Monday, September 22, 2008

Sunday School Reading - September 21, 2008

Here are some additional reading recommendations from our discussion yesterday where we moved from General Revelation to Special Revelation and an analysis of the attributes of Scripture as they are articulated by the Westminster Confession of Faith. I'm going to try to follow up on a great suggestion in last week's comments to note what books recommended here are available in the church library but until I can get a hold of a catalog I'll just wait to edit these posts with that information. Also, please note that there is a tag for "Sunday School Reading" at the bottom of this post that you can click on to see all of the posts that are recommending reading for our discussions.

First, a quick reminder of our catechism questions for this week:
Q2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
A2. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.

Q3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A3. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

With that, here are some recommended books and articles from our discussion on Sunday morning:

Thy Word is Truth: Some Thoughts on the Biblical Doctrine of Inspiration by E.J. Young - This book by Dr. Young is the best book that you will find on the Biblical doctrine of Scripture. If you only pick up one book on this list then this is the one that you should get. It is available for 40% off at the link provided.

"The Concept and Importance of Canonicity" by Greg Bahnsen - I will recommend a few other articles that can be read and printed for free from the internet below but this one needs to be brought up early. Dr. Bahnsen's work here is the best thing that you will read on the Canon. I highly recommend taking the time to print and read this article carefully.

A Clear and Present Word: The Clarity of Scripture in a Confused World by Mark Thompson - This is written on an academic level so it is not an easy or quick read but requires getting out the pencil and/or highlighter and going through. That said, this is a compeling and well-formulated argument for the clarity of Scripture as we articulated it yesterday.

The God-Breathed Scripture by E.J. Young - This is a briefer version of what Dr. Young argues in his longer Thy Word is Truth. It is based on a series of lectures that Dr. Young gave in 1966. It is a good short treatment of a Biblical doctrine of Scripture if you need to save the money and get something much cheaper but I would recommend getting the longer version above.

The Revelation of God by Peter Jensen - The books in this series ("Contours of Christian Theology") are generally good introductions to different doctrines in Scripture from a Reformed (though not necessarily strictly Presbyterian) perspective. They tend to be written from a good balance of an academic and pastoral perspective and so many of the doctrines are treated in terms of how they are articulated from Scripture, how they have been disputed in history, and why it is important for God's people today. I hesitate to recommend this book since I haven't read it but Peter Jensen has a pretty good reputation and it is a helpful series.

Also, because I do want to point you to relevant sections in longer Systematic Theologies, chapters 6-10 of Book 1 in John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Part 4 of Volume 1 (Prolegomena) of Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 3, Chapter 20, Section 1 of Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology (available online, warning, .pdf file), and Chapters 4-6 of A.A. Hodge's Outlines of Theology (available at the Grove Bookstore at church and also viewable in its entirety online at Google Books) deal with the doctrine of Scripture and special revelation.

Finally, here are a few things that are available online so that you can try to save some money:
Benjamin B. Warfield - "The Biblical Idea of Revelation"
Benjamin B. Warfield - "The Divine Origin of the Bible"
Benjamin B. Warfield - "The Formation of the New Testament Canon"
Loraine Boettner - "The Inspiration of Scripture"

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The subject of "God-breathed" scripture is always interesting, as was the discussion in class on Sunday. FYI, I did a short piece for "The Light" called "God's Breath" last Nov. here attached:
http://www.shadygrovepca.org/the_light/the_light_2007_12.pdf

Matt Pickens said...

That was a good article, thanks for the link to it. Another really interesting passage related to that is John 20:22-23.