Tag: Church History Page 1 of 2

Empowered Witness: Politics, Culture, and the Spiritual Mission of the Church by Alan D. Strange: A Case Study and a Call to Act

DETAILS: 
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: February 13, 2024
Format: Paperback
Length: 127 pg.
Read Date: February 11-18, 2024

The church is not presented in the Bible as simply another voice in the competing cacophony of shouted slogans but rather that still small voice that testifies to what God has done for us in Christ, that he so loved the world that he gave Christ to die for it, so that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). This is the message of the church, and to reduce it to a mere political agenda is to sell short the glory of the gospel. The Christian faith is not, at its heart, a political message but a spiritual one. A doctrine of the spirituality of the church, properly conceived, holds fast to this thrust and permits the church to maintain fidelity to the Christian message while keeping in check any address that it might consider necessary respecting matters in the civil and political sphere.

What’s Empowered Witness About?

This is one of those books where if I’m not careful I’m going to end up restating and interacting with the entire argument of the book. So we’re going to be careful…

The Publisher’s site says:

Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Church in Our Highly Politicized Age

The goal of the church should be simple—share the gospel to the ends of the earth. But in our highly politicized age, Christians can tend to place earthly political and social agendas over God’s spiritual mission of the church.

In Empowered Witness, author Alan D. Strange examines the doctrine of the spirituality of the church, making a clear distinction between the functions of the church and other institutions. Strange argues that if the church continues to push political agendas, no institution will be focused solely on the Great Commission and the gospel will be lost entirely. This book calls readers to become aware of the church’s power and limits and shed light on moral issues in a way that doesn’t alter the deeply spiritual and gospel-centered mission of the church.

The Doctrine Under Consideration

This quotation from Charles Hodge offers a good (yet partial) definition:

It is the doctrine of the Scriptures and of the Presbyterian Church, that the kingdom of Christ is not of this world; that it is not subject as to faith, worship, or discipline, to the authority of the state; and that it has no right to interfere with the state, or give ecclesiastical judgment in matters pertaining to state policy.

The Spirituality of the Church focuses on the Church’s Spiritual Mission—to proclaim the gospel and help change the lives of believers—and calls the church to remember that’s her mission and to keep her from becoming entangled with or too immersed in the concerns of this world, with the power/goals of the State, and so on.

This doesn’t mean that the Church cannot—ought not—speak to the culture or State as it regards morality or spiritual issues, but it ought not get into the details of the political realities or functions.

The Structure of the Book

Let me just show you the Table of Contents first,

Chapter 1: The Doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church
Chapter 2: Slavery and the Spirituality of the Church
Chapter 3: The Spirituality of the Church Preceding the US Civil War
Chapter 4: The Spirituality of the Church and the General Assemblies of 1862–1865
Chapter 5: The Southern Church and the Reunion of the Northern Church
Chapter 6: The Spirituality of the Church and Politics Today

As you can see, the bulk of the book focuses on the middle of the Nineteenth Century and the Church (primarily the Presbyterian Church in the US)—and Charles Hodge was one of the leading voices and thinkers of the time. The book uses Hodge (and others to lesser extents) as a case study to see how this doctrine can be applied. Strange calls the story of the Presbyterian Church of the 1800s a “great cautionary tale”—you will not see a lot of hero-worship here. The Church didn’t live up to her calling, but we today can learn from their failings.

Strikingly, many of those who differed with and opposed Hodge (or that he differed with and opposed) held to the same doctrine. One of the strengths of Chapters 2-5 is that we see that this isn’t a “magic bullet” ensuring unity amongst believers that we can use to get the world/governments to do the things we want.

So, what did I think about Empowered Witness?

Every decision that the church as church takes needs to be justified in the light of the spirituality of the church, answering positively a question like “Does this advance the true spiritual task/calling/mission of the church?” Endorsing a political candidate and taking a position on a tax bill arguably does not pertain to or advance the cause of the gospel…

Saying this, though, does not remove the difficulty of defining what is spiritual vis-a-vis what is more purely political. One mans “purely political” may be another man’s “civil consequences of a proper spirituality.” Nothing will save us from the debate over whether a matter pertains to the proper spirituality of the church or falls under the more purely political items that should not concern the church. And there are those on both left and right, particularly hard-liners, who see everything as political, so that all political issues are moral and all moral issues are purely political.

This is not the book I expected from the description or even the title. This is both a complaint and a reaction. However, the book’s concept is probably a better idea than what I expected.

So rather than a purely theoretical or scholarly presentation and analysis of The Spirituality of the Church, or one looking at how to address contemporary issues, controversies, and discussions from that point of view—we get a look at how historical figures dealt with it. This allows the reader to see examples of the application of the doctrine to the real world (avoiding the problems of the first strategy) or distracting readers who may differ from the author when it comes to contemporary issues (avoiding problems of the second strategy). So by focusing on historical figures approaching a topic that most readers are familiar with, and are (likely?) largely settled about the events and how things played out, we can see how the various figures applied the doctrine without getting too worked up or distracted.

This also allows Strange to be critical of every figure he talked about when necessary—historical distance can be helpful.

I’ve seen a some mild criticism of Strange’s descriptions of the positions of James Thornwell and Stuart Robinson in distinction from Hodge—but they were mild (and the person who made those criticisms was largely positive toward the book otherwise). And I imagine there are some who’d want to pick a little on his depiction of Hodge and his position, too. But no one is going to challenge Strange’s grasp on the overall discussions and positions—this is an area he’s devoted years to and it shows.

Nor does this book try to answer every question, address every angle or objection—it’s the beginning of a consideration, an invitation to a conversation—one that each reader should have with those around them.

