P&R’s new Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John Frame is a fantastic volume of contributions on the theology and influence of John Frame. Rarely do we see a festschrift of this proportion – over 1,100 pages, with 39 articles, and 8 sections. Instead of a normal review, let me suggest a reading plan of sorts for those who are unfamiliar with the content of Frame’s thought (for a thorough review read Iain Campbell’s review at Ref21) . I do not suggest you read it through, but let it become your companion as you become more and more familiar with John Frame and his thought.- The place to begin is at the beginning. Read the Personal Words from Many Friends. It is a fun read from theologians and pastors from across the spectrum whom Frame has influenced over the past several decades.
- Chapters 1-2 – After the Personal Words you should read chapter 1 My Books: Their Genesis and Main Ideas by John Frame himself. Its a good and brief summary of the literature he has produced. Then move directly to chapter 2 Background to My Thought.
- Chapter 12 – Justin Taylor and James Grant’s chapter on “John Frame and Evangelicalism” is a good introduction to how Frame has interacted with evangelicalism broadly speaking and more particular in Presbyterian circles.
- Chapter 8 – Vern Poythress’ chapter “Multiperspectivalism and the Reformed Faith” is a crucial chapter in understanding Frame’s concept of multiperspectivalisim (or triperspectivalism), how it affects different disciplines (theology, apologetics, linguistics, ethics, etc), and how it has affected the Reformed faith. This is probably the most important chapter in understanding Frame’s thought.
- Chapter 19 – James Anderson’s “Presuppositionalism and Frame’s Epistemology” is probably the best chapter in the book on Frame’s apologetic. This is strictly an opinion because all of them (there are 8 total) are very good. But Anderson works to make Frame’s presupppositionalism practical, which is always helpful for apologetics. Its also another helpful chapter on his multiperspectivalism.
- Chapter 32 – David Powlison’s “Frame’s Ethics: Working the Implications for Pastoral Care” is really helpful in understanding how Frame’s ethical triperspectivalism is practical for the pastor looking to “cure souls.” While ethical reflections tend to be “static,” human hearts and souls are perplex and dynamic, needing multiple perspectives – sort of like jazz!
- Chapter 9 – K. Scott Oliphint’s “The Prolegomena Principle: Frame and Bavinck” is his attempt to cure “Bavinck’s bug” with Frame’s epistemology. Its a good chapter on showing the superiority of Frame’s prolegomena over Bavinck in order to remain consistent with the Reform Theology they both set forth.
- Chapter 13 – Paul Helm’s “Frame’s Doctrine of God” is no bedside reading (which is what I attempted one evening!). I can’t imagine anyone requesting Paul Helm to expand more on his ideas, but that is what Frame has requested. And so Paul Helm has obliged. Although there is a good bit of assumed knowledge of Helm’s book The Providence of God, it is still worth the read if you have not read Helm’s book.
- Chapter 20 – Donald Collett’s chapter “Van Till and Transcendental Argument Revisited” is worth reading only if you are familiar with the interaction between Frame, Bahnsen, Craig, and Collett on Frame’s use of the Transcendental Argument. Frames tends to recognize more continuity between traditional and presuppositional transcendental arguments, while other Van Tillian’s don’t, emphatically.
Ephesians (Reformed Expository Commentary)
Publisher: P and R Publishing Company
Author: Chapell, Bryan
Binding: Hardcover
List Price: $29.99
The Reformed Expository Commentary Series says that the series sets about to provide “exposition that gives careful attention to the biblical text, is doctrinally Reformed, focuses on Christ through the lens of redemptive history, and applies the Bible to our contemporary setting.” Chappell delivers on this promise in his contribution to this series on the commentary of Ephesians.
Adapted from a series of 21 sermons on the book of Ephesians, the book is very reminiscent of R. Kent Hughes’ commentary on Ephesians in the “Preaching the Word” series, a commentary that also was an adaptation of Hughes’ sermon series through the book of Ephesians. I find the addition of practical, exposition-focused commentaries on the market to be refreshing. Chappell is always driving the text not only toward “our contemporary setting” but toward the church. He does a good job of staying about Paul’s task, which considers the individual, but is always driven primarily by the task of the church at large in response to the nature of God.
