Hercules Collins, An Orthodox Catechism: Being the Sum of Christian Religion, Contained in the Law and Gospel

Reformed Baptist Academic Press, 2014, 120 pgs.

Summary: Hercules Collins (1646/7-1702) a godly Baptist pastor in London took the venerable Heidelberg Catechism (1562) and brought it into line with The Second London Baptist Confession of 1689. His purpose was to provide the Calvinistic Baptist of England a catechism reflecting the orthodox Reformed tradition of the continent. He was especially concerned to prove that Baptists were Trinitarian and mainstream Reformed with the exception of their understanding of believers baptism and church and state issues.

The catechism has been modernized by Michael A. G. Haykin and G. Stephen Weaver, Jr.

Exemplar quote: Q. 1. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That both soul and body, whether I live or die, I am not my own, but belong wholly unto my most faithful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By His most precious blood fully satisfying for all my sins, He has delivered me from all the power of the devil, and so preserves me, that without the will of my heavenly Father not so much as a hair may fall from my head. Yes, all things must serve for my safety and by His Spirit, also He assures me of everlasting life, and makes me ready and prepared, that from now on I may live to Him (pg. 41).

Detriments/Benefits: It contains a pithy and succinct defense of believers’ baptism which looks suspiciously like Fred Malone’s argument for the same. (Not that Malone would deny this.) Collins’ continental orthodoxy did not include jettisoning the Sabbatarianism of Westminster and Perkins.

In general the book is irenic, godly, doctrinal sound, and helpful. It might be a bit burdensome to memorize, but would lead to wholesome results.

Adam Nicolson, God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible

2003, HarperCollins, 281 pgs.

Summary: A non-academic history of the King James Version of the Bible which attempts to describe the religious, cultural, and philosophical ambiance behind the translation. The personalities of the main translators and historical actors are also described with an almost bipolar sympathy or causticness.

Exemplar Quotes:

The deep décolletage of Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset, is a mark not of her own degeneracy but of a Jacobean court fashion in an age which valued lusciousness (description of a photo 172-173).

Shakespeare’s great tragedies and the King James Bible are each other’s mirror-twin. Both emerge from the ambitions and terrors of the Jacobean world. They are, from their radically diverging cores, the great what-ifs of the age. King Lear pursues the implications of a singular and disastrous decision to divide a kingdom; the King James Bible embraces the full breadth of absorbed and inherited wisdom in order to unite one; Lear contemplates, more fearlessly than any text had ever done or has ever done, the falling away of meaning; the King James Bible enshrines what is understands as the guarantee of all meaning; the rhetoric of King Lear breaks and shivers into multi-faceted shards of songs, madness, grandeur, argument, pathos; the King James Bible masks its immensely various sources under one certain, all-over musical sonority; everything in Lear falls apart, everything in the King James Bible pulls together; one is a nightmare of dissolution, the other a dream of wholeness (239-240).

Benefits/Detriments:

Mr. Nicolson tells us, “I am no atheist but I am no churchgoer. . .” (241). We also discover that he’s an aesthetic. His appreciation of Christianity and the King James Bible circles around his tastes and sensibilities. He has little interest in the meaning of the text or the faith’s ability to draw anyone to God. There is some interest in shared existential experiences through time. He is intelligent and shows great skill at providing interesting descriptions through historical research.

The book includes vulgar-contemporary poems about one of the translator’s wives and alludes to King James’ bisexuality and court debauchery with terms like “gauche sexuality” and the like.

There is very little of devotional value here for Christians and some academic merit. It does lay to rest the possibility of the King James Bible falling from heaven as the normative translation for English speakers.

Acceptable for adults, but not recommended to anyone except as a part of a much wider reading on the development of the King James translation.

David Murray, Christians Get Depressed Too

Reformation Heritage Books, 2010, 112 pgs.

Summary: David P. Murray, former pastor and current professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary gives biblical, practical, balanced and pastoral insights on a subject that has often failed to receive such treatment.  Dr. Murray writes as one who has seen depression first-hand in friends and those whom he loves most in this world and as one who pastored twelve years in areas in the northwest of Scotland that have some of the highest rates of depression in the world.  This immensely practical book is divided into six chapters:  The Crisis, The Complexity, The Condition, The Causes, The Cures, and The Caregivers, with an appendix on the Sufficiency of Scripture.