I ended up relishing the experience of reading this book and gleaned so much from it—and I really want to read the dissertation this was based on now (a healthy TBR stack is all that’s preventing me from jumping on it now). Chapter 1, “The Doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church” (with the introduction) and Chapter 6, “The Spirituality of the Church and Politics Today” serve as good bookends, ensuring that this isn’t just a historical discussion, but one that’s vital to readers and believers today—without being so expansive or long that Strange will put off readers who differ from him.

The more I think about this book, the more I like it. I’ve spent more time talking about it with others than I do most books—and have ended up chewing on it more after those conversations—the more time you spend with Strange, Hodge, and those events/ideas under consideration, the greater your appreciation is likely to be. Empowered Witness is an easy (enough) read, but deals with thought-provoking topics in a thoughtful way, so you’re not going to race through this. You’re going to walk away from this impressed with the Nineteenth Century figures (even if you were already appreciative with them) and wondering where you can read more people like them. Strange has done us a service with this book, and hopefully, it bears good fruit.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Zwingli the Pastor: A Life in Conflict by Stephen Brett Eccher: A Look at The Reformer’s Most Important Work

By HCNewton

On March 17, 2024

In History, Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Zwingli the Pastor:
A Life in Conflict

by Stephen Brett Eccher

DETAILS:
Publisher:  Lexham Press
Publication Date: March 20, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 288 pg.
Read Date: February 25-March 10, 2024

What’s Zwingli the Pastor About?

Of the first-generation—or Magisterial—reformers, Huldrych/Ulrich Zwingli is probably the least known today—and a lot of what carries his name popularly isn’t necessarily reflective of his actual positions. From what I’ve heard, there’s somewhat of a resurgence of interest and scholarship in Zwingli. Stephen Brett Eccher brings us this introduction to the reformer as part of that.

This is not a biography of Zwingli, nor is it an in-depth examination of his theological insights and writing. As the title suggests, it’s a look at his pastoral work. His life was defined by conflict, and that’s true as well for his ministry.

After a quick overview of his life, including his pastoral work pre-Zurich, Eccher looks at Zwingli’s pastorate topically rather than chronologically. His focus wasn’t on changing the Church throughout the world, or making history (although he did both)—Zwingli’s focus was ministering to the people of Zurich in the pulpit, in their homes, in sickness, and in rapidly changing times.

Disagreeing with Zwingli

I’m not going to argue that an author writing a book about someone else needs to be in lockstep with him (or how could anyone ever write a book about anyone?). But if you disagree with your subject on significant points (and I think this is more true when it comes to theological points than otherwise), you need to exercise care in describing the subject’s positions you differ with—and those people who differed with him. I think Eccher tried, but he could’ve been more successful at it.

The book is critical of Zwingli—in both his actions and teachings—and Eccher handled that well.* It was when (for example) he would describe Zurich’s Anabaptists as they began to disagree with Zwingli, that he stumbled. He never came out and said, “they were right to separate from him over this,” but the tone suggested both that on point X they were obviously correct and it’s not even worth discussing how they were. Even if he did circle back to point X in a few pages or chapters to discuss it properly, it didn’t seem to me that he really gave Zwingli a fair shake on these points, and just assumed that the Anabaptists (or whoever) were correct and that readers already agreed with Eccher (and didn’t necessarily describe Zwingli’s position to the extent he maybe should’ve).

* Largely, anyway. There are a few sentences that I’d like to challenge Eccher to explain/defend. But I’m not going to get lost in the weeds here.

Not knowing that many details about Zwingli on some of these points, I could be wrong about this. Perhaps Eccher didn’t get into details and nuances because they aren’t present on these points of difference. But it didn’t seem like that to me—and I’m just trying to describe my reaction to the text as a reader.

The Structure of the Chapters

Given everything that Eccher sets out to accomplish (and largely succeeds in doing so), this is a pretty short book*. And I’d imagine that Eccher would want to feature some tight writing to facilitate him meeting his agenda. But he doesn’t, each chapter** starts with an introduction set in contemporary Zurich (or somewhere else in Switzerland), and then he comes to a point leading into the chapter.

* It’s listed at 288 pages, in my electronic version, only 65% of the book makes up the text, the rest is bibliography, indices, etc. Which makes this a very short—but dense—read.
** There might be an exception or two to this, but the point stands. And those exceptions will be very similar.

Then it feels like he backs up to set the historical stage, talk about some of the development in Zwingli’s life/thought/ministry before getting to that introductory point, developing it, and then reaching some kind of conclusion.

I’m not doing the best job of describing the structure, but that’s the gist of it. I think it would’ve been far more economical to cut everything before the point where Eccher backs up and sets the historical stage. I don’t think the glances at contemporary Zurich, etc. added anything to the book beyond word/page count. They didn’t detract from anything, but if they added anything I missed it.

And I’m not sure that we needed the brief introductory summary of the chapter’s point, either. At best, they meant you knew where each chapter was heading (if you couldn’t guess from the chapter title)—at worst, I think they took some of the punch of the points away, because you were waiting for them to show up.

This could just be me. It wouldn’t surprise me a whole lot to find that most readers appreciate one or both of these devices (obviously Eccher and his editor(s) liked them). But by the second time I saw him use them, I got a little tired of it—and it needled me every subsequent time.

Five Theses

Eccher completes the book with “Five Theses on Zwingli.” These are summaries of aspects of his thinking/teaching and Eccher’s reflection of them as a whole. His greatest criticisms of the Reformer are presented and explained here. (and frankly, it’s here that Eccher annoyed me more than elsewhere) I would’ve liked each thesis to have been given more space and more development—50-100% more space each, I think it would’ve made them stronger.

That said, this kind of wrap-up/conclusion is a great way to structure the book and complete the examination of Zwingli. I heartily appreciated it.

