For me, then, the most anticipated book release of 2012 is "Kingdom Through Covenant," by Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum. In this book, an Old Testament Professor(Gentry) and a Systematic/Biblical Theology Professor(Wellum) team up to examine what they call the backbone of both testaments. Here is the publisher's description:
Many theological discussions come to an impasse when parties align behind either covenant theology or dispensationalism. But Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum now propose a significant biblical theology of the covenants that avoids the extremes of both classical systems and holds the potential to break the theological impasse. Kingdom through Covenant is not a system-driven work, but a careful exposition of the covenants as key to the narrative plot structure of the whole Bible.
Kingdom through Covenant emphasizes the importance of the covenant concept throughout Scripture, showing that crucial theological differences can be resolved by understanding how the biblical covenants unfold and relate to one another. Rather than looking at covenant as the center of biblical theology, the authors show how the covenants form the backbone of Scripture and the key to understanding its overarching story. They ultimately show that the covenant concept forms a solid platform for systematic theology.
By incorporating the latest available research from the ancient Near East and examining implications of their work for Christology, ecclesiology, eschatology, and hermeneutics—Gentry and Wellum present a thoughtful and viable alternative to both covenant theology and dispensationalism.
Canadians can pre-order it at a hefty discount here.
Americans can get an even better discount here.
Buy it and read it!
(Did I mention that both of these professors are Canadians? From my neck of the woods? The potential blessing of reading it just multiplied tenfold!)
