This Week’s Book Notes

By Matthew Barrett

A Scribe Well-Trained: Archibald Alexander and the Life of Piety. Edited and Introduced by James M. Garretson. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011.

Garretson’s little volume is in the Profiles in Reformed Spirituality series, edited by Joel R. Beeke and Michael A. G. Haykin. This entire series is worth your time and can serve as a very helpful aid in your own personal spiritual formation. Garretson’s volume brings us into the piety of Archibald Alexander (1772-1851), Princeton Theological Seminary’s founding professor. The book, only 185 pages, begins with an introduction into the life and piety of Alexander. The rest of the book (56 chapters) includes excerpts from the writings of Alexander, showing how he sought to cultivate godliness in his own life and in the life of others. David Calhoun, no stranger to Old Princeton theology, rightly says of the book, “This book will inform the mind but even more stir the heart to greater love for God and deeper holiness of life.”

“Right Reason” and the Princeton Mind: An Unorthodox Proposal. By Paul Kjoss Helseth. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2010.

It is only fitting to follow Garretson’s little volume on Archibald Alexander, Princeton’s founding professor, with Paul Kjoss Helseth’s large, more academic work, “Right Reason” and the Princeton Mind: An Unorthodox Proposal. Notice, Helseth’s subtitle says his book is an “unorthodox” proposal. The “orthodox” proposal or consensus has been that the Old Princeton Seminary professors, from 1812 to 1929 strayed away from older Reformed theologians by arguing that human reason was unaffected by Adam’s fall. Helseth, however, argues quite the contrary. Helseth draws from Alexander, Hodge and Warfield (among others) and seeks to demonstrate that they were in essential continuity with the Reformation. John Frame says of Helseth, “His argument is cogent, and it clears away the debris of unjust criticism so that we can again be delighted in the insights of Old Princeton Calvinism. As it turns out, the Old Princetonians are an attractive alternative to the confusions of modern liberalism and postfoundationalism.”

Retrieving Doctrine: Essays in Reformed Theology. By Oliver Crisp. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2010.

One author you should get to know is Oliver Crisp. If you have read Crisp before it was probably in the area of Christology. However, in his most recent book, Retrieving Doctrine, Crisp broadens his focus to the Reformed tradition. Crisp seeks to retrieve the contribution of several great theologians of the Reformed faith. Crisp gleans from the thought of men like Calvin, Edwards, Turretin, Nevin, and others in order to demonstrate what contemporary significance their insights might have for our understanding of doctrines such as creation, providence, original sin, the incarnation, etc. Paul Helm writes, “Oliver Crisp once again proves himself to be an admirably informative guide to the Reformed tradition, and generous, firm and fair in his judgments. Retrieving Doctrine will further enhance his reputation as a historically sensitive dogmatic theologian who puts the tools of analytic philosophy to good use.”

Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk With God.By Voddie Baucham, Jr. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011.

One book that was first published in 2007 but has recently been reprinted in paperback, with a new preface and study questions, is Voddie Baucham’s Family Driven Faith. Baucham addresses the startling reality that 75 to 88 percent of “Christian” teenagers leave the faith by their first year in college. Baucham seeks to help Christian parents by giving them biblical tools to counter the post-Christian, antifamily culture we live in. This is a book small groups in local churches will benefit from.

The Beauty and Glory of Christ.Edited by Joel R. Beeke. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011.

Each year Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary hosts their annual conference in Grand Rapids. In 2010 the subject was the beauty and glory of Christ. Some of the many conference messages included: “The Beauty of God’s Servant,” by Daivd Murray; “The Song of David’s Son,” by Iain D. Campbell; “The Glory of Christ’s Victorious Incarnation,” by Richard Phillips; “Thomas Goodwin on Christ’s Beautiful Heart,” by Joel Beeke; “The True Knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified,” by William VanDoodewaard. The volume seeks to highlight the glory and beauty of Christ throughout the canon, both in the Old Testament prophecies of Christ and in the New Testament depictions of Christ’s incarnation. This is a volume worth your time as we can never meditate on the glory of Christ enough.

Matthew Barrett (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine. Barrett has contributed book reviews and articles to various academic journals and he also writes at Blogmatics. He is married to Elizabeth and they have two daughters, Cassandra and Georgia. He is a member of Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.