www.SpiritAndTruth.org © 2013 Paul Henebury 1 of 10 A Reǀieǁ of KiŶgdoŵ thƌough CoǀeŶaŶt: A BiďliĐal-TheologiĐal UŶdeƌstaŶdiŶg of the CoǀeŶaŶts by Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum, Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2012, 848 pages. © 2013 Paul Henebury 1 A. This book is written by two professors from Southern Seminary; one a theologian, the other an Old Testament scholar. The work in question is a courageous effort to forge a via media between traditional covenant theology (CT) and dispensational theology (DT). If for no other reason than this, Kingdom through Covenant deserves attention, and Crossway are owed some plaudits for publishing it. Whether we agree with their conception of biblical theology or not it is good to see a presentation which aims to amend errors in other viewpoints while serving up a positive interpretation of its own. The authors both note a debt to New Covenant Theology (or NCT, 24), and it is a noteworthy step forward for this position. As a person who seeks to build theology upon the Covenants of Scripture I was naturally interested in what the two authors had to say. In the short Preface we are told that “Care has been taken to let the text speak for itself” (11), which was heartening to read. But this claim is directly followed up with the words, “as the biblical covenants are progressively unfolded in God’s plan, reaching their culmination in the new covenant inaugurated by our Lord Jesus Christ.” I placed a question mark in the margin as soon as I read this, because I sensed that they were saying the covenants were fulfilled at Christ’s first coming, which, if right, would lead them inevitably into some form of supercessionism. That is to say, if, for example, the Davidic Covenant is fulfilled at the first coming then why look for any literal fulfillment of the specific geopolitical prophecies which make up such an important part of that covenant in the OT? But more on that as we proceed. Stephen Wellum, the theologian, writes the first three chapters, which aims to define how covenant theology on one hand and dispensational theology on the other have understood the covenants. Then the hermeneutical issues are discussed. These chapters comprise Part One. Chapters 4 all the through to 15 were written by Peter Gentry, an OT scholar. Gentry’s job is to explain the biblical covenants exegetically. Wellum then closes the chapters off in Part Three (chs.16-17) with a review and proposal. Gentry provides an Appendix on the word berit which lends support his contention for the existence of a Creation covenant. 1 http://drreluctant.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/kingdom-through-covenant-a-review-pt-1/