So, what did I think about Zwingli the Pastor?

Let me start this section by stressing that the above sections described minor things that niggled at me while I read—they are by no means major complaints or shortcomings. But it just takes a while longer to describe something like that than to pay a compliment. And I have several compliments to offer.

For example, the chapters on Zwingli’s ministry during the time of plague—and the devastating impact it had on his life—and his marriage were very strong. The description of the infamous Affair of the Sausages, the lead-up to it, and the fallout from it was another strong point. Eccher went to great pains to show the influence of others—historic and contemporary to Zwingli—on his thinking and actions. As much as people talk about Erasmus’ influence on Luther (largely Luther reacting against Erasmus), it was good to see Erasmus’ influence bearing such positive fruit in Zwingli (much to Erasmus’ woe, I’m sure) up to the point where the two split. Actually, I’m going to cut myself off here before I just start listing the Table of Contents (I could). I do wish we’d gotten a little more describing the circumstances of his death—that portion of the book felt rushed.

One strength of this book is that it avoided the temptation to turn Zwingli into a 21st-century type of Evangelical, or someone who agreed with the author in almost every way. So often when reading a book about a lesser-known figure in church history, you can get the feeling that the author is saying “outside of this little quirk or that, mostly because of their place in history; this guy is just like me.” Eccher doesn’t say that—he seems to admire a lot about Zwingli, but he’s by no mean prone to hero worship or whitewashing any perceived shortcoming.

Going into this book I had only a rudimentary familiarity with Huldrych/Ulrich Zwingli, and while I’ve often thought about addressing that, I hadn’t. This book hasn’t given me a complete and exhaustive look at him by any means—and wouldn’t claim that. But it’s a great, broad introduction to his work and thought. I feel equipped now to go out and read some of his works, and other books about particular aspects of his theology, having this book give me the overall lay of the land.

I encourage others who are looking for a place to start with this often overlooked Reformer to give this a read. If only so it can spur you to further reading and investigation—like I think it has for me—but you’ll know where to dig in.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Lexham Press via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

Who Chose the Gospels?: Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy by C. E. Hill: Robert Langdon Might Have Been on the Wrong Track (shocking, I know)

By HCNewton

On October 1, 2023

In History, Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Who Chose the Gospels?:
Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy

by C. E. Hill

DETAILS:
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication Date: April 7, 2012
Format: Paperback
Length: 247 pg.
Read Date: September 10-24, 2023

All this presents a rather sticky problem. Recall that in Professor Ehrman’s political interpretation of church history it isn’t until the fourth century that the ‘orthodox’ party finally ‘sealed its victory over all of its opponents’, At that time ‘it rewrote the history of the engagement’, claiming that its views were passed down from Jesus’ apostles. And yet here is Irenaeus, nearly two centuries earlier, already ‘rewriting history’ long before the victory was sealed. At a time when, many prominent scholars insist, the issue was still very much in doubt, Irenaeus writes as if the church had been nurtured by these four Gospels from the time of the apostles.

The problem with Irenaeus is that he simply wrecks the popular paradigm. His views about the emerging New Testament canon, and about the four Gospels in particular, are simply too well-developed, too mature, to fit the scheme that many have invested themselves in today. As a second-century Christian author who argued that there are, and can only be, four legitimate Gospels—because they alone teach the truth about Jesus and because they alone had been handed down in the church from the time of the apostles—Irenaeus lies like a fallen Redwood in the path of those who would see the choice of the four Gospels as a late and politically motivated manoeuvre of the fourth century.

How do you solve a problem like Irenaeus?

What’s Who Chose the Gospels? About?

That last question in the quotation would work pretty well as an alternate title for the book—how do you solve a problem like Iraneaus? Or, more to the point, how do you ignore his (early date) recognition of only 4 gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—despite what we’re told about the state of gospel availability and canonization by so many today.

Hill examines some of the time frames, uses, content, and provenance of some of the so-called competitor gospels (i.e., those that never were considered canonical) to compare them to both the canonical gospels and those early figures of the Church we see discussing the gospels. But primarily, Hill is concerned with the use of and testimony regarding the canonical gospels—and the evidence regarding their use by the Church and when it started. The overwhelming bulk of the book is focused there.

So, we may now ask, how did the Christian church, apparent drowning in a sea of Gospels, finally end up with only four? The educated reader of today may already have come to the conch. sion that the story was attended with a good bit of bullying intrigue, and skullduggery. Many perhaps picture councils of bad-tempered bishops voting on which books to include in the Bible one minute, and voting to execute heretics the next. As now widely believed, in any case, that the four canonical Gospels emerged into prominence only fairly late from a long and drawnout battle within early Christianity, a battle finally won in the fourth century after the establishment of the church by Constantine the Great. While academics might not, as Teabing does Dan Brown’s novel, attribute the collation of the Bible to ‘pagan emperor Constantine’, many even in the academic community insist that the question of which Gospels the church ought to endorse was still up for grabs in the fourth century.

He also looks a little bit at contemporary theories (both academic and popular) about the development of the canon—insofar as it focuses on the Gospels. He finds it wanting, and somewhat self-contradictory—and talks about that, too. But even as he does so, it’s not the main focus of the book—which is, as said earlier, the four gospels and how the second (and possibly first) century church regarded them, and how that changed (and mostly didn’t change) in the two centuries following.

The Tone of the Book

You probably can’t read it in the image above, but that top blurb is from D.A. Carson and it says, “Not many books that are so informed are such a pleasure to read.” I really didn’t pay much attention to it—and just figured he meant something about how nice it is to have such an informative read or something like that. If for no other reason, it was from Oxford University Press, who are not known for fun reads. I was super duper wrong.

