Systematic Theology

Rating:
Summary: A Spiritual Systematic Theology
Review: I read Grudem's work in conjunction with Millard Erickson's similar work. Grudem is a little simpler read than Erickson, although at times he will require the reader to think hard, especially concerning salvation. Grudem comes from a post-tribulational, charismatic-calvinist bent.

The work is unashamedly evangelical, although Grudem will at times express his indebtedness to non-evangelical theologians. Most evangelicals will agree with him on the doctrines of God, Bible, and creation. The points of difference for evangelicals will be salvation (many good argumetns from many positions), the authority within the church, and the millenium. This book differs from other theologies at the end of each chapter. Grudem offers study questions, memory verses, hymns, and a bibliography for furthter study.

I found that Grudem's most well argued sections were :salvation, Providence, modern day gifts (for which i remain unconvinced), and the millennium (also unconvinced). His logic for the most part is impeccable. I read this book alongside Erickson and Calvin and found it most helpful. It is well worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Systematic proof texting
Review: Wayne Grudem is often hailed as the common mans theologian. He has attempted to create and accessible and readable systematic theology. Grudems certainly achieves this, however, it is unfortunate that the book is simply bad. Its use of poor prose and systematic proof texting means that the books is an uncontrable waste of money. In Grudems attempts to render the book accessible he simply strings a long list of verses together with some rather flimsy, superficial exergesis. It has been and will continue to be a popular book within charasmatic circles due to Grudems stance on tongues, yet what ever you wish to believe about that and other controversial issues there are better books to buy.

Rating:
Summary: Very Conservative Protestant Theology
Review: In recent years there have been a variety of systematic theologies written by Evangelical authors. Wayne Grudem's work is probably the best example of a systematic theology written by a very conservative Protestant. The doctrinal lineup for this work is somewhat interesting: Reformed, charismatic, Baptist and postmillennial.

The only problem with this book is that it is focused principally on the Biblical material and provides minimal historical background to the topics addressed. To the extent that conflicting viewpoints are discussed, it's normally within the evangelical world. For example, there is no mention of Aquinas, much less Karl Rahner or Henri de Lubac.

The reader approaching the study of Christian theology for the first time probably should supplement it with James Garrett's SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY or Millard Erickson's CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent devotional theology
Review: It is rather unusual to mix a devotional with hard-core theology, but Professor Grudem has done it. And rightly so, because the head without the heart is fruitless, and the heart without the head is without knowledge.

Grudem gives excellent explanations of all his positions with solid Biblical backing. He balances this with personal applications in the lives of readers, and gives us "hooks" to supplement our worship and devotion. What a rare combination! Another thing that really makes this book excellent is that Grudem actually gives serious consideration to opposing points of view. It is true, he argues (using extensive Biblical citations) that those opposing points of view are wrong. But then, isn't that what he's supposed to do?

I cannot disagree more with the liberal reviewer from Liverpool, England, who panned this book because it takes a conservative theological position that is not "relevant" to people's lives. I suppose that some people might consider it irrelevant. Of course, the sad part is, it's more relevant for them than for anybody, if they would only admit it. "Those that are well are not in need of a savior." Besides, Grudem specifically says in his introduction that it's not true that liberals have nothing worthwhile to say (although liberals might say that about him); all he says is that for his current purposes, he has to mostly discount the liberal positions. 1,200 pages is apparently not enough for some people. Finally, Grudem DOES enumerate some liberal positions; it's just that he proves them wrong (with solid Biblical backing).

It may take our friend from Liverpool by surprise, but I don't agree 100% with all the positions Grudem takes; but I appreciate how Grudem lays out the positions and their support. Within the Christian world, he includes not only Reformed positions, but also the positions of all the major branches of Christianity, including Dispensational, Arminian, Charismatic, and Roman Catholic. I dare say this is as wide-ranging a survey of these topics as you're likely to find in a single book.

In summary, this book isn't supposed to be a comprehensive survey of all possible points of view on all possible theological topics; "all the books in the world could not hold" that much. Rather, it is a very well-written and fairly comprehensive enumeration of topics of Christianity. I highly recommend it and read it almost daily.

