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I am a recently retired high school educator who is learning to spend time doing what I want to do. This is a new challenge in its own sense. It's like walking into a buffet and knowing you can eat all you want and not get full or gain any weight and for once you have absolutely no idea what you want. But I look forward to the journey of figuring it out.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

The Chamberlain Key

I'm a skeptic.  I will lay it right out there.  When it comes to theological writings, ones that purport to open up the mysteries of the bible, old or new testament, I tend to tread with caution.  Perhaps this is because I was raised and have always been Lutheran.  We believe that the bible is the inspired word of God, written by men, through the guide of the Holy Spirit.  That said, I did find, The Chamberlain Key, written by Timothy P. Smith an interesting read.
Smith writes a real life story about his discovery of a key that is hidden within the old testament, "the Masoretic tradition of textual transmission...(with its)...seemingly fanatical insistence that both the letter count and sequence of specific biblical manuscripts not be altered so much as one letter (Smith). It is through this precise translation with exact spacing that Smith discovers the Chamberlain Key through the use of the Leningrad Codex.  He, with other academics and professionals discover messages that point to and confirm the Christian gospel.
When I first picked up this book, I was afraid it would be much like the Bible Code written by Rips, Witzum and Rosenburg.  Thankfully it is not.  Smith even refers to this book as he also found the book "appalling for many reasons"(Smith).
I do not pretend to know or understand all the the bible offers for both Christians and Jews.  I do believe it is God's word for mankind.  I feel that Smith's book is an unique story, of a man with a strong faith.  My skeptical nature can not condone the book as a new faith text.  I can recommend the text as a good read of a man, who worked hard to share his faith story and journey to delve deeper into God's word.


FTC disclaimer: I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

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