The Thesis

In J. I. Packer: An Evangelical Life, Leland Ryken aims to not merely recount the life events of leading evangelical scholar J. I. Packer, but also to show who he is as a man. Packer has served in various vocations and several areas of the world and has experienced significant setbacks and accomplishments. However, in his ever-changing external circumstances, amidst critique and admiration, his internal drive has remained the same for many decades: that is, to teach and represent to the world and the church an evangelical Christian worldview. Underlying his distinctives as an Anglican and a specialized academician has flowed a continual commitment to basic gospel truths, articulated with precision and applied to the church.

The Method

The uniqueness of Ryken’s book is his method, which he calls a “combination of chronological biography and thematic biography” (p. 10). He uses this method for the purpose of integrating plain facts on a timeline with charming stories about more intimate details of Packer’s life, which results in a display of Packer the man. To achieve this, Ryken separates his book into three sections, titled “The Life,” “The Man,” and “Lifelong Themes” and alerts the reader to certain signposts to look out for as they read.

The Content

At attempt to summarize the content of this book would only prove to obscure the complexity of that which is a Spirit-empowered human life, such as J. I. Packer’s. However, it is useful to mention some themes that stand out, namely, Packer’s 1) continual work in the institutional Anglican Church despite his Puritan convictions, 2) instincts as peacemaker and yet his involvement in many controversies, and 3) equally strong emphases on academic excellence and practical church ministry.

First, Packer has maintained both his commitment to Anglicanism and his Puritan convictions for a long time. His unabashed love for and specialized scholarship on the Puritans as well as his definitively Reformational theology are clearly seen in his written works, public addresses, and personal stories, as explained by Ryken. However, at various forks in the road during his lifetime, he chose to remain within the institutional Anglican Church, even when other viable (and, some may argue, significantly better) options were open to him. Ryken’s recounting of Packer’s professional life in England returns again and again to this theme: Packer was one of the foremost evangelical forces in the Church of England during his time, always working to garner support for this cause regardless of what role he was filling (and this included many, such as faculty and later principal at Tyndale Hall, warden and librarian at Latimer House, and leader on the Keele Congress). Furthermore, even after his expulsion from the Anglican Church of Canada, he found a way to remain within Anglicanism. Though Packer’s influence has spread beyond Anglicanism, much of his personal efforts have been directed towards the institutional Anglican Church.

Leland Ryken, past professor of English at Wheaton College (Illinois), has spent a significant amount of his career helping readers improve their interpretation and appreciation of the literary character of the Bible. A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible is just another splendid entry in that effort. The purpose of this book was to define the literary forms utilized in the bible recognized by literary and biblical scholars and list them alphabetically. While this reviewer cannot verify that the book identifies every type of literary form used in the bible, it is unlikely that readers would notice any missing entries.

Though the book reads like a dictionary with terms followed by a brief a brief definition, the format makes for rapid reading. Fortunately, Ryken frequently illustrates entries by referencing particular bible passages. It is unclear as to why an index of passages was not included. Less frequently, but of no less significance, Ryken gives extended explanations on how to appreciate the form’s beauty and how to interpret it properly. Entries with extended discussions include Device of Disclosure, Echo, Encomium, Figurative Language, Love Poem, Parable, Praise Psalms, Structure of a Text or Passage, and Theme and Variation. I suggest that these entries are worth their exegetical weight in gold and combine to make the book a screaming bargain. Unfortunately, the book’s brevity means that Ryken did not provide a bibliography or footnotes. Readers looking for more detail and explication of many of the book’s entries are advised to consult the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, which Ryken was a general editor.

Leland Ryken

Ryken repeatedly attacks two main errors he believes hinders right understanding and appreciation of the text. The first problem is naive literalism. Ryken rightly notes that God is not literally a shield nor does He have hands. Alternatively, Ryken argues that just because a metaphor is not literally true does not mean we should think of it as less true. Metaphors, like other literary forms, force us to think more deeply about a passage as the comparisons and meanings are not always readily apparent without further reflection. The second error is the tendency to ignore or devalue the artistic elements of scripture. Readers should pay attention to the content, says Ryken, but not to the extent of ignoring the way the content is packaged. He asks readers to consider the possibility that the packaging (forms) used by biblical writers is just as inspired as the content (meaning) itself.