Rating:
Summary: THEOLOGY 101 is COOL!
Review: I took several classes with Dr. Grudem, and he is an excellent professor. This book was one of the first theology books that I owned and come to use as a regular referance for theological questions.
For the seminary student a definite MUST HAVE, even if you don't agree with all his views.
For the new Christian a definite MUST HAVE, because you need to understand why the Bible teaches what it teaches. Don't get your "Bible education" only from the pulpit.
For the Adult learner a definite MUST HAVE, because you can never learn too much! An older adult friend of mine enjoyed reading this book. She was so surprised to find out that people have written about basic theological ideas in one volume.
For the Bible study teacher a definite MUST HAVE, because your students will ask the deepest questions at the most unusal times. This is the best source to guide your discussions.
One more thing I love about this book. After each chapter he gives a HYMN that relates to the theological topic he has just discussed. This makes so much sense! Why? Because musical lyrics and music reinforce ideas that we believe and feel strongly about. I use to love that Dr. Grudem would make us sing a hymn before class started. One of my most favorite memories is singing an Easter hymn in class.

Rating:
Summary: Tediously pedestrian presentation of standard Reformed dogma
Review: Make no bones about it: Grudem's Systematic Theology represents about the dullest and least inspired end of the evangelical theological spectrum. His method is only too obvious: Announce your conclusions; line up the prooftexts; shoot holes through everyone else's prooftexts; proudly announce the matter settled.

Grudem's 1200-page tome is not hard to understand, yet its banality makes it unreadable except for those who share his uncritical prooftexting approach to theology. He consciously avoids interaction with non-conservative sources on the grounds that dialogue with theologians or scholars who do not maintain a belief in the inerrancy of the Bible is fruitless. This view of Scripture is set out in the first view chapters in a formulaic manner that will convince only his fellow inerrantists. From thereon in, Grudem ploughs through the standard Reformed doctrines with utter sincerity and conviction, and yet utterly unconvincing to all but card-carrying members of his world.

By way of example of the trite and mind-numbing nature of Grudem's theology, note the twenty-four pages he offers on the doctrine of the Trinity, most of which is spent proving his case, refuting opposing viewpoints, and barely a page explaining what relevance it has for Christian theology and faith. The picture we get is that the Trinity is merely a dogma to be defended because it is true. Whether it really means anything appears secondary. We get no vision of what overarching implications the Trinity might have for Christians, but just a few contrived and unconnected points that fall woefully short of integrating the dogma into anything approaching a coherent Christian theology.

I feel I have been rather harsh with Grudem, but perhaps deservedly. He frequently throws up simplistic answers to his opponents' arguments and quotes Bible texts in support of his own views (basically the Calvinism of the Westminster Confession) in an alarmingly glib manner, rarely offering any real exegesis, and rarely justifying his philosophical assumptions (indeed, we get the impression he thinks he has none TO defend).

This may well give you a thorough overview of conservative Reformed evangelicalism (with, importantly, a charismatic bent), but outside of that narrow scope of usefulness, its value is severely limited.

Rating:
Summary: Naive theological method at its most banal
Review: Grudem's book is fatally flawed because of his professed theological method. He states that the discipline of systematic theology involves nothing more than the systematizing and organizing of biblical materials. One simply takes all the biblical passages about a topic, organizes them better, and, voila!, one has "systematic theology."

This represents an absolute conflation of biblical studies, biblical theology, and systematic theology. The distinctions between these field may often be over-emphasized, but there are significant differences.

Furthermore, Grudem doesn't follow his own method; no one could. It is impossible to move, for example, from biblical passages to a full doctrine of the Trinity without significant work being done on tradition, philosophy, religious presuppositions, etc.

This work is real and necessary to systematic theology. No amount of simple "textual rearranging" will produce systematic theology. (That's why sytematics from different times and places always look so different).

