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Rating: 
Summary: How we relate to Abraham
Review: A fairly detailed look at the life of Abraham as recorded in Genesis. This book is organized for small group studies with each chapter focusing on one major section of Abraham's life and study questions at the end. The major focus is the growth of Abraham's walk with God and the lessons we can learn in our similarly fallen lives and circumstances. Abraham committed some big sins! So do we. How does God work even through those to "grow up" Abraham and bring about His promises? That's a big theme in this book. Occasionally, the author stretches the text to make an illustration. The points made are good and true, but they are not necessarily backed up in the biblical texts studied. I still recommend the book, just be aware of this.
Rating:
Summary: How we relate to Abraham
Review: A fairly detailed look at the life of Abraham as recorded in Genesis. This book is organized for small group studies with each chapter focusing on one major section of Abraham's life and study questions at the end. The major focus is the growth of Abraham's walk with God and the lessons we can learn in our similarly fallen lives and circumstances. Abraham committed some big sins! So do we. How does God work even through those to "grow up" Abraham and bring about His promises? That's a big theme in this book. Occasionally, the author stretches the text to make an illustration. The points made are good and true, but they are not necessarily backed up in the biblical texts studied. I still recommend the book, just be aware of this.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I was excited when I discovered this series, The Gospel According to the Old Testament, published by P&R. I thought someone had finally published a series of books for the average reader that thematically, structurally, and typologically showed how the gospel is anticipated in the lives of the Old Testament saints. I purchased this book and eagerly anticipated its arrival. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I was very much disappointed with what I got. This book works its way through the Genesis account of Abraham's life, and it does try to be gospel-oriented. But instead of focusing on the text and really drawing out the rich imagery and powerful gospel themes that can be unearthed in every Old Testament passage, the author discusses such things only for a moment, then inevitably heads for some superficial application to the "Christian life." In every chapter the reader is aching to hear more about the greater gospel, biblical, and theological significance of God's calling Abraham when he was in the Chaldean city, or Abraham's sojourning in Egypt during a time of famine, or Abraham's seeking a bride for his son from a far-off place. But Duguid inevitably bounces off such subjects to applications that read like mediocre sermon notes. This book claims to be good biblical theology, but what little biblical theology is there is covered up or minimized, as if the "average" readers couldn't handle the big stuff. But they can! And it would be overwhelmingly encouraging and educational to them if they were to see how deep and wide the gospel runs throughout ALL the Bible! I had intended to buy all of this series, but now I have no desire to read any more. We can --and should-- do so much better than this. Why settle for lightly scraping the surface of the Old Testament when one can dig deep and find the richest gospel treasure there? I cannot recommend this book for pastoral, research, personal study, or group study purposes. Instead, try something like Leithart's A House For My Name (ISBN 1885767692), or if you want to dig a bit deeper try Gage's Gospel of Genesis (1579106080).
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I was excited when I discovered this series, The Gospel According to the Old Testament, published by P&R. I thought someone had finally published a series of books for the average reader that thematically, structurally, and typologically showed how the gospel is anticipated in the lives of the Old Testament saints. I purchased this book and eagerly anticipated its arrival. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I was very much disappointed with what I got. This book works its way through the Genesis account of Abraham's life, and it does try to be gospel-oriented. But instead of focusing on the text and really drawing out the rich imagery and powerful gospel themes that can be unearthed in every Old Testament passage, the author discusses such things only for a moment, then inevitably heads for some superficial application to the "Christian life." In every chapter the reader is aching to hear more about the greater gospel, biblical, and theological significance of God's calling Abraham when he was in the Chaldean city, or Abraham's sojourning in Egypt during a time of famine, or Abraham's seeking a bride for his son from a far-off place. But Duguid inevitably bounces off such subjects to applications that read like mediocre sermon notes. This book claims to be good biblical theology, but what little biblical theology is there is covered up or minimized, as if the "average" readers couldn't handle the big stuff. But they can! And it would be overwhelmingly encouraging and educational to them if they were to see how deep and wide the gospel runs throughout ALL the Bible! I had intended to buy all of this series, but now I have no desire to read any more. We can --and should-- do so much better than this. Why settle for lightly scraping the surface of the Old Testament when one can dig deep and find the richest gospel treasure there? I cannot recommend this book for pastoral, research, personal study, or group study purposes. Instead, try something like Leithart's A House For My Name (ISBN 1885767692), or if you want to dig a bit deeper try Gage's Gospel of Genesis (1579106080).
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