Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God's Mission in the Bible

It was actually a gift for my father, who is a seminary student. He needed it for his discertation. Her really liked it a lot. It was worth the money! :)

This book clearly outlines how God has been working, is working, and will continue to work to redeem Mankind. The authors demonstrate, as reflected in the subtitle "The Story of God's Mission in the Bible," that God's redemptive plan began with Old Testament prophets and the Nation of Israel. His Plans culminates with Jesus Christ of Nazareth and continues with His Church. "Announcing the Kingdom" is an excellent companion to the textbook (a Reader edited by Winter and Hawthorne) used in the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course. Every Believer should take this course; every Believer should read the book by Glasser, et. al.

Having read 5 well-published books within a timespan of 3 months on the subject of the Kingdom of God, this book was the most thorough and thought provoking. It's one downfall is the author's propencity to be sidetracked from the main subject at hand and his use of secular humanistic venacular. Besides these, it is very comprehensive and a joy to read yet not written for one's first book on the subject. If looking for an introductory book, look into Roberts's book entitled: God's Big Picture.

Although a long read, it's an excellent book on God's mission from Genesis to Revelation. Included in this book are many insight addressing issues in modern missions today such as ethics and strategy. Would make a great text for a biblical theology of missions class. Great for the seminarian, possibly challenging to the layperson.

What a pleasure to read this book! Glasser's view of Scripture is a delight to read, and encouraged this missionary in some great ways. Here are a few.Glasser perceives the common thread of the Kingdom of God to hold the totality of Scripture together. Without needing to stretch or create seams, Glasser assists the readers in understanding God's sovereignty over Heaven and Earth and that "[t]he whole Bible is a missionary book."The description of the calling of Abraham, and the missiological implications of the covenant are brought out in ch. 4. One of the frequent implications throughout the book is prayer, and it finds its first expression in this chapter: Abraham follows the discovery of God's graciousness (Gen. 18) with intercession. Glasser often reminds the reader that contact with the Kingdom of God is through prayer, and through communication with God, the mission is advanced. One omission in the advance of the mission, the section on "Mission and Passivity" notwithstanding (!), is the anticipatory response of Abraham to the Egyptians (Gen 12:10 ff); many missiologists and missionaries have observed the failure of Abraham to "bless" the Egyptians, and Glasser would have done well to elaborate on this forgetful act on Abraham's behalf. The long elaboration of God's Mission through Jesus Christ (ch. 12) is a real treat. The chapter on "Demonstration" is welcome; Glasser does us all a favor by examining the deeds of Jesus, throwing light not only on Christology, but also in the process, delivering missiological distinctiveness to the familiar offices of Christ by adding the role of "servant." The section on "Teacher-Trainer," based upon John 1-4, was an unexpected appearance. The discussion on "The Consolidation of Faith" was challenging; later in the book, though, I wondered about some possible backtracking from some of the biblical description of God's "dramatic answers" that deepens the faith of new disciples. Apart from that curiosity arriving admittedly retrospectively, the chapter concludes strong with the emphasis that Jesus intentionally mentored and prepared "the Twelve for leadership in the missionary community of the Kingdom- the church." I came away with fresh and renewed convictions regarding leadership development.One location that I had great hope for disappointed me, and that regret was the description of "God's Kingdom Extends over the Powers" (ch. 21). Glasser presumably addresses some nameless Christian leaders regarding the notion of "power evangelism." (Peter Wagner? The late John Wimber?) My critique here is that 1) Glasser seems to have dodged any response to John 14:1-14, especially v. 14 (although Glasser has employed the same passage elsewhere to serve some other interesting ends!), and I remain wondering why, and 2) the same Paul Hiebert who wrote the Foreword to this book also authored the now famous paper "The Flaw of the Excluded Middle:" why, then, would Glasser explicitly articulate a rationale f