“The Crisis” gives eight reasons why it is important for Christians to study depression.

“The Complexity” gives two helpful “avoid-seek” principles for interacting with depression:  Avoid dogmatism and seek humility and avoid extremes and seek balance.  The dogmatism and extremes Murray advises against are assuming that the causes of depression are all physical, all spiritual, or all mental.  It is here that he offers an evaluation of the Nouthetic Counseling Movement (as represented by Jay Adams) and the Modern Biblical Counseling Movement (as represented by CCEF).

“The Condition” seeks to answer the question, “What is depression?” by considering five areas: Life situation, thoughts, feelings, bodies, and behavior.  “The Causes” of depression are considered under five headings:  Stress (brought on by life events or lifestyle), psychology (the way we think), sin, sickness, and sovereignty (“Hard though it may be to accept, the ultimate cause may be, ‘It pleased God.’” [p. 66]).

“The Cure” for depression is considered through the correction of the four areas of lifestyle, false thoughts, brain chemistry, and spiritual life.

“The Caregivers” are advised to study depression to avoid making common mistakes, to be sympathetic, to offer support by talking, listening, or praying, to reduce the stigma associated with being depressed, to maintain confidences, and to encourage the depressed person by reminding him or her of their usefulness and God-given ability.  Also in this chapter, Dr. Murray offers the general rule “to listen much and speak little” (p. 98) followed by a list of what not to say.  In addition, the reader is reminded “that there are no easy answers and there are no quick fixes in dealing with depression” (p. 100).

Dr. Murray handles the issue of the sufficiency of Scripture in the appendix by arguing that though the Scriptures are a sufficient guide in all of life, the Bible does not tell us everything we need to know about all aspects of life.  The subtitle of the appendix is “‘Salvation, Sanctification, and Spectacles’ because the truth regarding salvation is expressly set down in Scripture; the truth regarding sanctification is expressly set down or may be deduced from Scripture; and knowledge in this world must be checked by Scripture or read through the lens of Scripture” (p. 109).

Benefits/Detriments: An easy-to-read, very helpful contribution to developing a Christian understanding of a difficult topic, bringing a biblical and historical perspective for the assistance of the church today.  On the church bookstall.

Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom

Paternoster Press, 1981, 148 pgs.

Summary: A careful introduction on how to interpret and apply the Bible by Graeme Goldsworthy, former Lecturer in Old Testament Studies at Moore Theological College in Australia.

Goldsworthy opens by showing how conservative Christians often unintentionally interpret and apply the Bible through an allegorical method especially in Old Testament narratives. For instance, Christians are encouraged by the example of David to kill the giants in their life with the five stones of faith, hope, love, trust, and repentance. The difficulty with this interpretation is that it was not the intent of the authors nor can it be recreated outside of the preacher’s imagination.

To thwart such interpretations Goldsworthy takes two steps: the first is to center interpretation on the kingdom of God and how God establishes and maintains that kingdom first in Eden and then as God unfolds the plan of salvation after humanity’s rebellion. The kingdom of God is advanced through the history of salvation until it is finalized by the “kingdom of the world” becoming “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15).

Second, Goldsworthy argues for a typological interpretation centered on our Lord Jesus Christ and using the entire Bible to establish the types or patterns of God’s Word to assist us interpreting and applying the Scripture (Rom. 5:14, 1 Cor. 10:6; Heb. 8:5—cf. Acts 7:4). The story of David and Goliath then becomes evidence of God’s people’s lack of ability to save themselves and God’s promise to send a deliverer to save them from their enemies (the world, the flesh, and the devil). The world and the devil are represented by Goliath and the flesh by Saul’s and the nation’s lack of faith. Within this reading David becomes a type of Christ that destroys our true enemies, building anticipation for the coming of the promised victor over the Serpent (Gen. 3:15).

Benefits/Detriments: Warmly evangelical. A wonderful introduction to historical literalism or the grammatical-historical method of reading the Bible. Highly recommended for all, but especially anyone who teaches the Bible. (Cf. also review of Michael P. V. Barrett’s, Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament.)

Ronald Horton, Mood Tides: Divine Purpose in the Rhythms of Life

Greenville, Journey Forth: 2008, 194 pgs.

Summary: A brief, eloquent meditation on God’s use of the emotions within the human heart for sanctification, maturation, and edification. The book is gentle, wise and balanced. It takes its place in Christian literature somewhere between Lewis’ A Grief Observed and Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy.

