Review of To the Law and to the Testimony

[Theresa Moffitt]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "To the Law and to the Testimony" by Arthur Davidson.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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To the Law and to the Testimony by Arthur Davidson takes a detailed look at the Bible and other early Christian sources to identify consistent themes. By providing detailed analysis of significant portions of the Bible, the author provides readers with the tools to determine whether their religious beliefs are supported. The author leaves it to readers to educate themselves in this manner and arrive at their own conclusions. The author places significant importance on what the scriptures say in order to remove confusion or contradictions that hinder readers in their beliefs.

The book is 667 pages and is separated by topic. Under the heading of each topic, the author provides relevant verses from the Bible that focus on that topic. The author provides his analysis or comments after the Bible verses are presented. Due to the overlap of some topics, some verses are reproduced more than once. Since more than one section of the Bible may address a certain issue or topic, multiple verses are provided under each topic. This requires the reader to review a significant amount of language quoted from the Bible. At the end of the book, the author provides additional analysis and summary separated into topics presented in alphabetical order.

Davidson has provided a very well-researched book on determining the meaning of scripture. It is obvious that he has studied this topic extensively. In addition, there are several instances where the Bible uses a term that is no longer used. In those instances, he provides a definition. Since the definition may vary depending on the context, he explains the complex idea in a very understandable manner. I learned a lot by reading this book. For example, sheol can mean Hell, grave, and pit. The reader needs to study the context to understand its meaning in a sentence. As the author explains in the book, Bible translation is an art, not a science.

What I liked most about this book is the amount of research the author conducted for each topic presented. He read through the Bible and pulled out sections that addressed each issue and reproduced them for the reader. I also enjoyed reading his analysis. He considered the time period involved and provided website addresses for readers to obtain additional information. What I disliked about the book was the amount of scripture-reading that was required. At times the same Bible passages were reproduced more than once when they addressed more than one topic. It became repetitive at times.

I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in Bible study and religion. The author provides his interpretation but encourages readers to draw their own conclusions. He includes a brief Questions section at the end of the book that is helpful to readers interested in beginning their own studies. I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. There were more than ten errors in the book, so I am unable to give it a perfect score. Also, instead of reproducing extensive sections from the Bible, I would have welcomed more analysis from the author to explain various topics. The author’s analysis was interesting and researched very well.

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To the Law and to the Testimony
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