Redeeming the Life of the Mind: Essays in Honor of Vern Poythress

by John M. Frame (Editor), Vern Sheridan Poythress (Contributor), Wayne Grudem (Editor)

Vern Poythress, one of today’s leading Reformed theologians, has made many vital contributions to evangelical scholarship―particularly a vision to glorify Christ as Lord over all areas of human life in order to redeem all realms of human thought. In honor of his many years of faithful thinking and writing, twenty evangelical scholars have come together to produce a set of essays on topics of importance throughout his biblical exegesis, the doctrine of the Trinity, worldview, history, and ethics. Table of   Part 1: Sons of Yeshua 1. Redeeming A Father-Son Tale (Ransom Poythress) 2. The Grace and Gift of Differentness (Justin Poythress)   Part 2: Exegesis 3. The New Testament Background of εκκλη ία Revisited Yet Again (G. K. Beale) 4. The Divine Choice between the Offerings of Cain and Abel (In Whan Kim) 5. Reading the Lord’s Prayer Christologically (Brandon D. Crowe) 6. Psalms Applied to Both Christ and Psalms 8, 22, 34, 118 and Romans 15:3 // Psalm 69:9 (Robert J. Cara) 7. What Kind of Prophecy Continues? Defining the Differences between the Continuationism and Cessationism (Iain M. Duguid) 8. Christocentrism and The Spirit, Redemptive History, and the Gospel (Lane G. Tipton) 9. What “Symphony of Sighs”? Reflections on the Eschatological Future of the Creation (Richard B. Gaffin Jr.)   Part 3: Doctrine of the Trinity 10. The Trinity and Christianity and Islam in the Theology of Cornelius Van Til (Camden M. Bucey) 11. Language and the A Meeting Place for the Global Church (Pierce Taylor Hibbs) 12. Jonathan Edwards and God’s Involvement in An Examination of “Miscellanies,” no. 1263 (Jeffrey C. Waddington)   Part 4: Worldview 13. Redeeming the Seminary by Redeeming Its Worldview (Peter A. Lillback) 14. Presuppositionalism and Perspectivalism (John M. Frame) 15. The Death of Reflections upon a Tragic Aspect of This Present Age (Carl R. Trueman) 16. Beholding the Glory of How a Christ-Centered Perspective Restores in Us the Splendor of God’s Image (Brian Courtney Wood)   Part 5: History 17. Christian Missions in A Reformed Perspective (Luke P. Y. Lu) 18. Redeeming History (Diane Poythress)   Part 6: Ethics 19. Christians Never Have to Choose the “Lesser Sin” (Wayne Grudem) 20. Perspectives on the Kingdom of God in Romans 14:17 (John J. Hughes)

431 pages, Hardcover

Published November 30, 2017

About the author

For his education, Frame received degrees from Princeton University (A.B.), Westminster Theological Seminary (B.D.), Yale University (A.M. and M.Phil., though he was working on a doctorate and admits his own failure to complete his dissertation), and Belhaven College (D.D.). He has served on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary and was a founding faculty member of their California campus. He currently (as of 2022) teaches Apologetics and The History of Philosophy and Christian thought at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL.

Reviews

[Philip Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trueman's essay on tragedy and Grudem's on ethics were the best. I would quibble with Grudem's position on truth telling a little bit. I'm now in serious need of some late night ethics yarns. Frame on presuppositionalism and perspectivalism was interesting. Likewise, Iain Duguid's essay mediating between cessationism and continuationism was interesting. He had some good points, but I still think Grudem's view holds some weight.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy this type of work. To be honest, 400 pages of theologizing on one topic is apt to put me to sleep. But a Festshcrift will combine all sorts of disparate topics in one volume, often essays that might not see the light of day anywhere else, but are still of good quality. Sure there will be a few stinkers, but just keep reading!

For the most part this volume is divided into sections on exegesis, the Trinity, worldview, history, and ethics. The exegesis section was especially strong; I particularly enjoyed Beale's look at the OT background of the NT's term ekklesia (church) and In Whan Kim's look at the reasons Scripture gives for why God looked with favor at Abel's offering but not Cain's. Robert Cara's look at Christology in the psalms was less convincing, whereas Duguid's look at different uses of the term "prophecy" and at what kind continues today as a spiritual gift was fascinating. And Gaffin is always good, including here on the eschatological future of creature.

There were other high points throughout the rest of the book (Trueman on Antigone, for instance), and a few low points as well (Pierce Hibbs, Brian Wood), but the best of the rest was probably Wayne Grudum on "why Christians never have to choose the 'lesser sin.'" He certainly convinced me. I used to believe that some lies could be defensible for the "greater good," but he pokes too many holes in this view for it to be tenable. He makes a strong case that lying (or any other sin) is always wrong, period. I was trained to believe that "circumstances determine cases," but I don't think I can believe that any more. Those who got their ethics from John Murray are way ahead of me.

All in all a very good volume, and an excellent tribute to the legacy of Vern Poythress, its honoree.

[Daphyne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love everything by Vern Poythress. Sadly most of these essays don’t have the same feel. I understand they are “in honor of” but I had hoped for more along the lines of Polythress’ coverage of science, mathematics, etc. A few really great essays in this book, a few terrible ones, and a whole lot of meh. My recommendation is skip this book and go get any of the books from Polythress’ “Redeeming....” series.