Christmas Book Ideas

Of two things that are certain, one is that father is a really good man. A second certainty is that he never reads anything on the Internet, so I am safe in telling the following story. A few years back, he gave me a set of tools for my birthday, which follows right on the heels of Christmas. He meant well, but did not realize that I had taken a monk-like vow to deny myself of the ownership, use, or knowledge of tools. Besides, this set consisted of some blades for a power saw and a bunch of fittings for a socket wrench. They all came packaged together in a neat set, which I never opened. I sold them in a garage sale and used the money to buy a book.

I have tried to fathom how a house could be built with no interior walls, but rather double sided bookshelves separating the rooms. I have even contemplated the economics of having our kitchen torn out in order to make more room for books. Eating out is a good prelude to going book shopping. My wife has rejected both ideas, but she has learned to live with the incurable book collecting syndrome. I know she wishes I would take up other interests instead, like watching sports, hunting, building furniture, scuba diving, or Nascar racing. But patience is among her great virtues.

Part of my justification for incessant accumulation of printed materials is that it enables me to help others. So with Christmas nearly upon us, I think it is time for me to make some worthwhile Christmas suggestions. You may want to put some of the following books on your wish list or you may choose to buy themselves after you sell your other Christmas gifts in a garage sale.

(Notice, that this list is not to be confused with the upcoming traditional lists: Best Books of the Year and Best Unread Books of the Year. There may, however, be some overlap between those lists and this one.)

My first choice would be the two volumes of American history by William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education. They are titled America: The Last Best Hope, Volume I: From the Age of Discovery to the World at War and Volume II: From a World at War to the Triumph of Freedom. This is a telling of America’s history from a conservative perspective. The story of America is such a powerful and moving story that it is difficult to tell it badly although many textbooks have tried. Bennett succeeds where many fail because he focuses on the key aspect of history: Story or narrative. There are parts of Bennett’s narrative that cause me to wince, in particular he loves Lincoln far more than I do. But the good narrative, the acknowledgment of Christian influences, and the conservative, upbeat tone outweigh all differences. This set is now available in a really attractive boxed set and can be purchased at most book stores or at http://www.bennettmornings.com/pg/jsp/billsbooks/billsbooks.jsp

More and more of the American story can be found in the many wonderful books on American foundations. American Vision, under the leadership of Gary Demar, has reprinted a massive work from the mid-1800s titled The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States. This compendium of stories and documents was written and assembled by a Washington, D.C. minister and government worker named Benjamin F. Morris. It covers events from the colonial days through the War Between the States. Attempts to tell our nation’s history from a completely secular viewpoint have come under attack for several decades now. This 1000 page tome is a heavy scale tipper in any and all discussions about the influence of Christianity in our history.

Part of that same debate over the religious influences centers around the sometimes reticent George Washington. There have been a flurry of books recounting aspects of George Washington’s military leadership. Such books as David Hackett Fischer’s Washington’s Crossing and David McCullough’s 1776 have strongly supported the military gifts and contributions Washington made in the War for Independence. Other books have detailed Washington’s leadership as the first President under the Constitution of 1789. Up for debate has been Washington’s religious viewpoints. No doubt he used lots of religious language, but it tended to be such terms as "Providence" or "the Governor of the Universe." Peter Lillback, President of Westminster Theological Seminary, and Jerry Newcombe, a writer and producer of Christian documentaries, wrote George Washington’s Sacred Fire to affirmatively answer the question: Was George Washington a Christian? This too is a heavy book of over 1100 pages and is a good collection of source materials.


There are yet more books on American history that I can recommend. Big Chief Elizabeth by Giles Martin is a great telling of the story of the early settling of America. I bought the book at Roanoke Island in North Carolina because I wanted to know more about what happened to the Lost Colony. Martin answered my questions and also covered lots of the history of Jamestown. Joseph Ellis' new book American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic stmbles due to Ellis' secular worldview, but excells in other respects. As he points out, in recent years 10 books on the Founding Fathers or founding era have been national bestsellers and this book makes that number 11. A book that deals with another early period of America and weaves our history into the events of the French Revolution is Jay Winik's The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World 1788-1800. I have only dipped into the opening pages of this book, but really liked what I read.

