The Riddleblog

If we stand within the field of prophetic vision typical of Israel’s prophets after the exile, and we look to the future, what do we see? Israel’s prophets clearly anticipate a time when Israel will be restored to its former greatness. But will that restoration of Israel to its former glory mirror the former days of the Davidic monarchy—i.e. a restored national kingdom? Or does the prophetic vision of restoration point beyond a monarchy to the ultimate monarch, Jesus the Messiah, who is the descendant of David, YHWH’s servant, and the true Israel?

The prophetic vision given the prophets is remarkably comprehensive. The nation had been divided, and the people of both kingdoms (Israel and Judah) were taken into captivity or dispersed as exiles throughout the region. Judah was exiled to Babylon five centuries before the coming of Jesus. Since the magnificent temple of Solomon was destroyed by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar and the Levitical priesthood was in disarray, any prophetic expectation related to Israel’s future would naturally speak of a reversal of fortune and the undoing of terrible calamity which had come upon the nation. The restoration to come in the messianic age therefore includes not only the fate of the nation, but also the land of Canaan, the city of Jerusalem, a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem (the so-called “second temple”), as well as the long anticipated heir to David’s throne—the coming Messiah.

Yet, once Israel’s Messiah had come, and the messianic age was a reality, how do the writers of the New Testament understand these Old Testament prophecies associated with Israel’s future restoration?

To read the rest of this essay, follow the link below

Amillennialism, eschatology, Biblical Events, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerJanuary 13, 2022 Comments

Job -- The Suffering Prophet (7): "Why?"

Satan’s Challenge Fails–Job Does Not Curse God

His memories of wealth and joy began to fade, largely erased by Job’s current misery. The presence of Job’s friends mourning his wretched condition brings forth a torrent of heartfelt but provocative words. Job’s doxology gives way to a lament of his birth. The greatest man of the east, is now crushed.

We read in Job 3:1-3, “After this,” [the arrival of his friends and the week spent in mourning] “Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said: `Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.’” Job dares to plead with the Lord to remove that day when Job was conceived from human history. Job continues in verses 4-7, pleading “let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.” Job’s cry can be summarized, “it would have been better if I had never been born.”

The saddest part of Job’s ordeal is that his present pain has obscured the wonderful memories of all the joys he had known before. When life is viewed through the lens of pain and loss, it is easy for the sufferer to reason, “it would be better to have never existed at all than to endure my present sufferings.” Some of us have been there. Some of us are there now. Sustained pain robs us of so much–our joy often goes first, but at times pain even robs us of the assurance of our salvation.

To read the rest of this reflection, follow the link below

Reflections on JobKim RiddlebargerJanuary 10, 2022Job asks `why?'Comment

The Blessed Hope Podcast -- Episode Thirteen: "Sowing and Reaping" (Galatians 6:1-10)

In the concluding chapter of Galatians (6), Paul addresses the fallout caused by the Judaizers who were spying on those Christians exercising their liberty in Christ. It should not come as a surprise that the Judaizers would find people engaging in sinful conduct, misusing their freedom, and then shame them. The Judaizers, apparently, were singling out these people as examples of why Paul’s gospel supposedly leads to license and sinful behavior. Paul instructs the leaders of the churches of Galatia to bear with those struggling with sin and work to restore them–not shame them, nor leave them to the Judaizing wolves. Paul describes the actions of the Judaizers as “sowing to the flesh” and warns them that if they they continue to sow to the flesh, well then, they will reap from the flesh, because God is not deceived. Rather, Christians are to bear one another’s burdens and do those things which benefit their neighbors, especially those in the household of faith.

To listen to this episode, follow the link below.

