My Favorite Books of 2017
My pick for book of the year… Sanctification by Michael Allen
Michael Allen has contributed the third volume in the New Studies in Dogmatics series. It is a feast and my pick for book of the year. I won’t try to describe the book other than to say that Dr. Allen grounds holiness in the doctrine of God, Christology, and the covenant relationship between God and... Continue Reading
On Losing a Loved One to Dementia
As with the Psalms, "Walking through Twilight" infuses lament with hope, poetry, and praise
“Through sincere reflections about the wife he cherishes and the tragedy they endure, Groothuis reacquaints us with biblical lament. Coursing through the devastation, we find the hope of the kingdom to come, and the living Word that gives voice to our grief.” In this era of Facebook feeds and selfies, when image clothes identity,... Continue Reading
War Against Fathers
In his scrupulously researched book on how the sexual revolution has proven a war against fathers, Stephen Baskerville, professor of government at Patrick Henry College, describes the costs of divorce.
Baskerville challenges a host of dearly held beliefs: that divorce results from philandering men, that women are in grave danger of violence by men at all times, that the most dangerous place for a child is the nuclear family. All this, he shows, is completely, monstrously wrong. Fathers, caricatured as embodiments of the hated patriarchy,... Continue Reading
Christmas in China
A pastor offers a bold witness for Christ and the Christian influence on city of Chengdu.
Ian Johnson’s The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao is a soulful book about the varieties of Chinese religion, including Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity. It was on WORLD’s 2017 Books of the Year short list in the Understanding the World category. The excerpt below, courtesy of Pantheon Books, portrays brave Christians worshipping on Christmas Eve... Continue Reading
How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds
Written out of concern for the increasing nastiness in the culture and social media, in particular, author Alan Jacobs challenges his readers about the ways we think.
Jacobs gleans insight from literature, psychology, history, and theology to make his case, and it’s a good one. He also doesn’t reduce what is really growing in wisdom and humanity to simple formulae either. While the book is convicting and caused me to do some heart searching, this is a hopeful book too. It is... Continue Reading
Righteous in Christ, Not Ourselves (Calvin)
Here are some of Calvin’s helpful comments on the distinction between justification and sanctification
“It is not to be denied, however, that the two things, Justification and Sanctification, are constantly conjoined and cohere; but from this it is erroneously inferred that they are one and the same. For example: The light of the sun, though never unaccompanied with heat, is not to be considered heat. Where is the man... Continue Reading
Assurance, Good Works, and Sovereign Grace (Berkhof)
I appreciate Louis Berkhof’s explanation of how assurance of faith is related to good works in the Christian’s life
Some object to this method of seeking assurance altogether. They claim that it directs believers to seek the ground of assurance within themselves, and thus encourages them to build on a self-righteous foundation. But this is clearly a mistake. Believers are not taught to regard their good works as the meritorious cause of their salvation,... Continue Reading
Moral Combat: How the Sexual Revolution Infiltrated the Church
Griffith argues the sexual revolution was closely tied to religion and divided American Christianity into competing camps she calls “progressives” and “traditionalists.”
The most interesting part of the story for many conservative evangelical Reformed Christians may be the least familiar—the story of why liberal Protestants moved within 50 years from supporting traditional sexual morals to endorsing sex outside of marriage as a positive good. At a moment when sexual harassment scandals have given both the church... Continue Reading
Immutability and Reformed Theology
In an effort to promote more light than heat, I thought it might be helpful to compare two different approaches to the doctrine of immutability: one from Herman Bavinck and one from John Frame.
I am working with these two authors because Bavinck (of older theologians) is especially detailed when it comes to immutability, and because Frame (of more recent theologians) is so widely read and respected. He has also taken considerable interest in Dolezal’s book. While my sympathies lie with Bavinck, I’m going to refrain from arguing one... Continue Reading
Unlatched Theism: An Examination of John Frame’s Response to “All That Is in God”
James Dolezal’s book, “All That Is in God,” defines the basic differences between classical Christian theism and what he calls “theistic mutualism.”
Classical theism is the biblical doctrine of God, and that is why it is the doctrine of God that one finds in our creeds and confessions. That is why it is the doctrine defended by orthodox Christian theologians from the early church to the twentieth century. I also believe that Dolezal has demonstrated conclusively that... Continue Reading
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