Book Reviews

While we mentioned the biography of Calvin by Herman Selderhuis in the lead article, here we have a much abbreviated but nonetheless effective smaller summary of the life of John Calvin. This small book would be a good introduction or review of the person and work of the most influential Reformer of the sixteenth century. In his popular style of writing, Piper focuses on what he sees as the central theme in the life and ministry of Calvin, the supremacy and majesty of God. He frequently refers to Calvin’s passion for this theme.

I was struck with several comments in the foreword written by Gerald Bray, a professor at Beeson Divinity school in Birmingham, Alabama. “In this world, Calvin’s voice needs to be heard again. God will not be mocked, and in the end we shall discover that He is our sovereign Lord. what will He say to you on the day of judgment?” Bray referred to Calvin as the greatest, but among the most controversial, of Christian leaders. As was pointed out in the opening article in this edition of Equip to Disciple, more people know about Calvin than know him. They have not read his writings, sermons, or letters. He has been a caricature in modern times.

While I might differ with Bray’s assessment that Calvin was not the original thinker as was Luther or Erasmus, I agree that he was the most influential. Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is one of the best systematic writings on biblically Reformed theology in print. untainted by the later Enlightenment thinking, like so many after him, reading the Institutes is simply like reading the Bible in systematic fashion.

Piper is right when he says that Calvin would prefer us begin with God rather than him because nothing was more important to Calvin than God’s supremacy over all things. Piper also underscores Calvin’s passion for the word. Though he faced many trials, sicknesses, and other tribulations in the loss of family members, his life and his ministry were characterized simply by expository teaching and preaching of the word. As an example, Calvin began a series on the book of Acts on August 25, 1549 and ended it in March 1554. He preached through book after book of the Bible; and Piper agrees with B.B. Warfifield, “no man ever had a profounder sense of God than he.”

Calvin is often thought of as a stern, hard, emotionless man, which could not be farther from the truth. He wrote to a friend at the time of his wife Idelette’s death, “I have been bereaved of the best companion of my life, of one who, had it been so ordained, would have willingly shared not only my poverty but even of my death… she was a faithful helper in my ministry.”

Pastors, teachers, and Christians in general would enjoy and benefit from reading this little abbreviated biography and hopefully desire to read a more extensive version, such as the others mentioned in this edition.

I’ve come to a conclusion: I’ll never plumb the depths of the parable Jesus told about a prodigal son. Reading through Mark McMinn’s Why Sin Matters first piqued my curiosity to take another look at the familiar parable that appears in Luke’s gospel. McMinn related how Rembrandt’s painting of The Prodigal haunted him, enticing him to meditate on the parable more. so last fall, I began reading Luke 15 over and over. I was hooked. I had to really understand the parable for myself. Then I read Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son and marveled again, this time at the parable’s many facets highlighted by Nouwen. Last spring, I preached through the parable phrase by phrase and word by word for three months and thought I had really covered the parable. Then I read The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller and found yet greater depth to this marvelous parable.

Keller adds to our understanding of this parable in his analysis of the elder son, who represents the self-righteous Pharisees to whom Jesus told this parable. Keller exposes how the elder son desired the same thing as the younger son, his father’s possessions but not his father. Both brothers resented their father. Both were equally lost.

Keller challenges his readers to examine whether they have “an elder-brother” spirit also. Do they believe they deserve better than what God gives them? Do they possess a bitter spirit? Do they feel superior because of their good works? Do they live joyless, slavish lives of fear and uncertainty? Are their prayer lives anemic? Keller contends that the church is full of elder-brother types.

Perhaps Keller’s greatest contribution comes when he suggests that Jesus’ listeners would have been aware of a glaring omission in His parable. The cultural context (as well as the biblical context) of the story anticipates a true elder brother who would have left his father and the comforts of home to search for his lost younger brother. He would have pursued him until he found him, and then he would have brought him home to their father with much rejoicing. Keller insightfully states, “By putting a flawed elder brother in the story, Jesus is inviting us to imagine and yearn for a true one.” And who else could be our wonderful, true elder brother except Jesus?

If these pearls of wisdom are not sufficient to warrant picking up The Prodigal God, Keller explores the meaning of coming home and our longing for home, the very place the Prodigal yearned for after he came to his senses. If the parable of the Prodigal continues to haunt and beckon you, as it has me, then you must read Keller’s short but insight-packed book. You will come away convicted, but you will also come away understanding more about the depth of gospel love and grace. You will come away loving Jesus even more as your true elder brother who was committed to finding you and bringing you back home to the Father.

Editor’s note: Though author Phyllis Tickle is not always known for her sound theology, she is a woman with much insight. Having an interest in the “emergence movement,” I was intrigued by her view of history. As I was discussing this book with John Muether, Librarian at Reformed Theological seminary in Orlando, Florida, and a member of our Great Commission Publications Board, I realized we had a similar reaction. Therefore, I asked him to write the brief review you will find below.

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In this brief and breezy book, Phyllis Tickle (formerly Religion editor for Publishers Weekly) introduces readers to the phenomenon that has come to be known as the emerging church movement.

Like clockwork, Christianity undergoes a great paradigm shift every 500 years in Tickle’s reading of church history. The monasticism of Gregory the Great (ca. 500), the Great schism of 1054, and the Great Reformation of the sixteenth century – together they prepare us for the “Great Emergence” of our day. Tickle particularly presses the analogy of the Reformation to an assessment of our time. Just as the Reformers had the printing press and Copernicus, so we have technological and intellectual tsunamis (the internet and Darwin) as precursors to our revolution. sure, there will be resistance, but we should expect that any Counter-Emergence will have as much success in thwarting the movement as the Counter-Reformation did.