To listen to the series: The Blessed Hope Podcast

An Exposition of the Belgic Confession: The Incarnation

God keeps his promises. The incarnation of Jesus Christ proves this assertion because this event lies at the center of what is truly the greatest story ever told. You know how that story begins. At the dawn of human history, God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and commanded him not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But as we know, Adam ate from the forbidden tree, plunging the entire human race into sin and death. But even as God was pronouncing the curse upon Adam, Eve, and the serpent, God also promised to rescue Adam from his sin through the seed of the woman. The promise seed would be a biological descendant from Eve who would somehow redeem our fallen race from sin and restore us to the place of honor we once occupied before the fall. It will take a second Adam–one who obeys the covenant of works which Adam broke and who can redeem us from the guilt and power of sin to undo the consequences brought upon us by the first Adam. This brings us to the person in whom God fulfills his promises, Jesus Christ, the second Adam, who is truly our Immanuel, God with us.

Our confession treats the doctrine of election in Article Sixteen, the promise of redemption and the covenant of grace in Article Seventeen, and the incarnation of our Lord in Article Eighteen. The structure of our confession reminds us that all of these doctrines are necessarily connected. You cannot talk about God’s sovereign choice to save particular sinners without talking about God’s promise to save his chosen ones and give them to the Son as his bride. We cannot discuss this covenant of redemption (the so-called covenant before the covenant) apart from a discussion of the covenant of grace, since this is the means by which God will actually save those whom he chooses. And we certainly cannot talk about the covenant of grace without talking about the mediator of that covenant, Jesus Christ, the one in whom God fulfills his promises.

To read the rest of this exposition: An Exposition of Article Eighteen: "In This Way He Is Truly Our Immanuel"

Kim RiddlebargerJanuary 5, 2022

Job--The Suffering Prophet (6): Job's Counselors Arrive

Job’s Counselors Arrive

As the story of Job unfolds, we learn that there was a reason why Satan did not kill Job’s wife, when he took the lives of Job’s seven sons and three daughters. Satan used Mrs. Job in the same way in which he had used Eve in Eden–to vocalize the ends which Satan hoped to bring to pass, that Job would curse God to his face. The same holds true of Job’s three friends, who respond to their friend’s predicament with every intention of comforting Job in his suffering, but who, whether they know it or not, are actually doing the devil’s bidding. It is their presence in the city of Uz, which plunges Job into greater depths of despair than previously witnessed. With the arrival of these three “wise men,” Job descends from a state of physical misery into a state of spiritual torment and lament, as will be revealed in Job 3.

We are introduced to Job’s three friends in verses 11-13 of Job 2. According to Job 2:11, “When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.” The fact that Job’s three friends had to travel from their homes indicates that several months had transpired (cf. Job 7:3) between the time of Job’s loss of everything and the speeches from Job and his friends which begin in Job 3:1 ff. Some months earlier, when Job’s wife told him to admit that he had sinned and then to curse God and die, Job’s response was resolute (2:10). “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

To read the rest of this reflection, follow the link below

Reflections on Job, Biblical TheologyKim RiddlebargerJanuary 4, 2022Job's CounselorsComment

Musings (1/3/2022)

God’s richest blessings in the New Year to you all!

If your New Year’s resolution is to read your Bible more frequently (and even if it isn’t) here are a number of Bible reading plans from Ligonier. Ligonier's Bible Reading Plans
Why do we tend to view those outside our political tribe in the worst possible light? The Atlantic: "The Myth of Tribalism"
I ran across a new podcast which I highly recommend. If you love military history, strategy and tactics, and are interested in the lives of great historical figures, then you’ll love the The School of War
More great stuff from Dr. Godfrey:

Dr. Robert Godfrey: "Whats Going on Right Now? (Lecture 7)
Dr. Robert Godfrey: "What's Going on Right Now?" (Lecture 8)

To read the rest, follow the link below:

Kim RiddlebargerJanuary 3, 2022Comment

A Blessed, Healthy, Happy, and Prosperous New Year to You All!

A Prayer for New Year’s Eve (The Year’s End)

Almighty and most gracious God, as we close the year with this day, we thank You for all Your tender mercies bestowed upon us during the whole course of our lives, and especially during this past year. Accept our thanksgivings for all Your blessings; fill our hearts with humility and love, with gratitude and trust. [Specific thanksgiving may be offered.]

