Curriculum

HEREIN IS LOVE: Leviticus, by Nancy E. Ganz, Shalom Publications, 2002. Commentary is 120pp. Teacher’s Manual is 35pp. This is the third of the author’s Herein ls Love OT commentary series.

In almost conversational style, the author has characterized and explained for today’s readers one of the most difficult OT books. Her introduction forthrightly challenges moderns regarding its relevance: its preferred author (Moses), its concern with worship and being acceptable to God, its inclusion of the law of love, and its Christocentric undertones.

Commentaries, even on hard topics like this, are no rare commodity these days. So what commends this little volume in the face of all the others? First, it can be read by teenagers because of its clarity of expression and lack of technical terminology. Second, it makes ample use of the New Testament in order to clarify how and why the Old was given. Third, its eleven chapters (which average about 10 pages each) are topically arranged rather than conforming to the chapter divisions of the printed Bible. For example, the various sacrifices of Leviticus 1–7 and 17, are subsumed under the first chapter of Ganz’s work. Fourth, it addresses both private and community relationships with God. Fifth, it is highly pictorial and imaginative in the discussion. For example, when dealing with the relevance of OT dietary laws to holiness (Chap. 4), Ganz’s creative explanatory abilities shine through:

Chicken soup was kosher; owl soup was not. Pigeon pie was allowed, but a pie made out of blackbirds was not a dainty dish to set before a king or anyone else, because any kind of raven was detestable.…According to the laws in Leviticus, you would be allowed fried grasshoppers or chocolate-coated crickets for a snack, but not a bowl of spiders or caterpillars!

Appropriately, by the end of the chapter, she has moved to Jesus’ discussion of clean hearts in Matthew 15 and Paul’s application of it to the church in Romans 14. Most importantly, of course, she relates the materials to righteousness in Christ.

The author’s creative streak also animates the accompanying teacher’s manual. Keeping in mind a typical one-hour class, Ganz proposes visual aids and crafts, memory activities, relevant psalms to sing, and review questions. For example, in connection with the fourth chapter mentioned above, she suggests bringing all­beef, Hebrew National brand kosher hot dogs to class as a snack. Surely, activities such as this will help even the most skeptical student digest the substance of Leviticus.

Worship

WITH REVERENCE AND AWE: Returning to the Basics of Reformed Worship, by D.G. Hart and John R Muether, P&R Publishing, 2002. Reviewed by Charles Brown.

As a recent graduate of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, I have had the privilege of reading a number of fine books over the past three years. Yet, I can justly say that this volume stands as one of the finest books that I have read in that period, due to three factors.

First, the subject matter is of utmost importance, especially in a day when Reformed churches demonstrate much confusion when it comes to worship. Hart and Muether remind us that we have no higher calling in life than the calling to worship our Creator.

Second, the book approaches the subject of worship from an explicitly Reformed perspective. Of course, the view of worship presented in this book claims to be rooted primarily in the Scriptures. However, Hart and Muether are also in touch with church history. As the title suggests, the authors want Reformed churches to go back to their roots, thus dumping the Arminian and Baptistic refuse that has crept into worship.

Finally, this book addresses the basics of worship with clarity and concision. Volumes could be written about Reformed worship, but Hart and Muether have packed this easy-to-read book with a wealth of insight. The material in the book was originally prepared for an adult Sabbath school class, and the book could easily be used in a small-group study.

Nevertheless, an important error mars this book. The authors misunderstand the nature of song in worship. In discussing the elements, forms, and circumstances of worship, they contend that “song is an element of worship” and “what we sing in worship—whether psalms or hymns—is a form of worship.” However, as the Westminster Confession instructs us, “the singing of psalms” is the element of worship; and the 150 psalms of which we sing are the form.

Still, do not let this error deter you from reading With Reverence and Awe. Hart and Muether are quite sympathetic to psalmody, lamenting its decline among Presbyterians (p. 155). They also offer this important reminder to those who sing the psalms exclusively: “Churches that only sing from the Psalter, then, need to have a good understanding of the Old Testament and how it reveals Christ” (p. 163). Amen! Read this book and you will be challenged to “return to the basics of Reformed worship.”

Doctrine

BIBLICAL TEACHING ON THE DOCTRINES OF HEAVEN AND HELL, by Edward Donnelly, Banner of Truth, 2001. (Available from Crown & Covenant.) Reviewed by Tom Reid.

Pastor Ted Donnelly of the Irish Reformed Presbyterian Church has developed a wide-ranging preaching and writing ministry out of his long experience of pastoral labors in Ireland and Cyprus. Lectures given in Tennessee have become a book on the difficult, and often avoided, doctrines of heaven and hell.

Hell receives a respectful and serious discussion, without lapsing into morbidness. The biblical viewpoint, so out of tune with today’s thought, is described in a way that makes it seem more winsome than usual. Nevertheless, the author’s conclusion is inescapable: Hell is a place nobody should wish to go. Be sure that you are going rather to heaven!

The treatment of heaven, covering a subject more familiar, seems less gripping. However, the common jibe that Christians “are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good” has quenched our generation’s contemplation of this most-wonderful place of God’s promised presence and blessing, and we must work to regain that perspective. This book is a big step forward in that endeavor.

All the attractive qualities of Pastor Donnelly’s ministry are on display here: the clarity of expression, the turn of phrase, the new insight into Scripture, the apt illustration, and, above all, the trenchant application. Several recent books have considered the same subject (the author acknowledges his indebtedness to some of them) but, if you are going to read one book on the subject, this book is the one to take up for reading, meditating, and preparing.