Customer Reviews

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology

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Here is a book that should be found in the library of every evangelical theologian, theology student, and pastor today. Without question, this is one of the most thorough and complete one-volume dictionaries of theology presently available--all of this from an evangelical perspective!! The international cast of contributors (predominantly from North America, Australia, and the UK), under the editorial supervision of Dr. Elwell of Wheaton College, have assembled a remarkable wealth of information. The theologically-inquisitive will find within this volume a fairly substantial summary of almost any theological issue that one might wish to investigate (and several that one might never even think to investigate). Multitudinous articles, appearing in alphabetical order, provide summaries of events, movements, issues and concepts, personalities, terminology, etc. that have in some way contributed to the shape of Christian theology. Even the "insignificant" things are included. In addition, the brief bibliographies that appear at the end of each article provide the reader with some idea of where to turn for further inquiry. One of the greatest strengths of this volume is that, while decidedly evangelical in perspective, its content is not narrowly dogmatic in orientation. Its contributors reflect a diversity of theological persuasions and convictions. However, in this day in which "globalization" has become a very real and important influence on the scope of evangelical theology, one criticism of this text is that it is largely Western in its orientation. There are few contributors from non-Western nations. While this is not a surprising feature in a book published in 1984, a time when the theological voices of evangelicals in Africa, Asia, and Latin America had yet to be heard as valid and equal, a revision of this text would certainly be strengthened if it were to be more balanced in its cultural orientation. Perhaps this dictionary's greatest attribute is the roster of renowned contemporary scholars who are numbered among its contributors. There are few places where men such as Donald Bloesch, Colin Brown, Geoffrey Bromiley, F.F. Bruce, D. A. Carson, Millard Erickson, Carl F.H. Henry, George Ladd, Mark Noll, J.I. Packer, Charles Ryrie, and Peter Toon gather together to provide theological instruction. Between the hard-back covers of this dictionary is found one such place. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology--A Uniuqie Experience, A Monumental Work!

Other than Scripture, this is the book most often pulled off my shelf and referred to in my studies. This is not to be confused with the Baker Theological Dictionary, which is a slightly condensed version of EDT.

Dr Elwell is a respectable conservative evangelical scholar who has produced many scholarly and lay writings centering on dictionary/encyclopedic collections of theological/Scriptural information. He is a professor of biblical studies and theology at Wheaton College Graduate School.

The book covers a plethora of topics from orthodox Scriptural ideas set forth by theologians, synopses of Scripture's teachings on topics, heresies and author/theologian biographies. The writings span from 1/2 page to 4 pages with most articles dealing very well with topics from a conservative Scriptural standpoint. A leader of that field's specialist writes each article, with well over 300 different authors providing insights on topics. Each article gives a brief bibliography, and cross-reference to related topics. Most of the longer topics spanning multiple pages offer a summary at the end, for those not interested in in-depth study of all aspects of a topic.

Some topics of interest mentioned under "A" (2 columns per page):
Abortion (7 columns of writing)
Altar (3 1/2 columns)
Anabaptism (5 columns)
Angel of the Lord (1 column)
Annihilationism (1 3/4 columns)
Antichrist (3 1/2 columns)
Antinomianism (2 1/2 columns)
Apocalyptic (7 columns)
Apocrypha (OT and NT) (3 1/2 columns)
Apologetics (6 columns)
Apostasy (1 column)
Aristotle (6 columns)
Arius/Arianism (3 columns)
Arminianism (4 columns)
Ash Wednesday (1/2 column)
Atonement, Theories of (6 columns)
Augustine of Hippo (5 columns)

As you can see from the above, there are practical theologies discussed as well as scholarly topics. Overall, the book does a superb job of providing easily accessible information, but a negative of the book is that it lacks consistency in quality since there are so many contributors. Some topics are weaker in writing. For instance, biblical theology is never defined, but talked around in the discussion by G. Hasel, which takes up 6 columns of writing.