In his pursuit of balance Dr. Horton creates a unique theological framework which embraces an Augustinian view of human love as ordered loves or eudemonic love (70-74), while shying away from Augustine’s view of human freedom (44) by drawing the veil of mystery over it. At the same time, Horton's view of God’s love toward humanity is most similar to Arminius’ construction—God’s love toward humanity can be thwarted (77) while God remains sovereign.

He very carefully and biblically corrects reactionary responses among conservative Christians to Freud, the self-esteem movement, secular psychology, and psychiatric medicine. Further, he provides edifying guidance on how to cope with high and low emotions and experiences.

Exemplar Quotes:

On Paradoxes: Paradoxes, that is, can be mere verbal mechanisms, such as that of the two gates, or they can be of the actual substance of the idea, such as that grain of wheat. The latter further divide into the easily resolvable or the ultimately unresolvable. The unresolvable include some of the most important truths we have (26).

The Offered Life: And if the life we have to offer is a wretched confusion, shattered by blows from the world and reduced to a sin-stricken rubble? Then we make from the fragments of that life an altar on which to offer what is left of our poor selves. “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me,” said the Lord to His people, adding “in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee” (Exod. 20:24). We ourselves, formed of the dust of the ground, can be that altar of earth as well as the sacrifice placed upon it (107).

On Depression: The virtues of patience and trust may need to be stressed to the ill or injured. Heeding medical instruction is an obedience issue. Keeping up the spiritual life and resting in the promises of God are always important reminders (150).

Reassurance: [God] has warm thoughts for the struggling, defeated Christian and is ready with assurance of His love and strength. To refuse to forgive ourselves for that for which we have been forgiven is understandable when the failure is from a human view egregious and irreversible, but to continue in self-rejection is ultimately an act of spiritual nullification: an unwillingness to receive with thanks the kindness of our Redeemer (169).

Benefits/Detriments: Worship is the practical outcome of the science of theology. Dr. Horton’s practical advice touching on how we love God and love each other is deep, warm, and edifying because he is teaching us to love God with all our being and our neighbor as ourselves.

The only weakness of the book from my perspective is that in attempting to balance the antinomy between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will Dr. Horton ends up describing God’s love as being ultimately thwarted by man’s action. Such a step appears to make God’s satisfaction contingent on human action either through God’s foreknowledge expressed in egalitarian love and the creation order or some other means.

As long as the reader makes no attempt to systematize Horton’s anthropological and theological views of love, Mood Tides will be of great benefit to all that read it.

David O. Beale, In Pursuit of Purity: American Fundamentalism since 1850

Unusual Publications, Greenville: 1986, 457 pgs.

Summary: A clear, well-researched and documented history of Fundamentalism from the perspective of a scholarly separatist at Bob Jones University. The basic argument is that nonconformist Fundamentalism (1857-1920) progressed into separatist Fundamentalism (1920s to present) as the true Fundamentalists discovered that “a full-orbed holiness includes both personal and ecclesiastical aspects” (6). Thus the best Christians are separatists and the suspect Christians are New Evangelicals, Neo-fundamentalist, and Broad Evangelicals. There is a tentative admittance in a footnote that godliness exists among a category of conservative Christians that are neither Fundamentalist nor New Evangelicals (270) but who strictly maintain a confessional position through a doctrinal statement and denominational associations.

In Pursuit of Purity has the only academic introduction to the Free Presbyterians of Northern Ireland of which I am aware and contains a large amount original research from primary sources on the development of Dispensationalism in the United States and its relationship to separatist Fundamentalism. There is also a chapter on the Canadian Baptist Shields’ attempt to turn Des Moines University into a Fundamentalist Bible College and the resulting riot.

A fascinating subtext exists within the footnotes as Beale corrects older and less scholarly historians within the Fundamentalist movement. For instance, George W. Dollar’s A History of Fundamentalism is corrected as is Brenda M. Meehan in Foundations.

The tone is much more irenic then the above summary sounds, in part because Dr. Beale is such a careful historian and is earnestly attempting to serve Jesus Christ. Some of Dr. Beale’s interpretations and applications of history may be imbalanced, but the careful scholarship is exemplarily.