This was a blast to read. Seriously, I had a lot of fun.

Not—and I want to stress, not—because he’s making jokes, being silly, or outrageous or anything like that. There’s just something about Hill’s style. He’s charming (seemingly effortlessly), not in a way that calls attention to itself, but it’s there—a little mild sarcasm, some wordplay, some other bits of humor along the way—but it’s nothing I can point to, and say “there it is!” But time after time while reading this, I found myself grinning for no apparent reason.

That’s just his style—the subject is serious, and frankly, pretty dry. But Hill keeps it from being dry without tuning down the seriousness of both the positive case he’s trying to build and the criticisms he makes toward the other side(s).

So, what did I think about Who Chose the Gospels??

In short, we have no evidence that the church ever sat down collectively or as individual churches and composed criteria for judging which Gospels (or other literature) it thought best suited its needs. On the contrary, the key realization which best explains our inability to find an ultimate ‘chooser’, which best explains why the church didn’t take the easy way out with some kind of singular Gospel and why it never cobbled together a set of criteria to apply to all the Gospel candidates, is that the church essentially did not believe it had a choice in the matter! The question ‘why did you choose these Gospels?’ would not have made sense to many Christians in the second century, for the question assumes that the church, or someone in it, had the authority to make the choice. To many, it would be like the question, ‘why did you choose your parents?

A few other books/chapters that I’ve read on the subject talk about the conclusions Hill draws, and refer to some of the evidence, but Hill’s the first one I’ve read who’s actually “shown the work,” as my math teachers/professors would say. His answers match other scholars, but I can actually see how he got them. For that alone, I enjoyed reading this book and profited from it.

Add in his style? Oh, buddy—now we’re cooking with fire.

Hill is careful and thorough, acknowledging challenges to his position about the emergence of the fourfold Gospel to the place it holds today. But he’s consistent in showing how those challenges don’t have the weight and merit that so many in our culture assume they do. Not to keep picking on it—but the authors/editors of Church History in Plain Language should spend time with this book and others like it before they finish the Sixth Edition—it would really help out with its particularly weak chapter on the Canon.

I think the concluding chapter could’ve been beefed up a little bit. Maybe after a few more readings, I can figure out what it was missing—I just felt it was weak here and there. Or another reading or two will show me that I could’ve paid better attention this time (entirely likely).

Regardless, Who Wrote the Gospels? is a book well worth time and attention—and it’ll repay both.

5 Stars

Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition by Bruce Shelley, Revision Editor Marshall Shelley: Gets Too Much Wrong

By HCNewton

On May 28, 2023

In History, Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Church History in Plain Language, Fifth Edition

by Bruce L. Shelley, Revision Editor: Marshall Shelley

DETAILS:
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Publication Date: July 13, 2021
Format: E-book
Length: 624 pg.
Read Date: March 27-May 23, 2023

What’s Church History in Plain Language About?

From the Publisher’s website:

Bruce Shelley’s classic history of the church brings the story of global Christianity into the twenty-first century. Like a skilled screenwriter, Shelley begins each chapter with three elements: characters, setting, plot. Taking readers from the early centuries of the church up through the modern era he tells his readers a story of actual people, in a particular situation, taking action or being acted upon, provides a window into the circumstances and historical context, and from there develops the story of a major period or theme of Christian history. Covering recent events, this book also:

Details the rapid growth of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity in the southern hemisphere

Addresses the decline in traditional mainline denominations

Examines the influence of technology on the spread of the gospel

Discusses how Christianity intersects with other religions in countries all over the world

For this fifth edition, Marshall Shelley brought together a team of historians, historical theologians, and editors to revise and update this father’s classic text. The new edition adds important stories of the development of Christianity in Asia, India, and Africa, both in the early church as well as in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It also highlights the stories of women and non-Europeans who significantly influenced the development of Christianity but whose contributions are often overlooked in previous overviews of church history.

This concise book provides an easy-to-read guide to church history with intellectual substance. The new edition of Church History in Plain Language promises to set a new standard for readable church history.

Bad History

This book is just filled with errors—or questionable statements. The one that threw me for a loop was the description of the Council of Nicea, when the text cites the Nicene Creed (325) saying that this is the one that was agreed upon there. But what is cited is the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (from 381) with the Filioque clause (from 1014). Humbug.

The section on Calvin was a mess. In a discussion, I summed up the section on English Puritans as, “Tell me you’ve never read the Puritans without saying you’ve never read the Puritans.” It’s one thing for Max Weber or H.L. Mencken to mischaracterize them, it’s something else for fellow believers to do it.

And the Crusades? They’re given a tiny amount of space (I’ll be generous and say 6 pages…1 percent of the total work), and the explanation of them is half-hearted at best. Given that people of several faiths (and those without faith) still use the Crusades to evaluate Christianity and the way it interacts with the rest of the world, the reader is not well served that they’re given short shrift.

And I’m no historian—I’m a hobbyist at best when it comes to a couple of time periods in Church History. If I can find problems like that—off of one reading—how many more are there? (this is not an exhaustive list of the problems I noted, just some of the more glaring ones—and ones that I’m more confident in).

The Problem of Perspective

The perspective of this book comes from all over the place. Whatever Shelley did in revising this, he didn’t edit it enough so that the perspective is unified. That’d be okay if each chapter/part of a chapter was identified by a particular contributor. Chapter X is by Y, from such-and-such School/Background. Chapter A is by B, from this other Church. Then you could understand where divergent voices are coming from and understand some of the prejudices (as much or as little as they’re tried to be eliminated).

But here, it’s presented as one voice—when it clearly isn’t—and the perspective isn’t identified. So we get this section with a heavy Anabaptist sympathy, another section with some latent Modalism, some Dispensationalism, and so on.