Of course, you cannot beat reading the classics. Last year while I was teaching my Humanities: the Modern World class, I thoroughly enjoyed being reacquainted with such authors as Dickens, Hugo, Tolstoy, Cooper, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Tolkien, Harper Lee, and James Hilton, but I cannot speak with quite so much pleasure from reading Voltaire or Camus. This year, we are into Humanities: The Ancient World. The high point has been reading The Iliad of Homer. (We read Richmond Lattimore's translation.) Several years back on my third venture into Homer, I became a convert to the powerful spell of that great poet of the war in Ilion and the devastation wrought by Achilles' anger. A new book, From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics by Louis Markos, is an enjoyable and useful companion to Homer and other ancients, such as Hesiod, the writers of dramatic tragedies, and Virgil. Along with books and essays by Peter Leithart, Louise Cowan, and Glenn Arbery, Markos is a good companion to reading the ancients.

The history of the ancients also worth pursuing. I am over halfway through and thoroughly enjoying Ernle Bradford’s work of some years back, titled Thermopylae: Battle for the West. I have never met an Ernle Bradford book I did not like. Another and more recent book with the same basic title is Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World by Paul Cartledge. I notice that Bradford did not even make a bibliography listing in Cartledge’s more academic study. Despite that egregious error on Cartledge's part, I shall have to give his book a try.

Two more thorough studies of the ancient world are The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian by Robin Lane Fox and The Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer. Up to now, these books have been kept close at hand for reference more than for thorough reading. Mrs. Bauer is well known for her books promoting classical education, with an emphasis especially geared toward home schoolers. Bauer’s work is more suited toward narrative reading, while Fox’ book would be the more scholarly resource.

Any study of the ancient world is enhanced by reading the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Like a miniature Bible in terms of history, Daniel contains history, interprets history, and points to the culmination of history. Along with the treasured stories of Daniel, there are difficult prophetic and eschatological topics in the book. James Jordan’s new commentary, titled The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel, provides 700 pages of insights into the text of Daniel. This is a work filled with history, theology, and all those kinds of edifying, unusual, sometimes bizarre, and delightful Jordanesque insights his readers have grown to love and his detractors love to groan. Side note: I had the frightening experience recently of speaking at a conference where James Jordan was sitting at the back selling books. I spoke on the topic “Punic Wars and Culture Wars” and talked quite a bit about Hannibal. Afterwards, Dr. Jordan came up and said, “Did you know that Hannibal is in the Book of Daniel?” Get his book and find it.

Along with being a key text on history and eschatology, the Book of Daniel is chocked full of political issues. In the Bible, all political issues boil down to one central issue: Sovereignty, or the question: Who is in control? R. J. Rushdoony devoted his life’s teaching, writing, and ministry to that question. Along with the many books and essays published during his lifetime, many unpublished works are being printed by Ross House Books. The latest is titled Sovereignty. The issue of sovereignty is a familiar and well-emphasized theme among Calvinists who preach and teach the sovereignty of God in matters relating to salvation. But the Bible never limits Christ’s Lordship to church, Sunday school, and VBS. As is emphasized in the host of glorious advent hymns we hear in the stores this time of year, He comes to make His blessings known far as the curse is found. Sovereignty is written in the short essay style that became so very typical of Rushdoony. He would take a theme—sovereignty in this case—and address it from a seemingly unending number of angles. Like a composer with a musical motif, Rushdoony repeats the theme with a slightly different approach in each essay. This is a good introduction to Rushdoony’s thought or a good refresher course on his thinking.

I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface on books for Christmas. So if there are particular people whose book need has not been matched here, you may have to contact me personally. If I can help just one person with a book buying need, all my labors, purchases, and acquisitions will not have been in vain.

Conservatives, Arkansas, and Conservatism in Arkansas

I hope to be able to get a good night’s sleep on January 20, 2009. Right now there are several candidates who have not yet won my support, but who I think could successfully and faithfully govern the United States. There are also several candidates who might very well cause me quite a few sleepless nights. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is in the first category.

A bit of personal background: I voted for Mike Huckabee when he ran unsuccessfully against Dale Bumpers for the Senate. I voted for him when he ran successfully in a special election for Lieutenant Governor and every time he was on the ballot for governor. I attended a political gathering when he first announced his Senate run back many years ago. I live in Texarkana, Arkansas where he was a pastor of First Baptist Church and we have met several times, but he does not know me.

