His alone

GODLY JEALOUSY
A theology of intolerant love
By K. Eric Thoennes. Christian Focus. 304 pages. £10.99
ISBN 978-1-84550-027-6

Eric Thoennes has set out to write a book that is ‘scholarly yet accessible’ on the great subject of God’s jealousy. This book is a worthy book. There is no doubt about that. It thoroughly explains a key characteristic of our holy and almighty God and shows how Scripture defines and describes his jealousy. Yes, it’s a worthy book; yet it’s difficult to recommend it wholeheartedly.

First of all, it is too technical for most readers. Greek and Hebrew words abound; there are footnotes on nearly every page, sometimes taking up more than two thirds of the page space; the bibliography runs to over 200 references. This makes the format very difficult to penetrate. Secondly, it is too descriptive. The book does a thorough job of identifying God’s jealousy (and human jealousy of the same kind) from Scripture but spends precious little time applying this great truth — just a short 20 page chapter which feels like it has been added into a theological thesis. Some US books frustrate with their over-long illustrations and anecdotes — this book was crying out for just one!