The central issue in the Great Emergence is authority. our age has rendered sola Scriptura implausible and Protestant notions of authority must be reconfigured after controversies over slavery, divorce, the ordination of women, and homosexuality. The debate over these issues has splintered American Presbyterianism into PCA, EPC, OPC, and more, though Tickle prefers other ways to describe the various camps: traditionalists, re-traditionalists, progressives, and even the “Presby-mergents.” While Tickle is uncertain what new form of Christianity will emerge, she suggests that it will be post-denominational (other ties will command greater allegiance), post-doctrinal (doctrine being a Constantinian construct!) and even post-Protestant (Protestant and Catholic animosities will recede into the past).

As far-fetched as this vision seems, this book is worth reading to gain a scope of the brazenness of the claims of the emerging church. It is a sobering reminder of why confessional Presbyterians and other American Protestants must continue to protest against errors and unbelief, both old and new.

Over the years I have read and taught many Bible studies, but never have I come across a study as well written and thought out as Job: Lessons in Comfort. In fact, this is the best study in general that I have ever come across. Job is a long book that on the surface seems to have only one major theme, suffering. Yet, as Frankie shows us, there is so much more.

I found the manuscript for this work sitting on Jane Patete’s desk, CEP’s women’s Ministries Coordinator. I asked if I could look it over since I knew Frankie and went to seminary with her husband, Chris. Frankie asked CEP to consider publishing the study, and it is my pleasure to announce that Frankie has allowed us to be the exclusive publisher of this work.

Frankie approaches the book of Job from the angle of comfort in suffering. All thirteen lessons constantly point us not to Job or his situation but to our covenant-keeping God who has perfect, loving control of every aspect of our lives, even when it seems He is clueless to our needs.

One more thing. I not only read through this study, I had the pleasure of teaching this work to the women in the PCA office building each Tuesday. Every week there seemed to be a very special quote that we would find and share together. Each person in the group would also share their times of suffering. It was a special time watching these women minister to each other through each lesson.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you cannot find a group to go through this with, then use it for your personal study. If you haven’t gone through serious suffering you probably will, or at least someone will to whom you can minister. This study will give you help to either go through suffering personally or walk alongside someone who is suffering.

The Faith: Given Once, For All
By Charles Colson and Harold Fickett, Zondervan, 2008, 240 pages, $15.19 (#8917)

Before I review the book, let me give you some background insight. The manuscript to The Faith was completed about the same time CEP was planning its November 2008 Kingdom Discipleship Conference, and we were trying to get Chuck Colson as one of the speakers. He said before he would respond, he wanted me to read and comment on the manuscript. As I was reading the manuscript in route to California, I noticed on page 167 that he used a phrase we had already chosen for our conference, “mak[ing] visible God’s invisible kingdom.” I finished the manuscript and responded. “You must come. You already know the topic we want you to deal with.”

As I introduced Colson at the conference, I made mention of that story but went on to say I was disappointed that my recommendation was not printed along with the others. Though spoken in jest, I said the recommenders seemed like a who’s who list among Reformed evangelicals with names like J. I. Packer, william Edgar, Bryan Chapell, Joni Eareckson Tada, etc. Colson became very apologetic that my statement was not included and wanted to do a new edition.

The reason for this background is to say that The Faith is an outstanding book for one reason; it echoes our concerns about those who profess to be Christians but lack a solid understanding of the faith. A burden is expressed and addressed up front. How can Christians contend for the faith if they lack an understanding and ability to communicate it? Colson and Fickett make it clear that the ancient faith provides answers to the deepest questions being asked in and out of the church. one example is clear. “No other worldview or religion protects the sanctity of life and human dignity as Christianity does; no other worldview has ever created as humane and progressive a culture as Christianity has.”

The challenge for the church is that it needs to be more effective in making kingdom disciples who understand the faith, what they believe, and how to communicate the truth to today’s postmodern world. The authors highlight two major challenges: anti-theism and Islam. Christians must understand these and know how Christianity is the answer. The book clearly states that Christians must see the faith as more than a religion or even a right relationship with Christ. It is a worldview that speaks to every area of life. However, because we lack an understanding of what we say we believe, we are being crippled in communicating Christianity.

This book will be a good review for some, extremely instructive for others, but worth every Christian’s read. I especially like this book because it underscores the church’s mission to equip Christians to live as kingdom people. The book is full of examples from people such as William Wilberforce, George Whitfield, and others who did just that. You will see how the gospel of the kingdom is at the heart of each of these major doctrines. J.P. Moreland referred to The Faith as Colson’s best book yet. Bryan Chapell says, “Here Chuck Colson asks and answers the hardest questions of the Christian faith.”

The Faith is the foundation of a curriculum based on the book that includes a DVD, leader’s guide, and participant’s guide. This curriculum makes the material easy for adults to study and discuss together, and the book can be a stand alone or the basis of the entire study. All of the materials are available from the CEP Bookstore. After reviewing them, I agree with Packer. “Thank God for such men and such a book.”

It is a very special treat for me to introduce you to this book. It is a shame it was not written years ago. I say this because as I read this book I could hear Dr. Reymond teaching these very words and ideas. There was no course I took at Covenant Seminary that changed my life more than Dr. Reymond’s on the doctrine of God. Humanly speaking, I owe my Reformed theology to him as he patiently answered all my typical Arminian questions.

What is so helpful about this book is that it follows the pattern set out by J. Oliver Buswell in his systematics, explaining God by using the fourth question of the Shorter Catechism. Point by point you will see God clearer and clearer for who He is.

Even though this book is not set up for study classes, I used it to teach my college and career class. They too appreciated the depths of truth and Dr. Reymond’s ability to make deep things understandable and applicable.

Bob, thank you for finally writing this for everyone.