Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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281 of 291 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scripture Saturated Systematic Theology, December 26, 2000
Though I have found immense help in Dr. Grudem's book over the past months, I have post-poned a review in order to get a complete reading of it first. Now that I have read it all, I can say that this may be the best systematic theology written in the 20th century.Dr. Grudem combines theological insight, practical application, and faithful exegesis of Scripture with simple, uncomplicated language and clear thinking. The result? The most readable and informative Systematic Theology one could desire. Every chapter starts with a question and ends with application questions and a hymn! Education is turned into exaltation over and over again as Grudem moves you from deep thinking to appropriate feeling about the greatest truths in the universe. The arrangement of topics is typical. Grudem covers the doctrine of God, man, Christ, salvation, church, and last things. Like any book of this magnitude, it has strengths and weaknesses. But the strengths are more than the weaknesses. The section on theology proper (the doctrine of God) is outstanding. Grudem's explanation of the Trinity is very helpful avoiding both modalism and arianism. His treatment of God's character and attributes is especially good, arguing strongly against the "open" view of God and process theology. The chapters on Creation and Providence are also very well-done containing lengthy Scriptural arguments for his position. His soteriology is Reformed and not much different than you would get from Berkhof or Murray. Still good, though. Grudem spends much time discussing the Holy Spirit (though the chapters are scattered around the book and not in one section)and especially the church. His understanding of the nature of the church is excellent avoiding denominationalism, yet affirming a very Biblically-grounded argument for plural elders governing a congregational church. He is baptistic in polity, though not dogmatic on the issue. He believes that charismatic gifts are still current in the church today, but is wary of extremes. Whether one agrees with Grudem or not on this issue, he should be read, because he approaches the subject from a scholarly standpoint with supreme concern for the text of Scripture. One can't afford to neglect his arguments in forming their opinions (I still somewhat unsettled on many questions relating to this and so do not write from a bias.) On last things, Grudem defends historic premillenialism and presents some thoughtful arguments to both amillenialism and dispensational pre-tribulation premillenialists. He should be read here. But again, he proceeds with caution. The weakest chapter of the book is the one on the Atonement. Although Grudem provides some excellent scholarship on the question of Christ's "descent into hell" here, there is a lack of depth in his treatment of this most glorious doctrine. Berkhof and Gill are better. Overall this is an excellent book. It's greatest strength is its textual basis. Grudem's chief concern is to be Scriptural and for the most part he succeeds well. You don't have to be a theologian to read this book. But you will become a theologian if you do.
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58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why is this book so good?, January 8, 2006
Although I personally disagree with a number of the positions held in this book, and might agree more with other Systematic Theologies, this one is by far the best. It truly is head and shoulders above any of the other Systematic Theologies I have surveyed--including Hodge, Erickson, Wiley, Miley, Geisler and others--although each has it's value.
First, it's designed for the layman, but meaty enough for those with more education. It handles challenging issues without getting off into extraneous detail. You go right to the crux of the issue. In addition, Grudem's tone feels kind. You really feel that he is instructing you in love. As many have pointed out, it really has a devotional quality to it in many places, including appropriate hymns at the end of each chapter. Look for that in another theology!
Second, it has excellent helps. For example, he indexes many of the major Systematic Theologies at the end of each chapter. This allows you to very easily compare his perspective with another, and do deeper reasearch.
Third, it's broad yet concise. I really feel that with this book on my shelf, I have access to the crux of a lot of major doctrinal issues. It covers many many issues from the atonement to miracles and the baptism of the holy spirit.
Fourth, it is truly a Biblical approach. It's not just a doctrinaire polemic about pet positions. Just reading one chapter really challenged me and reinspired me to examine the Bible more closely--that is because that is exactly what Grudem himself is attempting. He's building up doctrine from Scripture, not the reverse.
I believe this book is destined to become a classic, and perhaps redefine the genre. Start here.
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54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
In many ways, this is an excellent work, October 22, 2002
I have given this work by Wayne Grudem 5 stars not because I agree word for word with everything he espouses here, because I don't. I am of the view that theology, as a discipline, is like any other discipline in being a human endeavor, and therefore, is fallible. When reviewing works of theology, I believe in being careful about not expecting any theological work to approach a level of infallibility that only Scripture can ever attain. But in reading and reviewing theological material, I do expect the author to put forth an intelligent, logical, rational, persuasive BIBLICAL presentation that hangs together internally as well as biblically. So despite my reservations and disagreements with some of what Grudem puts forth here, I think it deserves 5 stars because in my view, this work gets the job done.There are a number of clear strengths to this book. First, this book is by far the most accessible systematic treatment of theology I've ever read. If there is any systematic theology book that theology novices could really sink their teeth into, this is it. This book, while effectively dealing with the many difficult theological issues that need to be dealt with in any adequate systematic theology, avoids drowning these difficult issues in difficult terminology that too many systematic theologies wrongly assume are common terms that non-theology focused Christians understand and don't need defining. This is what makes so many systematic theologies inaccessible to most Christians. While it's true that this represents a sad commentary on the relevance of theological fundamentals and ideas in the minds of too many Christians, I felt that this book by Grudem is a great place to begin reeducating everyday Christians to think theologically and to be able to grasp the material without being intimidated. This is an enormous strength of this book. Second, I find myself agreeing with many of the endorsements of this book from a diverse variety of theological perspectives in saying that this book is respectful of varying theological traditions and is clearly written in a spirit of Christian love. Grudem is mostly reformed in his theology and clearly articulates a reformed theology here. But he does so without being disrespectful to alternate viewpoints. In addition, his bibliography at the end of each chapter and at the end of the book is extremely thorough in giving readers a long list of resources from a variety of theological traditions. Third, I felt that Grudem's book was fairly thorough in dealing with the many areas of systematic theology. I felt that his section on ecclesiology was especially good, while also clearly articulating persuasive positions on election, reprobation, grace, and providence. Having said all this, I do believe that Grudem's book reflects a disproportionate emphasis on charismatic gifts that was both unpersuasive and overdone. Grudem clearly makes an investment in this book to advancing charismatic operativeness. In fact, it seemed to me that Grudem devoted more time to this particular issue than on many of the fundamental doctrines of God and salvation. Given that the operativeness vs cessationist debate is (or at least should be) a secondary issue, I did think it was inappropriate for Grudem to treat this issue as if it was a primary article of faith, which is unfortunately a common attitude that has encompassed the charismatic gift issue in elements of both sides of the debate. In the end, while I was close to giving the book 4 stars because of the sometimes missplaced emphasis outlined above, I felt that this book was simply too good in too many other areas to demote the review I'm giving it. I wholeheartedly agree with Grudem's introduction where he desires Christians to think theologically because theology is not a dry, academic exercise, but a vibrant expression of God's faithfulness that can dramatically transform our faith when undertaken in obedience to God. Since I think this book has reintroduced the wonder and amazement of theology to so many Christians who had previously adopted a 'see no evil, hear no evil' attitude towards theology which I think is a terribly half baked approach to the Christian life, I believe that Grudem has done the body of Christ an enormous service which will hopefully result in greater interest and passion in contemplating the great things of God as a joyful endeavor of the mind.
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