Look what's new...

Take a look what's new on the Academic page at the Reformed Book Cellar and post suggestions on our Facebook page what you would add. Winter is a great time to invest time reading and digging deeper into theological issues. Dig in, enjoy and be blessed.

Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment By Gregg R. Allison

One of the better works that has come out is Roman Catholic Theology and Practice: An Evangelical Assessment By Gregg R. Allison. For a good review check out Leonardo De Chirico's review at the Gospel Coalition. To hear an interview with the author head over to the Reformed Forum. This one is worth the investment.

Product Description

A theologian and church historian walks readers through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, winsomely evaluating Roman Catholic doctrine and practice from the perspective of both Scripture and evangelical theology.

Look What's Coming

Mark McDowell did us a great service in his post at Ref21 showing us what's up and coming in 2015. Below are a few of the books. See the whole article with his notes here.

Reformed Catholicity: The Promise of Retrieval for Theology and Biblical Interpretation By Michael Allen, Scott R. Swain

 

 

 

 

 

Gospel of Glory: Major Themes in Johannine Theology By Richard Bauckham

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luther on the Christian Life: Cross and Freedom (Theologians on the Christian Life) By Carl R. Trueman

 

 

Brush Up on Your Knowledge of the Bible

In light of the recent Newsweek article which misrepresents Scripture, below are a few suggestions to brush up on your knowledge of the Bible, its history and transmission.

The Question of Canon
Product Description
2013 Preaching Survey of the Year's Best Books for Preachers Did the New Testament canon arise naturally from within the early Christian faith? Were the books written as Scripture, or did they become Scripture by a decision of the second-century church? Why did early Christians have a canon at all? These are the types of questions that led Michael J. Kruger to pick apart modern scholarship’s dominant view that the New Testament is a late creation of the church imposed on books originally written for another purpose. Calling into question this commonly held "extrinsic" view, Kruger here tackles the five most prevalent objections to the classic understanding of a quickly emerging, self-authenticating collection of authoritative scriptures. Already a noted author on the subject of the New Testament canon, Kruger addresses foundational and paradigmatic assumptions of the extrinsic model as he provides powerful rebuttals and further support for the classic, "intrinsic" view. This framework recognizes the canon as the product of internal forces evolving out of the historical essence of Christianity, not a development retroactively imposed by the church upon books written hundreds of years before. Unlike many books written on the emergence of the New Testament canon that ask "when?" or "how?" Kruger focuses this work on the "why?"—exposing weaknesses in the five major tenets of the extrinsic model as he goes. While The Question of Canon scrutinizes today’s popular scholastic view, it also offers an alternative concept to lay a better empirical foundation for biblical canon studies.

Fabricating Jesus
Product Description
Modern historical study of the Gospels seems to give us a new portrait of Jesus every spring--just in time for Easter. The more unusual the portrait, the more it departs from the traditional view of Jesus, the more attention it gets in the popular media. Why are scholars so prone to fabricate a new Jesus? Why is the public so eager to accept such claims without question? What methods and assumptions predispose scholars to distort the record? Is there a more sober approach to finding the real Jesus? Commenting on such recent releases as Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, James Tabor's The Jesus Dynasty, Michael Baigent's The Jesus Papers and the Gospel of Judas, for which he served as an advisory board member to the National Geographic Society, Craig Evans offers a sane approach to examining the sources for understanding the historical Jesus.

The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
Product Description
For over twenty years, Craig Blomberg's The Historical Reliability of the Gospels has provided a useful antidote to many of the toxic effects of skeptical criticism of the Gospels. Offering a calm, balanced overview of the history of Gospel criticism, especially that of the late twentieth century, Blomberg introduces readers to the methods employed by New Testament scholars and shows both the values and limits of those methods. He then delves more deeply into the question of miracles, Synoptic discrepancies and the differences between the Synoptics and John. After an assessment of noncanonical Jesus tradition, he addresses issues of historical method directly. This new edition has been thoroughly updated in light of new developments with numerous additions to the footnotes and two added appendixes. Readers will find that over the past twenty years, the case for the historical trustworthiness of the Gospels has grown vastly stronger.

You can find these and other associated titles in this genre here.

Book Review: Edwards On The Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God by Dane Ortlund

UPDATED

When I first started reading Edwards On The Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God I wondered what I got myself into. I wasn’t a big fan of Jonathan Edwards and was never really interested in the legacy of his theology. The further I read the more I understood what I was missing. Author Dane Ortlund unravels Edwards’ theology as he looks into how and why he saw the beauty of God. As we find out, Edwards should not be known only (maybe not at all?) for his fire and brimstone sermons. I found this to be a fascinating look into the life and teaching of Edwards and the foundation he has laid for us all.

In thirteen brief but well worked chapters Ortlund fleshes out the Christian life theology of Edwards as found in the beauty of God. He notes that

 (T)the very first thing to be said about the Christian life is that for Edwards, beauty is what makes God God. “God is God, and distinguished from all other beings, and exalted above ’em, chiefly by his divine beauty.”  Not sovereignty, not wrath, not grace, not omniscience, not eternity, but beauty is what more than anything else defines God’s very divinity. Edwards clearly believed in these other truths about God and saw all of them as upholding and displaying and connected to God’s beauty. Yet none of them expresses who God is in the way that beauty does. Dane C. Ortlund. Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God (Kindle Locations 319-324). Crossway.

