PART SEVEN: Sir Richard Baker’s Meditations & Disquisitions Upon Certain Psalms This review was written some years ago, but it fits well into the present project, so I decided to include it here. I hope I will be forgiven for posting a preexisting book review in the series, but the book is one of the most famous Puritan works and really had to be included. The review is of the recent edition of the work, John Owen, Communion with the Triune …
Category: Book Reviews
PART SIX: George Swinnock’s ‘The Blessed and Boundless God’ This book has a sad history. It was written by a knight of the realm of high education; a man of letters with familiarity with the great Latin playwrights. Sir Richard Baker was imprisoned in the Fleet Prison for the last ten years of his life for failure to pay debts. Those debts were, sadly, a result of Sir Richard’s becoming surety for another. It appears (states Alexander Grosart) that all …
PART FIVE – A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit by John Owen When I began assembling a library of Puritan books in the early 90’s (yes, I’m that old), Soli Deo Gloria was publishing many great authors. Additionally, living in England I had access to many great bookshops and found many treasures on the shelves. One of the Puritans I never came across back then was George Swinnock. Soli Deo Gloria didn’t publish Swinnock. I think this was because Don …
A review of Ben Witherington III, Biblical Theology: The Convergence of the Canon, Cambridge University Press, 2019, 495 pages, paperback. Ben Witherington is a well known and respected NT scholar who has written commentaries on about every book of the NT, as well as a few in the OT. Additionally, he has written works of historical fiction, NT Introduction and NT Theology. Witherington is an engaging writer who is not afraid to stand apart from the scholarly crowd on occasion. …
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, …
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 …
