Book Review: "Can We Still Believe in God" by Craig Blomberg
/In Can We Still Believe in God?, Craig Blomberg answers oft-revisited questions about Christian theism (the likes of which are addressed in similar titles elsewhere)[1] from a uniquely New Testament perspective. In fact, one might argue that a more fitting title (or subtitle) for this resource would read A New Testament Defense for God or Answering Skeptics from the New Testament as this perspective preoccupies his work on a host of issues. Blomberg is honest about this penchant for the New Testament and his relatively narrow address of issues when he confesses his academic training and his awareness of what other resources have already offered by way of answers to popular skeptical questions.[2] Therefore, Blomberg’s contribution to current apologetic scholarship is providing more well-rounded answers to age-old challenges by mining material from a fairly-neglected dataset (at least in connection with certain issues)—new covenant writings.
The questions Blomberg chooses to address from this distinctly New Testament perspective are narrowed down and prioritized according to what appear to be either the most popular challenges raised against belief in the Christian God or the most difficult questions in need of answering (or some combination of the two). It is for this reason that he deals with the problem of evil and belief in a good God first. After perusing what philosophers, ethicists, theologians, and Old Testament authors have offered to this discussion (a practice he revisits in subsequent chapters), Blomberg argues that the New Testament highlights what God is doing in the midst of an evil and broken world.[3] The New Testament paints a picture of a God who is powerful and loving even in suffering and able to redeem the worst circumstances for greater purposes.[4]
What of the unevangelized and the prospect of hell? Blomberg reveals (perhaps to the surprise of some in more fundamentalist/”restrictivist” communities) that the New Testament does not teach that no one is saved unless they have heard of Jesus. He also reveals that consciously trusting in Christ is not the same as finding forgiveness through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross.[5] Old Testament saints are the clearest example of this and Blomberg is shrewd to acknowledge that much of what is taught about salvation in the New Testament is constructed upon a foundation of Old Testament passages involving characters who never interfaced with Christ or knew is name. With this in mind, people ought not haughtily assume the conditions of someone’s heart and/or limit the means by which God can and has led people to salvation through his Son. Also, the author is quick to remind that hell is never said to be forced on someone against his/her will (nor is salvation forced on saints either for that matter). This conclusion pairs well with a discussion later on prayer and predestination in which Blomberg makes a compelling New Testament case for single predestination in which he concludes “we can never take ultimate credit for being saved, but we have only ourselves to blame for being lost.”[6] Such realizations are helpful as they successfully resect these theological challenges against Christian theism of some of their teeth.
More current and emotional issues of slavery and gender roles are addressed next. Concerning slavery, Blomberg rightly points out that the New Testament is not a manual for political liberation as much as it is spiritual liberation.[7] That said, 1 Corinthians 7:21 and Philemon do teach that slaves should gain freedom when they can. Concerning gender roles, Blomberg carefully exposits certain “battleground” texts[8] and ultimately concludes that both what he calls a “soft complementarian” and a “soft egalitarian” perspective are defensible in Scripture.[9] Also, while the New Testament is univocal on is prohibition of homosexual behaviors, Blomberg argues that this should be kept separate from anything that would discriminate against a person simply for their sexual orientation. Most skeptics will welcome these thoughtful comments and analyses on such charged issues. What Blomberg offers in this discussion is especially thoughtful and refreshing among the existing literature and many would do well to thoroughly consider Blomberg’s presentation here.
Next, the author expertly addresses several criticisms lodged against the Christian God based on the contents of Scripture. Concerning miracle accounts, the New Testament is shown to set itself apart from the existing ancient literature both in the frequency of the miracles described, the type of miracles performed, and the purpose these miracles serve as demonstrating the arrival of the kingdom of God (helping to prove that the Bible is not one of many old superstitious miracle books). Similar conclusions are shared in Blomberg’s discussion on how the narratives compare with extra-biblical legends. The author skillfully demonstrates that the New Testament story is birthed out of established Old Testament Judaism; it is not a result of plagiarizing pagan myths. Concerning the violence and warfare in the Scriptures, Blomberg suggests that this poses no real threat to the New Testament in particular. Such practices are elevated to a “spiritual plane”[10] and vindication is clearly defined as God’s prerogative to be ultimately satisfied in the final judgment.
