The Holy Trinity - again!

I am very happy to commend Stephen Holmes book, The Holy Trinity: Understanding God's Life.
Pub: Paternoster 2012
200 pages, xix introduction, 30 pages biblography and index
Price: see amazon!

There are a number of good books that cover this story, the development of the Christian understanding of the Trinity. Steve mentions almost all of them in his footnotes and often through direct engagement with them in the text.

What makes Steve's book different is the clarity with which he draws together the threads of Trinitarian debates from the 4th Century to the time of the Reformation. As Steve shows what he calls 'The Harvest of Patristic Trinitarianism', pp. 144-46, stands for the Medieval and Reformation period scholars also. For this summary alone the book is worth having.

In his opening and closing chapters Steve engages with 20th Century Trinitarian scholarship and boldly shows where these have departed from the Ecumenical settlement of Trinitarian study. Steve offers an historical study to show that the older tradition has strong exegetical roots. He limits his study in this way, 'Nothing I have written excludes that possibility [that this settled doctrine was always wrong]; I do, however, attemnpt to show just how strongly exegetical the traditional presentations of the doctrine were.' page xvi.

For those seeking a brief introduction to the history of Trinitarian thinking within the church and an engagement with 20th Century contributions Steve's book is a good starting place. The footnotes and bibliography will guide you to many other valuable resources. And Steve's writing about the Cappadocian Fathers will have you rushing out to buy English versions or learning Greek to read them for yourself.

Thanks to Steve for this book. And thanks to Paternoster for what promises to be a very helpful series. The series is entitles: Christian Doctrine in Historical Perspective. Coming volumes:
Andrew McGowan, The Person and Work of Christ
Robert Pope, The Church and the Sacraments
Andrew Kirk, The Church and the World

The Heresy of Orthodoxy

Here is a review of this book, The Heresy of Orthodoxy by Andreas J Köstenberger and Michael J Kruger, which wasn't published, so here it is for you.

The Heresy of Orthodoxy

Andreas J Köstenberger and Michael J Kruger
Apollos, 2010
235 pages, 13 pages indices

Which came first … the diversity or the unity? the heresy or the orthodoxy? Is it possible that our contemporary commitment to diversity (plurality) is adversely affecting our understanding of early Christianity?

Köstenberger and Kruger, in a brief work, offer a serious historical review of the place of unity and orthodoxy in early Christianity. Responding to the influence of Walter Bauer’s Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity (1934, Eng trans. 1971), seen in the work of Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels among others, Köstenberger and Kruger provide a scholarly refutation of this thesis and of the uncritical adoption of a thesis by using it as an unquestioned paradigm.

Bauer, followed by Ehrman and Pagels, suggests that earliest Christianity was very diverse with no theological unity, no notion of canon of Scripture until these were imposed in the fourth Century by power hunger Roman bishops. By earliest Christianity Bauer means mid to late second century, thus ignoring the evidence of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers, which is convenient for his thesis.

By careful historical work Köstenberger and Kruger are able to demonstrate that there was considerable unity in theology, especially in Christology in the first century; that the use of the Old Testament by the first century church introduced the concept of canon and that in fact the fourth Century councils merely confirmed the canon that had already emerged and that the science of textual criticism gives us great confidence in the text of the New Testament as we have it in critical Greek editions and modern English versions. This book could have been much longer, thus adding weight to Köstenberger and Kruger’s conclusions, however the many footnotes (645 in total) in the volume illustrate the considerable scholarly consensus behind Köstenberger and Kruger’s conclusions.

The diversity, or growth of heretical opinions, in the second Century requires a unity of theology to diverge from. Orthodoxy is not an heretical idea forced upon the church, but an outworking of our unity in Christ. We are grateful to Köstenberger and Kruger for reminding us that there are limits, boundaries to Christian truth and faith, there are opinions which no matter how sincerely held are not Christian.

At least we can be grateful to Köstenberger and Kruger for demonstrating how a thesis, which even Walter Bauer described as ‘conjectural’ can over time become received wisdom without gaining any new historical support. Of great concern is the way that contemporary writers, such as Ehrman and Pagels, allow their commitment to a philosophical pluralism to drive their ‘scholarship’ into unsupported conclusions.

