Fascinating! I’ve just never read anything before on the material covered here. I’ve read Bavinck, of course, but here he digs in with that penetrating style of his in a place I need led by the hand.

Somehow I missed the publishing event of this three-volume set and make my introduction through this volume 3. When it arrived, I laid other things aside and jumped in. You probably wouldn’t normally label an ethics book captivating. As good as Bavinck is, you might not call him captivating usually either as he is quite exacting in his approach. His gift is depth of content. What a mind he possessed and to read him makes you a learner. Still, I can’t believe how quickly I went through this work.

The bulk of the book is on “The Life Spheres in Which the Moral Life Must Manifest Itself”. As heady as that title is, the material distills a mountain of study and lays it at your feet in around 200 pages. Along the way, he covers family, the “duty” to marry (hadn’t thought of that), qualifications for marriage (who you can marry), betrothal and wedding, essence of marriage, and divorce.

Here’s why the book is so fascinating. He gathers all the Bible says and on some points the Bible says little specifically. He covers what Christian groups have thought from the most to least known. What you will discover is the lack of consistency among Christians. He is not so “dogmatic” except where he feels the evidence warrants it. He is honest enough not to just trumpet his opinion. He also shows how these ethics have often showed up in laws. It’s a bit tilted towards Dutch law, but that’s understandable as he ministered there. You will at least leave this book knowing what questions you must ask yourself.

The last third of the book changes direction. It addresses philosophical ethics first. I thought he was good at probing the subject, putting it in perspective, and making sure to not allow it to plow over the gospel. In the last part, contemporary morality is covered. You can decide for yourself how contemporary it is. In my view, we must at least wrestle with some of the things he brings up.

I want to consult Bavinck on any subject he covers. I may not agree, but I know I’ll be richer for reading it. Here he plows fields off the beaten trail, and I highly recommend it. 

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

The subtitle “Retrieving the Nicene Doctrine of the Triune God” tells what we have here. Forty authors giving forty articles covers that subject from every vantage point imaginable. The list of authors is something of a who’s-who as well. Still, it’s a book more likely to have one pick and choose which articles to read rather than reading cover to cover. It’s an incredibly learned resource.

It’s something of a polemic too. These authors are passionate for Nicene Doctrine, perhaps to a fault. I say that because you’d think that it would moor itself to Scripture first and then show how Nicene doctrine is true to Scripture. You would also think it would call for allegiance to Scripture rather than the writings of the Nicene Council. I think the case could probably be made, so why not make it? Here it was just assumed. Still, some of us feel that there are times that Greek philosophy has too much influence, and that viewpoint would never be accepted in this book.

Along the same lines, deep doctrinal understanding is assumed. A newer Christian trying to learn doctrine would not need to begin here. This book is for those already a bit seasoned in theology.

After those caveats, this book is a tremendous resource. There are so many articles that give such opportunity to wrestle with these great things. Several I read had some things that I would not fully agree with, but they gave excellent opportunity to hone my thinking. There were several articles that really interested me, and were quite helpful to me, addressing what has become the battle between classical trinitarianism and social trinitarianism. For the record, I would lean toward classical trinitarianism.

This book will be quoted for years. I simply can’t think of another book on trinitarianism that comes close to this volume in depth. It is a treasure trove of learning. If you can’t learn from this book, you aren’t even trying.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

This second volume in the We Believe (WB) holds up the high expectations established by the first one on Christology. Most major Christian publishers have a series of this sort covering various doctrines that together form a systematic theology and this one so far is standing out in a crowded field.

This volume gets two of the key topics of such systematic theologies—salvation and the Holy Spirit. I judge it far more passionate on the subject of salvation than that of the Spirit. My guess is that the author gets consumed with the Spirit carrying out the application of salvation and that swallows the discussion at large. The discussion on the Trinity and, for example, the gifts, almost seemed tacked on to get to the heart of what he really wanted to talk about—salvation.

On other quick caveat is that this book is overtly reformed. I could almost jokingly say that it is more reformed than it is Christian, but not everyone might appreciate my humor.

With that out of the way, that passion he has that I spoke of is quite beneficial and enjoyable in studying salvation in all its glorious beauty. Mr. Fesko comes across as a captivating teacher. You of necessity will learn. Isn’t that the target we’re aiming for in this type of series? You will often love what he’s saying too, and when you occasionally disagree, you’ll at least have the consolation that he’s having a good time.

