Monday, April 10, 2017

Review: The Hum of Angels: Listening for the Messengers of God Around Us

The Hum of Angels: Listening for the Messengers of God Around Us The Hum of Angels: Listening for the Messengers of God Around Us by Scot McKnight
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Starting off, Scot McKnight has become one of my favorite authors to read over the past 8 years. It all started when I picked up his book "The Jesus Creed" as an optional read for a class, but ended up just reading it for fun during a summer. That being said, I have read a total of 4 books that he's authored (including this one). Overall 'The Hum of Angels' is a decent read. It's not my favorite book that I've read by McKnight, but it's certainly not 'bad' by any stretch of the imagination. As he did with his book 'The Heaven Promise" McKnight sets out to look at the subject at hand (in this case, angels) from an informed and Biblically-backed perspective. I did find myself not fully convinced by a few of his conclusions in the book, but nothing that I would say I have to stop reading him altogether for. (The specific incident that I'm thinking of is him concluding that the angel present in one narrative in the O.T. [which is identified as THE angel of YHWH] is the exact same as an angel that presents itself in another narrative in the O.T. [which is identified as AN angel of YHWH]. Can these angels be the same one? Sure. However I'm not convinced that they necessarily HAVE to be. I know I'm splitting hairs here, but I figured if I were to create the most helpful review about this book, I should include it in my review.)

Overall, I would say this is a solid effort contribution to an area of study that can super weird, super fast. I personally haven't read any other books that have been specifically written about angels, but I can say that I'm thankful that this is the first one that I've read. As I mentioned earlier, with his balanced and conservative approach to the subject matter, McKnight's 'The Hum of Angels' has positioned itself as an excellent introductory book that anyone seeking to study angles more in depth or simply become a little more informed, should give it a read.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

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