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.

Odds and Ends

I just realized that it's been three weeks since I've posted something. Here are two things that I found interesting.

• The week of August 23 is the 437th anniversary of the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Here are some thoughts on it from Scott Clark.
• Here are some thoughts from a PCA pastor on how we can be culturally relevant in preaching the gospel to a culture that no longer has a Christian majority. I think for the most part that he has some good conclusions but what do you all think?

Lots of books on sale

Sorry that it's been a long time since the last post but I was in Phoenix last week so I didn't have a chance to get to this. There are a lot of book sales going on at the moment so here are a couple of good ones.

WTS Books is offering a brand new book on three views on baptism for just $4.99 through today. Bruce Ware presents the believer's baptism view, Sinclair Ferguson the infant baptism, and Anthony Lane the dual practice. This should be a useful book to have and Pastor Ferguson is a very clear and capable writer to follow his responses to Ware and Lane.

Christian Book Distributors is offering Louis Berkhof Systematic Theology for just $9.99 for a limited time. While this is available in the church library it is a very useful one volume systematic theology and hard to beat the price!

Finally, Reformation Heritage books is offering great deals on a number of titles:

• A new edition of Reformation Heroes is now available and comes with a study guide. This is a great book to introduce children to how God used 41 Reformers to bless his church. Currently available for $18 with the study guide.
• Gerald Bray's Doctrine of God in the Contours of Christian Theology series is available for $8.99. While Frame's book on the same subject is better this is still a good book to read through for a Reformed view on theology proper.
• William MacIntyre's Token of the Covenant is available for $1.50. This is a brief presentation of infant baptism.

Horton on preaching law and gospel

Here's a great quote from Michael Horton on how we ought to preach on the law and judgment:

"a bad preaching of the judgment to come depersonalizes the matter. . . . The Scriptures know nothing of a hell in which God is absent from unbelievers but only of a hell that is hell precisely because God is present forever in his wrath. He does not merely let the wheels of justice do their thing, while he wrings his hands in disappointment and frustration, but exercises vengeance, with the zeal of a righteous judge who will right every wrong and clease his world from sin, suffering, evil, and pain. . . .

"It is essential that we see Jesus Christ as the divine resuer who saves us from divine wrath! That is why the good news is so good. It is not that God is inherently unloving or full of wrath but that he is inherently just and full of righteousness. Furthermore, it is God who 'so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16). God is not the world's enemy who must be placated by Jesus. Rather, 'God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ' (2 Cor. 5:19). The offended One and the propitiator are both God. Before the world was ever created, God had already planned a rescue for those whom he had chosen and given to Christ as a people. A biblical preaching of the law, then, will relate the coming wrath to God himself, as difficult as that is for us in any age but especially in ours." - Michael Horton, A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of Christ-Centered Worship (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 75.

So Horton argues that the key to relevant preaching today is not to minimize law and judgment. When we suppress those or refuse to talk about God's righteous wrath against sinners then we lose sight of the gospel (lit. "good news"). The good news is only as good as the bad news is bad. When the transgression is against the infinite holiness of an infinite God then only the perfect sacrifice provided by that infinite God can satisfy divine justice. Check out Horton's book to see more of what he says about relevant worship and preaching in the 21st century.

Here are a few book deals that are out there right now:

• Until Saturday, WTS Books is offering When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert for just $4.89. I have not read this but it has gotten some stellar reviews recently and it's hard to beat the price.
• Reformation Heritage Books is offering a special deal on Wilhelmus a Brakel's The Christian's Reasonable Service through August. A Brakel's work is a uniquely practical theology as his pastoral focus really comes through in his writing. I highly recommend it and here's how you can get $10 off.
• Finally, Greg Bahnsen's lost manuscript that has been found and published is now available from WTS Books as Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended. My copy ought to be waiting for me when I get home tonight and I have no doubt that this will be a fantastic treatment of Reformed apologetics.