We read that the beauty found in Christ is the central thrust of the book as we weave our way through all the chapters. The author covers a wide and necessary range of topics around this theme in Edwards’ theology. New birth, love, joy, gentleness, prayer and Satan are just a few of the chapter topics we find within these pages. All well researched and all well written.

Its worth noting that Ortlund does not have any hagiographic tendencies towards Edwards. The final chapter considers several of Edwards’s shortfalls, though, as the author reveals, they can be forgiven.

I enjoyed this book. I was reminded what the Christian life is all about and just how often I forget the truths Edwards spoke on so often. Compelling and engaging I would certainly recommend this work.

Crossway has provided a complimentary copy of this book through Beyond the Page.    

Find out more by clicking here to listen to an author interview by the guys at Reformed Forum.

The Best of 2014

Check out the some of the best works from 2014 at RBC. Got any to add?

Coming Soon: "Luther and the Christian Life: Cross and Freedom" by Carl Trueman

An interview with carl Trueman on his new book due out in February 2015, Luther and the Christian Life: Cross and Freedom.

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Reformed Forum 2014 Books

This past weekend the Reformed Forum held their first conference. Plenary speakers included Dr. Lane G. Tipton and Dr. K. Scott Oliphint. The conference was fantastic and a good time was had by all. Though intentionally small in number, attendees came from Texas, California and Massachusetts. Many of us met for the first time and many of us renewed old friendships.  Reformed Forum has made available the videos and audio. Check 'em out. And, have a look at some of the books that were referenced and offered at the conference here. I'm already looking forward to next years conference.

Edwards on the Christian Life: Alive to the Beauty of God (Theologians on the Christian Life) By Dane C. Ortlund

I'm just digging into this gem. A review is forthcoming but I've heard nothing but good about this work. Watch the nterview below for more on this book.

Interview: Dane Ortlund and Justin Taylor from Crossway on Vimeo.

Book Review: The Theology of the Westminster Standards by J.V. Fesko

Much has changed since the 17^th century. As we read the Westminster Standards that fact is not always at the forefront in our analysis and understanding. Author J.V. Fesko opens up the context of the writing of the Standards in his TheTheology of the Westminster Standards. Utilizing new data now available on the internet Fesko delves into the major issues and persons that revolved around the writings of the Divines. As Fesko notes, “A benefit of reading the Standards within their original historical and theological context is that the contemporary reader learns how to read a confession of faith. In the present day those who employ confessions of faith often fail to understand that confessions can be highly nuanced documents. The running joke in Presbyterian circles is, “Put three Presbyterians in one room and you’ll get five different opinions.” This humorous observation is equally true of Reformed theology in the early modern period.” (J. V. Fesko. The Theology of the Westminster Standards (Kindle Locations 342-346). Crossway.) Further, “…Early modern Reformed theologians had a slightly different outlook on life and theology than we do today, and despite whatever similarities in doctrine and conviction are shared with theologians in the twenty-first century, the differences can be significant.”(J. V. Fesko. The Theology of the Westminster Standards (Kindle Locations 339-341). Crossway.) Thus, a proper understanding of the historical context and the mindset of the key players is vital.

There are too many fascinating insights this work highlights to explore in this brief review, but let me point out a few that were enlightening to me and likely to you the reader. For example, though John Calvin was often referred to in the debates on various points, he was by far not the “go to” theologian for the Divines. Many past & contemporary 17^th century theologians were cited and even those with opposing theological viewpoints. Hence we see that the Divines were not “Calvinists.” They were all learned, thoughtful, godly men who contended for the truth in their own manner.  To label them Calvinists is completely false and leads to much misunderstanding.

Fesko begins by setting the stage with the historical context. War, religion and politics were all intertwined in the 17^th century and at least a fair understanding of the existing and recent events prior to the convening of the Divines is necessary to apprehend the backdrop to the assembly. Here the author does an admirable job for the reader.

From there, Fesko launches into the Doctrine of Scripture, God and the Decree, Covenant and Creation, The Doctrine of Christ, Justification, Sanctification, The Law of God, The Church, Worship and Eschatology. This is not small work. Though comprehensive it is not exhaustive according to Fesko.

In each chapter the decisive debates are laid out noting the key arguments, the key players and the conclusion resulting in the precise wording of the Westminster documents (at least as it was originally written).  Some of the interesting points brought to light were that there were two parties in the debates over justification; those who believed in the active obedience of Christ and those who did not. There were 70 speeches against the active obedience and 176 in favor. In the chapter on sanctification the reader receives a thorough definition of the various forms of antinomianism and the arguments cited against it. Did you know there was virtually no one of a premillennial disposition during this period? And, it wasn’t as crazy as we may think to label the pope as the antichrist. This is all such fascinating stuff I found myself often glued to my Kindle.

As Fesko notes in his conclusion, “Historical context is all-determinative for understanding the theology contained in the Westminster Standards. As helpful and necessary as popular commentaries on the Standards are, a contextually sensitive reading of the documents must first be established. What political and theological concerns did the divines have, and how do these concerns appear in the Confession and catechisms? Who were the dialogue partners of the divines, whether positively or negatively?” (J. V. Fesko. The Theology of the Westminster Standards (Kindle Locations 9586-9589). Crossway.) We cannot ignore the historical context of the assembly any more than we can ignore the historical context of Scripture. This work starts the reader down the road to more intensive study of the Westminster Assembly and its work. Extensively footnoted with general and Scripture indices as well as an annotated bibliography, this book is a superb foundation.

Crossway has provided a complimentary copy of this book through Beyond the Page.