I have a system of jotting brief notes and page numbers in the front cover of books where what’s being written really resonates with me. I have 17 such notations in this one of things that really rang the bell for me. In case you’re wondering, that means this one ranks high for me. I’ll consult it again too—that’s another dead giveaway for me that we have a winner here. I wouldn’t make him your only guide, but this author is a teacher at whose feet you should spend some time.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Wow! What a book! It was fascinating, enlightening, challenging, and it taught me. I must admit there were times I struggled. There were times I had to lay it aside and come back later. A few times I wondered if I were too dense and were in over my head. But I kept coming back and I am so glad did.

Where I kept running into problems was when I needed a bit more philosophy background than I had. If that describes you, do as I did and persevere. He’s going somewhere and will get back to the more comfortable surroundings of theology soon enough. If you will hang on, he will show that we have had a bit too much Greek influence on our theology and that has put us in scriptural quandaries. I was convinced.

Before I say more, I must admit Leithart is a brilliant writer. I do feel he pitched this volume to professional theologians (untranslated words are a dead giveaway). I wish he had veered toward about 20% more popular in writing style (I mean, how many professional theologians are there?), but the denseness was worth it still. I’ve read some of his more popular works and he is great whether you agree or not. He has original thinking in his works and he is profoundly and pleasingly provocative.

I’m not going to rehash the book here. Just experience it. For me, he tweaked my thinking on some of the attributes, particularly accommodation. Further, he opened my eyes to how crucial the idea of Creator is and made me understand my God even more. Finally, he blew me away in his discussion of time.

I tend to be a bit liberal with praise in my book reviews, but there’s no grading on a curve here. This is a great one.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

This series is exciting! Had I been planning this series I might have overlooked resurrection getting one of the slots in it, but after seeing this title it makes perfect sense. Brannon makes his case for Resurrection being one of the “essential” themes of biblical theology. His fleshing out the link to Creation and Redemption only strengthen his case.

The book is clear and clear-headed. He is quite convincing in driving home his premise. Besides his love of quoting obscure lyrics of (popular?…I guess) music, he succeeds across the board.

To grasp resurrection he grapples with life and death. Relating that to Creation and the Fall was the proper foundation while building with redemption (New Creation) and Resurrection (Eternal Life) was the right edifice to build upon it. A lot has been written on these themes but his niche is a clarity that comes from a careful presentation.

He also traces his theme to good effect in biblical order. Watching a doctrine develop progressively is one of the best ways to take it in.

As you can imagine, he address Christ’s resurrection and does so by building into his rich tapestry. From there he weaves in the church before reaching our final resurrection.

What’s amazing in a book like this is taking one doctrine to examine them all. Biblical theology is really rocking when that really happens. It happens here.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

A treasure itself! Vaillancount is expert in biblical theology and the Psalms are indeed rich in that way. For some reason, I see this as a fine addendum to James Hamilton’s fine commentary on the Psalms in the EBTC series.

His Introduction whets the appetite for more and more is what we get. His chapters on reading Psalms canonically, as are what follows, are outstanding as they abound in both Structure and Theology. Throughout the text, specific psalms pop up and though he writes on a perceptible track you might not anticipate which psalm comes next. Fortunately, the scriptural index at the back of the book opens up this work to a whole additional approach. There’s good exegesis wherever he comments. You just can’t lose here.

Really, he opens up many pathways that you can begin and go even farther. When I do deep study on the Psalms, in addition to some favorite commentaries, I assure you this book will be in my “special” pile. This is the kind of book you don’t want to be without.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

This book was not what I expected. Let’s just say that it isn’t J. C. Ryle 2.0 for sure. No, it was something else. Since I already own Ryle, though, maybe that’s a good thing. To be fair, I just didn’t read the blurbs carefully enough because it was exactly what it professed to be. It’s holiness from the Wesleyan tradition. Since Wesley’s day they’ve been joined at the hip with their teaching on holiness. To be sure, these authors have laid out a cogent case for their perspective. Agree, or like me, not, you will learn much in this passionate, yet respectful work.

There’s a bonus here as well. I love big picture biblical theology. The first chapter was incredible and could hold its own with any biblical theology works (and I’ve read a lot of them). Since the Pentateuch is so foundational to biblical theology, this chapter is key. Holiness is covered, but there’s so much more. Two more chapters finish the Old Testament.

Part Two covers the New Testament and as you probably can guess Paul’s writings are where they make the heart of their case. Here many will disagree, but at least they so clearly make their case.

Part Three takes holiness through church history. You can decide for yourself if it’s on target or skewed.

The final section traces holiness through the whole of systematic theology before turning practical in “the when and how of holiness”. I find the most sympathy with “the longer way”. Taking the whole as a call to maturity means the work is even not bereft of devotional value.

To those who follow the Wesleyan tradition, this must be a jewel. To rest of us it’s a window to look in. Perhaps we do not agree, but we must tip our hats. This is a good book.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.