This is a collection of eight papers covering a number of topics concerning the Sabbath. These papers were presented by different Adventist scholars at a symposium of the African Adventist Theological Society in May 2017 at the Adventist University of Africa in Kenya.

The first chapter suggests that the Sabbath cannot simply be reduced to a day of rest in the Old Testament. The notion of worship has been inherent in the Sabbath since it was instituted at Creation. Psalm 92, the only Psalm devoted to the Sabbath, makes an explicit connection between the seventh day and the cultic service. So do some of the prophetic writings. Isaiah 66:23 tells us that in the eschatological future all flesh shall come to worship God from one Sabbath to another, and Ezekiel 46:3–4 says that at that time the people of the land shall worship at the temple on Sabbath. Thus rest and worship are two complementary and important aspects of the Sabbath.

The second chapter explores the theological rationale behind the Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20:8–11, the intertextual conceptual links, and the practical implications of keeping the Sabbath holy. Chapter 3 addresses the important question of the relationship between the Sabbath and the feast days in Leviticus 23. Most Christians believe that the Sabbath is one of the feasts of Israel that Christians do not need to keep. Through a close textual study the author shows that the seventh-day Sabbath was not a feast day, or part of the ritual system of ancient Israel. Hence the divinely designed Sabbath that God blessed and sanctified at creation remains binding for Christians.

The fourth chapter is a study of the healing of a sick woman in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath in Luke 13:10–17. It resulted in one of four Sabbath controversies in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus’ action reminds us that release from physical and spiritual bondage is compatible with the spirit of the Sabbath. The ethics and sanctity of the Sabbath are not violated by acts of compassion.

Colossians 2:16, the most frequently used New Testament text against the Sabbath, is investigated in chapter 5. The traditional Adventist interpretation that the Greek sabbata in this text refers to the annual Sabbaths of ancient Israel has in recent times been attacked. The author uses semantic studies, exegetical analysis, intertextual associations, and contextual and literary structure arguments to support his conclusion that sabbata in Colossians 2:16 does indeed refer to the ceremonial sabbaths, which were fulfilled and thus abrogated by the death of Jesus on Calvary.

Chapter 6 considers the purpose and significance of the biblical Sabbath in the writings of Ellen G. White; and chapter 7 looks at the Sabbath in the ministry of Christ and comments on the eschatological significance of the fourth commandment.

Although chapter seven has a subheading called “The Sabbath: An Eschatological Perspective,” there is no mention of the Sabbath as the mark of the beast in Revelation 13, which is an important eschatological aspect of the Sabbath. The African chapter of the Adventist Theological Society is to be commended for publishing the papers of this symposium on the Sabbath.

The last chapter is titled “A Biblical View of Physical Intimacy within Marriage on the Sabbath,” a topic that is hardly ever touched upon in Adventist literature. The author mentions the negative view on physical intimacy in the early church and then goes on to investigate Jewish sources on this issue. The book of Jubilee (ca. 100 BC) forbids sexual intercourse on the Sabbath, as do the Dead Sea Scrolls. The rabbinic writings, on the other hand, consider intercourse on Sabbath—that is, Friday night—as a command, and sacred. After considering the biblical role and purpose of physical intimacy, the author concludes that sexual union and the Sabbath are not inimical to each other.

As is often the case, books with multiple authors have some chapters that are stronger than others and a certain amount of repetition seems to be unavoidable when a topic is addressed from various angles. Apart from some typos—for example, the Hebrew word mo’adim is spelled backwards (p. 49)—this small volume makes a valuable contribution to the Sabbath literature of the Seventh-day Adventist Church because some of its topics are rarely mentioned in other books about the Sabbath.