Church History

We look to the past in order to understand the present. The field of church history has been exceptionally fertile ground in recent years. Anew corps of scholars has been re-investigating some of the most significant persons and periods in church history. Carol Harrison of the University of Durham addresses one of the critical founders of the western theological tradition in Augustine: Christian Truth and Fractured Humanity (Oxford University Press). Harrison puts Augustine in his historical context, looking especially at how Augustine the thinker engaged critical philosophical and rhetorical ideals of his surrounding culture. Addressing a very different era, L. Gordon Tait has written The Piety of John Witherspoon: Pew, Pulpit and Public Forum (Geneva Press). Witherspoon is perhaps most famous as a signer of the Declaration of Independence. This important volume looks at the Christian piety that animated and influenced Witherspoon's life and career.

Gerald R. McDermott considers one of the titans of American theological thought in Jonathan Edwards Confronts the Gods (Oxford University Press). McDermott demonstrates how Edwards engaged the deism that was so quickly possessing the American mind in his own generation.

In Chaplain to the Confederacy: Basil Manly and Baptist Life in the Old South (Louisiana State University Press), A. James Fuller deals with one of the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention, and one of the mainstays of southern culture. Fuller offers keen insights into antebellum culture and the forward of influences of the American south.

Alister E. McGrath continues his voluminous publishing schedule with T. F. Torrance: An Intellectual Biography (T & T Clark). Torrance has been among the most influential theologians of the last half-century, and was a recipient of the Templeton Prize for Progress and Religion. A colleague of Karl Barth and one of Barth's primary translators and editors, Torrance has influenced an entire generation of theologians on both sides of the Atlantic.

Speaking of influence, few evangelical leaders can compete with Abraham Kuyper. As both theologian and statesman, Kuyper exerted vast influence, not only in the Netherlands, but also in North America. A substantive theologian, Kuyper also served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands. His famous lectures delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1898 established the foundation for the Reformed "cultural mandate" that influenced successive generations. In Abraham Kuyper: God's Renaissance Man (Evangelical Press), James E. McGoldrick provides a helpful introduction to this seminal figure.

Mark E. Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C., considers one of the Puritans who might be unknown to many Americans. In Richard Sibbes (Mercer University Press), Dever places Sibbes in his context and provides an exposition of his fertile and pastoral theology. Sibbes is one of the warmest of the Puritans and his writings will be greatly loved by those looking for pastoral substance and theological conviction. Dever's introduction is a good way to become acquainted with this Puritan divine. Similarly, Erroll Hulse provides a helpful overview of Puritans and Puritanism in Who Are the Puritans? And What Do They Teach? (Evangelical Press). Those unfamiliar with the Puritans will find in this volume a most helpful introduction. Those who love and appreciate the Puritans will read this volume and appreciate its rich material.