"Now and Not Yet" by Dean R. Ulrich. A Book Review

 

Now and Not Yet: Theology and Mission in Ezra-Nehemiah

Dean R. Ulrich

IVP Academic

www.ivpress.com

ISBN: 978-1-5140-0407-4; $28.00; 21 December 2021 

The biblical books Ezra and Nehemiah are a strain for many readers. Filled, as they are, with genealogies, historical tales, building projects, outside pressures, and troubled communities. Most times these books get rustled up and put into motivational sermons for the latest Church Building Campaign or lessons on leadership. For example, many years ago while I was stationed at an air base in the upper Midwest, I was taking night classes and working on my bachelor’s at a local Christian university. One of my classes was on leadership, and our reading assignment was a volume that elevated Nehemiah as a paragon of exemplary leadership. Thankfully, Dean R. Ulrich, biblical studies professor at several institutions nationally and internationally, and accomplished author, has penned a scholarly 218-page softback on these two books in the Bible, “Now and Not Yet: Theology and Mission in Ezra-Nehemiah”. It’s part of the IVP Academic series “New Studies in Biblical Theology” edited by D.A. Carson. Not only is the book for specialized readers, but most anyone can gain from the volume. And they will find that Ezra and Nehemiah tell a much more valuable singular story than they have normally been credited with. 

Ulrich takes up a biblical theology approach in his work on these two biblical books, which he defines for the reader. All the way through the manuscript he shows the way Ezra and Nehemiah fit into the story of God’s world rescue operation and how they speak to the church under the New Covenant. “However exemplary Ezra and Nehemiah the men may be, Ezra-Nehemiah the book is a unified work that focuses not so much on how to be an effective leader but on how to be a godly participant in God’s story” (5). And that story, as it comes out in Ezra and Nehemiah “highlights how God works through the ups and downs of ordinary people to advance his redemptive purpose in history” (25). 

The author tackles all the miniscule and the majestic with skill, and with an eye to reaping the God-given value of Ezra and Nehemiah. In six chapters he works from Ezra 1:1 through to Nehemiah 13:31. It is not a biblical commentary, but truly a study on how to read these two books in the Sacred Scriptures. And Ulrich will not leave readers with a Pollyannish kind of positivism since neither Ezra nor Nehemiah do. He takes on the thorny subjects of mixed marriages, intergenerational confession of sin, systemic evil, and the like. And since Nehemiah ends on a less than happy note – a religious leader who gives living arrangements in the Temple to someone who was not a priest and who was not part of God’s covenant people, the failure to bring in the tithes to keep the temple operational, and the return of many to mixed interreligious marriages – the author honestly addresses these backsliding situations. He points out how their being recorded at the end of Nehemiah (after all of the promises to fidelity and fealty) aids church leaders in 2022 and beyond. As the author notes, “God’s people never arrive at perfection in this life. Here, then, is the lot of anyone who endeavors to serve God by serving his people. Significant strides may occur, but the highs of revivals do not last for more than a short while” (155). The sobriety of Nehemiah’s final scenes and the way Ulrich handles them, gives readers far firmer ground to stand on than the successful-always-succeeding models on tap. 

I found “Now and Not Yet” a refreshing venture through Ezra and Nehemiah. I gained valuable insights throughout the volume and feel I have an even stronger handle on these two biblical books. Since I am about to begin a sermon series on Nehemiah, the worth of this book, personally, has increased. This would make an excellent addition to any pastor’s library, or seminary collection. But it is an ideal gift for anyone serious about studying Scripture and coming to Ezra and Nehemiah. I happily recommend the book and encourage all who read this review to snag a copy as soon as you can. 

I am deeply grateful to IVP Academic for the gift of this volume. I requested it for review, and they promptly sent me the copy I used in this evaluation. They didn’t demand anything from me other than an honest appraisal, which I have given. I also appreciate the author. He was one of my professors as I was working on my doctorate. I haven’t seen or talked to him in years, but the voice I picked out of these pages is the voice I remember hearing in class so long ago.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“The Shift” - 2023 Movie. A Review

Image
  What do you get when you cross a dark dystopian storyline with sci-fi, alternative dimensions, theological and philosophical questions, and the biblical book of Job? You get The Shift , written and directed by Brock Heasley, produced by Ken Carpenter, and distributed by Angel Studios. This roughly one hour and 45 minute tale swirls around Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha) as he moves from one realm of life, with it’s happiness and heartbreak, to another dimension that is a dismal existence clearly governed by The Benefactor (masterfully played by Neal McDonough). A viewer will be asking questions all the way through, and picking up clues and answers that pull the story together bit-by-bit. The story bumps up against an infinite set of alternative possibilities, of time, space, and versions of one’s self that will likely stoke a viewer’s imagination. But the heart of the narrative - besides love, grief, loss, trust/distrust - is around the place of evil, specifically, personal or human evil.
Read more

"On Getting Out of Bed" by Alan Noble. A Review

Image
  When it comes to family members or friends going through a significant mental crisis, or suffering, we often can feel like we’re fumbling about to help them. Sometimes, we can become like Job’s friends, whom he had to call “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2). But very recently Alan Noble, assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee Oklahoma, and cofounder and editor-in-chief of “Christ and Pop Culture” penned a deeply beautiful 120-page hardback that addresses mental affliction. “On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living” is written for those who struggle with mental affliction, but also pastors, teachers, parents, and loved ones, to “help them understand their loved one’s suffering. It is for anyone who ever struggles to get out of bed” (3). I finished this book earlier this week, and kept finding myself saying, “Finally! Someone gets it!” Eight chapters fill up this handy manual. They run through several subjects, like not sounding like Job’s f
Read more

Community?

Image
  (This is from my letter to my congregation I sent out today, 30 August 2023) As one of my elders was leading us through Carl Trueman’s Strange New World in our adult class , I appreciated Trueman’s emphasis on community. And our discussions, especially the last two Sundays, were very fruitful as we thought out loud together about this subject. Therefore, I thought I would share something from David Brooks, an Op-ed columnist that leans into this discussion.   Brooks published a book in 2019 titled, “The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life”. In that work he was taking a gentle punch at destructive trends he has been seeing, and giving some helpful correctives. And so, he notes that “Individualism, taken too far, leads to tribalism” (34). He then shows how the loneliness and spiritual emptiness of individualism taken too far have become more prevalent in our time and the ways that they lead to very dark social consequences. These darker social consequences foster the need t
Read more