CONTENDING FOR OUR ALL: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen and J. Gresham Machen, by John Piper, Crossway, 2006. Hardback, 176 pp., $17.99. Reviewed by David Whitla.

This new volume from the prolific pen of John Piper is the fourth in The Swans Are Not Silent series of historic biographies. In each book, Piper examines the lives of a trio of heroes from church history who shared some common struggle, achievement, or trait of Christian character. From their lives, he draws practical lessons for the contemporary church. In Contending for Our All, the remarkable lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen exhort us to contend for the claims of truth in the face of error in our own century.

After a fine introductory essay on the crucial importance of “sacred controversy,” Piper illustrates the subject from the life of his three chosen “swans.”

The Athanasius bio is probably the most thorough, delving, for example, into the controversy over his idea of glorification as “deification,” based on 2 Peter 1:4. Most helpfully, Piper underlines the importance of creeds and confessions as a defense against shrewdly worded heresies that use biblical language.

The biography of the Puritan John Owen is rather disappointing in length (less than half that of each of the others), though it should be kept in mind that a frustratingly small amount of personal data survives to work with. Consequently, the inferences Piper draws from Owen’s treatises about his personal struggles with sin sometimes seem a little strained.

The Machen narrative supplies a very useful overview of the threat that modernism poses to the church and acclaims Machen’s exemplary struggle against it. However, Piper again draws some very unusual inferences from silence. Are we really to believe that the lack of an essay on prayer in the Machen corpus means that he lacked a solid devotional life (pp. 153-154), or that his wealthy upbringing gave him a blind spot vis-à-vis the urban poor (p. 155)?

Piper is always eminently readable, and the strength of this series lies in his demonstration that church history is immensely practical. He has done the contemporary church a service by introducing to a new generation some of the luminaries of the past in an engaging way. Despite the quibbles above, this volume is recommended, perhaps especially to first-time readers of church history. It will demolish the idea that historical biography must be dry and is only for those who don’t get their hands dirty in the nuts and bolts of church life.

THE EPISTLES OF JOHN by Joel Beeke, Evangelical Press, 2006. Paperback, 250 pages. Reviewed by Rev. Dale Claerbaut.

Pastor Beeke is president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Mich., and editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, along with serving several other professional tasks.

His commentary on all three of John’s letters presents the gospel as John defended it against error, especially the errors of the Gnostics. Addressed to believers, John’s emphasis is love. Dr. Beeke comments on every verse of John, which method I find very helpful.

I believe the average reader and pastor will both benefit by Dr. Beeke’s orthodox commentary.

DEUTERONOMY (an EP Study Commentary) by John D. Currid. Evangelical Press, 2006. 607 pp. Reviewed by Rev. Dale Claerbaut.

Deuteronomy, an EP Study Commentary, is the best book I have read in a long time. Currid takes what is usually considered a difficult book and makes it very interesting. Following Meredith Kline, he treats Deuteronomy as a document that ratifies the covenant relationship between a sovereign King and Israel, His covenant people.

The 600-page book provides a full commentary, including an application on every section. The author is professor of Old Testament at Reformed Seminary in Jackson, Miss. Remarkably, he has written the first four commentaries in this series.

Deuteronomy is neither boring nor too difficult for anyone with strong interest. The ten commandments, the actions of Israel, the description of covenant (especially the curses), the song of Moses, and Moses’ death all compose a significant book. Everyone looking for an understanding of Deuteronomy’s richness should read Currid.

RAPTURE FICTION AND THE EVANGELICAL CRISIS by Crawford Gribben, Evangelical Press, 2006. Paperback, 144 pp., $14.99. Reviewed by David Whitla.

One in ten Americans have reputedly read at least one installment of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ Left Behind series. Given such a statistic, it is perhaps surprising that more literature has not been written from a Reformed perspective to respond to this literary phenomenon. Thankfully, Crawford Gribben has now filled the gap with this most welcome study of the popular “Rapture Fiction” series, and what its popularity tells us about the state of contemporary evangelicalism.

Gribben’s thesis is that the wholesale acceptance of the Left Behind series by American evangelicals demonstrates our dire need of a new Reformation. His two chapters detailing the history of dispensationalism and “apocalyptic fiction” genre make for fascinating reading. These alone are well worth the price of the book, assuring this volume a relevance long after the Left Behind fad has been relegated to the evangelical dustbin.

