Book Reviews

A Critical Review of David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible Many evangelicals have been persuaded by Dr. David Instone-Brewer’s central thesis on divorce and remarriage. Instone-Brewer contends that the Bible gives at least four concrete grounds for the permissibility of divorce. These not only include the traditional exceptions of adultery and abandonment, but also (1) emotional neglect and (2) material neglect (p.275). In our estimation, this is the most controversial aspect of Instone-Brewer’s work, and it is the focus of this review. We do our best to faithfully represent Instone-Brewer’s three central arguments that support his thesis before offering a critical evaluation.

Review of J. Warner Wallace’s “God’s Crimes Scene” (2015) I must join many others in endorsing J. Warner Wallace’s recent book God’s Crime Scene (2015). Wallace covers a number of different topics regarding the evidence for theism, divvying up each topic into eight chapters: (1) the cosmological evidence, (2) fine-tuning, (3) origin of life, (4) irreducible complexity, (5) consciousness, (6) free will, (7) morality, and (8) evil. While much has been written on the rational basis for Christian theism, three unique contributions make Wallace’s book stand out: (1) his credentials as cop, (2) his clear communication, and (3) his creative comparisons.

Critical Review of Myron Penner’s “The End of Apologetics” (2013) Penner openly attacks the work of Christian apologists such as William Lane Craig, Douglas Groothuis, and J.P. Moreland. Surprisingly, the book has received rather positive reviews. In the 2014 book awards, Christianity Today gave Penner’s book an “award merit.” We did not have so favorable of a reading of the book.

Critical Review of Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” (2011) Emergent author Rob Bell hit the headlines with his provocative book Love Wins, espousing universalism. Check out our thorough and direct critique of this popular book.

Critical Review of Joseph Atwill’s “Caesar’s Messiah” In his book Caesar’s Messiah, Joseph Atwill argues that Jesus of Nazareth was the invention of the Roman Empire, and Josephus wrote the entire NT after AD 70. He claims this was due to supposed parallels between the NT and Josephus’ Jewish War. Is this theory credible?