Benefits and Detriments: There is an almost habitual assumption of in-house definitions: holiness is separation (6-7) and biblical theology is Dispensationalism (33).  Both statements may be defensible, but they cannot be assumed in an academic setting.

The Baptist Frank Norris and Presbyterian Carl McIntire receive much gentler treatment than they deserve; Norris more so that McIntire. Both men’s behavior was a public embarrassment to Christ, but both maintained Fundamentalist boundary markers.  The words, “Norris introduced a silver-plated weapon, which he claimed Chipps had been carrying at the time of the shooting,” during his trial “for the murder of an unarmed man” (234) describe too grotesque a situation to not require some sort of biblical condemnation.

The Norris-McIntire issue illustrates the central weakness of the book; there is no critique or record of Fundamentalists declining into reactionary and rigorist heresies or confusion. Peter Ruckman and Jack Hyles are not mentioned, though Hyles played a key role in Fundamentalist history.  Evangelical propensities toward sin are exposed but Fundamentalist’s propensities towards heterodoxy and sin are gilded over.

Extremely helpful introduction to separatist Fundamentalism in the modern era. Evangelical pastors should read it to recognize the sinful potential within their doctrine and practice. A bit academic for lay readers, but should be required reading for Baptist pastors and modern church historians.

D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil

Baker Academics, 2006, 240 pgs.

Summary: Suffering will come. For most of us grotesque and horrifying events will unfold in excruciating slowness or with the suddenness of a lightning strike. The suffering that enters our life will have a palatable weight in our hearts. It will feel as if the very ground has opened its mouth to hell; we are not yet immersed in the fire, but blasts of trauma will belch forth from the pit, and we will be shaken.

Having written so dramatically, allow me an anti-climatic suggestion. Prepare for future suffering, process past trauma, and be ready to counsel others by having a robustly biblical understanding of suffering and the problem of evil. The first step in preparation and processing is relentlessly striving to not be conformed to this world but to have your mind transformed by Scripture and the Spirit. The next step is likely to read How Long, O Lord?

The book is a clear, biblically and academically informed mediation on the problem of evil and suffering in this world. Concise, godly and covering the main philosophical and theological objections against compatibilism (God is exhaustively sovereign and man is responsible for his sin) at a thoughtful layman’s reading level.

Benefits and Detriments: The only weakness that I can find is that Carson sometimes chides at traditional theological vocabulary and distinctions—for instance in the case of the immutability and atemporality of God. He remains orthodox, but there’s a sense of irritation. My suspicion is that he sees this as being more biblical, but this requires that we then argue that Anslem, Calvin, Turretin, Shedd, Augustine, Thomas, and so forth are less biblical than Carson, and this makes me nervous. On the issue of God and time, see Augustine’s Confessions and Paul Helm’s Eternal God, and on immutability see Shedd’s Dogmatics or Calvin’s Institutes.

How Long, O Lord? is an incredibly important book for all thoughtful Christians. Please read it before the suffering comes.

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publising Company, 1923, 189 pgs.

Summary: Dr. Machen’s (1881-1937) trenchant review of Christian liberalism and a defense of historical orthodoxy written in 1923. Machen was born and buried in Baltimore. His grave is at Greenmount Cemetery.

Liberalism as a theological construct is an attempt to split the difference between the religion revealed in the Bible and modern Epicurean or materialistic interpretations of nature. Machen taught that liberalism was simply not “the faith once handed down to the saints.”

“The liberal preacher is really rejecting the whole basis of Christianity, which is a religion founded not on aspirations, but on facts. Here is found the most fundamental difference between liberalism and Christianity—liberalism is altogether in the imperative mood, while Christianity begins with a triumphant indicative; liberalism appeals to man’s will, while Christianity announces, first, a gracious act of God” (47).

Benefits/Detriments: Evangelicalism cycles through spasms of attempting to compromise with the reigning intellectual systems. Until the prevalent non-Christian worldview stops being materialistic, Christianity and Liberalism will need to be read and re-read by the succeeding generations. Machen’s work also addresses many of the basic issues within theological relativism.

Recommend for all, but especially for pastors and college students.

Albert Mohler, The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership that Matters

Bethany House Publishers, 2012, pgs. 220

Allow me to give a thumbnail sketch of an historical event, and then I’ll pull in some dates and names, and spin the whole thing about to a review of Dr. Mohler’s The Conviction to Lead.