A scholarly debate about a bad thesis may not seem immediately relevant. However, in days when we need to recover our confidence in the gospel it is good for us to know that we can hold to orthodoxy Christianity without fear or shame; that orthodoxy Christianity is not one Christian option among many, but is in fact true. We do not need to concede that truth is a function of power and power is the only truth. Truth matters, truth exists as does error. With God’s help we can seek for truth, preach truth and live in that truth which he is.

Embracing The Trinity

Here's another book I brought home from Cambridge (and for the avoidance of doubt, I didn't already have a copy of this one!)

Fred Sanders 'Embracing The Trinity' is on the whole a good book, if not especially easy to read. At least it is a timely reminder to Evangelicals of our Trinitarian roots and a need to have Trinitarian thinking well embedded in our theology and practice of Christian living.

Sanders writes that the Trinity isn't for anything, the Trinity is God. (page 61). So, even to ask, 'What is the Trinity for?' is to misunderstand what God is revealing of himself when he reveals his Trinitarian nature to us.

The best chapter is chapter 4 'The Shape of the Gospel'. In this long chapter Sanders clearly relates the Trinity to all of the Gospel in a most helpful way. On p. 136-141 writing of the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel Sanders uses the phrase 'the Holy Spirit puts us in our place'. This is not used to demean but to teach us that the Holy Spirit, by his powerful indwelling work, places us within the Gospel story.

One final point, writing (page 113) on the depth of the Gospel and of '"head" Christians who mistakenly believe that being "theologically correct" is the sum and substance of Christian living.' and quoting Henry Scougal we read:
Scougal indicts, I consider these "orthodox notions" believers to be the nearest to the real thing, but for that reason they are probably the most thoroughly trapped. If you tell one of these top-heavy believers that they are missing out on the reality of salvation, they will immediately make room in their intellectual systerm for a doctrine about "the reality of salvation." They earnestly seek to embrace all God's truth, but if you tell them they are missing the power of godliness, they will buy (or write) a book about it. dp a Bible study about it, or in some other way try to put together a proper doctine about it.

Indeed!

On the whole a good book. Not to be recommended to young Christians or those without some theological background or interest.

A Review in Life and Work

In the September Life and Work my review of Stephen Kuhrt's book 'Tom Wright for Everyone' was published. I know that there are constraints of space in L&W, however some of the editorial changes left the review making less than obvious sense. Here is a copy of my review as submitted. (see my earlier post here)

Tom Wright for Everyone:
Putting the theology of N. T. Wright into practice in the local Church
Stephen Kuhrt
SPCK: 2011
xiv+108 pages
Biblography 20 pages; Notes 11 pages; Indices 7 pages

It is surely too soon for a thorough review of the theology of NT Wright, not least since we still await some crucial elements of that theology to be published. However, Stephen Kuhrt does great service both to NT Wright, and to the church in this brief volume.

An opening chapter helpfully reviews the career of NT Wright as scholar, theologian and Churchman. This is followed by a chapter outlining Kuhrt’s own story and his interest in NT Wright. In this chapter Kuhrt, writing from an evangelical Anglican tradition Kuhrt poses some thoughtful questions to that evangelical tradition which still await an answer. Of course, he goes on to suggest the NT Wright does begin to offer an answer to these questions. This chapter should not be passed over by readers of Life and Work, as the questions raised by Kuhrt reflect questions that need to be asked and answered by an evangelical reformed/Presbyterian tradition just as much as by evangelicals within the Anglican tradition.

The central chapter of the book somewhat optimistically offers ‘A summary of the theology of N. T. Wright’. A seemingly impossible task which is well attempted by Kuhrt, using the device of taking 39 words or phrases around which key elements of Wright’s theology can be gathered. As good as this chapter is it should not be a substitute for reading Wright, his work on Christian hope, Jesus and the Kingdom, Paul and Gospel especially. In Kuhrt’s brief concluding summary we read of Wright’s proposal that,
In its reading of the New Testament, the Christian Church needs to shed the dualist lens introduced by the Gnostics … the recovery of a properly Jewish theology of creation that will enable us to understand Jesus as coming to inaugurate that new creation and renew the world rather than destroy it. … the Church’s role is to live within the story of Scripture, demonstrating, by word and deed, radical and Spirit-filled signs of the resurrection life that Jesus Christ has come to bring. (page 64)

