I wanted to review this book because it was suppose to go into detail how Jesus was referred to in the “Old Testament” in types and shadows all the way into the New Testament.
After receiving this book and beginning to read it, I must admit that it was a bit of disappointment. I was disappointed for several reasons. I like to be able to enjoy what I am reading, and to feel like I am actually learning and retaining some knowledge. This book totally confused me from the beginning.
He had complex ideas, and wrote with a million dollar vocabulary to the point of me having to have a dictionary handy. He included other scholarly authors opinions which of course I was unable to understand. It seem to me that I had bitten off more than I could chew with this book, and I too have been to college, but evidently not to the extent that these authors have.
I have to say, this book truly made me feel STUPID. I could not understand what he was trying to tell me. He was speaking about grace at one point. To me, it has always been simple, cut and dried. During the Old Testament, the people abode by “the law”. They atoned their sins by their animal sacrifices for which God forgave their sins for a year because of the animal’s blood. During the New Testament, the sacrifice of HUMAN BLOOD was given by Jesus which in turn allowed God to forgive our sins FOREVER. This to me was grace.
This was just one instance of my non-understanding of this book. I have to say though to be fair, there were some parts that I was able to enjoy, such as when he was talking about the Ministry of the Prophets. He spoke of our need for them and the reason God placed them here to speak God’s Word to the people. He went on to explain the “divine calling, the varied descriptions and the divine revelations of the prophets as well as the covenantal roles, the rejection they went through. He went on to explain the Message of the Prophets and delved deeper into their ministry.
By the time I got to the end of the book I had really begun to enjoy it because it dealt more with Christ Himself rather than “shadows”, and it included study questions. Maybe when I go back and start doing those questions I will hopefully understand more about David Murray’s “Jesus On Every Page".
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Murray was a pastor in Scotland for twelve years before
crossing "the pond" in 2007 to take up his present position as Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He is the author of Christians Get Depressed Too and How Sermons Work. He is also president of HeadHeartHand media, a small Christian film company that has produced two DVDs: God's Technology and CrossReference: The Angel of the Lord. David is married to Shona and they have five children. They all love skiing, fishing, and camping around beautiful Lake Michigan.
He blogs at HeadHeartHand.org and you can follow him on Twitter@DavidPMurray.
I would not go as far as to say this is not a good book, because the good intentions are there and for a more educated person or one with "great retention" it would be informative, but for the AVERAGE reader, I cannot say that I would recommend this book. If you are not the type of person who relates to a higher educational way of writing, or have a VERY DEEP thought process and enjoy analyzing everything you read, I would not recommend this book. It is definitely not for the “light” reader, or person who likes things spelled out in a simple format.
Have a Wonderful Evening and May God Bless!
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2 comments:
Dear PJ,
The first chapter of 1 Corinthians says that God uses the foolish in this world to confound the wise.
Many, including myself, would find easy to understand blogs such as yours more edifying than long articles spoken with academic or eloquent wording.
Sorry for the delay in commenting, as things are upside down at the moment.
God bless.
Hi PJ,
I haven't read the book, but I agree with what the other commenter said, that simple works best. I recently bought a book that I saw them discussing on LinkedIn as being a great book. It's supposed to retell the story of the book of Hosea which is really a portrait of God's love for us. But what this author did was, she started out with the child being sold into prostitution and later finding true love. From the minute I got to where she was about to be sold, I put the book down. Any form of child abuse turns me off. Big time. I'd hoped to write a review on my blog, but now I can't because I won't finish reading the book.
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