For all these blessings we offer to You the sacrifice of our praises, and we acknowledge that through Your great goodness and help we are enabled to live our lives in peace, even though we have offended You in countless ways. O merciful God, pardon all who sincerely repent of their sins. Grant that, while our years are passing away, we may work out our salvation with fear and trembling in the time You give to us.

Enable us to press onward, always towards the end of our heavenly calling, even that blessed eternity, which Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord, has prepared for us. Amen.

New Year’s Day

Eternal and almighty God, we humble ourselves in Your presence to dedicate to You the beginning of this year by adoration, prayer, and praise.

We come before Your Supreme Majesty and acknowledge with gratitude the manifold blessings which You have freely bestowed upon us through the whole course of our lives. We thank You that, having preserved us to the present time, You have permitted us to enter upon a new year. You have not ceased, O most gracious God, to give to us the abundance of Your loving-kindness.

But You have especially sustained us with every spiritual blessing by keeping in our midst the light of Your gospel. You have granted us repentance through Your mighty help, through Your great goodness, and through the warnings of Your Word and Spirit, and have mercifully given to us favorable opportunities to grow in grace. Despite our unworthiness, for the love of Jesus Christ, take not away from us Your protection and favor.

Moved by Your grace, we devote ourselves to You at the beginning of this year, desiring to employ it better than we have done in the years that are past. And since this day also warns us that our years pass away like a flood, like a dream, give us grace that we may seriously number our days, that we may have a heart of wisdom, that we may discern the vanity of this life, and that we may aspire to that better life, when days and months and years shall be counted no more, forever.

While we continue in the flesh, may we more and more live, not according to its desires, but according to Your will. And grant, O God, that when our years shall come to an end, and the day of our death arrives, we may depart in the peace that passes all understanding and in the sure hope of life everlasting.

Favorably hear us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From the Liturgical Forms and Prayer of the URCNA

Riddleblog PublicationKim RiddlebargerDecember 31, 2021New Year PrayersComment

Review of Tim Bouverie's "Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War"

Tim Bouverie: Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War (London: Vintage, 2019) 497 pgs.

I know, it sounds cliche. If you look in a dictionary under “appeasement” you will likely find mention or a picture of Neville Chamberlain—possibly both. Yet, as Tim Bouverie contends in his recent book, Appeasing Hitler, there is far more than “appeasement” to the story of Neville Chamberlain’s diplomatic efforts as English Prime Minister in the eighteen months or so before World War Two. The disaster which everyone feared was coming, yet could do nothing to stop, was at hand. Chamberlain tried and failed to prevent it from happening. Postwar history has not been kind to him. His name is synonymous with political appeasement and naivete.

A political journalist now writing in the field of history, in Appeasing Hitler, Tim Bouverie covers the period from Hitler’s rise to power in Germany (January 1933) until England’s declaration of war on Germany (September 1939). Bouverie recounts the behind the scenes diplomatic efforts made by the British government to prevent the Second World War. If you’ve watched any of the recent Churchill movies (i.e., The Darkest Hour, which, for the most part, is outstanding) and wondered about the tensions between Neville Chamberlain (the current PM), Lord Halifax (the king’s personal friend and the likely P.M. after Chamberlain), and Churchill (the loudest voice opposed to Hitler, but discredited in the eyes of his contemporaries due to his role in the Gallipoli debacle of 1915), Bouverie gives the backstory to the distrust (if not dislike) between Chamberlain, Halifax, and Churchill. Appeasing Hitler is well-written and cogently argued. Bouverie captures quite well the sense of futility on the part of the British government which went with trying to change the mind of a megalomaniac (Hitler) with nothing available to them to stop him but Chamberlain’s best of intentions.

To read the rest of the review, Tim Bouverie: Appeasing Hitler

Jack Bauer and His Man Bag--Remember That? (Best of the Old Riddleblog # 5)

From June 30, 2006

OK. I admit it. I love "24." I don't get to watch it on TV, but do enjoy it on DVD when I can watch more than one episode at a time.