Stephen Kuhrt has been vicar at a Church of England congregation in New Malden since 2007. The exciting conclusion to this volume is his account of the impact of Wright’s theology upon the life and ministry of this congregation. In three chapters Kuhrt gives accounts of changes in pastoral work, mission activity, worship and sacramental ministry, development of Christian character and the involvement of the people of God in active service. While some parts of this will be familiar to readers of Life and Work, using Wright, Kuhrt gives a deep biblical and theological foundation for these revisions of the life and ministry of a congregation. In his concluding chapters Kuhrt writes wisely and sensitively about both the ministry of women and responding to the challenge of homosexuality and these passages I hope will prove very helpful within our present situation.

Kuhrt writes well, this is a short and easily read book. Writing as an evangelical Kuhrt brings a great challenge from the theology of NT Wright to all evangelicals. If you don’t like his answers you at least have to answer his questions. For non evangelicals I think Kuhrt’s book demonstrates the vitality of evangelical theology and practice when it is radically committed to being biblical rather than entrenched in a nineteenth century form of a sixteenth century tradition! While commending this book most warmly I would nevertheless more warmly commend a long and detailed engagement with Tom Wright (and am sure that Stephen Kuhrt would agree with this).

A Theologian's Memoir

Before going off to Cambridge in early July I read Stanley Hauerwas' Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir. This is the first book by Hauerwas I've read and it won't be the last.

This memoir is more of a theological reflection upon his story than what we would know by the literary genre of biography. Here are some passages I noted on the way through.

p. 52 writing about our use of language to talk about God
our language about God is necessarily analogical, which means that theology has the task of helping the church not say more about God than needs to be said.
In Jan 1999 I heard Jim Packer speaking about analogical use of language, and that he preferred this description to allegorical language. Of especial interest in the Hauerwas quote is the notion of not saying more about God than needs to be said. Reformed theologians have often been accused of this, no sense of mystery and a great desire to explain everything. These are temptations we need to resist.

p. 59 on the task of theology
The presumption of many scholars at the time was that the task of theology was to make the language of the faith amenable to standards set by the world. ... From my perspective, if the language was not true, then you ought to give it up. I thought the crucial question was not whether Christianity could be made amendable to the world, but could the world be made amenable to what Christians believe?
Well said. Too often we are asked to change the faith, to change our understanding of God and his gospel to make it fit in with what the world likes and wants. This must be resisted - I hope many in the Church of Scotland wake up to this point!

p. 158 on creation
That something had to start it all is not what Christians mean by creation. Creation is not "back there", though there is a "back there" character to creation. Rather, creation names God's continuing action, God's unrelenting desire for us to want  to be loved by that love manifest in Christ's life, death and resurrection.
Not only back there, but not less than back there. If the first article of the Creed is not true we are adrift in a universe without purpose or future.

All in all a good book which I warmly commend. If you've read Hauerwas, where should I start?

The Bible's Central Story

Here's another book; yes, I got this one at Tyndale (and no I don't already have a copy) and yes, I read it already.

Chris Wright Salvation Belongs to our God is a book that used Rev 7:9-10 as the key to open the big story of the bible, or perhaps the big story of God's mission.

This is an excellent book and I would commend it to any Christian who is willing to do some serious thinking and bible reading to understand better the salvation that belongs to our God.

Chris Wright offers, in chapter 1, a very helpful overview of the use of 'salvation' words in both OT and NT, leaving us with a much bigger view of salvation than merely 'the forgiveness of my sins', although salvation is not less than this it is much more.

Salvation is then set in the context of God's unique identity, his covenant blessing and story and our experience of salvation.

The longest chapter in the book is on Salvation and the sovereignty of God, this is a chapter that will repay serious study and re reading. Wright sets all the nations under the sovereignty of God and therefore in need of the message of God's salvation. Wright tackles the question of the destiny of the unevangelised by asking 'do we need to know of God's salvation and our part in it before God can save us?' I would rephrase - are we saved by the knowledge of salvation or by the work of Christ on the cross? If the latter then how does this impact our thinking about those who have never heard the gospel? Clearly a sovereign God can choose to save anyone, even if they have not heard the gospel. This however does not reduce the urgency of our need to tell the world of God's salvation.

Once again, thanks to Chris Wright for this helpful and timely book.

