Part Four – The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit by Jeremiah Burroughs When I think about a truly spiritual writer; a writer whose is content constantly tethered to the interactions between God and man, my mind turns to John Owen (d. 1683). Owen is generally regarded as the Prince of the Puritans, although opinions as why he retains the accolade are not too easy to come by. For my part, I think he deserves the title because of the variety, …
Category: Book Reviews
PART THREE – The Doubting Believer by Obadiah Sedgwick Jeremiah Burroughs was one of the great preachers of the middle part of the Puritan period. He died in 1646 in his late forties, having written many helpful books, among which are some classics. I’m thinking, for example, of The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I would also throw in his book Gospel Worship, which is an extended reflection on Leviticus 10. Burroughs also became well known for a commentary on …
Part 2: Pilgrim’s Progress There are a number of good books dealing with doubt that I would recommend. More modern authors like Os Guinness, Gary Habermas and J. P. Moreland have made solid contributions to this subject. Of the Puritan authors, we find quite a few addressing assurance, but not so many dealing with doubt. However, there is one particular book by a Puritan that I would place at the top of the pile of books on this topic and …
PART ONE The Pilgrim’s Progress was first published in 1678, with Part Two coming out in 1684. Although the second part, which records Christiana and her children making the journey that her husband made in the first book, is excellent, it is Christian’s journey in part one that everybody knows. The book is an allegory, and one of the best if not the best ever written. Bunyan’s characters stick in the mind. At least their names attach themselves to the …
I’m going to begin a series on Puritan books and writers that I hope will be edifying for my readers. I believe the Puritans to be the single greatest group of writers on the Christian Life and the Life of Faith. This is not to say I believe they were always right, or that they should be followed religiously on every sentence they wrote. I differ from them in their adherence to Reformed Covenant Theology, be it paedobaptist or credobaptist. …
Admission: I am a tech ignoramus. On a good day I may be able to create an account for myself. But I acknowledge we live in the year 2025, so I boldly went forth and purchased Michael Svigel’s two novellas, The AItheist and The AItheist 2.0. In addition, I read Peter Goeman’s 60 page booklet Artificial Intelligence and the Christian: Understanding AI’s Promises and Pitfalls. Owing to the fact that Svigel’s works are fiction, it is fair to say that …
PART THREE As I complete this review one of the things that stands out to me is how much the author leans upon Reformed Confessions and writers from the past. While he does interact with Scripture a lot, one notices that men like Irenaeus, Augustine, Calvin, and a host of Puritans are brought in to direct the arguments. This is not to say these great men shouldn’t be referenced; it is the supporting role these authorities are given that is …
PART TWO As we move on to the “covenant of grace” one thing to look for is how passages explicitly assigned to the covenants one can locate in the Bible are reassigned to support this theological covenant, which can’t be located in the Bible. Perkins, along with CT’s the world over, makes assertions about the “covenant of grace” that the Bible claims are about the New covenant: “The covenant of grace offers Christ as the mediator for sinners…The covenant of …
PART ONE As with all book reviews, this one has to be selective. With some books that is not a problem since they tend to be thin on argumentation. Or at least their main points can be summarized quite easily. This book by Perkins is not like that. He builds his concepts carefully from systematic and biblical theology as well as from the confessions. He has read the Bible and Reformed authors and has produced a work that discusses Covenant …
A Review of Harrison Perkins, Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction, Bellingham, WA., Lexham, 2024, 520 pages, Hardback. There is no shortage of books on Covenant Theology (CT). There is the big multi author compendium simply called Covenant Theology edited by Waters, Reid, and Muether. One of the contributors to that book is Richard Belcher, whose The Fulfillment of the Promises of God, which to my mind is the best introduction to CT on the market. Other introductions by Jonty …