If you are a 24 fan, you are probably aware of all the Jack Bauer jokes making their way around the internet.

More than likely, you've also seen the discussion about Jack's "man bag," (as seen in the picture). Some have used this to challenge Jack's legendary toughness. "If Jack Bauer is so tough, why does he carry a purse?" His defenders reply, "That's not a purse, its a sack of whoop-ass!"

In the bag, Bauer carries his handgun, numerous magazines (he seems to have an unlimited supply for any gun and caliber he happens to be using), his cell (which always has four bars--who is his provider?), and his trusty PDA which keeps him connected to Chloe and others back at CTU.

To read the rest, follow the link below

Kim RiddlebargerDecember 29, 2021

A Blessed Christmas from the Riddleblog!

Merciful Father, You so loved the world that You gave Your only begotten Son.

He who was rich became poor for us, the eternal Word made flesh, a great Light shining in the darkness.

Only because of Your Word and Spirit have we seen that Light and been drawn into its brightness.

Give us the grace humbly and joyfully to receive Your Son, even as the shepherds and princes who welcomed Him, and to look no further for our redemption than to this child lying in a manger.

This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

From Liturgical Forms and Prayers of the URCNA

Riddleblog PublicationKim RiddlebargerDecember 24, 2021The Word Made Flesh John 1:14Comment

A Few Changes to the Riddleblog Layout

1). The old “Amillennialism (Audio)” tab is now Amillennialism (Audio, Links, and Charts). I’ve added a section to that tab containing links to all the eschatology related posts in the blog section so they can be easily found in one place. I also relocated the links to all eschatology charts as well as the related eschatology links there as well. Everything related to amillennialism and eschatology is now on a single page.

2). The old Tab, “Charts, Resources, Links,” has been renamed Links to Friends and Co-Laborers, since the links to charts and eschatology resources have been moved to the new tab, Amillennialism (Audio, Links, and Charts).

This should make things much easier to find. Adjust your links and bookmarks accordingly

Riddleblog UpdateKim RiddlebargerDecember 20, 2021Links and tabs rearrangedComment

Job -- The Suffering Prophet (5): Job Loses Everything

Satan Comes to Rob, Steal, and Destroy

Everyone reading this essay has suffered loss. We have all lost something we prize. Some of us have suffered greatly and must live in constant pain, either physical or emotional, and sometimes both. Yet, no one reading this has lost as much as Job. Like a series of Tsunamis, the bad news of Satan’s handiwork begins to come, wave after wave after wave.

As we continue our look at Job, the suffering prophet, we come to verse 13 of chapter one, where we read “one day [probably that day when Job offered burnt offerings] when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, `The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” The Sabeans are Arab Bedouins, who not only took all of Job’s livestock, they killed all of the servants. But this is only the beginning.

To read the rest of this essay, follow the link below

Reflections on JobKim RiddlebargerDecember 20, 2021Job loses all, Job praises God despite his lossComment

Evil in the Millennial Age? An Exposition of Zechariah 14

I am convinced that one of the major weaknesses of all forms of premillennialism is the presence of evil in the millennial age (The Presence of Evil in the Millennium -- A Huge Problem for Premillennarians). How do people in natural human bodies pass through the events associated with Christ’s return (the general resurrection, the final judgment, and the creation of a new heaven and earth) without being raised from the dead and appointed to their eternal destiny (heaven or hell)? There is a related question also raised by the premillennial understanding of redemptive history: “how can evil exist on the earth, while Jesus rules over the nations from David’s throne in Jerusalem after he has judged the nations?” Premillennarians seek to avoid this conundrum by assigning final judgment and elimination of evil to the close of the millennial age, fully one thousand years after Jesus returns. But the millennial age is not future as premillennarians claim, it is a present reality. Christ’s return is the final consummation, the summing up of all things, not but another step on the way to the final consummation a thousand years later.