That said, I think the commentary has some weaknesses that should give one pause before considering it a necessary addition to one’s commentary library. First, while Chappell occasionally makes use of footnotes, I think the book would have been much strengthened if he would have added another 30-50 pages of footnotes. As any preacher does, Chappell makes decisions on the division of the text, on what he considers the main and ancillary points, on translation, etc. Chappell is not to be critiqued for not carrying these discussions out in the context of his sermon (in fact, he’s to be commended!), but there were multiple times when he took a position that was I either was confused about, disagreed with, or it was a minority position. And almost always, there was little or no explanation about why he had made that decision. For fellow preachers, such silence can leave the commentary a bit toothless. Even if you want to be convinced by Chappell’s perspective, he doesn’t give you the tools to get there.
Second, I wasn’t always convinced by the coherence of the illustrations and the exposition. As any preacher knows, utilizing illustrations that track with the text and don’t set the message on a different trajectory is a very difficult task. And for many of us, Chappell himself has helped shaped how we are to set about this task (thanks to his indispensible Christ-Centered Preaching). But Chappell doesn’t help teach the preacher about this task in the course of this commentary. He never gives explanation (as far as I could tell) for why he believes his illustrations cohere with the text or perhaps why even though they may not emphasize the text’s main point such an illustration was appropriate in his context.
All told, Chappell’s Ephesians is a fine commentary, and a good addition to any preacher’s library. But it’s not without its flaws, and there are certainly other Ephesians commentaries I would recommend first.
K. Scott Oliphint and William Edgar have compiled several apologetic primary sources into one reader that was published with Crossway in 2009 entitled Christian Apologetics Past and Present: A Primary Source Reader. Dr. Edgar and I noticed, as we were teaching courses on the history of apologetics, that there were not texts available for us. The motive was fairly selfish; we needed a text.
2. What is unique about what you are trying to accomplish with this series?
See #1. But also we are trying to show that and how a defense of Christianity has been a significant aspect of church life from the beginning.
3. Is there a quality to each of these works that caused you to choose them over others? Is there a certain figure or work that you wished you could have included?
We tried to choose, for the most part, people who were known to be apologists in church history. In one sense that could include almost everyone, but we had to narrow it down to just some of the key figures. Perhaps the major frustration of the project was the number of people we could not include. However, given that there is nothing else out there, it’s at least a good start.
4. Is this sort of work helpful for pastors in their efforts in preaching and evangelizing?
We certainly hope that it is. Apologetics is meant for the church; it is a task both within and without its walls. Most of the apologists saw themselves as encouraging the church in its tasks. Some of the early apologists were actually trying to save the lives of those who were being killed for their testimony. Noting the respective situations, concerns and teachings of these men should be a great encouragement to pastors and others in the constant fight against unbelief.
5. For those of us looking forward to volume 2, can you give us a sneak peak as to whose works will be included? Any date set for the release of volume 2?
Volume 2 will be a good bit bigger than v. 1. Because it covers the periods from 1500 to the present, and because there has been so much written in that time period, the frustrations we felt from v. 1 were magnified here. We had to leave so many people out, and even the ones we included might not have been included by other editors. Nevertheless, we do think it gives a fair, even if truncated, assessment of the state of apologetics through these latter centuries. We’ve included “the usuals,” such as Luther, Calvin, Owen, Butler, Paley, and into the current discussion with Plantinga, Westphal, Marion and others. I am assuming it will be out sometime late next year
6. In your previous writings you unashamedly confess to be a presuppositional apologist. What apologist from your first volume do you find most helpful and biblical?
