From Orphans to Heirs

From Orphans to Heirs
Mark Stibbe
The Bible Reading Fellowship 1998, 2005

Three quarters or more of this book is an excellent and heart-warming treatment of the doctrine of adoption. This is the important, but often neglected biblical teaching, that when we become Christians we enter into a family relationship with God, we are adopted as God's sons and daughters, and we then have Jesus as our elder brother and all other believers as our brothers and sisters.

The fact that Stibbe was himself adopted as a child gives an edge to the book as he warms to his subject and understands it at both a head and heart level in a deeper way than perhaps many others have.

It is interesting that Stibbe sees adoption as absolutely central to the Christian faith and life alongside justification. So much so, that he almost sees adoption as the overarching theme of salvation as we move from slavery to sonship, from sin to salvation. He then goes through various aspects of adoption and views its relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As I said, most of the book is brilliant and I found it both inspirational and heart-warming. The only significant problem is that Stibbe is a Charismatic with a capital C. This extends to his acceptance and even praise of the so-called Toronto Blessing some years ago. Peppered throughout the "good stuff" are charismatic views that this reviewer certainly does not share. The charismatic views get in the way rather than support the main thrust of teaching on adoption.

As long as the reader knows that this is part of Stibbe's theological make-up, and can filter out the parts that it is not necessary to accept in order to accept the parts on adoption, then this book could be a breath of fresh air for many Christians and many churches.

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
Eugene Peterson
Eerdmans/Hodder & Stoughton 2005

Eugene Peterson's book is difficult to categorise, but I found it very interesting, challenging and thought-provoking.

The book's subtitle is "A Conversation in Spiritual Theology" which captures some of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. It is a conversation. It meanders through its subjects and is light in places where more weight was needed in argument. In other places it sparkles and glints with biblical truth.

The title comes from one of the remarkable poems by the English Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins: "Christ plays in ten thousand places / Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his / To the Father through the features of men's faces." I take this to mean that through and in our union with Christ as Christians, he acts through us and we act in him in all we do, so that when the Father looks on us, he sees Christ.

This sums up what I think Peterson was trying to achieve in this book. He wants us to realise that Christ is Lord of every part of life and as Christians living in union with him, all of life is transformed and made special. As we realise this, so our lives are energised, beautified and sanctified.

The main part of the books consists of three sections entitled: "Christ plays in Creation," "Christ plays in History" and "Christ plays in Community." In them, Peterson deals with creation, salvation and the resurrection and the church respectively.

The book follows an unusual method, and contains some aspects that could be disputed or rejected by many evangelical Christians, but there is much more that is profitable. Overall, the book is well worth reading.