In his address of apparent contradictions in the Bible, Blomberg decides to deal with a few of the supposed examples of discrepancies found in the book of Acts.[11] What is learned from his analysis is that instead of contradictions, variations in accounts of the same story betray the kind of diversity that was acceptable when biographers/historians pieced together their narratives in the New Testament world. As Blomberg’s discussion broadens to include consideration of all textual variants, a good case for the accurate preservation of the New Testament (even in modern-day English translations) is also built.
Blomberg’s final address is to those who resist believing in God on the grounds that they would rather be in control of their own lives. These believe that Christianity is a drag and that obedience to God is pleasure-robbing. However, as Blomberg correctly points out, freedom from God is slavery to sin[12] and it is only Christ who offers liberation from crippling anxiety and woeful purposelessness. While certainly the Christian life might (and probably should) include suffering, these are nothing compared to the eternal glory awaiting those who trust in the God of the Bible.[13]
While all of Blomberg’s discussions are deserving of attention and helpful in making a well-rounded case for the God of the Bible from the New Testament, what proves most refreshing for this reviewer are those insights he offers on those issues that are not as nearly tethered to typical New Testament discussions (e.g. the problem of evil, slavery, gender roles, and same-sex relations, violence in the Bible). It is in these chapters where Blomberg’s contributions are greatest as he works to provide a more well-rounded and truly canonical address of these inquiries. His expertise displayed in these areas provides those who are seeking robust answers to difficult questions with the responsibly nuanced solutions necessary for engaging skeptics in our contemporary culture. For this, Blomberg’s work ought to be highly commended.
Jeffrey Dickson, PhD studied Theology and Apologetics at Liberty University where he now serves as an adjunct professor of Bible and theology. Dr. Dickson is also the senior pastor of Crystal Spring Baptist Church in Roanoke VA where he lives with his wife Brianna and their children.
[1] See Tim Keller’s The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Riverhead Books, 2008), Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God? (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1994), Andreas Kostenberger, Darrell Bock, and Josh Chatraw’s Truth in a Culture of Doubt: Engaging Skeptical Challenges to the Bible (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2014), or even Craig Blomberg’s Can We Still Believe in the Bible?: An Evangelical Engagement with Contemporary Questions (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2014).
[2] Craig Blomberg, Can We Still Believe in God?: Answering Ten Contemporary Challenges to Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2020), XIV, “What makes it (this volume) a bit distinctive is that it is written by someone whose academic training is primarily in New Testament studies. Most of the literature that addresses the kinds of questions tackled here is penned by theologians, philosophers, ethicists, and even Old Testament scholars.”
[3] Blomberg, Can We Still, 1-3.
[4] Blomberg, Can We Still, 10-11. Far from being aloof or inactive in the process of dealing with evil “the New Testament affirms that (God) did the most important thing of all in the past through Christ’s crucifixion, making it possible for believer in Christ in the future to live forever without any suffering or evil…Meanwhile, even now, in the present, he uses pain and suffering to help bring believers to maturity and to wake up the spiritually asleep so that they might turn to him.”
[5] See John 14:6; Acts 4:12.
[6] Blomberg, Can We Still, 157. See also his discussion in 109ff.
[7] Blomberg, Can We Still, 35.
[8] See 1 Cor 11:2–16; 1 Tim 2:11–15; Eph 5:22– 33.
[9] Blomberg, Can We Still, 38ff, 156.
[10] See Blomberg’s discussion on Eph 6:10–20 in Can We Still, 93ff.
[11] These include the three accounts of Paul’s conversion, the three accounts of Peter with Cornelius, an the “three rehearsals of the apostolic decree.”
[12] Blomberg, Can We Still, 150.
[13] Rom 8:18.