Though it will not be here until March of 2010, IVP has given us Basic Chrisitan: The Inside Story of John Stott to look forward to. Below is the table of contents and the publishers description:
You’ll see the early influences on his life unfold into Stott’s profound impact on the Church of England and the church worldwide. His associations with the British Inter-Varsity, Billy Graham, the Keswick Convention and the Urbana Conventions are woven together with the story of the landmark books he wrote–Basic Christianity, The Cross of Christ and more.
Included is the dramatic confrontation with Martyn Lloyd-Jones over the place of evangelicals in the Church of England. You’ll witness the critical role Stott’s leadership played in the framing of the Lausanne Covenant and how his plea for a new understanding of the balance between evangelism and social action shaped the decades to come.
This completely new biography tells the full tale of why he was, as TIME magazine noted in 2005, one of the hundred most influential people in the world.
A Review of “The Westminster Assembly: Reading its Theology in Historical Context” by Robert Letham
Publisher: P & R Publishing Company
Binding: Paperback | List Price: $24.99
It is difficult to find scholars who are experts in both Patristic and Reformational studies. Scholars who are experts in one of the two tend to be helpful in their area of expertise and anachronistic of the other. However, those who have read anything by Robert Letham know that he is one of those unique scholars. His works, ranging from Christology to Eastern Orthodoxy, all display a vast knowledge of patristic to contemporary sources.
Letham displays the same aptitude in his new book The Westminster Assembly: Reading its Theology in Historical Context. Part 1 and 2 of his work puts the Assembly in its historical and theological context – exhibiting the purpose of the Assembly to be both theological and political. With this context in mind he puts forward a concise explanation of the theology of the Assembly in part 3.
Letham has two general purposes for the book. First, by putting the Assembly – along with its confession and catechisms – in its historical context, he seeks to clear up misunderstandings of Reformed theology that are based on chintzy historical scholarship, especially in the Calvin and the Calvinists debates. Second, through the use of new primary resources that include meeting minutes and debates among the Assembly members, Letham illumines why certain directions were taken and corrects historical misreadings of the documents by those critical and sympathetic to its conclusions.
Throughout the book, Letham targets individual scholars as sparing partners – Karl Barth, T. F. Torrance, and, briefly, Alister McGrath – who have been critical of the Assembly, accusing it of fundamentally diverting from the theology of Calvin and the early reformers. The, so called, radical division between Calvin and the English Calvinists lays mainly in the development of Reformed scholasticism, where doctrine was deduced by logical syllogisms, rather than Scripture. English Calvinists of the 17th century are accused of surmising their theology from the premise of God’s eternal decree and a demarcated two-covenant system. Surprisingly, Letham interacts very little with R. T. Kendall’s work on Calvin and the Calvinists.
For many of these accusations, Letham is able to respond by displaying how little attention is given to historical context. So many contemporary debates are put back into the Assembly, that often times scholarly conclusions have shown to be anachronistic. Other times, Letham argues that many fail to read the Assembly’s confession along with its catechisms, to which Letham adequately shows the two must be read together. Also, Letham was able to persuasively show how involved the rest of the continental Reformed churches were in the work of the Assembly, revealing that the breed of Calvinism the Puritans had was not limited to the British Isles.
He also spars with A. A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield and their commentaries on the work of the Assembly. Hodge and Warefield’s works are obviously sympathetic to Westminster and aim to uphold its tradition. Yet, Letham points out conclusions by the two that fail to accurately read their theology in their historical context. Also, meeting minutes clear up many questions or disappointments that, both, Hodge and Warfield had concerning conclusions made or directions taken by the Assembly.
The most fascinating aspect of Letham’s book was the theological diversity among the Assembly members that the debates revealed in the meeting minutes and other new primary sources that have had little contribution to past Assembly scholarship. Contrary to popular understanding, the Assembly members were not a static group, theologically. Rather, fierce debates lasted weeks over a range of topics, from the extent of the atonement, the Covenant of Works, the question of the imputation of the active obedience of Christ, and so forth. What these new primary resources reveal, in fact, is that the heart of the Assembly was theology, rather than ecclesiology, which should completely reshape Westminster Assembly scholarship.