Another book on prayer

I picked up this book at Keswick by Philip Jensen and Tony Payne Prayer and the Voice of God. Their earlier book Guidance and the Voice of God (or as I heard Jensen refer to it 'The Last Word on God's Guidance: Revised Edition') is an excellent book and well worth looking out for. I think I've loaned my copy to someone and it hasn't found it's way home yet!

This book on prayer is ok, I wouldn't commend it but wouldn't be worried if I saw someone reading it.

I haven't done the word count (I'm not that sad) but on reading the book the impression is that the word 'sin' appears almost as frequently as the word 'prayer'. I live daily with the reality of sin in my own life, I know that sin is a cause of prayerlessness, but the constant repitition of this theme is discouraging. If it had been mentioned clearly and powerfully once that would be more effective, in my opinion.

The highlights of the book are chapters 4 and 5.
Chapter 4 - Why we don't pray:
1) we have false views of God - he doesn't want to answer prayer;
2) there are things in our life we believe God can't do anything about;
3) we doubt God's goodness, generosity;
4) we don't beleive we are praying in the right way.
Chapter 5 - How to pray:
1) as dependent sons (those who inherit the Father's blessing);
2) by the Spirit;
3) through the Son;
4) to the Father;
5) with thanksgiving.

A few study or sermon series on prayer in there.

Tom Wright For Everyone

Stephen Kuhrt has done us a great service in this short book on Tom Wright.

Yes, it is too early to offer a fully rounded reflection on Tom Wright's work, however, this is a very valuable book.

I especially like Stephen's focus upon the impact the theology of Tom Wright has had upon the local church. This is where all good theology should impact. Many who read this blog will find the final three chapters of this book helpful and challenging.

In his chapter summarising Tom Wright's theology, under the heading 'Gospel', Stephen writes,
According to Wright, the gospel does not refer to the means by which individuals can be 'saved' and 'go to heaven when they die'. It refers to the royal proclamation that in and through Jesus, declared by his resurrection to be Messiah and Lord, YHWH the God of Israel has become King and begun his processs of putting his world right. Wright shows how this understanding is completely consistent with the original use of the term 'good news' in Isaiah 40:9 and 52:7, with its implicit challenge to that term being used in a similar way by pagan emperors. An integral part of this gospel proclamation is that through the coming of God's Spirit everyone, without restriction, is summoned to be part of this renewed world that he is remaking. (page 48)

I think this is an excellent summary of what Wright means by the 'gospel' and shows how Wright then goes onto rework our Christian hope, our understanding of justification, the implications of creation and redemption. Make no mistake, Tom Wright's theology is a big project, dealing with the big themes of our Christian faith.

Stephen Kuhrt's book is a good one. If you read it I hope it inspires you to go on and read Wright: both Tom and NT!

Another book on justification

Just finished another book from my 2010 target list. Mark A Seifrid Christ, our Righteousness: Paul's theology of justification, IVP, 2000.

Seifrid has obviously decided not to write an apologia, he is not in discussion with any of the new perspective school. Rather by setting forth plainly a reasonably traditional reformed view of justification in Paul he hopes to commend this to us.
He does a good job at this, certainly it is a better book than John Piper on Justification - see my earlier post here. In brief, Siefrid is at least concerned to be biblical, not just reformed.

I do think Seifrid's book fails in the lack of engagement with NT Wright. He is aware of Wright's work and seems at times to be kicking against Wright, without directly engaging him. Although Wright does merit 6 referneces in the index, these are all to minor comments or footnotes.

While helpful in its own way Seifrid's book does not advance the conversation on justification, and certainly will not draw it to any kind of conclusion.

Charismatic Calvinists? - Convergence

In May/June I re-read Sam Storms 'Convergence: The Spiritual Journey of a Charismatic Calvinist'.

Storms has noticed, as we all have that a 'breach exists between Word-based evangelical cessationists and their more experintially oriented charismatic cousins.' (page 9). His aim in writing is to share his expriences and reflections upon them hoping to address the mistrust and caricature which passess between these two grous.

This is a good, readable book. Many, I think, will recognise some, perhaps most, of Storms life-story and so will be drawn into his reflections upon it.