I am a convinced evangelical Christian, which is why I find this book to be an absolute embarrasment. The interested evangelical could certainly do better elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: In many ways, this is an excellent work
Review: I have given this work by Wayne Grudem 5 stars not because I agree word for word with everything he espouses here, because I don't. I am of the view that theology, as a discipline, is like any other discipline in being a human endeavor, and therefore, is fallible. When reviewing works of theology, I believe in being careful about not expecting any theological work to approach a level of infallibility that only Scripture can ever attain. But in reading and reviewing theological material, I do expect the author to put forth an intelligent, logical, rational, persuasive BIBLICAL presentation that hangs together internally as well as biblically. So despite my reservations and disagreements with some of what Grudem puts forth here, I think it deserves 5 stars because in my view, this work gets the job done.

There are a number of clear strengths to this book. First, this book is by far the most accessible systematic treatment of theology I've ever read. If there is any systematic theology book that theology novices could really sink their teeth into, this is it. This book, while effectively dealing with the many difficult theological issues that need to be dealt with in any adequate systematic theology, avoids drowning these difficult issues in difficult terminology that too many systematic theologies wrongly assume are common terms that non-theology focused Christians understand and don't need defining. This is what makes so many systematic theologies inaccessible to most Christians. While it's true that this represents a sad commentary on the relevance of theological fundamentals and ideas in the minds of too many Christians, I felt that this book by Grudem is a great place to begin reeducating everyday Christians to think theologically and to be able to grasp the material without being intimidated. This is an enormous strength of this book.

Second, I find myself agreeing with many of the endorsements of this book from a diverse variety of theological perspectives in saying that this book is respectful of varying theological traditions and is clearly written in a spirit of Christian love. Grudem is mostly reformed in his theology and clearly articulates a reformed theology here. But he does so without being disrespectful to alternate viewpoints. In addition, his bibliography at the end of each chapter and at the end of the book is extremely thorough in giving readers a long list of resources from a variety of theological traditions.

Third, I felt that Grudem's book was fairly thorough in dealing with the many areas of systematic theology. I felt that his section on ecclesiology was especially good, while also clearly articulating persuasive positions on election, reprobation, grace, and providence.

Having said all this, I do believe that Grudem's book reflects a disproportionate emphasis on charismatic gifts that was both unpersuasive and overdone. Grudem clearly makes an investment in this book to advancing charismatic operativeness. In fact, it seemed to me that Grudem devoted more time to this particular issue than on many of the fundamental doctrines of God and salvation. Given that the operativeness vs cessationist debate is (or at least should be) a secondary issue, I did think it was inappropriate for Grudem to treat this issue as if it was a primary article of faith, which is unfortunately a common attitude that has encompassed the charismatic gift issue in elements of both sides of the debate.

In the end, while I was close to giving the book 4 stars because of the sometimes missplaced emphasis outlined above, I felt that this book was simply too good in too many other areas to demote the review I'm giving it. I wholeheartedly agree with Grudem's introduction where he desires Christians to think theologically because theology is not a dry, academic exercise, but a vibrant expression of God's faithfulness that can dramatically transform our faith when undertaken in obedience to God. Since I think this book has reintroduced the wonder and amazement of theology to so many Christians who had previously adopted a 'see no evil, hear no evil' attitude towards theology which I think is a terribly half baked approach to the Christian life, I believe that Grudem has done the body of Christ an enormous service which will hopefully result in greater interest and passion in contemplating the great things of God as a joyful endeavor of the mind.

Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent theology book
Review: I teach an adult Sunday School Class. The class is a fast track
bible study and includes basic theology. I have a copy of the
Ryries Basic Theology, however this book is more extensive than
the Ryrie's Theology. The language is very simple to understand,
the quotes from scipture placed directly into the text really
help with study and preparation time. Although I am a seminary
student, anyone can read and enjoy this book without prior
knowledge of theology or church history. I was also pleased to
see that the author does compare the views of others when they
do not agree with his own. I recommend this book for anyone
interested in really knowing more about the foundations of
Chrisitanity.

Rating:
Summary: Stealth Charismatic under the Guise of Reformed
Review: Grudem's failings on the doctrine of Scripture slowly poison the rest of the work.