practical aspects of newness and the individual Christian, then newness and the Church. Citing Robert Gundry, he points out that for Paul, works are never instrumental for salvation but are certainly evidential of salvation. Calvin similarly said that man is saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves will never be alone. Hoch's treatment is excellent as he expounds on life in the Spirit and warfare against the flesh. He teaches sanctification in incremental steps over time. "Maturity in Christ," he notes, "develops from growth multiplied over time" (p. 224). He contends, "The focus of ministry within the body of Christ must con-stantly be upon Scripture, prayer, and fellowship. These are the means of grace that God has given his new covenant people to produce maturity" (p. 224). Hoch's two emphases for the Church are edification and extension, and he very practically portrays four models frequently followed in churches today: lecture room, theater, large corporation, and fellowship. His emphasis would be to take the good points of each and the"n immerse them into servanthood. Hoch has two appendices: "The Israel Problem: Is the Church the New Israel?" and "The Use of the Term Israel in the NT." His answer is that the church is not the new Israel and his arguments are the most cogent and clearly reasoned I have seen. Hoch's exposition covers the material fully, fairly, and clearly. Subject and Scripture indexes cover twenty pages, but for some reason these are sketchy; that is, some entries are not referenced for particular individuals, and strangely even the bibliography with over 600 sources omits some that are cited in the text. Hebrew and Greek words are used plentifully, but the reader needs knowledge of those words because they are rarely transliterated and in many cases not even translated in the text. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  Further reproduction prohibited without permission.138 JOURNAL OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 44/1 In spite of these minor items, I commend Carl Hoch for a fine, challenging and en-lightening volume on such a crucial and current topic of Biblical theology, and I urge Baker Books to reissue this important work. James A. Borland Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA Introduction to Christian Theology: Contemporary North American Perspectives. Edited by Roger A. Badham. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1998, 278 pp. $28.95 paper. North American Christian theology in the twentieth century has provided a place at the table for many diverse theological voices. Sometimes diversity has arisen from within a particular school of thought and has helped to develop new ways of doing theology (liberation theology, for example). Roger A. Badham, former chaplain at Cornell University and current doctoral candidate at Drew University, has compiled an introductory text that allows many of the formative voices of twentieth-century theology to speak for themselves. From evangelicals to process theologians, a wide range of God-talk is represented in the pages of this book. Badham begins by succinctly surveying the theological landscape of the twentieth century, citing modernism, pluralism, and the Holocaust as the three major forma-tive movements/events that have shaped (and continue to shape) current theological thinking. In the final two chapters of the introduction ("The Contemporary Setting For Theology"), John Hick and Clark M. Williamson discuss the effects of pluralism and relations between Christians and Jews respectively. The introduction leaves little doubt that current theological thinking, perhaps more than ever before, has been obliged to become truly global in perspective and context. Badham has included chapters in each section of the book written by innovative and influential thinkers in their various theological paradigms. Evangelicalism or "conservationist" theology is the first theological area discussed. This is done by Carl F. H. Henry, Thomas C. Oden, and Clark Pinnock. One would be hard pressed to find a more diverse threesome of scholars within the same discipline. Their diversity reminds the reader that evangelicalism is more than a static set of beliefs; rather, it is a dynamic movement embracing certain core values that have helped shape the theological landscape of the twentieth century. One wonders, with Clark Pinnock, if this influence will continue in this century in light of the three challenges facing theology mentioned in the introduction. Next, Badham enlists James J. Buckley and Stanley Hauerwas to speak for "Posteritical and Cultural-Linguistic Theologies." Buckley lends a Catholic perspec-tive to postliberal theology in which crucial issues like Protestant-Catholic relations, Vatican II, and pluralism are addressed. Buckley sees postliberalism's emphases and approach as a positive contribution, not only to Catholic-Protestant relations, but also to the voice of North American and world theology. He cites in his conclusion that the greatest contribution of postliberal theology comes from the fact that, while it may not provide a fully comprehensive vision, it points "like a crooked line" beyond merely liberal or modern theology and therefore may provide a theology "for Catholic and evangelicals, open to Israel and the nations in humble trust that God can make all things work for the good" (p. 100). Hauerwas, an ethicist, writes not only of the flourishing and development of his discipline, but also of the "present exhaustion" of the discipline of Christian ethics; 

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