Premillennarians respond to this amillennial challenge by asserting that the presence of evil in the millennial age was foretold by the Prophet Zechariah in the fourteenth chapter of his prophecy, thereby parrying the thrust of the amillennial argument.[1] The purpose of this essay is to set Zechariah’s prophecy in its context, summarize the varying interpretations of Zechariah 14 (including premillennialism and Reformed amillennialism), then interpret the entirety of the chapter, before drawing some final conclusions.

To read the rest of the essay: Evil in the Millennial Age? An Exposition of Zechariah 14

An Exposition of Article Seventeen of the Belgic Confession -- God Seeks Sinners: The Covenants of Works and Grace

One of the most poignant passages in all the Bible is Genesis 3:8-9. Adam sinned against God and is hiding among the trees, fully aware of what he has done and absolutely terrified of God’s presence. Before Adam sinned, God’s approach was the most delightful moment of the day. Now Adam is completely ashamed of what he had done. He is crushed by the guilt of his sins, the sentence of death hangs over his head. For the first time in his life, Adam is alienated from his creator. In his grace and mercy, it is God who approaches Adam, calling out to him, “where are you?”—not because God didn’t know where Adam was, but to rescue Adam from the consequences of what he had just done. It has been the case that God sets out to find lost sinners ever since.

Adam’s guilt and alienation from God is our own. Because we all sinned in Adam (he, being our biological and federal head), and have committed numerous sins ourselves, we too are estranged from God, guilty for our sins, and terrified of God’s approach. Nevertheless, God is as merciful to us as he was to Adam. He still comes to each one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, calling out, “where are you?” to deliver us from the guilt and power of our sins and to comfort us with the promise of his favor toward us in the person of his son.

To read the rest of this exposition: Article Seventeen of the Belgic Confession: "God Set Out to Find Him"

Musings (12/14)

Michael Kruger discusses The Inclusion of the Book of Revelation into the New Testament Canon
How should Christians respond to the anger generated by political tribalism? This is what it means to love our neighbor. Nancy French: Extending Civility in an Age of Tribalism

To read the rest of the 12/14 musings, follow the link below

Job -- The Suffering Prophet (4): Satan Before the Heavenly Court

As the story Job continues to unfold, the veil between the seen and the unseen is lifted. We discover that the heavenly court is in session. The Lord is on his throne and legions of angels are present. Summoned by God, Satan comes before the court as the accuser of God’s people. But this time it is the Lord who directs Satan’s attention to his righteous servant, Job. Seeing an opportunity to attack the foundation of the gospel, Satan takes the up the Lord’s challenge, calling into question Job’s righteousness. According to Satan the Accuser, Job is a hypocrite. Job is blameless and upright, fears God and shuns evil, only because God bribes him to do so by giving Job great wealth and personal comfort. Take all these things away–Satan argues–and Job’s supposed piety will be exposed for what it is–a falsehood. Once God’s challenge has been issued and accepted by Satan, the wisdom and goodness of God is at stake. Job must enter into a trial by ordeal, a trial he must endure and from which he must emerge victorious, so that God’s wisdom will be vindicated and that all his ways–mysterious as they may be–will be proven right.

To read the rest of this essay, follow the link below

The Blessed Hope Podcast -- Episode Twelve: "Works of the Flesh v. Fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16-26)

In the last half of Galatians 5, Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. In comparing the two lists, its sounds very much like the Apostle is describing two warring factions, which he is–the flesh against the Spirit. The works of the flesh are the visible outcome of what it means to have a sinful nature. Because we are “flesh,” apart from God’s grace, this is what our lives will often look like–characterized by the behavior mentioned here. Yet when we are delivered from our bondage to the flesh by the death of Jesus and through the indwelling Holy Spirit, the change from living “in the flesh” to living in the Spirit manifests itself in the presence of the “Fruit of the Spirit.” If we walk in the Spirit, the Spirit will produce his fruit in us. So what are these fruit? What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? We’ll tackle these questions and a few more in this episode of the Blessed Hope.