I think Storms gives a good account of Charismatic theology and experience, sufficient to challenge any cessationist to re-think their position.
Storms describes as the primary point of contention between evangelical cessationists and evangelical charismatics the claim that God speaks prophetically and immediately into situations in our lives, yes in the words of Scripture but not only in the words of Scripture. I think Storms may be right here, but I'm not sure he has offered enough to persuade us of his conclusion in this matter.

I'm not sure that what Storms offers is convergence, so much as a plea to cessationists to recognise their error and engage in charismatic practice. I'm not complaining about him writing such a book, just that convergence doesn't seem to describe what he is pleading for.

Certainly in Scotland the suspicion and distrust which exists between some evangelicals and charismatics is bitter and harmful to the work of the gospel. It might be because of my story I'm more willing to consider charismatic theology and practice as being biblical and godly, but at the very least I think we cannot consider it any less than this.

The following quote gripped me as I share this frustration, after not three years but 17 years!
During these first three years I preached verse by verse through the Scriptures and did my best to honour God and serve his people. But I was growing increasingly frustrated by the problems people faced and my apparent inability and lack of wisdom to help them. (page 38)

So thanks Ian for recommending this book, which I commend to others.

Discipline and the Church Fathers

The final section in Hall's book is on Discipline, in these chapters Hall takes us to the biography of Antony by Athanasius as an example of the monastic, desert communities and spiritual life that grew up during this period.

One point of note, Antony was concerned about demonic admonition to an excessive, oppressive spirituality.

Hall writes, "At times it will be difficult to identifu this specific form of demonic temptation, precisely because it is attired in Christian clothing. While all Christians are called to prayer, study adn fasting, Antony warns that demonic temptations distorting these disciplines prod the monk toward an excessive, harsh, unreasonable asceticism. Indeed, Antony advises that it is better to get a good night's sleep than to attempt to remain awake, if such exaggerated vigilance leads to fatigue, discouragement or self-righteousness." (page 218)

I don't know many who face such temptations, but there are a few. Zeal for the Lord is good, a desire for prayer, bible reading and study, fasting and spiritual discipline is greatly to be prayed for in our lives. Yet, this is a wise warning about the dangers, especially of self-righteousness which attend our performance of such spiritual disciplines. If the demons of hell cannot prevent us praying and reading God's word, they will be happy enough to pervert our prayers and study in any way they can, excess as good as any other.

Just one example of the wisdom we can gain from the desert father's, and encouragement to a more serious engagement with the Lord in prayer, bible reading and fasting.

Reading Lists

I've managed to bomb through my reading list over the last few weeks and will be blogging about these books soon.

So I'll have to come up with some new targets for the remainder of this year! Suggestions for good reading are always welcome!

Sacraments with the Fathers

I picked up this book while at the Assembly in May and read it while on holiday.

Christopher A Hall Worshipping with the Church Fathers, pub IVP.

I obviously didn't read the blurb on the back because when I started I found the book wasn't what I expected or had hoped for. Not that I was disappointed, just surprised.

I guess I had expected a study of worship, both public worship and private patterns of worship as practiced by the church fathers, and found something different. Hall offers three sections: the sacraments, prayer, discipline (by which he means the call to the desert).

In the first section on the sacraments I really struggled to get over the allegorical interpretations of many passages. Sometimes a loaf of bread is just a loaf of bread, not an allegorical reference to the eucharist!

For example, on p. 39 we read of Gregory of Nyssa teaching that "the method of our salvation became effectual not so much as a result of instruction ... as by means of the flesh which [Christ] assumed ... therefore it was necessary that a means shuold be devised by which there should be in what is done by the follower some kinship and likeness to the leader."
So since in human flesh Christ died and was raised, so in baptism our human flesh shares in his death and resurrection. Now, I think this is right, Rom 6:3-4, but the way of getting there feels a bit strange.

On infant baptism and whether an infant will grow into Christian initiation, we are not to withhold baptism but to trust in God - p. 47. Gregory of Nazianzus teaches that infant circumcision is a model for infant baptism, see Col 2.

I found it helpful to read such comments and notice that the father's were answering the same questions we face when engaging in sacramental ministry, either as those leading a congregation or those worshipping in a congregation.

In general a helpful section and good beginning to this book.

Back from holiday

After a break in July I'm back from holiday and hoping to get back into the blogging again!

