Great and sometimes laughable | Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library)

Simply Great... | Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library)

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	• Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library) Baker Academic, 2001 - 1312 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Very good resource

I purchased the dictionary about four months ago to assist in my seminary classes. I have found this a helpful resource and sometimes have even just opened it up and read about a topic or person that I come to. The entries are detailed enough without being longwinded. It is particularly good for those looking for more information on historical theologians or theological thought, helps you trace the trends (and developments you have never even heard of) to give a good well-rounded picture of Christian history.

Great and sometimes laughable

I wasn't going to write a review, but I couldn't resist after reading the article on Freedom, Free Will, and Determinism.

My purpose in mentioning it is because I find it displaying a complete lack of honest scholarship. And this displays on the editor Elwell allowing such an article. It's a joke. I couldn't believe what I was reading until I glanced at the end of the article and found that it was written by Norman Geisler, and then it made sense.

Anyways, just to give one (out of many examples), Geisler attempts to provide counter arguments for the Edwardian view of the will. He calls Edwards a "theistic determinist," which is not accurate (but whatever), and then defines Edwardss position of the will as "freedom to do what one desires."

This is partially correct, but its stage one of the straw man he is preparing to knock down. He debunks this view of Edwards by saying, lol, "People do not always do what they desire; no one desires to carry out the garbage or clean a dirty oven. Further, people often desire to do what they do not decide to do, such as taking revenge on someone for wronging them."

Geisler would have the reader believe that Edwards thinks that a person will always, and only, do what they desire in the sense of equating desire with "what is pleasurable." Edwards' view is that one always chooses "as the greatest apparent good is..." as perceived by the mind at the moment of choice. Thus, in Geisler's conundrum, when the person has the option of taking out the trash or not, the issue is "what is the greatest apparent good at this time." If he chooses to take out the trash, which may be "undesirable," it will prove that the greatest apparent good is to not have a kitchen that smells.

This article brings shame on the Editor (at least in this instance) and writer. As I stated, it demonstrates a complete lack of honest scholarship. Geisler has a huge anti-Calvinistic ax to grind, and that shouldn't be present in a scholarly work such as a dictionary.

Leave Geisler in classical apologetics where he belongs...

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Simply Great...

This is one of the best books available for anyone serious about learning more on any given subject within Biblical Theology. The articles are surprisingly detailed for a one volume book and will be a great starting point for further study if you really wanted to get deep. The Theology is conservative and balanced and I cannot recommend this enough, it is a MUST HAVE book for your library and the revised volume is even better than the original first edition.

If you only by one general Theology book, make sure it is this one. If you only buy 2, then get this and Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. Between these 2 books you will get most of what you need about anything!

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Great reference book

This is a good theological reference book. I recommend it to all students who study theology.

A Reformed Dictionary

This is a great resource, but it is extremely Reformed in its perspective. The article on the means of grace, for instance, does not discuss the Lutheran view. The reader is often given the impression throughout this work that the standard or only view on various theological questions is that of the Reformed faith as opposed to the Lutheran or Arminian.

Fifteen years after its original publication comes a thoroughly revised edition of the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Every article from the original edition has been revisited. With some articles being removed, others revised, and many new articles added, the result is a completely new dictionary covering systematic, historical, and philosophical theology as well as theological ethics.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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