Jesus Christ and His Surroundings. By the Rev. Norman L.
Walker, D.D. (Hodder and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—In clear and correct language Dr. Walker describes the stage and background of our Lord's ministry, and in harmony with the principles of Protestant orthodoxy interprets His teaching upon the essential experiences of human life as these presented themselves to His generation. The work is unpretentious, and raises no contro- versy. It is intended for the average Christian reader of our time, whom it will both instruct and edify. Within its limits it is well done. But even those for whom it is written will perceive that Dr. Walker is silent upon some questions that even the most popular treatment of the subject should not have ignored, and confines Christ's teaching within a somewhat strait system of doctrine. Though Dr. Walker emphasises most Weedy the
divine nature of our Lord, the effect of some parts of his volume is to present Him as a mere doctor of the Church drawing the conclusions of modern orthodoxy from the various elements of the life of His time on earth. Nor has Dr. Walker exhausted these as they appear in our Lord's own sayings. The economic life of the time, of which the trade of most of the Twelve Disciples formed a part, and which is so often reflected in the parables of Jesus, is not adequately treated in the volume. There is here a great, and, so far as popular presentations of Christ's life in the English language are concerned, an almost untouched, field.
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