"The Incarnate Christ and His Critics" by Bowman and Komoszewski. A Review

 

The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense

Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski

Kregel Academic

www.kregel.com

ISBN: 978-0-8254-4579-8; November 2024; $57.99

 

There’s that scene in Talladega Nights where Ricky, Carley, Cal and the family are all gathered around the dinner table that’s running over with pizza, fried chicken and tacos. Ricky begins to give thanks to sweet baby Jesus, which then launches a rough and raucous dialogue about which Jesus each character likes. Cal even pipes up with his “I like to picture Jesus in a Tuxedo T-shirt, 'cause it says, like, 'I wanna be formal, but I'm here to party, too.' If one can make it through the whole exchange without losing themselves in laughter or frustration, it becomes an apt allegory of much of the religious landscape from the 20^th to the 21^st Century. Many Americans have their favorite version of Jesus, from folk religion to secularist. Therefore, I was delighted when a friend alerted me to a brand-new 896-page hardback, “The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense”. Robert M. Bowman Jr., President of the Institute of Religious Research, and J. Ed Komoszewski, Equipping Pastor at Reformation Church in McKinney, TX, have handed pastors, professors, and parishioners a well-studied, biblical digest of what classic Christianity has found out about the Jesus of Scripture. Though the size may seem intimidating for many, this orderly, carefully crafted monograph is worth the cost and time. One will not only walk away with a clearer perspective on Jesus freely offered to us in the gospel, but they will return to this work for years to come.

 

Up front, the book’s purpose is “to defend the deity of Christ as understood in traditional Christian theology by presenting a comprehensive overview of the biblical basis for this doctrine” (31). To reach their goal, the authors compile the whole study under five headings, a five-fold acronym: HANDS. H-Jesus receives the honors due to God, A-Jesus possesses the attributes of God, N-Jesus bears the names of God, D-Jesus does the deeds that God does, and S-Jesus occupies the seat of God’s throne. All 38 chapters are collected under one of these letters and focus on that given theme. To say it was quite “handy” would be close to a dad-joke, but it works for me.

 

The authors, also, interact with seven detracting conceptions of Jesus, all of which are very contemporary. They list them as seven families of views that are alternative perspectives about Jesus: Myth (skeptics), Muslim prophet (Muslims), Mystic (progressive Christians), Man above all others (Unitarians), Michael the archangel (Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some Adventists), Mormon’s God (Latter-day Saints), and Manifestation of the Father (Oneness Pentecostals). This interacting with critics could turn into a hate-fest or scoffers’ rally, but Bowman and Komoszewski treat each “family” with respect, giving them their due where they have things right, and challenging those positions charitably where they’re wrong. Most of what these positions claim I was well aware of, but there were some details that were eye-opening. The authors are clearly correct when they assert, “Unorthodox Christologies generally err by adopting extreme or overly simplistic positions on one or more key interpretive issues” (762).

 

Though the book takes a bit to read through, for obvious reasons, nevertheless it has a wealth of detail and biblical and linguistic information that make it a worthwhile effort. I deeply appreciated how plainly biblical the book was. I also found delightful the extensive work on John 1:1, the Old Testament texture for the title “Lord” in the New Testament (how often it’s God’s covenant name – YHWH – applied to Jesus), the impeccability of Christ, Isaiah 8:12-13 and its relationship to 1 Peter 3:13-15, and so much more. What the authors say about the titles given to Jesus could be said of the whole HANDS acronym: “The very wealth of divine titles with which the New Testament writers shower the Lord Jesus Christ shows that they are serious when they refer to Jesus as Lord and God” (526).

 

“The Incarnate Christ and His Critics,” hot off the press as it is, needs to be in the hands of every Christian minister, elder, bible teacher, and professor. And it is fitting to be taken up and worked through by patient followers of Jesus, whatever their role. Maybe you think it might be too late to secure copies for Christmas gifts, but just remember that the Christmas season begins on December the 25^th and goes on for twelve days. Get out there, snatch up a copy for yourself and another. I highly recommend the work.

 

My thanks goes out to a friend who alerted me to this book, to one of the authors (Ed Komoszewski) how responded to my request for a review copy, and the publisher. No hostages were taken, no bribes given, no demands were foisted on me. Therefore, this evaluation is my own, freely made and freely given.