Review: “Matthew Henry: His Life and Influence”
Matthew Henry: His Life and Influence
Allan Harman
Christian Focus, 2012, 208pp., paperback, £8.99
ISBN 9781845507831
While
Matthew Henry’s commentary, though sneered at in some quarters, remains
rightly esteemed, the man himself is often little more than a cipher.
Though in a style that is not always lively, Allan Harman puts that
right in this accessible biography by putting the writing in the context
of the life. A good two thirds of the book is devoted to the life, with
a fair amount of weight on the relationship Matthew had with his
father, Philip. Philip’s household provided the environment in which
Matthew flourished as a Christian and as a scholar, and we trace Matthew
through his early life, his call to preach, and his ministries at
Chester and Hackney. It is occasionally disconcerting in this section to
have the author follow a tangential theme to its chronological end
before returning to the main chronological stream of the central
narrative, but not so much as to wreck the flow. The last third of the
book is more analytical, considering Henry as preacher, commentator and
writer, together with his legacy as a whole. This is a thorough,
insightful and helpful section. In the 350th anniversary year of Matthew
Henry’s birth, we would do well to consider his life and draw from it
the valuable lessons to which Harman points us.
