The King and the Kingdom

by William Barclay

A time of plenty when all have enough.... A time when animals and men live in friendship.... A time when there is peace over all the earth.... These are the dreams, not of contemporary youth, but of Jewish writers before the time of Christ. In The King and The Kingdom Professor Barclay traces ideas of the Kingdom of God from the days of Israel's first king to the flowering of those ideas in Christ the King. In his customary energetic manner this popular author shows how relevant today are the concepts emerging from the study of Biblical events.

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

WIlliam Barclay was a Scottish author, radio and television presenter, Church of Scotland minister, and Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow. He wrote a popular set of Bible commentaries on the New Testament that sold 1.5 million copies.

Reviews

[Craig Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every believer needs to read this book

[You Salib · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read. Follows a logical pattern and focused aim.
Covers the Bible from the beginning to the end. And gives a practical guide to how we should live our lives

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barclay originally compiled this material as a "Bible class handbook" for church-wide use. Consequently, the coverage given to the subject is necessarily shallow. However, there is good information here, along with fresh reminders of some of the distinctive wonders of God's Kingdom. Few will agree completely with Barclay's conclusions, and his exegesis is suspect in several places, seemingly drawing upon the tendency of his era to moralize Scripture rather than making the Christocentric, redemptive-historical connections that bind the biblical narrative together. Also, some will object that Barclay gives humanity too much credit as he insists that the final consummation of the Kingdom is dependent upon man's ability to "prepare" the earth for it by making it an increasingly congenial world. Without declaring it outright, Barclay seems to hold a post-millennial eschatology rooted in the concept of a "golden age" that will finally invite God's Kingdom into the world in all its fullness. Nonetheless, Barclay does provide helpfully concise historical background to the Kingdom idea in Jewish faith, and he is absolutely rich in illustrations.