• Let's pass on the passion
• The Commentary
  Who is misleading who?
• Letter from America
  Haiti: what evangelicals say
• McAtheism
• Notes from the future: evangelical liberalism in the UK
• Kidnapped!
• Isn't conversion just psychological?
  An answer to a common criticism of Christian faith
• Behind closed doors
  On 2 Samuel 6.20-23 - living at home to the glory of God?
• Life's beginning and the incarnation
• Reading together
  A new way of getting people to get to grips with Scripture
• Watching the web
  Sermon vodcasts
• Monthly arts and media column
  Examining the role of journalists in disaster situations
• Stranger and pilgrim
  The real Van Gogh: the artist and his letters at the Royal Academy
• The Music Exchange
  Dealing positively with negative feedback
• Monthly youth leaders column
  Then there were none...
• Third Degree
  Led by students
• Rosemary Elizabeth Bird, 1933-2010
  Obituary

other articles

• Who made God?
• Invictus
• The children's book - Shelf life: Looking at secular books
• In God we trust
• Gospel-centred life - Third of a series of extracts
• Old paths - new shoes - The Westminster Conference 2008
• But is it real?
• Makers of Puritan history
• Crossing the divide
• On wings of prayer - Praying the ACTS way
• Unleashing the Word - Rediscovering the public reading of Scripture
• 100 fascinating Bible facts
• Made to be me
• The expectant prophet - Habakkuk simply explained
• Jesus - a serious beginner's guide
• Freedom in Christ for young people
• Reasons for the Christian hope
• 2 Peter and Jude
• Super Saviour
• God's people in the wilderness - The church in Hebrews
• Predestination - The American career of a contentious doctrine
• A guide to Christian living
• Travel through Egypt

Christianity in a scary world

THE EXPECTANT PROPHET
Habakkuk simply explained
By John D. Currid
Evangelical Press. 137 pages. £7.95
ISBN 978-0-85234-700-3

I was drawn to this commentary as soon as I read the note on the back cover! Dr. Currid is aware that God’s people need to be fully convinced about the sovereignty of God in a world which is so full of pain and confusion. Where better to turn to achieve this aim than the prophecy of Habakkuk?

This is a short but impressive commentary. Dr. Currid sets out to explain Habakkuk simply, but he is never simplistic. He applies his obvious scholarship to this Old Testament book and makes it relevant to today’s reader. The author deals with the technicalities of the prophecy and the nuances of the Hebrew text with precision, but never in a complicated way. In fact, here is an example of how to bring considerable knowledge to bear on a text, and yet explain it in such a way that readers are not only able to understand it, but to also be excited by its relevance to their personal lives, and the contemporary scene. His conclusions at the end of each short chapter are perfectly applied to our lives in the real world.

Dr. Currid frequently draws from other Old Testament texts to drive home his point, and stimulatingly draws our attention to the New Testament and to Christ. All of us who preach the Old Testa-ment can learn a lot from his example.

This is a commentary well worth purchasing if you are an ‘ordinary Christian’ who loves the Word of God, but finds the prophetic books sometimes difficult to understand, and for the preacher who will be stimulated to preach this great book with power and relevance.

Peter Mawson,
co-pastor, Headley Park Church, South Bristol