Adams has written a fine study of the familial, social, occupational, and financial aspects of life in Judea in the period from the sixth century BCE to the first century CE. Each aspect is expertly introduced and discussed in the light of the literary record and material remains. The presentation is clear and accessible. The result is a useful insider’s point-of-view (as it were) for various figures we meet in the post-exilic OT writings and the NT gospels – something like a time-travelogue.

Part of this work’s value consists in its bringing these different aspects of Second Temple life together under a single cover. We can, of course, study each aspect in depth elsewhere, but here we have them all within the space of 200 pages. It would be wrong, however, to characterize this volume merely as a state-of-the-question survey: Adams makes plenty of original contributions throughout the book, and his arguments show an impressive command of Judean material culture. Sociology is consulted where it has something useful to say, but is never given rein over the facts on the ground.

Adams gives particular attention to those who wielded less power in society: women and children, the poor and indebted. This theme culminates in a final chapter on “the ethics of wealth and poverty”, in which we see a variety of stances adopted in Second-Temple sources (including Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Ben Sira). Adams follows this line of ethical thinking to its effects within apocalyptic writings. This seems to be one of Adams’s abiding concerns, and it fits well with the plan of the book. Thankfully, his discussion of these issues does not lead to an exaggeration of the imbalances that existed.

Reviewed by John Poirier

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In this intriguing book, Samuel Adams tries to figure out what it means to do history about the Bible if we assume that God actually exists. The proposition is an interesting and important one: biblical studies has a legacy of being forced to decide whether to approach its object of study either theologically or historically, with the implication that historical approaches are not intended to reckon with the reality of God. In this revision of his PhD thesis, completed under the supervision of Alan Torrance at the University of St. Andrews, Adams picks at the historical method of popular biblical scholar N.T. Wright to ask whether his account of history can cope with a God who is more than simply an element in the worldviews of the biblical authors. Ultimately, Adams believes that Wright’s Critical Realist approach to history is insufficient when applied to knowing God as it does not take account of the implications of making God the object of knowledge. Having diagnosed the problem Adams sets out to offer a solution, situating himself as a theologian who is attempting to resolve a problem built into Wright’s method by drawing on the resources of apocalyptic theology (181-2). This is a bold claim, considering the status of Wright.

Adams begins by describing Wright’s approach to history. He is particularly interested in what the former Bishop of Durham has to say about how we come to know things. Wright argues that knowledge is gained when we come into contact with things outside ourselves, and Adams rightly diagnoses here the epistemological underpinning of Wright’s project. Although Adams does not dispute that Wright’s approach helps him understand what the biblical writers intended to say, he does not think it can address the ‘reality’ which they were writing about: it addresses their worldviews, rather than the subject matter of the text.

Following Torrance, Adams sees this as ‘God-talk-talk’ (talk about what people have said about God) rather than ‘God-talk’ (talk about God). For example, Adams accepts that Wright can understand the apocalyptic worldview of the writer of revelation, but argues that this is completely different from understanding the revelation (‘apocalypse’) of God in Christ. Although Wright wants to move from the history of Jesus to talk about his status as Christ, Adams argues that his theological comments are actually only comments about the worldviews of the biblical authors (56) and never quite manage to become truly theological statements. Wright describes descriptions of God, not God – despite his claims to the contrary.

Here, Adams comes to his main criticism: Wright’s method is naturalist because “the knowledge of God is treated no differently than the knowledge of reality external to the knower in general” (74-5). Rather than allowing God – as a unique object of knowledge – to shape the way he is known, Adams sees Wright as imposing an inappropriate way of knowing onto God. Because of the importance of ‘contact’ to Wright’s own account of knowledge, Adams goes on to argue that this is actually self-contradictory: Wright has previously argued that we come to know things through contact with external reality, so surely such a different reality should be known differently?

Kevin Adams prepared this book as part of the 100th anniversary of the Welsh Revival, which started in 1904 and influenced many across the world who soon experienced similar revivals.

Adams tells us about Evan Roberts in good detail. I learned many new items about this heralded revivalist. Adams then goes on to describe the revival through the letters and diaries of a number of the participants and speakers.

I found this portion of the book difficult going because of the detail and lengthy writing of the folks back then. However, anyone seeking an in-depth understanding of the Welsh revival will benefit from this work.

Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns

Also Available:

A Diary Of Revival: The Story of the 1904 Welsh Awakening (DVD)