A Catholic Reformed Theologian: Federalism and Baptism in the Thought of Benjamin Keach is the second book I have read from the “Studies in Baptist History and Thought” series, the other being More than a Symbol: The Recovery of Baptist Sacramentalism. If you scan through the titles you will see, some of these books are likely more helpful than others, but all of them prove interesting to one interested in theology, Baptist heritage, or the history of puritanism and the development of Reformed theology. More than a Symbol fell into the latter category. The present study about Benjamin Keach, however, was extraordinary and is highly recommended.
Riker sets out to show that Keach, a rarely discussed or studied early Baptist theologian (1640-1704), was more than a framer of the 2nd London Confession. He was a capable and important theologian, the Baptist leader of his time, a shaper of Baptist history, and more importantly to Riker, a catholic Reformed theologian. What Riker means by this, and what he ably demonstrates, is that Keach was no sectarian or denominationalist. In his covenantal and federal theology, Keach proved to be an Orthodox Reformed theologian, and as a Baptist, he sought to bring further reformation to the protestant church. To “finish the job,” if you will.
In the first part, Riker sets the historical stage. He gives a brief biographical sketch of Keach and the many who opposed him, from both Antionomian, Baxterian as well as Reformed Congregationalist and Presbyterian perspectives. This is helpful as it puts people, even some as familiar as John Flavel, John Owen and Richard Baxter, into their respective contexts in light of reformed orthodoxy and baptism and how they were oriented in respect to Keach.
In the second part Riker briefly examines Keach’s Federal Theology. This section was disappointing to me because I wanted more. The shortest of the three sections, Riker is more interested with showing that Keach was, in all respects but his views on baptism, an Orthodox Reformed theologian, consistent with his contemporaries, and he uses Keach’s Federal Theology as the primary example. While he accomplishes his purpose, I wanted more on the content, depth and application of Keach’s Federal Theology, but I may have to wait for a future volume on that.
In the final and most substantial section, Riker examines Keach’s Baptismal theology. I was looking least forward to this section, mainly because I’ve read so much on the topic in the past few months, but there is much to commend here. One of the things I was so pleasantly surprised at was the quality and depth of the debate over this issue in Keach’s day. The subtitle’s of a book by Keach or one of his opponents is usually more substantive than the majority of debates about baptism in modern theology. Another important point that Riker brings out is that these Puritans were not content with denominationalism. The stakes were higher than just baptismal preference. Flavel, Burkitt, James Owen and the like truly believed that Keach should repent and return to the one true church. Keach truly believed that the Congregationalists and Presbyterians should finish the reformation and throw off the last vestiges of Papist tradition: infant baptism. It’s a great reminder that, while it’s nice to be ecumenical, we should really strive for catholicity, even if that future reality seems distant at present.
Book Review: Green Like God
“Green” is quickly becoming a buzzword in our culture. Being Green, protecting the environment, Global Warming, “creation care”…these are words that are becoming more and more familiar and issues that are gaining a place of centrality in the global discussions of our day. Jonathan Merritt understands that the Bible speaks to all aspects of life, including the care of God’s creation, and sets out to build a biblical defense of “creation care”… of being, “Green Like God.”
I don’t always agree with the conclusions Merritt presents in this book. In private correspondence I expressed some concern about his interpretation of certain passages and of the tendency of Christians to become legalistic about things like “going green.” Merritt was generous in his response and wrote, in part:
“I actually think my book is one of the only books out now on this subject that takes a distinctly non-legalistic view. Lay out a principle for honoring God first and others second rather than giving a list. I state in the book that to address this legalistically would meet the most unholy longing in us all: the desire for rules. I even state that the list I give is merely a set of good practices. I tried to guard against legalism…”
“The main purpose of the book is just getting people thinking about the scriptures teachings about the earth and then attempting to survey our world’s problems in light or these teachings. I want people to be able to think biblically when we look at our world’s problems and ask “what would God have us to do?” Readers may not agree with my exegesis or conclusions but at least they are engaging the text.”
Regardless of how our conclusions might differ, Merritt has brought an important issue into the forefront of popular evangelical discussion and attempts to build his case from the Bible alone. We do need to be engaging the text, not leaving this discussion to secular scientists and politicians. This book is recommended for anyone seeking to better understand what the Bible has to say about creation care and biblical stewardship of the earth; not as a final word, but as a starting point for biblical engagement.
Purchase the book here or visit Jonathan Merritt’s website for more information.
