Stephen G. Dempster, professor of religious studies at Crandall University, is author of Micah: A Theological Commentary in the Two Horizons commentary series. The book is divided into an introduction, commentary, and concluding essays on the theology of Micah. The introduction orients the reader toward the commentary’s approach, a theological interpretation of Micah as Scripture. Dempster presents his study as a bridge between academy and church, exegesis and theology. While some attention is given to Micah’s social setting and historical background, the commentary focuses on a theology arising from a literary study, emphasizing a study of Micah’s poetics. At each stage, the book moves toward Micah’s enduring significance, with suggestions and examples for appropriating Mican theology.Micah is examined synchronically as a cohesive unit within a wider canonical context. Dempster holds that Micah’s individual oracles originated in the eighth century and were then collected into a book during or soon after Hezekiah’s reign. Dempster recognizes Micah as a “symphony in three parts,” Mic 1–2, 3–5, 6–7, which moves from judgment to salvation with increasing intensity to a crescendo. Canonically, Micah, as part of the Twelve, is the center of an Assyrian triad surrounded by Jonah and Nahum, accentuating that God’s mercy does not come without justice.The second part is a section-by-section commentary that combines theology and exegesis. In comparison to some volumes in the Two Horizons series, Dempster commendably gives adequate space for commentary that substantially engages the text of Micah (140 pages). Each section opens with a brief overview and then moves through the categories: structure, literary features, key words and expressions, interpretation—Micah’s word then—and finally interpretation—Micah’s word now. As evident from the commentary’s organization, Dempster utilizes literary analysis to draw out important theological themes, which are first examined in their putative context and then applied to the contemporary world.Dempster’s approach to the commentary is well organized and implemented. Dempster’s attention to the theological import of Micah’s poetics is well done. While the commentary does engage the work of influential theologians, such as Calvin, it is done appropriately and not to the neglect of exegesis. Dempster clearly presents the theological themes of his exegesis to provide a firm foundation for the essays in the following sections.While well written, the commentary applies Micah in ways that might be incongruous with Micah’s concerns. Micah exhibits moral outrage over religiously justified and sanctioned systemic oppression. However, while Dempster does recognize systemic issues ancient and modern, his applications frequently offer the proverbial “low-hanging fruit,” such as prosperity preachers and consumerism, over pressing systemic concerns. For example, Daniel Smith-Christopher’s recent Micah commentary examines (but arguably overstates) the impact of militarization on Micah’s and modern societies. While Dempster uses Mic 4:1–5 to press the church to promote peace and disarmament in war-torn countries, a more accurate application might instead challenge the church in the West to question its support of militarization and the proliferation of weapons. Listening to Micah’s rhetoric, the church might be called to the possibility that it is complicit in systemic injustice by direct participation and/or by providing religious justification for oppressive social institutions.The next chapter examines 10 theological themes Dempster draws from his exegesis: Micah’s vision of God, divine name and the Israelite credo, God and the nations, justice, land, temple, messiah, worship, true and false prophecy, and remnant. Dempster’s treatment of the nations in Micah is quite helpful; confusion over the role of the nations in Mic 4–5 dissipates, when the presentation of the nations is examined in logical, not chronological, order. Micah’s rapid shifts between present and future reveal the outcomes of different attitudes toward Yhwh. The nations are called to heed God’s demands; whoever does not will be judged. Also helpful is Dempster’s discussion on the influence of cult on culture, which deals with the relationship between Christian religious practice and cultural praxis.Dempster’s Christocentric spiritualization of Micah may undervalue Micah’s core theological concerns. Although Dempster does argue that a return to a physical land and temple are vital to Micah’s theology and contends that Micah’s emphasis on physical land helps counter spiritualizing views of salvation, he holds that the Davidic king, land, and temple are types that should not ultimately be understood in terms of physical fulfillment. His approach spiritualizes these core themes to an extent unrecognizable within the textual world of Micah. Admittedly, this is a common practice in confessional commentaries (e.g., Waltke, Micah, 206–13). For me, Micah’s concerns and hopes, within and for its original context, should be respected without negating their ultimate fulfillment in Christ.The final chapter examines Micah’s relevance to present-day theological issues. In a noteworthy segment, Dempster points out the connection between the book of Micah and Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s concept of “cheap grace,” which “guaranteed spiritual favor or ‘eternal security’ without any accompanying change in the life of the recipient. Micah attacked this view with all the passion he could muster. For him, there could not be spiritual guarantees for a life not committed to justice, ḥesed, and walking in the Torah” (p. 248). Here, Dempster might have gone farther through political analogy: the Judahite and German Nazi religious establishments offered “cheap” justification for oppressive political systems. How might this relate to the church’s tendency to justify political institutions uncritically?Dempster’s commentary is a profitable engagement of Mican theology. He writes in a clear and engaging style that offers value for lay and professional reader alike. While this review has negatively assessed the work in some facets, Dempster is to be commended for shedding light on the theology of Micah, a seldom-explored topic that merits deep reflection in the academy and church.