Customer Reviews

Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham (Gospel According to the Old Testament)

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

 

 

A fairly detailed look at the life of Abraham as recorded in Genesis. This book is organized for small group studies with each chapter focusing on one major section of Abraham's life and study questions at the end. The major focus is the growth of Abraham's walk with God and the lessons we can learn in our similarly fallen lives and circumstances. Abraham committed some big sins! So do we. How does God work even through those to "grow up" Abraham and bring about His promises? That's a big theme in this book.

Occasionally, the author stretches the text to make an illustration. The points made are good and true, but they are not necessarily backed up in the biblical texts studied. I still recommend the book, just be aware of this.

An insightful and practical book about faith as illustrated in the life of Abraham. Faith is waiting for God to fulfill his promises.

One of the biggest problems that I have as a seminary student and as a Christian in general is that, for a lot of ways, many of today's Christians just don't want to seek and find the messages of the Gospel in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Scripture used by Jesus Christ and His apostles, and for a larger point, the first century church. Thus Christians should realize that the Old Testament is not a separate entity from the New Testament. In fact, both books together culminate into one foundation of redemptive history. Thus the great thing about the Gospel According to the Old Testament series. This is a series that is for the basic reader, a series that introduces important people of the OT that helps us look back and read the NT. In this case, in the case of Duguid's book, we are introduced to Abraham. Abraham is the foundation of faith for both the OT and the NT, especially after reading works like the letters of Paul and the letter to the Hebrews. We must ourselves, in our follies and in our own fallings, which happen along with our times of great revelation and hope and joy, follow and recognize we follow Abraham. Like the song Sometimes by Step by Rich Mullins: "Sometimes I think of Abraham, How one star he saw had been lit for me, He was a stranger in this land, And I am that, no less than he" I too, then recognize myself in Abraham, both good days and bad days. And too, you too must realize yourself as you walk along the same roads Abraham followed. Of course there are minor problems with the book and there are minor points I disagree with Mr Duguid, with the series, because we aren't talking about an in-depth exegesis of the Scripture. So, there are points that you might want explained a bit more, but you wont find in this book. Still, Mr. Duguid does point you in the right direction. I really think you need to read this book to understand Abraham's travels and how they represent your own life and your own walk with the Lord in such an alien land like this we live in. Read this book, and read the series, especially the one on Daniel by Dr. George Schwab.

I was excited when I discovered this series, The Gospel According to the Old Testament, published by P&R. I thought someone had finally published a series of books for the average reader that thematically, structurally, and typologically showed how the gospel is anticipated in the lives of the Old Testament saints. I purchased this book and eagerly anticipated its arrival. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I was very much disappointed with what I got.

This book works its way through the Genesis account of Abraham's life, and it does try to be gospel-oriented. But instead of focusing on the text and really drawing out the rich imagery and powerful gospel themes that can be unearthed in every Old Testament passage, the author discusses such things only for a moment, then inevitably heads for some superficial application to the "Christian life." In every chapter the reader is aching to hear more about the greater gospel, biblical, and theological significance of God's calling Abraham when he was in the Chaldean city, or Abraham's sojourning in Egypt during a time of famine, or Abraham's seeking a bride for his son from a far-off place. But Duguid inevitably bounces off such subjects to applications that read like mediocre sermon notes. This book claims to be good biblical theology, but what little biblical theology is there is covered up or minimized, as if the "average" readers couldn't handle the big stuff. But they can! And it would be overwhelmingly encouraging and educational to them if they were to see how deep and wide the gospel runs throughout ALL the Bible!

I had intended to buy all of this series, but now I have no desire to read any more. We can --and should-- do so much better than this. Why settle for lightly scraping the surface of the Old Testament when one can dig deep and find the richest gospel treasure there?