Robert Letham’s work sets the table for further great study on the Assembly. His historical corrections and utilization of new primary source discoveries lay a solid trajectory for helpful scholarship. This is the new standard. It has given Reformed Christians insight into their rich heritage and should enrich our understanding of confessionalism.
Christian Book News is GIVING AWAY a copy of T. Desmond Alexander’s new book From Eden to the New Jerusalem to celebrate our website launch this month. There are 3 ways to enter:
- Follow ChristianBKNews on Twitter and then tweet about this contest including (1) a link back to this post and (2) @ChristianBkNews.
- Become a fan of our Facebook Page and then write a greeting concerning the contest on our wall. If you are already a fan, then a simple message on our wall will do.
- If you have a blog, write a post concerning this contest with a link to this post.
You can do just 1 or all 3 of the ways above to enter. Contest ends Monday, December 21, 2009.
Note – We plan on doing these give-aways on a regular basis, so keep an eye out for them.
Here is Part 2 of our Q/A with Robert Letham on his new book The Westminster Assembly: Reading its Theology in Historical Context (P&R). You can read also read Part 1, if you have not already. Thanks to Dr. Letham for his generous giving of his time.
(3) There is mention of “new primary source material,” can you elaborate on what that might be?
Dr Chad Van Dixhoorn produced a seven volume Cambridge University PhD thesis in 2004, which included the full transcription of the minutes of the Assembly – the record of debates in other words – together a large important addition, newly discovered, of the Journal of John Lightfoot, an important Assembly member. Van Dixhoorn was, and is, working with the Westminster Assembly Project, which has gathered all extant papers and correspondence, which, together with the minutes, are to be published in five volumes, totalling 880,000 words, by Oxford University Press. The previously transcribed minutes were very limited in coverage, being restricted to items of interest to the Church of Scotland and focusing on church government. They were also full of errors. The original minutes themselves were in a virtually indecipherable seventeenth century shorthand, and looked like hieroglyphics. What these documents show is that it was theology, rather than church government, that was at the heart of the Assembly’s work. It is no exaggeration to say that the study of the Assembly will be revolutionized.
This comes at a time when historians have reassessed the Civil War and have seen that its primary driving forces were religious rather than secular. Others have pointed out that the Church of England was solidly Calvinist – the delegation to the Synod of Dort was composed of senior Anglican clerics, all Calvinist, who were approved by James I and commended by him afterwards – and that it was only in the reign of Charles I (from 1625) that Laud and the high-churchmen staged and effective coup. The old proposed bifurcations into Anglican and Puritan, or latterly Arminian and Calvinist have been reassessed.
The time is ripe for a thorough re-evaluation of Westminster in theological and historical terms.
(4) What do you hope to accomplish from this work and what would you like your readers to take away from it?
Historical accuracy is a prime concern; it is vital to see the theology of the Westminster Assembly – which is crucial for a grasp of Reformed theology and of Puritanism – for what it actually is, not what later spin may claim it is.
Pre-eminently, by situating the Assembly in the context of its own time, of English history and theology, of the theology of the Reformed churches, and in the light of the great tradition of the church, we will be able to see how it stands at the heart of the Christian faith, rather than on the periphery.
In doing so, we hope to provide a digest of what was deemed important to Reformed theology at a crucial period of its development. There are a range of surprises in store; contemporary interests do not always coincide and have in some ways shifted away from classic Reformed doctrine. In some cases it may lead to a reassessment of where we are now. I can’t say more – I leave it to the readers!
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John Starke and his wife Jena have three children and live in Louisville, KY. He also blogs at John Ploughman.
The Westminster Assembly: Reading its Theology in Historical Context by Robert Letham (P&R) has recently been published. Our review is coming soon. Until then, here is a fascinating Q/A we were able to do with Dr. Letham on his new book. Here is Part 1 of 2.