Mumford and Sons: “Roll Away Your Stone”
You told me that I wouldn’t find a home
Beneath the fragile substance of my soul
And I have filled this void with things unreal
And all the while my character it steals
Darkness is a harsh term don’t you think
Yet it dominates the things I see
It seems that all my bridges have been burned
But you say ‘That’s exactly how this grace thing works’
It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart
But the welcome I receive with every start
Seriously? A book that takes as it’s premise the recovery of medieval culture and the culture of Christendom? I thought we were past all those Dark Ages. This is what you might be thinking when you read the description of Angels in the Architecture: A Protestant Vision for Middle Earth. Well, we are, and Jones and Wilson see this as a problem. It’s what C.S. Lewis came to realize was a bad case of chronological snobbery. As the world limps into what it fondly refers to as “postmodernity,” Jones and Wilson assert that what we are really entering is the last gasp of modernity, and they are eager for the church to get past it and start building something.
They don’t propose that we abandon technology and for a militaristic group in Montana, but they point back to the Medieval period as one of profound insight for Christians seeking to escape the grasp of modernity. One of the great things about the Medievals was their complete lack of embarrassment at God and everything in the Bible. Sometimes this lack led to evil, but for the most part, it led to lives devoted to applying God’s truth to all of life.
In all honesty, this is a beautiful mess of a book, much more of a conversation starter than a finished product, but the authors are aware of this, they just want to get the ball rolling. At only 220 pages they hit on politics, economics, the family, the church, technology, poetry, beauty, child-rearing, and much more. Obviously they aren’t comprehensive, but they provide much food for thought.
Here are a couple of random, great quotes:
“The Church today is a stranger of victories because we refuse to sing anthems to the King of all victories. We do not want a God of battles, we want sympathy for our surrenders [41-42].”
“The exuberance of the early protestants wasn’t the thin fanaticism of a Finney revival, but the life changing shock of unexpected liberation, the joy of justification in Christ [63].”
“Laughter and gladness are where joy, contentment and gratitude overflow. But in an odd turn, these things proceed from an understanding of the truths of man’s utter depravity and the salvation of the Lord [69].”
“We have forgotten that celebration isn’t just an option, it is a call to full Christian living [79].”
“If we want our children to be soulful fountains of life, then we must live it first ourselves. We have to be absorbing the life of wisdom too. And we can’t fake it, just by talking about full lives. Children have scopes that can detect dishonesty instantly [124].”
“Lasting liberty can only come through repentance [154].”
“The best antidote for the spirit of modernity is gratitude [180].”
Jones and Wilson propose that Christians set out to build a world and a culture based on…gasp…the Bible! They envision a world where people love beauty and know what it is, have a deep respect and hunger for God, follow Him in covenant obedience, disciple their children, live in biblical hierarchy, practice laughter and celebration as habits of life, self-responsibility over a fading state, the predominance of poetic over rational knowledge and confidence in the triumph of the cross.
Still sound like the Dark Ages?
Songs of Water – “Willow”
This is an amazing band. Here is one of their few songs with words:
Songs of Water: Willow (Live at the Visulite) from Thomas Torrey on Vimeo.
The Playground of God
“And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.” – Zechariah 8:5
” These men of old, these prophets, how they toiled and strove, how they entered into every department of human life with their messages and their fire, and inspiration, and daring and suffering and blood. What matters it if they never saw the city, if they saw it from afar? They set their faces toward it and died in faith, not having received the promises, and yet the promises would be much longer postponed if they had not so suffered and toiled, and had not to striven.” – G. Campbell Morgan
I stumbled across a gem of a sermon from G. Campbell Morgan as I was doing some work on other things this morning, looking through some dusty volumes of his sermons, and had to share. The sermon is called The Children’s Playground in the City of God and presents a wonderful picture of the City of God from Zechariah 8:5 and how and why Christians should strive to bring it about in our own contexts.
Morgan asks, “what would the city look like where boys and girls could play freely together in the streets?” In the City of God, the playground is the streets. In this city, the children play, and Morgan suggests that true play leads to Godly work. The kind of work that is full of passion and laughter.
He also notes that boys and girls will play together in purity and holiness, with the strength of manhood strengthening womanhood and the refinement of womanhood refining manhood. We likely just lost our feminist audience, as if there was one to begin with, but Morgan is spot on from a biblical perspective, which is what we’re concerned with.
His next point is that, in this city, there are no evil influences on the streets to pollute young life. Children are protected and evil is stifled so that is has no place, even in the dark alleys of the city. Morgan declares with biblical faithfulness and boldness foreign to the sensitive mouths of modern, effeminate preachers, “In the City of the King the dictum of Jesus will be in operation and the man who is found causing a little child to offend will have a millstone hung about his neck, and will be drowned in the depth of the sea, while angels rejoice.”
He also makes clear that, not only will the streets be fit for the children, the children will be fit for the streets. The children will be raised in God fearing, Christ exalting homes with parents who bring them up in the love and discipline of the Lord.
Finally, Morgan declares that, though the Millennial reality of this city is far off, the church is to strive to institute the City of God here now, to labor to make this vision a reality in our world. Morgan scoffs at the notion that the drug dealer and the pornographer and the gang leaders be left alone. It is the responsibility of the church to, as cited in the quote above, enter into every department of human life with the message of Jesus Christ and His Lordship over the earth.