To Listen to the Latest Episode: Episode Twelve: "The Works of the Flesh v. the Fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:19-26)

To Listen to The Entire Series, The Blessed Hope Podcast

Blessed Hope PodcastKim RiddlebargerDecember 11, 2021The flesh v. the Spirit, Works of the flesh, The fruit of the SpiritComment

Jesus Christ -- The True Temple

When Jesus declared, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here,” (Matthew 12:6) and then told a Samaritan woman that he can give her “living water” (John 4:10-14), we are given a major clue that the pre-messianic understanding of God’s temple must be reinterpreted in the light of Jesus’ messianic mission.

The temple occupies a significant place in the witness of Israel’s prophets regarding God’s future eschatological blessing for the nation. This witness points forward to the coming of Jesus. When Jesus connects his mission to this prophetic expectation, we are greatly aided in our understanding of the nature and character of the millennial age as a present reality—not a future hope.

We begin with the Old Testament expectation regarding the temple in Jerusalem at the commencement of the era of “Second Temple” Judaism. Isaiah (2:2-4) and (Micah 4:1-5), both speak of God’s future blessing upon Israel in the last days, depicting it as a time when God’s people will go up to mountain of the Lord, and the rebuilt and reconsecrated temple, where God’s people will once again renew themselves in the ways of the Lord.

To read the rest, follow the link below.

Job -- The Suffering Prophet (3): Who Was Job?

So, who was this man whom God called to suffer great loss and play such an important role in redemptive history?

Job is introduced to the reader in the opening verses of the first chapter. “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (v. 1). The land of Uz is east of the River Jordan (Qedem–“the east”), likely in what is now the nation of Jordan. Uz could be anywhere between Edom on the south, Moab on the east, and the land of the Aram to the north. While Job was not an Israelite–since no tribal or family identification is given–he clearly worships Israel’s God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [1] So, apparently, do his friends and family.

As the story opens and we meet the central character, what stands out is the assertion that Job was “blameless and upright” and that “he feared God and turned away evil.” What, exactly, does this mean? One thing it does not mean is that Job was sinless, or that he had attained a state of justifying righteousness because he lived a blameless and upright life. We must not confuse cause and effect. We know this to be the case because elsewhere in this book Job declares himself to be a sinner. In Job 7:20, Job laments, “If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?” In Job 13:26, he laments “for you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.” Finally, in Job 14:16 -17, Job confesses that “you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin; my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.”

To read the rest, follow the link below

Reflections on Job, Biblical EventsKim RiddlebargerDecember 6, 2021Upright and blameless, Job as sinnerComment

A Review of Allen Guelzo's Biography of R. E. Lee

Allen C. Guelzo. Robert E. Lee: A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2021. Pg 588. $ 35.00

In August of 2017, white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia, to protest the impending removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park. The statue was placed in the park in 1924, during the high water mark of white supremacy and Lost Cause sympathies. But the riots in Charlottesville reveal that the public image of R. E. Lee remains controversial. On the one hand, Lee is seen by many as a heroic figure and military genius who staved off northern aggression against impossible odds in a audacious defense of States Rights and Southern heritage. Yet, on the other, Lee is seen as a defender of slavery, a symbol of white privilege and racism, a man whose legacy has become a glaring offense to progressive sensitivities. Although there are a number of capable biographies of General Lee already in print (Emory Thomas’ 1995 volume, Robert E. Lee: A Biography stands out), it is time for a thorough re-assessment of R. L. Lee and his legacy. Allen C. Guelzo is the ideal historian to write such a volume.

Guelzo is an award-winning Civil War era historian, who previously taught at Gettysburg College. Currently, Dr. Guelzo is Senior Research Scholar in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He is a three time Lincoln Prize recipient, and in 2013 was awarded the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize for Military History for his 2013 book, Gettysburg: The Last Invasion, in which Robert E. Lee plays a major role. Guelzo is uniquely suited to take a fresh look at a man who is far more complicated than his hagiographers (i.e., Douglas Southall Freeman’s four volume, R. E. Lee) or his critics (Thomas L. Connelly’s 1977, The Marble Man), have indicated.

To read the rest, click here: A Review of Guelzo's Robert E. Lee: A Life