A Pre-Review

This past June, Chris’ book was officially released.  We’ve been waiting for it to be reviewed, and a pre-review appeared this weekend on the personal blog of the reviewer.  It is by Rafael Rodriguez, who is reviewing it for the Biblical Theology Bulletin.  Chris was in Seminary with Rafael, and I was eager to see what he had to say. 

First, I cannot resist posting an interesting side-story about Chris and Rafael.  Before Chris and Rafael knew one another, Chris was an undergrad and took a class that Rafael was the TA for.  As Rafael was grading the research papers from the class, he came across Chris’ paper.  The paper was so good that he pulled it out to show the professor who was teaching the class. This actually was not a compliment-it was so good that he was concerned that Chris had cheated.  It was particularly good for a basketball player, as I understand. :)  The teacher called Chris into his office, and upon discussion regarding his topic and the paper, realized that Chris had not plagiarized, understood very acutely what he was discussing in his paper, and was in fact a very sharp student.  That professor took an interest in Chris after that point, and came to be, along with his wife, some of our very best friends.  We still laugh about this, and I couldn’t help but share it.

Anyway, back to the review.  Rafael gives a very mini-synopsis of what he has read and what is to come, but it is already fairly complimentary, saying among other things, “After the last book I reviewed, it's a breath of fresh air to read a well-written, concise, and clear argument. On top of that, Chris is one of the most insightful NT critics I've met personally. Needless to say, I'm enjoying the book.” 

If you are interested in reading the rest of his thoughts on the book check here, or to see the book itself, check here.  I have previously stated that shameless bragging on my husband and kid are to be expected on my own personal blog.  And since I am a wife, though I care about his summary of Chris’ work, I looked for the “It’s great” or “It’s crap” statements, and was not surprised to find the former.