Coyle's comments
(member since Mar 07, 2009)
Coyle's comments from the Reformed Readers group.
(showing 1-7 of 7)
These aren't books, but the discussion is a great one:
Credobaptism with Tom Schreiner: http://www.petrik.com/GRC/02%2020081121_...
Paedobaptism with David Van Drunen: http://www.petrik.com/GRC/03%2020081121_...
Q&A: http://www.petrik.com/GRC/04%2020081121_...
I've got to confess, as someone who was raised Baptist in rural Montana/Wyoming (and with no Presbyterian church in the area), the first time I heard that people baptized infants it was pretty traumatic- I couldn't figure out how you keep the baby from drowning! :)
www.monergism.com
www.9marks.org
Do blogs count?
www.almohler.com
www.kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com
www.lovingchurch.blogspot.com
And just for fun:
www.sacredsandwich.com
Kim,
Not to butt in on your conversation, but www.monergism.com is pretty good for Bible-study resources.
Also, Matthew Henry is almost always good on the Old Testament, and can be found either at the Monergism website or at www.ccel.org.
One last one, the pastor at our church did a sermon on the Isaiah passage you're looking at early last year: http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/audio/...
Sorry, no time to read a book with you all, but I think the "brief intro" thing is a great idea- most other groups I'm in don't care who you are, and make it far too easy to hide the "person" behind the post in anonyminity (sp?).
My short bio: I grew up on a ranch on the Montana/Wyoming border attending a small church there, and then a slightly larger one in Laramie, WY for college. I moved to Washington, DC to attend grad school a few years ago (at Catholic University) where I attend a great church in downtown DC. I'm currently working on a dissertation in Political Theory on Jonathan Edwards.
I've only in the past few years cared enough about theology (or anything more than nominal Christianity, for that matter) to really start examining it in any depth, but I guess I sort-of straddle the Lutheran/Reformed line. Probably more towards Reformed in theology and exegesis and Lutheran in practice (woo-hoo believer's freedom!).
Laura,
You're right, "denying" wasn't a great word. Though I'm not sure what would be better, maybe "despite"? Either way, we are certainly free to enjoy common grace things. I've heard (Francis Schaeffer, I think) say that the important parts of that Phillipians 4 verse are the "whatever" and the "anything", which do not mean "only things specifically Christian."
In any case, you're right that the "beauty of common grace" is ultimately God's hand at work in creation.
Laura, to answer your last question "if it doesn't point to Christ... does it get 5 stars?"
Obviously, you can rate books however you want. But, I think that Christians are particularly bad at remembering (myself included)that being a great writer (or musician, or architect, or whatever) is a gift of common grace, not saving grace. So just because a book does not point explicitly or implicitly to Christ does not make it a deficient book as a work of art. Homer's poems, though not in any way Christian, are still masterpieces of literature and may be enjoyed as a part of God's good work in creation.
In fact, either Calvin or Luther (I don't remember which, but think it was Calvin) said that we blaspheme against the Holy Spirit when we dismiss non-Christian achievements.
Which means that we can read something like Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy (if your conscience allows) and thoroughly enjoy his wonderful skill as an author, while denying his intention and theme in the book. We might even give it 5 stars if we enjoyed it and were engaged by it enough.
Is that helpful?
I agree with Jason, "good thoughts!" :)
Here's how I roughly rate books (in rough order of priority):
1) Was the book enjoyable to read? After all, books are first and foremost meant to be read. If the writer can't keep the attention of the reader, he has failed, no matter how profound or penetrating the truth he's trying to convey may be. You can't get anything across if people keep putting your book down after the first five pages.
Obviously, this is going to be somewhat relative, but so what? Why would anyone ever give five stars to a book if every word was a torture to read? For example, I love John Owen's theology, but reading his books is like rubbing glass in my eyes. So he'll get 4 stars unless I run across something of his that is truly engaging in its language (unlikely).
2) Is there anything to the book beyond mere entertainment? Some books, no matter how engaging their material, are just fluff. Good content alone can't make a book truly great, but lack of content can certainly kill it as quickly as anything. I think the best example of this I've ever read is Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons"- a gripping page-turner. But absolutely no subtext at all.
Anyway, that's how I tend to judge books.
