A Place at the Table: George Eldon Ladd... (Review)
by Wyatt Houtz   December 9, 2008 4:00pm v.19 Rating: Status: Hidden

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I was excited to learn that a new biography had been published on my theological hero: George Eldon Ladd! So, I immediately submitted a purchase request to the King County Library System and to my surprise, I'm already holding a brand new copy of the hardcover, titled: "A Place at the Table: George Eldon Ladd and the Rehabilitation of Evangelical Scholarship in America" by John A. D'Elia Unfortunately, my excitement has turned to chagrin, because I do not recommend this book. George Marsden wrote a wonderful biography on Jonathan Edwards and I'm surprised that his endorsement was on the back cover of D'Elia's biography. This short 200 page work is no where near engaging or believable or captivating as Marsden's Jonathan Edwards biography. "A Place at the Table" begins with a confusing and long introduction -- especially for a short biography. It wasn't clear who wrote the introduction or if it was the first chapter to the book, so I was forced to read it anyway. I couldn't discern whether it was a summary of the book or it was important background information, even after reading several pages into it. I skimmed the last few pages and then skipped to chapter one (that following the title page.) The first twenty pages may be reduced to one long sentence: "Ladd was raised in a poor, broken, Canadian home after the depression, he obtained a bachelors degree from an unaccredited bible college, and consequently was rejected from every accredited graduate school in North America, and therefore felt like a FREAK for the rest of his life."  I'm a nerd who loves Ladd, and even I couldn't remain interested in the streams of dates and places where he lived and the colleges that rejected him. My mind was already wandering after only a few pages. After the first twenty pages, I began to be frustrated by the author's assessment of G.E. Ladd's emotional state. Whether D'Elia is correct, I am not convinced that a person's emotional and psychological health can be assessed by studying Ladd's undergraduate term papers. The Great Depression caused hardship for everyone, so its not interesting that Ladd experienced hardship. It's so obvious that I was annoyed that this fact was repeated over and over. To be fair, I only read a quarter of this book, but then again, it is a very short biography and if I only take away one long sentence, then should I expect much more from the last 150pages? In conclusion, I think that this book is important because more biographies should be written by Ladd, but I don't recommend D'Elia's biography because its less taxing and more productive to learn about G.E. Ladd by reading Ladd's works directly So, that's what I suggest. Don't buy this book, and buy a Ladd book instead! Buy Ladd's "Theology of the New Testament" or the "Gospel of the Kingdom" and you will save yourself a headache like me! If I finish the book, and change my mind, then I will update this blog.   Last Update: December 10, 2008 12:42pm Tags: george eldon ladd, g.e. ladd, A place at the table, d'elia, george marsden, jonathan edwards, biography, review, book

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