I just kept getting whiplash as I’d read, where was this coming from?

So, what did I think about Church History in Plain Language?

For a few weeks, I’d been leaning toward giving this 2 Stars (but hoping something would make me change my mind so I could give it at least 3). At least the scope of this work should cause me to give it the benefit of the doubt.

But…I just can’t do that. If you can’t get something so basic as the history and content of the Nicene Creed right, it’s a problem. This is a history book, you should, you know…get the history right. I’ve got other examples—but this is sufficient. If you can’t get the big things like this right, why should I trust you in the lesser?

A bigger problem is being as casual about Christology as this is. If you’re going to be writing a book of Church History, you should get the essentials right. Again, I have other examples—but why? And again, if you’re not trustworthy here, why should I trust you elsewhere?

Now, I’ve been intending on reading this book since I was in college—it was probably the Second Edition that my roommate had on his shelf (but who knows, maybe it was the first). But I hadn’t gotten around to it. I really wish I had read it then, so I’d know how much of the weaknesses of this edition were characteristic of Bruce L. Shelley and how much comes from his son and his collaborators in this mess.

It’s a history book—at most, it should interest and educate a reader—it should not make the reader upset, much less angry. And I got angry multiple times.

At the end of the day, this was a waste of 600+ pages and a whole lot of my time. Avoid this.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

5 Puritan Women by Jenny-Lyn de Klerk: Brief Portraits of Women You Should Meet

By HCNewton

On April 9, 2023

In (Auto)Biography, Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

5 Puritan Women:
Portraits of Faith and Love

by Jenny-Lyn de Klerk

DETAILS:
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: February 07, 2023
Format: Paperback
Length: 137
Read Date: March 26, 2023

What’s 5 Puritan Women About?

Agnes Beaumont, Lucy Hutchinson, Mary Rich, Anne Bradstreet, and Lady Brilliana Harley. Names you probably don’t know—well, maybe Anne Bradstreet is familiar to you. Especially if you ever read any poetry from the New England colonies (probably against your will—nothing against them, but I can’t imagine anyone seeking it out outside of High School/College literature classes). These five women are from (roughly) the Puritan era of British and American History and are brought to the reader’s attention here.

de Klerk writes and speaks frequently on the Puritans and noticed that notable Puritan women are often overlooked, so she highlights these here to bring their contributions forward. Each of them contributed in their own ways—for their family, for the support of the ministry, for the culture, and for the people in the immediate orbit.

Agnes Beaumont was a member of John Bunyan’s congregation who fought off several false accusations about her (and him). Lucy Hutchinson was a well-educated woman who wrote a good deal, including a systematic theology for her daughter. Mary Rich was noted for her benevolence and charity. Anne Bradstreet made a name for herself with her poetry, as I somewhat snidely mentioned before. Lady Brilliana Harley’s correspondence was the source of sage and godly advice. I’m doing a lousy job of summarizing this—but I just tried to do in this paragraph what de Klerk spent a book on.

Here’s My Beef with 5 Puritan Women…

I can’t get my hands on the primary sources. Okay, some of Bradstreet’s poems are in the edition of Norton Anthology of American Literature I used in my undergrad days, so I can re-read those. But Lady Harley’s letters and Lucy Hutchinson’s systematic would be fantastic to read. Can I get those? Not that I can find. You can get Hutchinson’s works for a few hundred dollars, or some sketchy-looking ebooks of some of her works, but nothing affordable.

I’d love to hear that Reformation Heritage, Christian Focus, or Banner of Truth was working on making these works accessible to contemporary readers—even better if de Klerk was working on editing those herself, as she clearly has some sort of affinity for them.

In the meantime, I’m just going to grouse about this a bit—de Klerk makes you want to get to know these women better through their written works, but when they’re not available….it’s just mean.

So, what did I think about 5 Puritan Women?

I really appreciated this book and de Klerk’s style. The writing is clear, approachable, and affable—this isn’t a stuffy introduction to figures from the past, but someone telling you about people she’s come to know and is excited about.

I’m not sure the pairing of the women with Puritan disciplines really adds that much. It’s an okay handle and way to approach things, but I really didn’t need that, their stories and experiences were enough on their own. Your results may vary, obviously, this might be one of the more valuable aspects for some readers.

I recommend this quick and engaging read to all those who are interested in some of those figures in Church History too often overlooked—particularly if you have any affinity for or curiosity about the Puritans—it’s a great reminder that for every John Owen or John Bunyan, there are several other faithful servants we could and should get to know. I found it inspiring, interesting, and even a little moving. I’d definitely read expanded works on any of these—or a sequel, 5 More Puritan Women.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

SICK LEAVE REPOST: Faith in the Time of Plague Edited by Stephen M. Coleman and Todd M. Rester: Reformation and Post-Reformation Voices Speak to Our Moment

By HCNewton

On December 11, 2022

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Wasn’t feeling well enough to finish a post for today, and given my recent test results, I thought of this book–something I’m pretty sure Westminster Seminary Press wouldn’t have put out without a certain pandemic.

Faith in the Time of Plague

Edited by Stephen M. Coleman and Todd M.Rester

Hardcover, 309 pg.
Westminster Seminary Press, 2021

Read: November 7-December 12, 2021

The main point? Two rocks must be steered clear of: stupid boldness and exceedingly vicious fear. On the first, one does those things that while we fear nothing—would often lose ourselves and others. On the second it happens that as we would look to our own life, we would desert the work of Christ. Therefore, let us fear what can happen if we fail to avoid those evils. But let us be confident in the Lord and let us remain as steadfast as possible—even to the point of death—in our calling and in the work of Christ.

What’s Faith in the Time of Plague About?

