Sale on Mike Horton's newest book

I'll have a more substantial post up later today or tomorrow but I wanted to let everyone know that WTS Books is selling Michael Horton's newest book, The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World, for the special introductory price of $10.99. This is 45% off the cover price. This book is the follow up to his Christless Christianity and in it he suggests some solutions to the problems that he identified in the first book. This ought to be a good one.

New book on apologetics

William Edgar and Scott Oliphint, who both teach apologetics and theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, have coedited a new primer on Apologetics. This will be a two volume work with the second volume being released sometime next year. The first volume is now out and available through WTS books. This surveys primary sources from the New Testament era up through the Middle Ages. The editors have given some helpful commentary before each piece and a few footnotes to help in understanding. Both are Van Tilians and have written some excellent books on Apologetics themselves (from Oliphint see The Battle Belongs to the Lord and Reasons for Faith; from Edgar see Reasons of the Heart and The Face of Truth). For anyone who is interested in Apologetics this should be a very interesting read.

Calvin books on Sale and Trueman on new Calvinism

Just a few quick things to highlight for you today. First, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary recently held a conference on Calvin and following it they are offering a number of books on the Geneva Reformer on sale through Reformed Heritage books. You can get all the details here. Howard Griffith, who spoke at the Shady Grove PCA conference on Calvin, suggested in a class I took with him that Herman Selderhuis might be the world's foremost scholar on Calvin today and you can find his most recent book on this list. I would also strongly recommend getting Calvin in the Public Square: Liberal Democracies, Rights, and Civil Liberties by David Hall. A very interesting book that not only deals with what Calvin's political and social theology was but also places it in the context of Augustine, Aquinas, and the earlier Reformers like Luther, Zwingli, and Farel. A very helpful book.

Second, here is an article from Carl Trueman about the new Calvinism movement, called "young, restless, and Reformed" in the book by Collin Hansen of the same title. I don't always agree with everything that Dr. Trueman rights but he is always insightful and thought-provoking. Take a look at his article and share your thoughts in the comments section.

Nevin vs. Hodge on the Lord's Supper

In the 19th there was a debate between John Williamson Nevin and Charles Hodge over the Reformed doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The debate arose from a book that Dr. Nevin wrote called The Mystical Presence. Dr. Hodge reviewed the book and took issue with several of Nevin's conclusions. Keith Mathison with Ligonier Ministries has posted links to the primary sources on this debate. For what it's worth, I think that Nevin's book is one of the two best resources on this subject and that he was right on this question. This was written during a very tumultuous time in American history and in American Presbyterianism in particular. As Chair of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Hodge was involved in virtually every major theological debate of the period (and many political/social debates as well). When comparing Hodge's Systematic Theology on the Supper and Nevin's book there does not seem to be nearly as much disagreement as Hodge's review of Nevin's book suggests. I think that due to how busy he was Hodge did not take the time to carefully read and understand Nevin's work. Still, it is interesting to have access to all of this material and a good chance to deepen our understanding of what we believe about the sacrament.

Darryl Hart recently wrote a biography on Nevin for the American Reformed Biography series (the next volume to be published in this series will be on Charles Hodge) that I would recommend for trying to understand more of Nevin's theology and motivations.