Crossway Short Classics Series
DETAILS: Publisher: Crossway Books Format: Paperback Read Date: July 2022
Some Thoughts on the Series as a Whole
The point of this series is to take classic short works—sermons, tracts, articles—package them attractively, edit a bit (modernize language, eliminate footnotes, tweak grammar, etc.) and make them widely available. Each is given a short introduction to help the reader get the context and a bit of information about the author.
I think this is a great idea, and I don’t know how I didn’t hear about this until a few weeks ago. I do hope they put out new books in the series (at least one of the books on the original list isn’t out yet, but they did publish one not on that list, so maybe they exchanged the titles).
I wonder a bit about the cover design—I wonder if the floral theme is a bit off-putting (Evangelical publishers usually reserve that for books marketed for women, and I don’t get the impression that this series is designed for that).
I don’t want to try to cover the whole series in one post, so I’m going to do this in chunks. This is the first in the series of posts I’ll be doing.
The Emotional Life of Our Lord
by B.B. Warfield, Sinclair Ferguson (Foreward)
DETAILS:
Publication Date: May 10, 2022
Length: 110 pg.
Read Date: July 10, 2022
This is the book in the set I was most excited about—I’ve read this a few times, but I’ve only had a photocopy from someone who owned a set of Warfield’s shorter works to use (I’m sure it’s online now, but…). Now I have a nice, attractive, bound copy.
This look at Christ’s emotions—and how they demonstrate his humanity—is a fantastic piece of Christian scholarship. There’s a warmth to the writing, a sense of bringing assurance and comfort to the reader, along with the discussion of the texts. I just loved it.
Also, an Introduction by Sinclair Ferguson? Doesn’t get better than that.
Fighting for Holiness
by J. C. Ryle, Andrew Atherstone (Foreward)
DETAILS:
Publication Date: May 10, 2022
Length: 74 pg.
Read Date: July 17, 2022
The original title of this was Are You Fighting?, and I guess the editors thought that since it wasn’t going to be republished in a series with similar questions, they needed a new title. I think the new title didn’t do it any favors. Fighting for Holiness shouldn’t be seen as Fighting to obtain Holiness or to display Holiness, but on account of Holiness, or in Holiness’ Cause. It may be nit-picking, but to me, the title just didn’t fit.
The fact that I stopped to think about that mid-way through this short work says something about how gripping it was.
This was a description of several of the passages using military metaphors from the Bible, calling readers to be fighters for the Faith. (in a spiritual sense, I should add, because too often today that would be understood as a more physical combat)
I just don’t get why this was picked—Ryle wrote a lot that were this length, and most of them would’ve been better. I can’t say that the work wasn’t well-written or anything, I’m just not sure this is the best work for the use.
Heaven Is a World of Love
by Jonathan Edwards, Sam Storms (Foreward)
DETAILS:
Publication Date: October 13, 2020
Length: 115 pg.
Read Date: July 24, 2022
This is one of the several examples of sermons that demonstrate there’s more to Edwards than the caricature of a hellfire and brimstone preacher that’s so prevalent. And you have to think that’s at least part of the reason it was selected.
It’s a typical Edwardsian sermon in that he approaches the subject from several angles—maybe too many (or at least it feels that way a time or two). The focus here is on the love of God, as shown to His creation both in this world and the next (although the emphasis is on the next, hence the title).
Unlike the Warfield book above, I didn’t get the warmth in this one—odd considering the subject. It felt more like a scholarly treatise than a sermon, but that’s typical of Edwards and it’s clearly a sign that it’s been too long since I’ve read Edwards sermons.
It’s a nice sermon, a helpful sermon, and a nice bit of analysis, too.
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