Book Recomendation for Reformed believers

[Macrina]

Thanks for the great recommendations, everybody!

I'll echo what others have said about R.C. Sproul. I recommend his "Essential Doctrines of the Christian Faith" to anyone who is looking for a beginner's reference/introduction to the study of theology.

I might be interested in discussing a book online... can you tell me more about the book?

 

[adam149]

I strongly agree! (though I have a different position concerning baptism)

read this review
source: http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=140

Good review! I don't agree with everything Reymond says, but the majority is wonderful.
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Moreover, due to the nature of Biblical truth, that is, that it is rational, we are to understand that God’s revelation to us is "univocally true." Here the author correctly takes issue with Cornelius Van Til (96-102) and John Frame (and his "multiperspectival" approach to theology [103]), both of whom maintain that Biblical revelation is analogical. What we have in Scripture, says Reymond, is not just an analogy of the truth. We have the truth itself. Since God is omniscient (knowing all truth), if we are to know anything, we must know what God knows. Necessarily, then, there is an univocal point at which our knowledge meets God’s knowledge. To be sure, man does not know as much as God knows, that is, he does not have the same degree of knowledge as God does, but he has the same kind of knowledge (95-102).

Having read some Van Til (the two recommended in my first post), I have yet to encounter Van Til arguing that Scripture is analogical. As I understand his system, he completely supports that Scripture is the truth, and doubt strongly that he would argue that it is merely an "analogy" of the truth. From my understanding, he supports everything said above. Van Til was one of the most misunderstood men of the 20th century.

Part Two ("God and Man"), like the rest of the book, is excellent. But several things should be highlighted. First, the author adheres to a literal six-day creation and a relatively young Earth. He writes: "I can discern no reason...for departing from the view that the days of Genesis were ordinary twenty-four hour days" (392); "the tendency of Scripture...seems to be toward a relative young Earth and a relatively short history of man to date" (396).

He makes this sound like it's a bad thing. Reymond gives strong Scriptural reasons for adhering to this understanding. Besides, the doctrine of six-day creation has been the reformed position since Luther (though certainly not the only one). My only qualm with this section is that he repeats the idea that the geneologies have gaps (and even then admits that there would only be room for making the earth a few thousand years older than a strict interpretation of the geneological lists). But I don't want to start an origins war here; I subscribe to this system, but I don't call other Christians' faith into question if they disagree.

Finally, Reymond gives us an impressive Biblical "Eschatology" (979-1093). First, he investigates five eschatological theories that have surfaced over the last one hundred and fifty years: the Liberal Eschatology of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Consistent Eschatology of Albert Schweitzer, the Realized Eschatology of C. H. Dodd, the Existentialist Eschatology of Rudolf Bultmann, and the eschatological views of Dispensationalism. All of these are heretical (in greater and lesser degrees) in one form or another. And Reymond dispenses with them in short order. He concludes: "With such eschatological confusion running rampant today in scholarly circles, never has the need been greater to return to Scripture and to see what God’s Word says concerning this vital, all-important, capstoning locus of theology" (986).

My qualm with this section is that Reymond lumps all preterists together into a single heretical group who deny the resurrection, judgement and Second Advent. In actually, this is a fairly small group. The others are orthodox preterists who affirm the resurrection, 2nd Advent, and universal judgement.[/size]

 

[johnny_redeemed]

I am reading Martin Luthers commantary on Romans and it is great!!!

 

[cygnusx1]

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