Book Review
Interpretation And Inspiration, John F. Walvoord — Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., U.S.A.
This is a volume for the more advanced student of the Bible. He will be attracted by the honesty and candour of both the contributors and the editor. As is suggested by the title, this work is an investigation into the teaching of the doctrine of Inspiration and into the methods of interpretation as these were held and practised by prominent leaders throughout Church history.
The volume represents much painstaking effort, and may be considered an enquiry into truth and error as these exist in Christendom. Its careful perusal reveals the weaknesses of even great men.
The earlier sections deal with the loyalty of Irenaeus to the Scriptures, the allegorizing of Augustine, the place of the Bible in the Reformation, John Calvin’s stress upon Divine Sovereignty, Wesley’s meaning of inner light. The closing sections expose the spirit of departure and compromise in such men as Dr. Sanday, and uncover the fallacy of so-called Neo-orthodoxy as taught by Drs. Brunner and Niebuhr and those associated with them.
The closing words by Dr. Henry are pregnant with meaning: “The controversy raised by what men say about the Bible is a matter of changing fashion. But the controversy engendered by what the Bible says about men is agelong, and upon the way each man settles this turns the eternal destiny of the human soul.”
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