The Editors describe the book like this:

The body of extant plague writings is vast and much of it remains unavailable in English. The selections in this book were determined to a great extent by the treasures that came to light in translating the 1655 pamphlet Variorum tractatus theologici de peste, which makes up Part I of the book. This collection of tracts is an unparalleled Post-Reformation treatment of the plague, from pastoral and scholarly points of view. Part II consists of those Reformation and Post-Reformation works that Beza, Rivet, Voetius, and Hoornbeeck [the authors in Part I] engaged with frequently (Zanchi, Abbot, and Ursinus). Alongside those pieces are additional contemporary works that we felt would be especially useful for pastors, scholars, and interested readers to have available in book form (Zwingli, Luther, Lavater, and Rawlet), and which give the reader a more complete picture of the Reformed tradition’s branch of plague writings. Each of these eleven authors addresses the unique questions posited by the plague in distinct ways, yet each does so by definitively Reformed methods—grounded in Scripture, historically informed, and always with the issue of faith in Christ at the forefront.

There are also two appendices, On Mortality by Cyprian of Carthage—a work that multiple authors in the main texts refer to (and likely shape even those who don’t) and the section Prayer and Thanksgiving from the Book of Common Prayer—an application of all the theology of the main texts.

Part 1: Variorum tractatus theologici de peste

The various works in part one are careful, methodical, Scriptural, and thorough—they cover all the bases. The treatise by Beza seems to both reflect the thinking of the rest of the Reformation as much as it shapes everything that comes after (or at least everything in the book).

Some parts of this took some work to get through, but it was worth it.

Part II: Reformation and Post-Reformation Plague Writings

Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague. They disdain the use of medicines; they do not avoid places and persons infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are. They say that it is God’s punishment; if he wants to protect them he can do so without medicines or our carefulness. This is not trusting God but tempting him. God has created medicines and provided us with intelligence to guard and take good care of the body so that we can live in good health.

For me, this part of the book (roughly a third) was the most rewarding. Luther’s Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague covered most/all of the points in Part I, but in a pithier and more digestible fashion. Which is what you expect from Luther, right?

Zwingli’s Plauge Hymn is great. I really don’t know what else to say.

The most moving, the most personal entry in the volume is John Rawlet’s A Letter to my Mother is clearly part of that preparation for death mentioned in the post last week. In this printing, it’s an eleven-page letter* written by an Anglican minister in London sure he was soon to contract the plague and die. He was wrong about contracting the plague and never sent the letter—but he was ready for it.

* Hard to fathom in the age of texts, tweets, and email.

An Unimportant Observation

I’m pretty sure I’ve never run into the word “licit” as often as I have in this work. Like most people (especially those who read a lot of Crime Fiction), I run across “illicit” all the time. But “licit”? Almost never.

Maybe it’s a quirk of the translators, but I doubt it. It’s just refreshing to see the word—and it’s one I’m going to try to use more often.

So, what did I think about Faith in the Time of Plague?

One thing that struck me was how often these Reformation authors appealed to earlier theologians (like Cyprian). But largely not about plagues or other diseases. Instead, it was how they approached the response to persecution—could believers flee from it, or do they have to run toward it or simply wait for it? Both persecution and disease come from the Lord—as both trial and result of sin.

I have to say, I’m not sure I’d have approached it that way before.

Those looking for easy answers to “how would the early Church or Reformers” deal with COVID-19 (or the like)”, will be disappointed. There are no quick and easy answers here. But this can remind readers that the Church has been through similar—and worse—times before. She likely will again. There have been careful, pastoral responses to it in the past, and that can be true again. We don’t have to have a snappy, one-size-fits-all approach at the first sign of trouble, but we are called to gracious, Christ-honoring, people-serving responses.

These are some excellent examples of how to do it. This isn’t the easiest, breeziest thing I’ve read this year—it might even be the furthest from it. But it’s an invaluable resource and I’m glad Westminster Seminary Press brought it to us.

Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition edited by Chad Van Dixhoorn

By HCNewton

On November 20, 2022

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition

edited by Chad Van Dixhoorn

DETAILS:
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: June 21, 2022
Format: Clothbound
Length: 434 pg.

What’s Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition?

This is a collection of Ecumenical Creeds and some of the most-used Protestant Confessions and Catechisms. These are:
bullet The Apostles’ Creed
bullet The Nicene Creed
bullet The Athanasian Creed
bullet The Chalcedonian Definition
bullet The Augsburg Confession
bullet The Belgic Confession
bullet The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
bullet The Canons of Dort
bullet The Westminster Confession of Faith
bullet The London Baptist Confession
bullet The Heidelberg Catechism
bullet The Westminster Larger Catechism
bullet The Westminster Shorter Catechism

Each document is given a 1-2 page introduction by the editor describing “its origins and significance” to the church (as the Publisher puts it).

As I’m not foolhardy enough to give pluses and minuses (or whatever) when it comes to the matieral, so this isn’t going to be my typical kind of post.

Questions I Had

While reading through this collection, I had a few questions about why Van Dixhoorn selected certain Confessions (no offense, Lutherans and Baptists) or why he picked particular translations of some of them. And I’d intended to spend a little time discussing them and speculating about the answers. But then I read on Crossway’s site that this book was “Adapted from ESV BIble with Creeds and Confessions,” so I guess that edition of the ESV probably did the selecting in the first place and Van Dixhoorn stuck with that.

