Book Review: The Gospel of the Kingdom

At the moment, I'm swimming comfortably in the Vineyard Stream of the Church, which is a contemporary, evangelical and charismatic kind of Christianity, with lots of nuance and variation over the non-essentials. The Vineyard was essentially founded by John Wimber, a pastor and Church planter from California, who believed that the full range of the gifts of the Holy Spirit were available today, and that they should be used in evangelism, discipleship, and the normal life of the Church. Interestingly, he came to this understanding not by uncontrolled experience, but by careful study of Scripture. Central to his understanding was his growing awareness of the reality of 'the kingdom of God'. This concept, central to New Testament Christianity and a huge part of Jesus' proclamation, was introduced to John (in part, at least), by the book I'm tentatively reviewing today, George Eldon Ladd's "The Gospel of the Kingdom".

Ladd was a Baptist Minster and professor of New Testament, whose "Theology of the New Testament" (essentially the scholarly and exegetical underpinning of this book) was a major textbook at evangelical seminaries for many years. For a very brief overview of Ladd, his Wikipedia page is worth reading, partly for the cautionary tale often told by John Piper. From Ladd's own foreword, however, we see something of the thrust of this book, "serious students of the Bible sometimes lose sight of the fact that the study and interpretation of Scripture should never be an end in itself. God has given men His Word written for a practical purpose, 'that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work' (2 Tim 3:17). When a gulf exists between the lecture room and the pulpit, sterility in the classroom and superficiality in the pulpit often result". Amen. 

It is from this book that the reader can clearly see where the Vineyard language about the Kingdom of God comes from. Before defining it, though, Ladd gives us a useful but brief overview of alternative explanations, such as those from Adolf von Harnack, C.H.Dodd, and Albert Schweitzer. More general understandings of the kingdom are also explained. Ladd's response is to go directly to the Scriptures, with the necessary acknowledgement that there is also a diversity of statement there. Thankfully, this is a small book of theological summary! Ladd makes it clear that, actually, this Kingdom is something else, something biblical, and something radical; "The Kingdom of God is His Kingship, His rule, His authority". This manifests itself in many ways! The Kingdom of God is directly connected to the future, and the prayer that Christians have prayed throughout history; "We pray, 'Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' The confidence that this prayer is to be answered when God brings human history to the divinely ordered consummation enables the Christian to retain his balance and sanity of mind in this mad world in which we live".

I've focused heavily on the opening chapter, in order to give you a flavour of  what this book is about. Naturally, there is much to be learnt from the rest of the book, but a review is not a summary - especially for a book like this, which I think should be read! The remaining chapters of the book follow a pattern of engaging with different questions about the Kingdom of God. Chapters Two and Three are counterparts, "The Kingdom is Tomorrow/The Kingdom is Today", whilst chapters Four through Seven talk of the "Mystery", "Life", "Righteousness", and "Demand" elements/aspects of the Kingdom. The Eighth chapter deals with the important question of "The Kingdom, Israel and the Church", whilst the Ninth and final chapter asks the question, "When Will the Kingdom Come?".

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Its an excellent example of biblical, intelligible, pastoral and practical theology. I'm glad that it sits on the foundation of a fully realised and sound Theology of the New Testament - and I'm thus grateful that it underpinned John Wimbers theology. I hope it will challenge and refresh the Vineyard of today, and that those opposed to the Vineyard will see that it is grounded in some excellent theology. I'd recommend this to anyone - from the regular joe looking to understand the kingdom of God, to the doctoral student looking to engage with Ladd and the Vineyard's underlying theology. Recommended.