Overall, as I said, this is the most often used source in my ever-growing theological library. Regardless of the topic I am studying or writing about, I can find significant and helpful information in this text. It was a superb addition, and required text for my systematic theology course in graduate seminary.

I found this to be a useful, standard, objective primer for theological studies. The contributors, all brilliant scholars, were very fair to the opposing view, adequatley describing thier position and only rarely critiquing it.

I found this to be a fresh evangelical approach to the Neo-Orthodoxy that I am exposed to daily. I recommend the second edition which has been updated to include modern scholars as Packer and Lloyd-Jones.

Final Analysis
The qualities of this work are its objectivity, freshness (without being preachy), and its broad expanse of topics. The downside would be its tendency for being wordy and laborious on some issues. Do not let this prevent you from buying it, just be forewarned. All in all, a handy tool.

No doubt this is a great volume and is an essential reference work for evangelical theology. The dictionary provides a good overview of the evangelical position on many contemporary issues in theology.

I am periodically disappointed, though, at the biased perspective of some of the articles. For example, the one on "election" simply assumes a Calvinist position (though many "evangelicals" are Arminians, and many Arminians even contribute to the dictionary). In this regard, Van Harvey's classic "A Handbook of Theological Terms" is superior in its unbiased treatment of terms.

I love having these kind of books on my shelf as they prove to be a valuable resource in so many ways. This book contains short articles covering a variety of issues and people, all related to Christian theology. I would not say that this would be the final authority for any individual topic, but it's a good place to start when you are doing research. The bibliographies listed in each of the articles give additional guidance for further research. Walter Elwell does a super job in his editing of these "Baker Reference Library" books. You ought to have this as well as the apologetics and biblical theology books on your shelf to pull down whenever you want to know more.

This is one of the best books available for anyone serious about learning more on any given subject within Biblical Theology. The articles are surprisingly detailed for a one volume book and will be a great starting point for further study if you really wanted to get deep. The Theology is conservative and balanced and I cannot recommend this enough, it is a MUST HAVE book for your library and the revised volume is even better than the original first edition.

If you only by one general Theology book, make sure it is this one. If you only buy 2, then get this and Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. Between these 2 books you will get most of what you need about anything!

Some of the articles in this dictionary (and I have almost finished it: just about 15 pages left to go) are very good. Packer, Noll, Motyer, Morris, Blaising and Carson are always competent.

However, in my mind the good articles do stand out as exceptional. There are many that are simply bland, and some that are downright alarming. McGavran's article on the Church Growth Movement is apalling for its self-promotion; Nicole's article "Woman, Biblical Concept of" is a classic example of standard PC waffling on what is clear in Scripture. H.W. Perkin's article on "Marriage, Marriage Customs in Bible Times" was irritating in its incompetence and stultifying style --an editing mistake which obviously chopped out at least part of a sentence or so in my edition was no cause for regret, except that it made you look back at the previous column to make sure you'd read it all. On the whole there's a decent quantity of entries, although there could be more, and the best parts tend to be the historical/philosophical articles. If you want a reference tool that covers a broad range of topics you might be better off with the Internet.

This dictionary is an excellent tool for those who want to learn or are learning about the various thoughts of theology. It does not just represent a conservative theological frame work but looks at and give the facts about those teological thoughts that most would agree with and even those that most would disagree with. The information is very well written but unless someone is into religion and theology it may be a bit overwelming for the causual reader. It is an excellent reference too for the Bible and Seminary student as well as for the busy Pastor or Professor.

Excellent resource for theological study. The information is thorough and helpful. Terms can be challenging for someone who does not have a good vocabulary, so make sure you have a dictionary handy when reading the text.

Thorough and theologically sound, this resource book is important for anyone in the ministry. This is the book used by those trained in the best colleges and will be useful to anyone who is asked to speak on matters of theology, whether a Sunday School teacher or lay pastor.