Review: "40 Questions About Typology and Allegory" (manuscript)

 

            I have now read three of the volumes in the “40 Questions” series put out by Kregel.  40 Questions about Typology and Allegory by Michael Chase is my favorite thus far.

            The first section of the book – questions 1 and 2 – answers who or what the Bible is about (Jesus) and what forms of writing we find in Scripture.

            The second section of the book – questions 3 through 24 – examine typology.

            Chase offers this definition: “a biblical type is a person, office, place, situation, event, or thing in salvation history that anticipates, shares correspondence with, escalates towards, and resolves in its antitype” (38).

            He divides this section into three subsections – the first looking at what typology is and whether it is a valid pursuit in biblical study, the second, a look at the historical understanding of typology from the nascent church through today, and the third, a look at representative typologies in each of the books of the Old Testament.

            Similarly, in the third section of the book, as Chase turns his attention to allegory, he divides his discussion into three subsections.

            In the first, he looks at whether allegory is valid in biblical understanding.  He defines, “an allegory is a passage that says one thing in order to say something else” (193).

            In the second, he looks at the use of allegory through all of church history.

            In the third, he identifies allegory in every book of the Bible.

            In the final question of the book, he looks at how one may wisely use typology and allegory in understanding, preaching, and teaching the Scripture.

            I found this an absolutely exciting book for all three reasons he writes:  I better understand what typology and allegory are, I see how they have been used throughout church history, and I see how one can wisely identify type and allegory in the Scripture for study, teaching, and preaching.

            This is a book I will come back to time and time again both as a refresher and for guidance as I handle God’s Word.

            The book ends with a selected bibliography, and based on the quotes in the book, I am going to follow up by reading some of the books in the bibliography.

            Highly recommended for theological students, Bible study leaders, teachers, and pastors.

            [This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com, and Kregel.com. I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.]