Book Review: Upon This Rock

Upon This Rock (3-volume set)

Don Doezema

Protestant Reformed Sunday School Teachers Association, 2003

3 Volumes, Hardback, 1411pp.

£30.00, incl. P&P (Click here to order from the CPRC Bookstore)

Rarely is Christian literature produced suitable for a wide range of readership; Upon this Rock is surely an exception, being readily understandable to the older Sunday school child and teenager, and useful to a minister in message and article preparation, and for the range of age and people in between, both for private, prayerful reading, and family devotions.

Upon this Rock is a historical narrative of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, and of the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles, using background material, and demonstrating the significance of what God reveals to in through the human penmen of those books. In the foreword, Professor Herman Hanko (an emeritus professor of the Protestant Reformed Seminary) states that it “is not a Bible-story book—although it tells a lot of history. Nor is it a Dogmatics, though it contains a lot of theology. If it were either of the two, it would be nothing much different from what we already have. But the book gives us a clear insight into God’s Truth as it is made manifest in history.”  This work is thoroughly biblical and is in accord with Reformed confessions.

Volume 1 covers the time from the birth of John the Baptist to our Lord’s return to Jerusalem before His final Passover. Volume 2 begins with the account of Bartimaeus and continues to our Lord’s resurrection and the giving of the “Great Commission.”  Volume 3 begins with Christ’s ascension and concludes with the final years of the Apostle Paul and his epistles to Philemon and Timothy. Where there are different interpretations of texts given by commentators, the alternatives are set out Mr. Doezema, who gives his own preference.

The name of Don Doezema will be unknown to many in this country. He is a retired Christian School teacher and is at present the business manager of the Standard Bearer a Reformed semi-monthly magazine. The book originated in a long series of articles written for Sunday schools and to aid Christian parents in the instruction of their older children.

1411 pages may seem a lot of reading. However the reader will discover, with this reviewer, that it is very difficult to put down these books, and when the end of volume 3 is reached there is sadness that there is no volume 4 to follow. The reader will also be stimulated to read some of the source books quoted, many of which are still in print.

The set is beautifully and strongly bound and is an excellent gift for individuals or families. Highly recommended.

Martin Greasley (Warwickshire, England)

This book was also reviewed in the Beacon Lights.  Click here to read the review.