REVISED BOOK REVIEW - "LIFE OF JESUS IN 30 DAYS" BY TREVIN WAX

Yes, I have already reviewed this book. So why am I reviewing it again?

Earlier this year, I got this book from the library. However, I had to return it before I finished it, so I went ahead and wrote a review. I thought by that point I had enough of the flavor of this book to review it. After all, it was a collection of readings

Here is what I had previously written from my review, posted April 1, 2025 (no April Fool's Day jokes here). 

"Definitely the best liturgical book written by a Southern Baptist I've read.

"'Life of Jesus in 30 Days' is a devotional book compiled by Trevin Wax, Vice President of Research and Resource Development of the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. He also has followed a similar format with book on Psalms and the Letters of Paul.

"Each day is divided into three readings: morning, midday, and evening. The middle section is shorter, and Wax says it could be combined with the evening reading if your schedule does not allow the middle reading, though the midday is the shortest of the three. Each reading is highlighted by a passage from the Gospels (not in order nor exhaustive), but also has other thoughts from Scripture, creeds (the Apostle's Creed is there at least three times), and readings from the Common Prayer Book. Each of the 90 readings also includes the Gloria Patra and the Lord's Prayer.

"This is a little more liturgical/high church than I'm used to. But this book and the other two I mentioned are good at helping you have a developed devotional time. I do recommend this collection."

So again, why am I revising the review? I noticed something that won't (for most people) affect your views on the book. However, since most of the book is reading through Scripture, I noticed an inconsistency that I wanted to point out. Not enough to invalidate the book, but something I caught.

This concerns questionable sections. I'll give you credit for knowing that there are 5,000+ Greek manuscripts, with a whole lot of variations between those texts, with some putting the weight on the most common reading and most favoring those in the earliest texts. There are three examples in the Gospels: those early texts do not contain the benediction of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 ("For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever), the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11, and the long ending of Mark 16.

I have noticed inconsistencies in the readings. Wax includes John 8:3-11, but does not include Mark. Why include one and not the other? Also, 29 of the 30 readings include the Lord's Prayer, complete with the benediction. The 30th reading is where it covers Matthew 6:1-18, which includes the Lord's Prayer, but here it leaves the benediction off. This is author's prerogitive, and it's not a legitimate reason to not use this book or the others in the series. I just found it interesting.

BOOK REVIEW - "LIFE OF JESUS IN 30 DAYS" BY TREVIN WAX.

 

Definitely the best liturgical book written by a Southern Baptist I've read.

"Life of Jesus in 30 Days" is a devotional book compiled by Trevin Wax, Vice President of Research and Resource Development of the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. He also has followed a similar format with book on Psalms and the Letters of Paul.

Each day is divided into three readings: morning, midday, and evening. The middle section is shorter, and Wax says it could be combined with the evening reading if your schedule does not allow the middle reading, though the midday is the shortest of the three. Each reading is highlighted by a passage from the Gospels (not in order nor exhaustive), but also has other thoughts from Scripture, creeds (the Apostle's Creed is there at least three times), and readings from the Common Prayer Book. Each of the 90 readings also includes the Gloria Patra and the Lord's Prayer.

This is a little more liturgical/high church than I'm used to. But this book and the other two I mentioned are good at helping you have a developed devotional time. I do recommend this collection.

BOOK REVIEW - CONTAGIOUS HOLINESS: JESUS' MEALS WITH SINNERS BY CRAIG L. BLOMBERG

 

When Jesus ate with "tax-collectors and sinners," was it for the purpose of repentance? Did the meals fit a more traditional Jewish setting, or were they more patterned after the pagan Sypnosium of the Greco-Roman culture?

In "Contagious Holiness: Jesus' Meals with Sinners," author Craig Blomberg takes a look at meals during the Biblical era. First, he mentions two areas of debate:
1. Were the meals more after the Jewish tradition with the participants sitting at the table, or did it reflect influence by the Greeks and Romans, where those around at the table reclined with discussion, a lot of drinking, and usually some entertainment (often sexual)?
2. Were the "sinners" Jesus ate with the immoral, without Jesus offering any condemnation, or was it more those seen as impure by the Jewish Society with the goal of leading them to repentance?

Blomberg then launches into a study looking at meal customs through the Old Testament, extra-Biblical books including the Deutero-Canonical Books (also known as the Apocrypha) and the customs of the world, both Jewish and the conquering Greeks and Romans. He follows this up by analyzing Jesus meals in the Gospels, including the dinner with Matthew/Levi and his friends and his invitations by Pharisees, dividing it between the accounts exclusive to Luke and those that aren't.

This is the third book I've read from the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, and in each case, the conclusion and application segment is the best part of the book, as it gives practical ideas to live out what is learned. In this case, the encouragement is for Christians to invite people different from us (including unbelievers) for the purpose of getting to know them and be a witness to them. It gives several examples how this is done around the world, such as a Denver church called Scum of the Earth.

I do have a minor quibble. The author holds to the Priority of Mark (meaning Mark was the first Gospel written and along with an unfound quotation source called Q - no connection to Star Trek the Next Generation). In comparing the accounts of the Feeding of the 4,000 in Matthew and Mark, he commented that the order was different enough that he considers Matthew relying on oral tradition. Now wait a minute! Where was Matthew during this event? Wouldn't he have been there in the flesh with the other eleven and maybe other followers like Mathias? Couldn't Matthew's version be an eyewitness account? Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.

This book (and this series) is aimed at intellectuals, but it is easy to read and helps one understand the issue. I recommend this book (and again, the series).