Professor Douglas Kump recently posted this review of Unseen Realm. It’s a nice overview that I think would be a good review to send along to family and friends to stimulate their interest in the book. My thanks to Douglas!
Lengthy Review of Unseen Realm
Thank you for posting this drmsh!
I’ve just purchased my 6th copy of this book. I’ve given them to neighbors, friends, family, pastors and prisoners. My next purchase will be for 2 seminary professors and this review will come in very handy! Arguably, this book has the most work to do in seminary because it’s the modern seminary that’s been largely responsible for stripping the Bible of its supernatural claims and context. A friend and I brought up your basic premise of UR (i.e. Psalm 82 -> Deut 32 -> Gen 11) to our OT professor (brilliant but modernist and one of the two I will purchasing this book for) and his response was, “that is is remarkably creative!” [insert frustration here].
It’s like spreading the gospel all over again! Any theological assertions by our favorite scholars (Wright, Hays, Bauckham, Beale, Enns, Brueggemann etc.) that have not been filtered through UR’s lens must now be revisited.
I love that this review didn’t forget to mention selective supernaturalism! In sharing this book with others, I’ve found that selective supernaturalism is at the heart of what we are dealing with each and every time. We have a calvinist pastor that attends our Bible study… Last night we were going over Romans 7 and the usage of “I”. Somewhere in the debate that Paul isn’t talking about himself but rather Adam, the conversation switched to me telling him about UR…
He said he had seen it on amazon and was interested but the “Sons of God” language weirded him out. I responded with, “but it’s in the Bible! If you are going to take the Bible seriously, then you have to follow the text wherever the the text may take you… which means you need to take the Sons of God language seriously. The fact that it makes you uncomfortable means that you need to explore it… not run away from it.” This led to a discussion of how we bend the Bible around our theology rather the other way around. He didn’t become a convert there on the spot but it did get him thinking.
All that to say… it’s a slow process, but you do have boots on the ground that are actively getting the word out to people. My friend and I tell people that if every Christian could only read 5 books over the Bible, this would be one of those 5. That seems to get through to people.
Thank you for all that you do! From the podcasts, to the books, to MIQLAT… it’s all very appreciated and badly needed. If the modern western church is to survive… it will need everything UR has to offer and more. I look forward to your 2016 and 2017 endeavors.
Yes – a slow process, but I don’t mind. It was never just about selling a book.