Jesus answered questions with another question.

People who read scripture regularly have probably noticed that Jesus doesn’t always answer questions directly.  In fact quite frequently instead of answering them directly, He answers them with a question of his own. In Questions Jesus Asks: Where Divinity Meets Humanity (New Leaf Press, 2014) Israel Wayne takes 20 of these questions and turns them into a (very) abbreviated form of a systematic theology.

                The point that he makes, one that many others have made before, is that Jesus is not asking these question because He didn’t know the answers, but for his audience’s benefit. Through school I was always told that I shouldn’t answer a question with a question, but for Jesus, it works. With a combination of scriptural references, cultural background and personal experiences, Wayne explains the reason for Jesus’ questions.

                He doesn’t do it often, but there are a couple of times that Wayne uses words that I’m sure I heard in Seminary, but I don’t remember what they mean, and since I haven’t heard them since seminary I didn’t even bother to look them up.  When you throw around words like “infralapsarianism” or “supralapsarianism” (page 113), you ought to do a friend a solid and explain with they mean.  Granted these were words that Wayne used as an example of how easy it is to confuse people, especially new Christians with ‘christianese’.

                There is some good information presented here for the person who is looking for a basic introduction to many of the topics that Wayne introduces, and the occasional bit of humor adds to the presentation.

                 I received a copy of this book from Cross Focus Review in exchange for this review.

4/5