Sunday School Reading - September 28, 2008

Here are some reading recommendations from this past week. Today we finished the doctrine of revelation and began the doctrine of God. For the first I would recommend you look back on the recommendations from last week (you can click on the tag at the bottom of this post to see all the Sunday School Recommendations). Here are some general recommendations on the doctrine of God.

The Doctrine of God by John Frame - This is the best work that you can find on theology proper (the doctrine of God). This is a very long book (864 pages) but it is also very comprehensive. God has blessed Professor Frame with a great mind and a great skill with words to express his thoughts. As long as this book is, you'll find it to be a very easy read. Professor Frame explains concepts very clearly. I highly recommend this book. I'm also sure that at least one or two copies are available in the church library (note, please do not confuse this with his Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, which is also available in the library, this book is also very good but on a different subject).

The Doctrine of God by Herman Bavinck - This is the next best book on theology proper. This is not an easy book to read. Dr. Bavinck's discussion is highly technical and as he was a Dutch theologian it is a translation that might also add a level of difficulty. If you want to tackle a higher level work you could try this but it will be slow going.

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul - This is a classic work that I'm sure many of you have read or at least heard of. Dr. Sproul does a marvellous job here of building a doctrine of God that emphasizes his otherness and how we respond to it. This book is almost certainly available in the church library.

Doctrine of God by Gerald Bray - This is another volume from the Contours of Christian Theology series that I mentioned last week. Overall this is a good book. There is a lot in here that is easily applicable. It is not as good as the above recommendations. I mainly included it because it is a cheaper option for if you're pressed on money. I would still recommend that you save a bit and get Professor Frame's work.

Second, as a reminder, here are the relevant sections from larger works on systematic theology. The doctrine of God is covered in book 2 of John Calvin's Institutes of Christian Theology (see earlier posts for a recommended translation), volume 2 of Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, Part 1 in volume 1 of Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology (available as a .pdf here), and chapters 1 and 7 in A.A. Hodge's Outlines of Theology (available on google books for free and also at the church bookstore).

Finally, here are some free articles on theology proper:
J. Gresham Machen - "My Idea of God"
Benjamin B. Warfield - "Calvin's Doctrine of God"
John Frame - "God's Spirituality"