(1) What is the occasion for a book like this? Are you responding to certain misunderstandings of the era and its thought?
The book is part of a series published by Presbyterian & Reformed in conjunction with the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards, located at Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia. The series addresses matters relating to the Westminster Assembly in the light of recent scholarship on Calvin and Calvinism, and seeks to locate its work in historical context rather than as a pretext for addressing contemporary concerns.
There are many misreadings of Reformed theology at present. Most of these are driven by attempts to use the Westminster Confession and Catechisms as weapons in present-day debates. This is profoundly anachronistic. The Assembly divines could hardly be expected to anticipate discussions three or four hundred years in advance.
(2) What is the value of understanding the theology of the Westminster Assembly in its Historical Context?
Any theology must be considered in historical context since we live in history and Christianity is historical. Certain doctrines come under particular scrutiny at particular times due to erroneous teachings needing rebuttal and also in consequence of cultural and philosophical developments. This is particularly significant in this case, for the Assembly’s own context is crucial.
Unfortunately, the Westminster Assembly has usually been considered without due regard to its context. It was an English body, yet for historical reasons almost all its expositors have been from Scotland or North America and have had little reason to consider the English context with any degree of rigour. At the time Scotland was a separate kingdom. After a few months, commissioners attended from Scotland but they were not members of the body and did not vote in any of the proceedings. Yet it cannot properly be understood in detachment from that English background; it was originally summoned to defend the doctrine of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England. Furthermore, it operated during the Civil Wars; the country was torn in two, Parliament fighting the King. There was no legal church in England and Wales, since it had been abolished by Ordinance of Parliament. Most treatments of the Assembly have regarded the early debates on the Thirty-Nine Articles as of little interest; in fact, they were of great interest to the Assembly and to England.
Moreover, in north America the Westminster Confession is normally printed in a changed form, reflecting civil constitutional developments such as the separation between church and state. These were completely unknown to the divines. It is often forgotten that the Assembly was not a church body. It was a committee entirely responsible to Parliament and had absolutely no powers of its own; everything it did could only be done by express permission of both Houses of Parliament. In fact, Parliament arrested and imprisoned one of its members, Daniel Featley, for corresponding with royalists. The equivalent in the USA would be a body formed to draw up a confession of faith, entirely responsible to Congress. Then, after three weeks, Congress arrests one of its members, Wayne Grudem, and puts him on death row! All sides at the time recognized that the civil authorities had jurisdiction over the church to some extent; the question was whether it was to be the King or Parliament.
Historical accuracy is a prime concern; it is vital to see the theology of the Westminster Assembly – which is crucial for a grasp of Reformed theology and of Puritanism – for what it actually is, not what later spin may claim it is.
Pre-eminently, by situating the Assembly in the context of its own time, of English history and theology, of the theology of the Reformed churches, and in the light of the great tradition of the church, we will be able to see how it stands at the heart of the Christian faith, rather than on the periphery.
In doing so, we hope to provide a digest of what was deemed important to Reformed theology at a crucial period of its development. There are a range of surprises in store; contemporary interests do not always coincide and have in some ways shifted away from classic Reformed doctrine. In some cases it may lead to a reassessment of where we are now. I can’t say more – I leave it to the readers!
A Review of “In the Beginning Was the Word: Language- A God-Centered Approach” by Vern Poythress
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Vern Poythress’ new book In the Beginning Was the Word: Language — A God-Centered Approach (Crossway). Anybody who has read Poythress before, whether it be a journal article, chapter contribution, or book learn to expect creativity and clarity from him. I have read him on topics ranging from gender, science, and exegesis and I have always found him profoundly insightful. Everything is written in light of how it relates to God as our Creator and ourselves as his creatures, made in his image. Poythress thinks deeply about God and is able to apply it to a range of topics.
This book is no different. However, I was taken back at the breadth of knowledge and insight Poythress contributed to the topic of language. Throughout each chapter, he proceeds with such savvy, interacting with issues as critical as linguistic theories to basic communication among spouses.