Two further chapters provide a valuable critique of the theology of the novels themselves, clearly showing how they undermine the Scripture’s teaching about the gospel, the Church, and the Christian life.

The closing chapters confront readers with a timely challenge to consider their own expectations for the future. “Within evangelicalism there are many who would rather oppose the apocalyptic visions of Left Behind than develop their own bright advent hope” (p. 100).

Readers expecting a thorough critique of the dispensationalism behind Rapture Fiction will be disappointed. In fact, while rejecting the premillennial eschatology of the series, Gribben spends considerable time throughout on an unusual quest to vindicate the classical “Calvinistic” dispensationalism of J. N. Darby from that espoused by his theological stepsons, LaHaye and Jenkins. A brief survey of alternatives to dispensationalism is provided in the appendix, with “Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology” trumping “Reformed Paedobaptist Covenant Theology” by an interesting confessional sleight of hand (p. 122-3).

These concerns aside, Gribben’s work is well written, thoroughly researched, and is an important antidote to the latest “end times” craze. His gentle approach towards dispensationalists will probably open this book to a much broader readership, and it is important reading both for those who have imbibed the novels and the uninitiated.

WHEN SHALL THESE THINGS BE? A Reformed Response to Hyper-Preterism, Keith Mathison (ed.), P&R, 2004. Paperback, 376 pp., $17.99. Reviewed by David Whitla.

If you haven’t heard of hyper-preterism, you’re probably in good company. Driven by a small but very vocal group of largely self-proclaimed theologians, the growing hyper-preterist movement swings the eschatological pendulum to the opposite extreme from the futurism of the Left Behind series, claiming that all the biblical prophesies of the end times were fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This astonishing claim has far-reaching implications: no future second coming of Christ, no future bodily resurrection of the dead, and no future renewal of the heavens and earth.

When Shall These Things Be? contains seven essays by Reformed theologians (of varying millennial persuasions) that effectively dismantle the hyper-preterist case to present the historic Christian view of the eschaton.

Kenneth Gentry’s opening essay gives a helpful overview of the movement and its origins. Hyper-preterism is portrayed as notoriously difficult to pin down theologically (due in part to its reliance on the internet as a mouthpiece), and extremely divisive of local churches, whose authority is rejected.

Perhaps the most compelling chapter is Charles Hill’s survey of eschatology of the early church fathers from A.D. 70-140, who unanimously point to a glorious future second coming. In probably the weakest contribution in the book, Richard Pratt addresses the hyper-preterist contention that Jesus’ apparent prediction of an imminent return (e.g., Mark 13:30) can only mean an A.D. 70 fulfillment of all prophecy. Dr. Pratt’s conclusion is sound, but many will question his method of getting there—that Jesus’ prophecies did speak of an imminent return, but due to the historical contingencies of the church’s unfaithfulness, the Parousia has been indefinitely delayed.

The question of how to read the Bible’s eschatological time texts is further delayed by Keith Mathison’s essay, and by that of Simon Kistemaker, who explains the time references of Revelation as “eschatological time” rather than “chronological time,” and argues for a post-A.D. 70 date of the Book of Revelation, thus removing two of hyper-preterism’s key pillars. Douglas Wilson contributes a most helpful essay on the ecclesiology rather than the eschatology, as he exposes the hyper-preterist tendency to be its own arbiter of truth.

Robert Strimple closes the collection with a thorough defense of the orthodox doctrine of the resurrection of the body.

This volume is recommended reading as a Reformed survey of eschatological topics, and not just a polemic against the issue of hyper-preterism. It is fairly technical, but certainly accessible to any serious reader wishing to familiarize themselves with the debate, and must reading for anyone embroiled in it.

THE HAND OF GOD: The Comfort of Having a Sovereign God by Frederick S. Leahy, Banner of Truth, 2006. Paperback, 207 pp., $11.99. Reviewed by David Whitla.

If you’re looking for a good book to give to a friend who struggles with the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, then this is what you’ve been looking for. Instead of presenting this subject as a doctrinal proposition in a raw, abstract way, Fred Leahy offers his reader a warm commendation of God as gracious Sovereign. Leahy gently and persuasively argues from Scripture and Christian experience.

“Too often the sovereignty of God has been seen as a harsh and cold doctrine; yet that is not how God’s reign is portrayed in Scripture. The Bible depicts God’s sovereignty in a manner designed to strengthen our spirits and to reassure us in this evil and broken world: in a word, to comfort” (p. 197).