While on holiday I finished the three books in Stieg Larsson's series. The third is the best of the three, a real page turner with so many twists you really couldn't figure it out.

Two general comments.
The under current, which sometimes isn't very under, in these books of abuse against women, mostly sexual but not only, is at times disturbing. We can't say that this would only be true in Sweden, because it isn't. I think it is designed to disturb and to remind us that any abuse of women is abuse - zero tolerance begins here.

Also, if these books do accurately reflect life in contemporary Sweden then I'm glad I don't live there. It isn't the violence or abuse that disturbs me here, it is the attitude of the characters to life and relationships. If this is what it means to live in a liberal democracy you can keep it!

Another one completed

This morning I've finished the second 'big' book of my 2010 reading list, Larry Hurtado's 'Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity'.

I've posted some comments on this book earlier - here.

This is a good book and well worth reading.

I think Hurtado is persuasive in showing that devotion to Jesus as God began early, in the first century certainly, most likely in the 30's and 40's, the very earliest period of the Christian church.
Hurtado's historical work is valuable not least because our Christian faith and hope depends upon the history of Jesus incarnate, crucified, buried, resurrected and ascended for us.

It is helpful that Hurtado illustrates the difficulty faced in second century Christianity was to articulate their faith in Jesus as Christ and God - within the framework of Jewish/OT monotheism. That there is only one God, and that he is only one, is the constraint placed upon expressions of devotion to Jesus. To deny the divinity of Jesus is easy, to collapse God into Jesus is also easy, to portray Jesus as one among many gods is easy. All these moves were made in the second century, but none of them were found to be adequate in describing this Jesus who is both human and divine, one person within one God.

In the final pages Hurtado offers, 'The devotional practice of earliest Christianity was particularly foundational for doctrinal developments.' (page 649) Today we often think of worship practices as culturally conditined, and I think that is right. However, there remains something about our worship and devotional practices that shapes and informs our doctrine. I think that for the earliest Christians, including the apostle Paul, it was the encounter with the risen Lord Jesus and their subsequent worship of him as God that largely shaped their expressions of the gospel. The question then is what do our current worship and devotional practices say about our understanding of the gospel and what are we communicating of the gospel through them to the world?

So, my list needs amended.
Gordon Fee's 'God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul' moves up to the top of the list. I'm really looking forward to this one. Hopefully I'll finish this in the third quarter of 2010.
For the final quarter then, an addition to the list:
Bernhard Lohse's 'Martin Luther's Theology: It's Historical and Systematic Development', T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1999. I've had this book for three years now, I bought it in the Free Church Bookroom while at a Rutherford House Dogmatics Conference. So I'm looking forward to spending some time with Luther and learning from him something of the gospel.

NT Wright on Evil and the Justice of God

This is a short book on a big topic, only 109 pages. NT Wright gives his usual and expectedly thorough treatment of an important theme, evil, and its relation to the justice of God.

Beginning as a set of five lectures and then finding their place in a tv programme, this extended examination of this subject is well worth reading.

The challenge of evil is to be faced by our Christian living, our prayer and holy living in a world troubled by evil. Wright challenges Christians to imagine the Kingdom in which evil is no more and then to live as though it were already so. This is a creative use of imagination which I think will stretch many, but is worth the effort.
The chapter on forgiveness is very challenging, forgiveness set us free to live without the burden of evil and removes the bitterness of evil from our communities. Wright expands forgiveness beyond the inter-personal to our forgiveness as a nation of the unpayable debts of other nations, or the forgiveness of terrorists.

Two interesting points in passing.
"Within the larger cannonical context it ought to be clear that re-emphasizing the doctrine of creation is indeed the foundation of all biblical answers to questions about who God is and what he is doing." (page 41)
Whether in response to the strident atheism of Dawkins and others, or for some other reason, I sense that there is a lack of confidence in our confession of God as Creator. We must stand firm here, not least for the reason given by Wright. The constant refernecing of God as Creator in Scripture is not insignificant. Having created and declared it to be good, God is now at work renewing and redeeming creation for his own glory. Our salvation in Christ is connected to God being creator in ways that those trying to be Christian but denying creation do not yet appreciate.

