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 PrintableVersion The Land of PromiseThrow away your Scofield!The Land of Promise This book stems from the 1999 Annual Conference of the Biblical Theology Study Group of the Tyndale Fellowship on 'The Land.' It should be of particular interest to readers of EN who have been following the recent articles and correspondence about the present day land of Israel. The subject of the book is encapsulated in what Peter Walker says on p.119. 'It need hardly be said that the Holy Land today is raising profound issues for the Christian Church - both about the past and about its vision for the future.' The editors, no doubt, had their reasons for putting the articles in the order they are, but I would like to advise readers that some of the more academic articles are at the beginning and they should not be put off by the multiplicity of biblical references in Paul Williamson's initial article. A later chapter entitled 'Zionism and the Land: a Palestinian Christian perspective' by Naim Ateek gives a very clear picture of the problems. Deryck Sheriff's article needs careful study. I felt that his analogy of snapshots and spectacles with regard to hermeneutics was in danger of forcing the mould on the material rather than the other way round. I take it that 'cognitive dissonance', 'optimistic illusion' and the 'failure of prophecy' means there is a large gap between the promises of God about the possession of the land both at the time of Joshua and at the time of the return from Babylon, and we have to face up to the problem. Why is this so? Was God wrong? Is Scripture unreliable? Can we see a way through or is a non-literal hermeneutic just a fudge? Space prevents me discussing each article in detail, but they all contribute from their different perspectives. Stephen Sizer, who has written recently in EN, writes on Dispensationalism. Some of his facts made my hair stand on end. Gordon Thomas, the Secretary of the Tyndale Group, has a final chapter which acts as a personal review of the whole book. Like him I had a Scofield Bible in my youth. Then Dr. Basil Atkinson poured scorn on anyone putting his own notes on the same pages as Holy Writ. This was like a breath of fresh air to me. I bought a new Bible and turned away from the dispensationalist notes. To read all these years later that there are some people trying to breed pure red heifers ready for the return of sacrifice made me inclined to cry like Victor Meldrew: 'I don't believe it.' This is an excellent and much needed book. But how does the argument filter down from the scholars to the Christian public? John Marsh© Evangelicals Now - March 2001 |
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