A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Steve West
When a new edition of a textbook comes out I always wonder if it will be changed enough to make a functional difference in its usefulness or helpfulness for students. Sometimes a “Revised Edition” or “Second [Third, Fourth, etc.] Edition” seems to only have a new Preface, or perhaps a paragraph or two inserted somewhere in the middle of the book. That kind of making minimal changes is not the case with this Second Edition of Grudem’s Systematic Theology. The majority of the writing is exactly as it was in the previous edition, but there have been a number of substantial additions, as well as a number of positive smaller changes.
The cover of my copy of the Second Edition says that Systematic Theology has sold over 750,000 copies. Needless to say, that is a lot of copies for a large book of theology. It can be assumed that many people reading this review are already aware of Grudem’s main theological viewpoints. Systematic Theology is broadly conservative evangelical, Reformed in soteriology, complementarian, and charismatic. Since this is well-known, there is no point at the present time debating whether he establishes all of his positions with equal success. The real question is, “Does this new edition of his work represent an improved way of teaching and communicating his theology?” In my judgment, the answer to that question is clearly and unequivocally yes.
I have used the previous edition of Systematic Theology as a course textbook for undergraduate students. One of the reasons for doing so is that Grudem’s writing—whether you agree with all of his views or not—is a model of clear communication. People can read his work and understand it. He also copies out numerous Bible verses in full, which is a massive advantage in teaching theology to beginners because, frankly, hardly anyone ever looks up Bible verses when they find the references in parentheses.
In comparing this Second Edition to the previous one, I opened up both volumes and went paragraph-by-paragraph through the entire book. In the vast majority of cases, the paragraphs are identical. In some cases, there is an additional sentence added for clarification. What is very helpful is that many of the longer paragraphs in the first edition are now divided, even though the sentences are identical. In a few cases the order of paragraphs has been switched, and when this is the case it almost always improves the logical flow of the presentation. In fewer cases, some paragraphs have been deleted, and these excisions are also improvements. The general format of the book is excellent. There are a few more subheadings than in the first edition, the typesetting and font are highly conducive for readability, and remarkably for a book this size it can be held and read without feeling too heavy or unwieldy.
This new edition of Systematic Theology contains just over 15% new material in the form of expanded discussions and brand new sections on a variety of important theological themes. This allows Grudem to interact with some new developments, address some lacuna, and generally make the book more up-to-date. Some of these extended discussions and blocks of additional material deal with very controversial issues. These additions are what really justifies the claim that this is a Second Edition. There truly is much in this volume that was not in its predecessor. (There have also been a few deletions of material. One large block of deleted text involved Murray Harris’s claims about the resurrection. That deletion is an improvement.)
The following list of changes is taken from Zondervan’s official website, and it is an accurate representation of what makes the Second Edition differ from its predecessor:
- Updated, fuller analysis of several recent controversies within evangelicalism, including the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son in the Trinity, the question of God’s atemporal eternity, the role of women in the church, “seeker-sensitive” churches, miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, and contemporary worship music.
- New, thoughtful critiques of open theism, the “new perspective on Paul,” Molinism (or “middle knowledge”), “Free Grace” theology, and the preterist view of Christ’s second coming
- Completely revised, stronger chapter on the clarity of Scripture
- Completely revised, stronger chapter on creation and evolution, including a longer critique of theistic evolution and an extensive discussion on the age of the earth
- New discussion of how biblical inerrancy applies to some specific “problem verses” in the Gospels
- Additional material respectfully explaining evangelical Protestant differences with Roman Catholicism (with extensive interaction with the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church), Protestant liberalism, and Mormonism
- Completely updated bibliographies
- All Scripture quotations updated from RSV to ESV
- An explanation of why monogenes in John 3:16 and elsewhere should be translated as “only begotten” rather than merely “only” (this is a change from the first edition)
- A contemporary worship song added at the end of each chapter (while retaining the traditional hymns as well)
- New discussion on the impassibility of God
- An extensive discussion on the eternal submission of the Son to the Father, taking into account controversies in recent years
- Updated section on contemporary worship music
- A discussion of recent criticisms of the penal substitutionary view of the atonement
- Numerous other updates and corrections that have been prompted by letters and emails from people around the world and by interaction with the students Wayne has taught over the last 26 years both at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and at Phoenix Seminary
It is difficult to write a book like this which deals with current theological issues but avoids being merely trendy so that it is also worthwhile reading outside of the generation that it is written in. Whenever we read older works of theology we see that they were sometimes engaged in debates and interacting with thinkers that seem of rather minor importance today. Nonetheless, they had to serve their generation and time. Without a doubt, some of the discussions Grudem engages in will be outmoded or irrelevant fifty years from now, but that doesn’t mean that they are irrelevant today. Grudem also avoids the problem of simply being trendy: much of what he writes will be as helpful fifty years from now as it is today. That is an excellent accomplishment.
Given the positions that he takes, it is unlikely that very many people will read the entire book and agree with him on everything that he says. That’s entirely fine. Yet it would be a poor reflection on an individual if they could read this entire book and not find a great deal for which to praise God. In fact, Grudem’s desire to praise God is one of the hallmarks of this book. I personally am very thankful that Grudem directs his readers to worship God as they read and reflect.
In the end, this Second Edition is a real and substantial improvement of a book which has been widely and effectively used by Christians for an entire generation. There is no reason to think that this new edition will not be a main textbook for seminaries and colleges for decades to come. As a generation has discovered, anyone interested in learning about systematic theology can benefit from Grudem’s work. Given this Second Edition, another generation is positioned to discover these benefits as well.
Steve West is pastor of Madoc Baptist Church in Madoc, Ontario, and an adjunct professor at Heritage College and Seminary and Toronto Baptist Seminary. He is also an assistant editor here at Books At a Glance.