Customer Reviews

At Home in a Strange Land: Using the Old Testament in Christian Ethics

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't read this book if all you want is some interesting information on a few topics in the OT. Yes in some ways it is interesting and informative but it is much, much more.

Sloane lucidly introduces us to some basic, but profound hermeneutical issues and principles, which in some/many ways is based upon Nicholas Wolterstorff's work "Divine Discourse". Sloane's summaries and thoughts here will prove to be a valuable resource to present and future students of biblical hermeneutics who are looking for reliable and helpful methodology which is sensibly and thoughtfully argued. Incidentally, Sloane did his doctoral thesis on Wolterstorff, about which Wolterstorff himself said "He has understood and organized my thoughts better than myself", not a bad commendation I must say.

"At Home in a Strange Land" is a seriously challenging book from a man who writes with wisdom, sensibility and insight on many of the deeply troubling issues of the OT. He tackles things such as the texts of violence, slavery, gender issues in Genis 1-3 to name but a few. You will find help on how to interpret and apply texts from the Psalms through to the Prophets and he includes a particularly helpful section on OT Narrative (with a helpful critique of Fee and Stewart's 'How to Read the Bible...' along the way) All the while he keeps urging us to see the relevance of these texts for our ethics and values today: the way we live as God's people. You will be forced to think about how you view God, how you view yourself and your values and whether you are willing to do anything about it in light of the authoritative word of God.

This book is nothing less than the Text re-revealed; in many ways it is written proclamation and I am grateful for it. Buy it, read it, hear God speaking though the faithful expositions of the Scriptures to be found in it, and then go and live accordingly...for the sake of Jesus reputation in a world that so desperately needs to know Him.