Morgan declares that this begins by making Christ Lord of your home (where he is already Lord anyway). We are to set the Millennium up in our own home, to strive for it as a present reality. Every home dedicated to the idea of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all areas of life is a contribution towards building God’s city. But we cannot stop there, we must press boldly on.
He concludes, “In a few years, at least the majority of us will have gone out to the great Beyond, but let us do something. Let us, at any rate, come to close grips with the devil. Let us leave the impress of our fingers somewhere on him, or else let us be ashamed to look into the face of Jesus Christ when the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
When that day breaks, will we be wearing bloody armor and the stench of sulfur, or will we be cloistered in our rooms with our little lamps, trying to keep out the darkness?
“Green Like God?” and the theology of Cultivation
Done? Good. Now, I haven’t read the book Green Like God, so I will not comment on it. Just the Interview. While concern about the environment for Christians is good, the purpose is not to get back to a state of Eden (where God hangs out with naked vegetarians). The purpose is for Christians to exercise Godly dominion over the earth. That means to fill the earth and multiply in it. God intended for humans to eventually be city dwellers, but this was supposed to be a process and it was not supposed to be divorced from rural, agrarian concerns. Many of our industrial problems can be traced back to Cain grasping at the city and building it on blood before it was time. God’s plan for progress was slower and more deliberate and it is displayed in the history of Israel.
God gave us animals to eat and enjoy, and there is definitely nothing more holy about being a vegetarian. When God does return, it will be to rule and dwell with us in a Holy City with a garden in the center. That doesn’t mean we are supposed to wreck the earth, just the opposite. We are to cultivate it, to beautify it. Sometimes that means conservation, other times it means cutting down forests and building roads. It definitely includes a good fillet every now and again.
I would recommend reading some James Jordan or Douglas Wilson.
Hanson on the Messianic Liberal Elite
A great column up by Victor Davis Hanson discussing the failure of the Messianic Liberal Elite in Europe and the American Obama Administration. He concludes:
“What is common to all these disillusionments — the intolerance and dishonesty of environmental extremism, the European Union crackup, and Barack Obama’s renewal of Jimmy Carter’s failed foreign policy? They all can be traced to a global Western elite that in its intellectual arrogance confused late-20th-century technological progress with a supposed evolution in human nature itself. Heaven on earth was to be ushered in by those who deemed themselves so wise and so moral that they could remake civilization in their own image — even if that sometimes meant the end of disinterested research, basic arithmetic, and simple common sense.”
King Alfred’s Battle Anthem
When the enemy comes in, a roaring like a flood,
Coveting the kingdom, hungering for blood,
The Lord will raise a standard up and lead his people on.
The Lord of hosts will go before, defeating very foe -
Defeating every foe.
For the Lord is our defense.
Jesu defend us!
For the Lord is our defense.
Jesu defend.
Some men trust in chariots and some trust in the horse,
But we will depend on the name of Christ our Lord.
The Lord has made my hands to war and my fingers to fight.
The Lord lays low our enemies but he raises us upright -
He raises us upright.
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend us!
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend.
A thousand fall at my left hand,
Ten thousand to the right,
And yet He will defend us from the arrow in the night.
Protect us from the terrors of the teeth of the devourer;
Imbue us with your spirit Lord,
Encompass us with power -
Encompass us with power.
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend us!
For the Lord is our defense:
Jesu defend.
Book Review: Radical by David Platt
I first heard David Platt while working for the Georgia Baptist Convention at a youth conference in Georgia four or five years ago. Unlike so many speakers at youth conferences, Platt wasn’t obsessed with himself as a mini-celebrity. He didn’t dress in designer jeans and use teenage slang. He simply and clearly presented an uncompromising gospel to a massive crowd, offered a simple, lights up, no music invitation to believe in Jesus, then left the stage. There was no emotional fallout. No singing and crying and promises to love each other forever and never sin again. I was deeply impressed.
In subsequent experiences hearing Platt preach and teach I have been equally impressed. His is a message in stark contrast to American Evangelical Consumerism. He preaches a message of sin and salvation in Christ alone and of true, radical life change that drives Christians to suffer and sacrifice for the cause of Christ and it’s extension to the ends of the earth. His recent book, Radical, contains the summation of the message I’ve been hearing at these conferences for the past several years.
This book shouldn’t be titled Radical, but the state of American Christianity makes it so. The “radical” life presented in the book is what the majority of Christians in the world, and throughout history, have considered basic Christian living. Read and memorize the Bible. Pray for Christians around the world. Give sacrificially to spread the gospel, minister to others cross-culturally and join yourself to a community of like-minded believers. This is no theological treatise or revolutionary teaching, but sadly, it is exactly where so many in the church need to start, and it is a great refresher and challenge for us all.
Disclaimer: I was given a review copy of this book by the Publisher
