Friday, December 09, 2016

The Apostles' Creed by Alister McGrath (Lifeguide Bible Study)


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The Apostles' Creed 
by Alister McGrath
IVP Connect
ISBN 978-0-8308-1095-6
Reviewed by Clint Walker

Even though I do not belong to a creedal denomination, I have often turned to the creeds and confessions for teaching and guidance in understanding and articulating the Christian faith. This gives a good cursory overview of some of the Apostle's Creed, but there seems to be some content missing. This study should have been eight chapters, not six. Thus, it is with some measure of disappointment, then, that I don't have more encouragement to offer in regard to the offering from IVP Connect regarding the Apostles' Creed.

There are a few things to commend about this small bible study guide. First, McGrath does a great job at transitioning the truth of the Scripture that is found in the creed to clear application in his readers life. Nobody will do this Bible study and walk away saying that they simply went through an intellectual exercise.

My concern about this is McGrath fails to engage two central concerns of the Creed thoroughly enough. First of all, sufficient attention is not given to the Holy Spirit, in my opinion. Secondly, little attention is given to the statement I find most difficult to justify in Scripture--namely the descent of Christ into hell.

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