"Indeed, we might even say that the gospel writers were telling their whole story so as to explain why the resurrection happened to make it clear that this was not simply an odd, isolated bizarre miracle, but rather the proper and appropriate result of Jesus' entire, and successful, confrontation with evil." (pages 55-56)
If we read the gospels with the question, 'Why did the resurrection happen?' at the front of our thinking, what difference does this make to the story we read? Is this God ushering in new creation (2 Cor 5:17) after judgment had fallen upon the old creation and the evil that rampaged through it?

As I say, a really good book and well worth reading.

New Books on Reading List

Sorry I haven't been around the Corner recently, the General Assembly not only takes up time but takes time to recover from.

I missed my 20 posts a month target for May - well let's say it was an asperation, like 5-a-day on fruit and veg. So I'll try to keep up this month.

I've made some changes to my 2010 reading targets. I've removed the three volumes of essays that were on the list. Not that these have disappeared but being essay can be read at a different speed. I've added two books I bought at the Assembly from the Free Church Bookroom, for many years the best Christian bookshop in Scotland.

The first one is called 'Worshipping with the Church Father's' by Christopher A Hall, pub IVP 2009. I've been wanting to read some of Hall's work on the Church Father's for some time now and this looks like a very helpful volume.

The blurb promises a survey of the spiritual life of worship which will inform and challenge Christians in faithful living today. I hope the book lives up to the back cover - I'll let you know.

The second one is Tom Wright's 'Virtue Reborn'. Anything by Tom Wright, or NT Wright is worth reading. So far the only point of Tom Wright that I'm tempted to disagree with is his reading of 2 Cor 5, especially v. 21. Our present Christian living seems to fall either into licence or legalism. I'm hoping that Tom Wright will find a new way, or perhaps an old way, which is neither licence nor legalism. We need an authentic Christian living that displays the life of God in our communities today.

Recommended Books

Over at Euangelion Joel Willitts has an interesting post, with a lot of comments, on the theme of 'A book every university student should read'. Well worth a look here.

So I was thinking, for ministers/pastors and preachers, what two books would you recommend?
I've picked my two:

1. Peter White The Effective Pastor
This is a great book by an experienced pastor and church leader. In four sections, covering a range of ministry tasks, this would be a valuable book for a calls of student, or a ministers reading group to work through and learn from.

2. Eugene Peterson Five Smooth Stone For Pastoral Work
I'm sure that Peterson has written a poor book, or a chapter that is less good, it's just that I haven't found it yet! This was my first Peterson book and is a classic.
Peterson works though key issues of pastoral work using the five Megalith texts: Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Lamentations, using the themes of each of these books to guide his refelctions on an area of essential pastoral work. If you ever need a book to persuade you that you still have a lot to learn about pastoral work, this is it.

I've not offered any kind of review of these books as it's a while since I've read them. When I read them again I'll over more comments.

What books would you recommend to young minsiters, students or for a ministers reading group?

'Tis Done!

I've just finished reading the second volume of Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation. Hence 'Tis Done!

Say something nice about Herr Bavinck's book.
Very comprehensive. If you want to know what the position of Reformed Theology is on the doctrine of God and/or Creation this is the one volume that will do it for you.

Now tell us what you really think!
There are just too many pages describing positions in theology and philosophy that Reformed Theology will disagree with. I know that Deism and Pantheism are wrong, I don't need to read about why they are wrong under every heading.

If you want to read a really good book on the doctrine of God, you should try Gerald Bray's volume of that title in the IVP Contours of Christian Theology series (pub 1993). At 251 pages of text, plus some notes and suggested further reading, this is a far more accessible and useful volume than Bavinck. Bray covers the doctrine of God, which to be fair is only the first three parts (432 pages) of Bavinck. But he does it so much better.

So, 'tis done! That's another book ticked off my reading targets list for 2010, and the first of my major volumes. I'm really looking forward to starting Larry Hurtado's 'Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity'. This theology is all very well but just not as much fun as biblical studies.

I'm going to replace Bavinck on the reading targets list with Gordon Fee's 'God's Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul' (pub 1994). Just in case Hurtado doesn't turn out to do enough detailed exegesis of the text Fee won't let me down. But I'm not aiming to get to Fee until the summer, unless Hurtado ends up being a better page turner than Dan Brown.

Help Desk

I was pointed towards this by Alan, who clearly shares something of my sad sense of humour.