As most of you know, I respect Ben Witherington as a NT Scholar (even though we have our disagreements). To my mind, his best contributions (and greatest strengths) are on the social-rhetorical background of the first-century, the theological controversy surrounding women in ministry, and defending the NT (orthodox) understanding of Jesus and reliability of the Gospels against detractors.
Very recently, I was given Ben’s 3-volume work on the Word, water baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. The three volumes are all published by Baylor University Press. They are:
Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord’s Supper
Troubled Waters: Rethinking the Theology of Baptism
The Living Word of God: Rethinking the Theology of the Bible
While I don’t agree with every conclusion in these volumes, each book contains valuable insights into the historicity and theology of the Word of God, water baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Therefore, I can gladly recommend them.
Note: These books are geared for academic readers. They aren’t popular works. Ben does a lot of interlocking with theologians and scholars of the past and present. So if you are someone who is building a theological/academic library, these are helpful volumes.
Related:
Jon Zens & I Respond to Ben Witherington III: A Christian Debate
Frank,
Would you plan to review Making a Meal of It (at least)?
Ben’s scholarship is profoundly solid, and I suspect he’s a great person to know–just haven’t had that opportunity ;o)
T
“Making a Meal” is quite good. He does a lot of interlocking with other theologians on the Lord’s Supper. So it’s educational from a doctrinal-historical perspective also.