Why Should You Buy Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition?

bullet It’s very attractive—the cover design is top-notch. The interior layout is pleasing to the eye and easy to read. The paper is nice and thick. It looks good on your shelf or in your hands. On the one hand, this is a minor point—but it’s a big selling point for a reference work.
bullet Along those lines, the binding and everything makes me think this is going to last a long time—and through repeated readings.
bullet The way it’s typeset and laid out would make it easier as a copy to read through some or all of the contents. I’ve got multiple copies of most of these documents, and a lot of them aren’t easy to read—they’re more things you consult briefly. This is one I could sit down with regularly and just read.
bullet That’s what it’s designed for—to read. It’s right there in the title. This isn’t an edition for people who are doing scholarship or research. You’ve got Schaff for that—or James Dennison’s set.
bullet Especially if you’re looking for an introduction to the Protestant standards, this is a handy edition and guide to the essentials.
bullet Van Dixhoorn’s introductions are user-friendly and helpful to orient the reader to the origin, concerns, and highlightings of each document.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Athanasius of Alexandria: His Life and Impact by Peter Barnes: Tumultuous History and a Stalwart Bishop

By HCNewton

On October 16, 2022

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Athanasius of Alexandria:
His Life & Impact

by Peter Barnes

DETAILS:
Series: The Early Church Fathers
Publisher: Christian Focus Publications
Publication Date: October 2, 2019
Format: eBook
Length: 176 pg.
Read Date: October 2-9, 2022

As he wrote to the bishops of Egypt in 356: ‘as therefore the struggle that is now set before us concerns all that we are, either to reject or to keep the faith, let us be zealous and resolve to guard what we have received, bearing in mind the confession that was written down at Nicaea’. And by God’s grace, his victory in that struggle has been of enormous blessing to the church ever since.

The Series

In case you hadn’t read what I thought of the other books I’ve read in this series, let me start with the thumbnail description of the series I came up with:

I literally stumbled on this series, The Early Church Fathers, a few weeks ago and thought it sounded like a great idea. It looked kind of like a mix of Crossway’s Theologians on the Christian Life and Oxford’s Very Short Introductions (incidentally, that’s what it ended up being).

What’s Athanasius of Alexandria About?

In the first chapter, Barnes sketches out what life is like for Christians in Alexandria in the years immediately before Constantine, through the Great Persecution, then he turns the focus on to Athanasius’ early years (and some of the competing theories as to what those were like).

He then spends four chapters reviewing the ecclesiastical movements surrounding the Arian conflict and related controversies. He discusses both the imperial moves, the various councils and reactions to them, and Athanasius’ various exiles and restorations.

After the overview of his life, Barnes discusses his theology and major works, On the Incarnation of the Word of God and Against the Gentiles, before moving into his views on the Bible, Asceticism, and Spirituality. Barnes talks about critiques and challenges as well as the lasting influence of the Bishop of Alexandria.

So, what did I think about Athanasius of Alexandria?

Athanasius considered himself inadequate as a theological writer, and unpracticed in speech. He never entered the fray as a detached academic philosopher. He was first and foremost a Christian, and his declared aim was that a right understanding of theology might strengthen faith in Christ, that ‘you may have ever greater and stronger piety towards him’.

I’m trying not to turn on this series, but they’re making it difficult for me (but I’ve read three of the five, so you know I’m going to finish them). It wasn’t bad, don’t get me wrong, but it didn’t give me enough of what I came looking for and too much of things I didn’t.

Let me try to explain.

Sixty-five percent of the book is the historical material—with an element of biographical material. So much of the history is dry and feels like he’s just rattling off names without really explaining why we should care about the names. This is supposed to be an introduction to Athanasius, not a crash course in Fourth Century History. Yes, most of those names—and the historians who have theories about them—are those a student of Church History should be familiar with. But in this context, it felt like meaningless trivia. It’s too much of this book—sure, it’s a complicated period of history so it takes a lot of work to cover it, but that shouldn’t be the emphasis of a book like this.

The last three chapters—about his works, his theology, his influence, and so on were great. If more of the book had been like that, I’d be singing a different tune. I did walk away feeling like I had a better understanding of Athanasius, but not as much of one as I’d hoped.

I think if my expectations were better, I’d have appreciated it more. Still, I did like it and did benefit from it, I expect others will, too.

3 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Faith in the Time of Plague Edited by Stephen M. Coleman and Todd M. Rester: Reformation and Post-Reformation Voices Speak to Our Moment

By HCNewton

On December 26, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

Faith in the Time of Plague

Edited by Stephen M. Coleman and Todd M.Rester

Hardcover, 309 pg.
Westminster Seminary Press, 2021

Read: November 7-December 12, 2021

The main point? Two rocks must be steered clear of: stupid boldness and exceedingly vicious fear. On the first, one does those things that while we fear nothing—would often lose ourselves and others. On the second it happens that as we would look to our own life, we would desert the work of Christ. Therefore, let us fear what can happen if we fail to avoid those evils. But let us be confident in the Lord and let us remain as steadfast as possible—even to the point of death—in our calling and in the work of Christ.

What’s Faith in the Time of Plague About?

The Editors describe the book like this:

The body of extant plague writings is vast and much of it remains unavailable in English. The selections in this book were determined to a great extent by the treasures that came to light in translating the 1655 pamphlet Variorum tractatus theologici de peste, which makes up Part I of the book. This collection of tracts is an unparalleled Post-Reformation treatment of the plague, from pastoral and scholarly points of view. Part II consists of those Reformation and Post-Reformation works that Beza, Rivet, Voetius, and Hoornbeeck [the authors in Part I] engaged with frequently (Zanchi, Abbot, and Ursinus). Alongside those pieces are additional contemporary works that we felt would be especially useful for pastors, scholars, and interested readers to have available in book form (Zwingli, Luther, Lavater, and Rawlet), and which give the reader a more complete picture of the Reformed tradition’s branch of plague writings. Each of these eleven authors addresses the unique questions posited by the plague in distinct ways, yet each does so by definitively Reformed methods—grounded in Scripture, historically informed, and always with the issue of faith in Christ at the forefront.