There once was a reasonably sophisticated politician with some decidedly mediocre theology. He was a decent man who gave popular speeches that moved the masses. He recognized that the political and cultural elite were leading the people away from the wholesome traditions of the past. He began to poke about and discovered part of the intellectual source of the decline. It was a combination of English Epicureanism and a German philosopher. And so in all earnestness he began the public battle.

He bloodied his enemies enough through citation and critique that they took notice of him. Two in particular plotted against him—a lawyer and newspaperman. The lawyer had defended two rich wastrels who had read the German philosopher and murdered a youth in response. The newspaperman had written extensively on English Epicureanism and translated the German philosopher as well as wrote the first American introduction to his canon.

The politician being a decent man with weak theology didn’t see the trap. He could sway live audiences but he didn’t understand the power of the popular media nor was he capable of lying and spinning in the papers like his enemies. And so he won a legal case but lost the national battle, and then he died.

William Jennings Byran died believing that he won the Scopes’ Trial. He hoped this victory would be the culmination of his long public battle against Nietzsche’s philosophy and Darwin’s scientific materialism. But he hoped in vain. Clarence Darrow (cf. his defense of Leopold and Loeb) and H. L. Mencken (translator of the Antichrist and author of The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche) understood that they had won the battle of public opinion.

The Scopes’ Monkey Trial was the greatest public setback of orthodox Christianity that I am aware of in modern history. Bryan was a convictional leader, but he violated or ignored about half of the twenty-five principles Dr. Mohler lays out in his book The Conviction to Lead. He shared the convictions but lacked the wisdom. The issue is not that Mohler’s insights are new, but rather Bryan was hamstrung by a theological system and heritage that underestimated the human propensity towards untruth.  Also, Bryan had grown soft, lazy, and pompous on the paid speakers’ circuit. The basic theological, moral, and practical weaknesses of Bryan remain within popular evangelicalism.

Mohler’s book and life lacks these weaknesses. His convictions were forged after Bryan’s failure by the likes of Karl F. H. Henry, and Molher understands the times. The backbone of his theology is thoroughly Augustinian. The Bishop of Hippo does not appear in the citations, but he organizes Mohler’s assessment of both man and God (cf. 70-72). Further, a robust Augustinianism informs the practice and posture of self-critique and humility which blossom within principles like “The Moral Virtues of Leadership.”

The book is packaged to take its place next to T. D. Jakes’ works, but the discerning reader should place the book nearer at least in intent to Alexis de Tocqueville’s invitation to the French nobility in Democracy in America. De Tocqueville was offering a model of conservative reform in the aftermath of the Revolution; Mohler does much the same.

Mohler has drawn from everyone from Stephen King to Martin Luther to distil his thoughts for effective and godly leadership. Stodgy academics and sanctimonious ideologues may be befuddled and tempted to ignore a book that quotes Bill Murray movies and Justin Martyr. Such would be a mistake. A writer who both has and mocks his memento mori needs to be taken with a degree of academic gravitas (200); and anyone who observes Mohler’s handling and use of Scripture should consider carefully his handling and use of pop culture.

And so friends and enemies of Mohler’s convictions, here is the blueprint.  What shall you do with it?

Carl R. Trueman, Reformation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Christian Focus Publications, 2011, 127 pgs.

Summary: Four chapters originally delivered as lectures by Professor Trueman at the Evangelical Theological College of Wales in 2000. He lays out the importance of Luther’s theological insight at the Reformation and its relevance for today. Trueman is a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary.

Trueman argues that Luther brought Jesus Christ back into the center of theological discussion by recognizing that Roman Catholic theology was “cheapening God’s grace, trivializing sin and misleading the laity” (20). Further, “[c]orrupt belief and corrupt practice went hand-in-hand, and one could not be reformed without the reformation of the other” (21).

The lesson that the modern church must recognize is that the flesh is constantly attempting to drag good and even wicked things into the center of our doctrine and practice. The process of “cheapening God’s grace” and “trivializing sin” is a constant battle and not merely a onetime event. To overcome the pull of bad doctrine and practice, we must return to Paul, and Luther’s, theology of the cross that places Christ in the center.

God in Christ only remains in the center of church life and doctrine when the word is preached, and the Bible studied and understood by the entire congregation.

Benefits/Detriments: Excellent and helpful book. Establishes a solid framework for considering the Reformation and church life.

Recommended for all.  On the bookstall.