Readers wanting a fast introduction (or reintroduction) to the literary forms of the Bible should read this book. Those willing to integrate its contents into their bible reading will reap significant rewards that will benefit their understanding, appreciation, and proclamation of God’s word.

Reviewed by Stephen M. Vantassel

Publisher’s page (excerpt available): https://www.crossway.org/books/a-complete-handbook-of-literary-forms-in-the-b-tpb/

Leland Ryken, The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible Translation (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2002), 336 pages.

When reviews are written of new books, there is often a temptation to use such phrases as “ground-breaking” or “most important book of the year/decade/century.” At the risk of adding yet another such review, the term “ground-breaking” does seem to be appropriate to apply to Dr. Ryken’s latest book. Dr. Leland Ryken is professor of English at Wheaton College, and recently served as a literary stylist for the English Standard Version of the Bible (ESV), published in 2001 by Crossway Books. In addition to his teaching, and his work on the ESV, Dr. Ryken has written several books on the literary styles and analysis of the Bible, and so brings both qualifications and credentials to a discussion on the literary aspects of Bible translation.

Dr. Ryken aims to answer the question which has been in the thoughts of many Christians: “How does one determine which the best type of Bible translation?” Although his initial criterion was literary, his work on the ESV led Dr. Ryken to examine other aspects of Bible translation, which are discussed in this book. In the end, it comes down to a comparison between two basic types of translations:

1. Dynamic equivalent translations, such as the New International Version (NIV) and the New Living Translation (NLT); and
2. Essentially literal translations, such as the King James Version (KJV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the English Standard Version (ESV).

Leland Ryken served as professor of English at Wheaton College for over 43 years.

At the same time, Dr. Ryken is quick to differentiate between the concepts of “essentially literal” translation theory and “formal equivalent” translation theory. On page 19 he defines “formal equivalence” as “a theory of translation that favors reproducing the form or language of the original text, and not just its meaning. In its stricter form, this theory of translation espouses reproducing even the syntax and word order of the original.” Dr. Ryken is correct in pointing out that formal equivalence would produce a translation that would be unreadable to the average reader. C. John Collins, in his appendix to the book, mentions the ending of Exodus 20:17 (the Tenth Commandment) as an example. A formal equivalent translation would reproduce the Hebrew word order as “and all which to your neighbor,” which of course makes no sense according to all the rules of English grammar. However, the ESV (essentially literal) translates it as “or anything that is your neighbor’s,” which makes sense according to the English language while remaining faithful to the original Hebrew text.

In the very preface of his book, Dr. Ryken informs his readers right at the outset that he favors essentially literal translations over dynamic equivalent translations, and gives this explanation of how that applies to translation theory:

By an essentially literal translation I do not mean one that renders the original text so literally as to be incomprehensible to English readers. The syntax must be English rather than Hebrew or Greek, and idioms that are incomprehensible to English readers need to be rendered in terms of meaning rather than literal equivalence. But within the parameters of these necessary deviations from the original, an essentially literal translation applies the same rules as we expect from a published text in its original language: The author’s own words are reproduced, figurative language is retained instead of explained, and stylistic features and quirks of the author are allowed to stand as the author expressed them (p. 10).

In a very detailed and thorough volume, Dr. Ryken discusses a wide variety of topics ranging from the mundane (for example, if we value Shakespeare’s writings enough not to consider changing the literary form of the words he used, why would we change the literary form of the words used in the Word of God?) to the vital (for example, if we truly believe in the verbal plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, how could we ever consider changing the very words used when we translate them into English?). Along the way, Dr. Ryken treats us to a summary of the history of Bible translation into English, explores some of the fallacies believed regarding the Bible, translation, and the readers of the Bible, and spends a good third of the book discussing the literary excellence required in faithful translation theory.