In 10 chapters, Leahy commends not merely the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, but the sovereign God Himself. In these pages, we thus encounter Him not in the faceless decrees of a distant potentate, but in the dealings of a personal Father. His sovereign hand is powerfully seen and experienced in the works of creation and providence, with a particular focus on the Christian life—in redemption, preservation, guidance, chastening, blessing, enabling and judgment. Each chapter is brief and eminently suitable for daily devotional reading.

Leahy writes in a timeless, “Puritanesque” style: immensely readable, warm, and thorough. He passionately addresses up-to-date threats to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty (for example, there are helpful appendices addressing the errors of evolution and open theism) and makes pointed application of his material to the life of the believer.

After almost 40 years as a pastor in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland and a seminary professor and principal for almost as long, Leahy communicates with the heart of a pastor and the head of a theologian, not merely winning points, but winning his reader too. Prof. Leahy was quietly taken by the hand of his God the week he completed this book. It is a marvelous final legacy to the church, and is warmly commended to all.

THE CROSS: The Reality of the Cross for Today by Peter Jeffrey, Evangelical Press, 2007. Paperback, 105 pp. Reviewed by Rev. Dale Claerbaut.

The Cross is an orthodox evangelical survey of what the Bible says about the cross of Jesus Christ. The book has four sections. 1) The cross: God’s plan, 2) The cross in the Old Testament, 3) The cross in the New Testament, and 4) The cross for us today. The book seeks to be persuasive, engaging the reader with the truth over and over again. Jeffrey sees substitutionary atonement as the central message of the cross.

Within the 15 chapters, subjects from Psalm 22 to Gethsemane to Christ lifted up are lucidly covered, all at the level of the student. I was surprised that there is no chapter on the cross and covenant in this broad study.

This book is worth your time because of the topic’s extraordinary importance.

A MANUAL FOR ELDERS by the Home Section of the Missions Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland, 2006. Reviewed by Pastor Barry York.

To address the concerns brought on by trends that were showing a decline in the health and membership of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (RPCI), the Home Section of their Synod’s Mission Committee has produced helpful materials over the past few years. These publications have been designed to address the pertinent issues and assist their congregations in seeking the Lord’s correction and direction. Most recent among them is the attractive, 138-page new workbook called A Manual for Elders.

As the back cover states, a great deal of emphasis has been given in the church to training its teaching elders. Not as much has been done in assisting ruling elders in their task. This manual will go a long way in helping with that issue, as well as serve as a valuable tool for pastors in encouraging the biblical role of eldership.

A Manual for Elders consists of 25 chapters grouped under the four headings of “Personal Issues for the Elder,” “Practical Issues for the Elder,” “Developing Our Congregations,” and “Doctrinal Issues for Elders.” Each chapter, written by a minister in the RPCI, is concise yet thorough, and practical yet pastoral. Encouraging an elder’s walk with God, what to do when visiting the sick, how to discipline the wayward, ways of evangelizing the lost, and clearly explaining infant baptism are among the many subjects addressed in this comprehensive work. Each chapter concludes with helpful discussion questions that often encourage further digging into the Scriptures.

Accompanying this manual is a two-volume CD consisting of PowerPoint presentations of the material narrated by the pastor who wrote each chapter. Thus, not only could the material be read at home and then discussed in a meeting, but also a group of potential elders or a session wanting sharpening could actually “sit in class” together as they are taken through the material.

As this was written for the RPCI and not necessarily intended for a wide audience, a small caution should be given that the “gift of tongue interpretation” may be required at points! From a football illustration needing to be understood as soccer, to references to their own RPCI Testimony, to a chapter on secret societies featuring the Orange Order, there are places in the manual where the unique context of the Irish church will need to be understood. Yet I found many of these to be informative and historically educational rather than hindrances.

On a recent trip to Ireland, my wife and I enjoyed many of the beautiful sights. But none was more grand than the church there. We saw or heard reports of the efforts at evangelizing areas, revitalizing older congregations, and planting new churches. This manual appears to be one component of the RPCI’s deliberate striving to obey our Lord’s commission. As a sister denomination with many of the same issues facing us, the RPCNA could benefit, in my judgment, by studying this material. Copies are available from the Covenanter Bookshop at 37 Knockbracken Road, Carryduff, Belfast, BT8 6SE, www.covenanterbooks.com.