Poythress begins his book with relating language to our knowledge of our Triune God and ourselves as his creatures, created in his image. God created the world through his Word. God speaks, not only to us, but the Persons of the Trinity have communicated to one another from all eternity. As image bearers, we speak and communicate with language. Poythress demonstrates that language should find its foundation in its relation to God, who speaks creation and redemption into reality. God is intricately involved in language, not only its creation and fashioning, buts in its development. Poythress warns against approaching language apart from our knowledge of God. He writes:
In the twentieth century, structural linguistics has mostly assumed “from the beginning”, in the foundation of the discipline, that language and communication is purely human, that is, God either does not exist or that he can be factored out of the picture. The same goes for the sociological study of human communication… But from a biblical point of view, the move to exclude God ignores the single most important fact about communication and the most weighty ontological fact about language. It has distorted the subject matter that we study, and so we can only anticipate a multitude of repercussions when it comes to the detailed analysis of the subject.
Poythress then investigates language in light of God’s redemptive purposes in history. How do the Creation, Fall, and Redemption epochs in Scripture affect our communication? How is truth obscured? Can we know truth? Poythress answers the ancient question of unity among the particulars. With so many people groups and sub-groups, cultures and sub-cultures, contexts and sub-contexts, truth becomes a fleeting reality, at least to the knower. Yet, with God as our Creator and mankind created in his image, there is unity in that all of humanity are image bearers, with an immediate knowledge of God. Truth can be communicated through language, but, because of sin, is suppressed in unrighteousness. We need Christ as our Savior to remedy our sin problem and transform our knowledge through the power of the Holy Spirit.
My favorite section of the book was Poythress relating language to discourse and stories. Every human, in our fallen nature, desires redemption (though we suppress that desire) and it is displayed in our stories. Poythress displays that every worldview has a redemption story, whether it be pagan creation and redemption narratives, the Enlightenment, or evolutionary naturalism. For the Enlightenment and evolutionary naturalism, Reason is our hero and Superstition is the villain. The redemption story is how we “allegedly know”. Poythress labels these types of “stories” Counterfeit Stories of Redemption. He makes profound observations about the underlying presuppositions behind world views that distort and suppress the truth about the world around us and its Creator.
This book deserves a great deal of attention among seminary students and pastors. Pastors should be encouraged to read this book in order to enrich their own communication in preaching and evangelization. Pastors who are training young men to be faithful, Gospel-centered preachers should place this book in their hands. It will serve them in how they effectively use language to express the ultimate redemptive story. Language, communication, and words are important and Vern Poythress relates them up – all the way up – to God. It is a God-centered approach, indeed.
Also, read our two-part interview with Vern Poythress:
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John Starke is on staff at the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood in Louisville, KY. He and his wife Jena have three children. He also blogs at John Ploughman.
While we are in a day where many so-called Evangelicals are publishing works that undermine the saving significance of the cross, D. A. Carson has written Scandalous – published by Crossway – in the Re:Lit series, that responds to this dilemma. Carson’s book is set to be relieased in February 2010. Below is Crossway’s description:
D. A. Carson, one of today’s most notable Bible scholars, introduces the irony, scandal, and greatness of the work done on the cross.
How are Christians to approach the central gospel teachings concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus? The Bible firmly establishes the historicity of these events and doesn’t leave their meanings ambiguous or open to interpretation. Even so, there is an irony and surprising strangeness to the cross. Carson shows that this strange irony has deep implications for our lives as he examines the history and theology of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection.
Scandalous is the latest addition to the Re:Lit series, which highlights important theological truths in accessible and applicable ways. Both amateur theologians and general readers will appreciate how Carson deftly preserves weighty theology while simultaneously noting the broader themes of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Through exposition of five primary passages of Scripture, Carson helps us to more fully understand and appreciate the scandal of the cross.
John Starke
David Schrock
Oren Martin
John Beeson
