Nathan James Norman
  • Blog
  • Writer
  • Pastor
  • Bookshelf
  • Links
  • Contact

Nathan James Norman

Husband. Father. Pastor.
Storyteller. Reader. Comic Fan.
Slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Orchard Church

Review: A Commentary On Judges And Ruth

6/13/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Summary: Robert B. Chrisholm provides an exegetical and homiletical analysis of the books of Judges and Ruth.


Review: Kregel continues to raise the bar in quality and useful commentaries. Chrisholms' is no exception to the growing library of commentaries the publisher has been putting out.

The author understands narrative structures, which is often neglected in commentaries. Judges contains big, epic, long-form stories. Chrisholm recognizes this and divides the book into eleven stories. He discusses these sections as stories and outlines them as stories. He follows the tension and the themes as they unfold in the text.

The exposition is detailed, but not bogged down in minutia. Chrisholm focuses on the main issues, and resists going down too many rabbit trails.

The commentary also seeks to provide "big ideas" for the text. The reader is given an exegetical idea, theological idea and a preaching idea. Being a "big idea" preacher myself I find this rather useful. My only criticism in the whole book, though, is that these ideas are often clunky and unfocused. A good "big idea" is very simple. A "big idea" should have no, or very few conjunctions. Chrisholm has many. However, his big ideas are useful and function as good sounding boards for the ideas I've devised from the narrative.

His work on Ruth is also quite wonderful. I won't go into detail, but his analysis of Ruth and Boaz at the threshing floor is masterful. He rightly rejects traditional and progressive interpretations and understands the text on its own terms. In literary terms.

I have no plans on preaching through either of these books anytime soon, but Chrisholm's treatment of the text makes me want to scrap my other plans and work my way through these books.

Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It!)

Find it at Kregel here.
Find it on Amazon here.

Picture
Note: I received a physical copy of this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Adoption
    Art
    Axiom
    Beowulf
    Christmas
    Comics
    Drabble
    Flash Fiction
    Foster Care
    Good Friday
    Humor
    Infertility
    Interviews
    Memes
    Music
    Politics
    Practical
    Preaching
    Reviews
    Speculative
    Theology
    Tragedy
    Trinity Watch
    Untold Podcast
    Video
    Writing

    Blog Roll

    Albert Mohler
    Breakpoint
    Christian Humanist
    Christian Geek Central
    Critical Press Media
    David N. Alderman
    Doug Geivett

    Good Book Blog
    Living With Cogan
    Open Biola
    Project Rooftop
    Reasonable Faith
    Running Slowly w/ Kids
    Spirit Blade Underground
    Strangers and Aliens
    The Table Podcast
    This Old Farmhouse

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    November 2021
    August 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012