Part 1: Variorum tractatus theologici de peste

Some parts of this took some work to get through, but it was worth it.

Part II: Reformation and Post-Reformation Plague Writings

Others sin on the right hand. They are much too rash and reckless, tempting God and disregarding everything which might counteract death and the plague. They disdain the use of medicines; they do not avoid places and persons infected by the plague, but lightheartedly make sport of it and wish to prove how independent they are. They say that it is God’s punishment; if he wants to protect them he can do so without medicines or our carefulness. This is not trusting God but tempting him. God has created medicines and provided us with intelligence to guard and take good care of the body so that we can live in good health.

Zwingli’s Plauge Hymn is great. I really don’t know what else to say.

* Hard to fathom in the age of texts, tweets, and email.

An Unimportant Observation

Maybe it’s a quirk of the translators, but I doubt it. It’s just refreshing to see the word—and it’s one I’m going to try to use more often.

So, what did I think about Faith in the Time of Plague?

I have to say, I’m not sure I’d have approached it that way before.

My Favorite Theology/Christian Living Books of 2020

By HCNewton

On January 5, 2020

In News/Misc., Theology/Christian Living

I read a lot of good, inspirational, thoughtful and devotional work this year, but these were the ones that stuck out in my mind. I’d encourage the careful reading of all of them.

(in alphabetical order by author)

None Greater: The Undomesticated Attributes of God

by Matthew Barrett

I haven’t had a chance to write about this book yet, but it’s great. Barrett provides a wonderful tool to introduce believers of all ages/background to the main attributes of God to shape belief and practice. It’s a corrective, but not scoldy. It’s deep, but not hard to understand. It appreciates mystery and doesn’t try to overexplain anything but it also grapples with what we’re given to understand. I’ll say more in a week or two, but for now, just know it’s one of the best things I read last year.

4 Stars

Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 1: Theology Proper

by Geerhardus Vos, Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. (Translator and Editor)

My original post
Yeah, it’s only a picture of one of the volumes (but they all pretty much look alike). This set concisely, yet comprehensively, discusses the major theological loci in a way that’s scholarly and yet warm and practical.

5 Stars

Saving the Reformation: The Pastoral Theology of the Canons of Dort

by W. Robert Godfrey

My original post
This look at the Synod of Dort, as well as the Canons produced by it, is well-researched, careful, encouraging and pastoral—this is not dry and dusty history, nor dry and dusty doctrine. This book, like the Synod it focuses on, seeks to defend, protect and further the cause of the Protestant Reformation, the Gospel itself. As such, it succeeds and you’d do well to study it.

5 Stars

Grace Worth Fighting For: Recapturing the Vision of God’s Grace in the Canons of Dort

by Daniel R. Hyde

My original post
Is a fantastic companion to the previous book. Hyde focuses on the Canons themselves and what they’re getting at, showing how Church History developed those ideas to this point and how the Reformed church built on them. I didn’t expect anything to beat the Godfrey volume in this year where we got multiple books (thanks to the Canons’s anniversary), but this one did. it’s warm, pastoral and approachable. Anyone over 13 should have no problem with it. Sure, some of the topics will leave some scratching their heads and pondering for a while, but that’s because these are weighty, thought-provoking topics, not because of Hyde’s text. I may have read a better theological book this year, but I can’t think of it off the top of my head. This is simply excellent—rich theology, rich application, solid history, smartly writing, occasionally stirring.

5 Stars

Beyond Authority and Submission: Women and Men in Marriage, Church, and Society

by Rachel Green Miller

My original post
This book made me re-examine a lot—and will probably continue to do so as I mull on what she has to say (and I’ll probably find a lot to disagree with ultimately, and a lot to agree with—as it ought to be). How much of what I think about how women and men should interact with each other (in the home, Church and society) comes from Scripture and how much from the culture? How much of what I think it means to be a man or what it means to be a woman has more to do with Ancient Greek culture or the Victorians? (more than it should). The core of the message should be heard and weighed, and hopefully, after the hubbub around its publication has died down a bit, we can start to deal with it.

4 Stars

Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future

by Gavin Ortlund

My original post
A fantastic mix of theory and practice—showing why and how Evangelicals should mine the treasures of the past to shape the theology of today and tomorrow.

4 Stars

The Imputation of the Active Obedience of Christ in the Westminster Standards

by Alan D. Strange

I was sure I’d written a post about this book, and was embarrassed to discover that I hadn’t—I somehow let this not be included in the November Retrospective, too. This is why I don’t get paid for this blog, folks.

Anyway, Strange packs a lot into this 176 page tome. It is dense. But somehow, it’s also an easy read. He explores the historical debate—particularly around the Westminster Assembly—around this doctrine and explains why the Standards express things the way they do. Then he applies it to contemporary debate in a straightforward manner. Pound for pound, possibly the most helpful book I’ve read this year.

4 Stars

Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary

by Geerhardus Vos

My original post
This is exactly what a collection of sermons ought to be—the language is clear, precise and almost lyrical. You can almost hear them as you read them. Solid theology, warm application and gospel-centered. My only problem with this collection is that it was so short.

5 Stars

Books that almost made the list (links to my original posts for those I wrote about): The Future of Everything: Essential Truths about the End Times by Willaim Boekestein, The Whole Armor of God: How Christ’s Victory Strengthens Us for Spiritual Warfare by Iain M. Duguid, Rediscovering the Holy Spirit: God’s Perfecting Presence in Creation, Redemption, and Everyday Life by Michael S. Horton, The Prayers of Jesus by Mark Jones, and Baptism: Answers to Common Questions by Guy M. Richard.