Questions arise about his conservatism or rather what is generally regarded as his lack of conservatism based on his record as governor of Arkansas. So I will first address the issue of conservatism and then the situation in Arkansas.

First, conservatism in 21st century America is a political perspective or an ideological viewpoint. We can make endless lists of essential beliefs of conservatives, but such thinkers as Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley, and others have successfully written on those issues for several decades now. Essentially, conservatism is based on the premise that less government is better than more government.

Conservatives can be placed into two camps. There are those conservatives who write books, discuss conservative political issues, and formulate ideas based upon bedrock conservative principles. Then there are conservatives who hold political office. You could call the first group theorists and the second, practitioners.

While we can discuss and define conservatism based on an ideological list of principles, we would find endless disagreements among conservatives. Historically, the feuds between libertarians and traditionalists have highlighted these differences. Any listing of the “Ten Basic Beliefs of Conservatives” might find harmony on points one, two, and three, with mild disagreement over point five, and then a major “finger pointing, red-in-the-face” shouting match over points seven and eight.

To a very large degree, the term conservative is a relative term. (In 19th century European political thought, those who favored limited governments and republican principles were called liberals.) The term conservative is like other relative terms, such as tall, short, rich, poor, happy, religious, Calvinistic, smelly, light, dark, and wormy. Some might say, “The center for the basketball team is tall.” Does that mean tall compared to other players on his 12-year old league? Or tall compared to college basketball players? Or tall compared to Hobbits? Or tall compared to twenty story buildings?

Similarly, one says, “That governor is conservative.” Does that mean conservative compared to his predecessor? Conservative compared to Dennis Kucinich? Conservative compared to Thomas Jefferson? Or conservative compared to Nero?

Most often the people we refer to—or label—today in political talk as conservatives are Republicans. Most often they are the heirs or beneficiaries of the legacy of Ronald Reagan. In most recent political races in America, the Republican candidates for office are more conservative than their Democrat political opponents. Many times, no doubt, the two opposing candidates’ positions make George Wallace’s political insight ring true: There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between them. At the same time, there may be nine cents worth of difference, for what that is worth.

Ronald Reagan was phenomenal. He was to a large degree an ideological conservative. His conservatism grew out of decades of reading, thinking, speaking, meeting people, and observing the world. Had every other person in America been favorable to détente, conciliation, and peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan would have still loathed Communism. Likewise, Reagan’s distaste for massive tax, spend, regulate, and control economic policies vexed his soul. His heart convictions were his Gallup Poll. At the same time, he governed a state—and not just any state, but California—and he governed the United States, with the Congress being in the hands of Democrats during most of his two terms.

Reagan is an icon of conservatism, but there is much about his record as the governor of California and as the President of the United States that does not fit well in a conservative ideological chart or graph.

Out of the Pulpit, Into the Political Ring

In 1992, Mike Huckabee left the ministry and threw his hat into the Senate race in Arkansas. He ran against Senator Dale Bumpers, whose political career hinged on his having been a giant slayer in politics. Bumpers defeated Republican Winthrop Rockefeller for governor in 1970 and Democrat J. William Fulbright for the Senate in 1974. Three powerful Democrats dominated Arkansas politics at that time. There was Bumpers and his Senate colleague David Pryor and Governor Bill Clinton. They were all bright, aggressive, politically charming New South Democrats.

Huckabee made a valiant, but futile effort against Bumpers. The ruthlessness of being a rookie running against a political pro and a bout with pneumonia brought Huckabee crashing down by the end of the campaign. Arkansas historically has been a Democrat one-party state. Historically, the Conway family controlled politics. The ruling families’ names changed, but the Democrat party control did not. So Bumpers won with 60% of the vote.

During that same election that saw Huckabee’s defeat, Gov. Clinton won the Presidency. He left the governor’s mansion in the middle of his term and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker. Jim Guy was yet another of that generation of bright, handsome, skilled political leaders in the New South tradition. His succession to the governor’s office left the lieutenant governor’s post vacant. A special election was called for the summer of 1993. Mike Huckabee had become a familiar face and a popular figure. Voter turnout in a special election is usually a bit shy, and so Huckabee squeezed into the office of lieutenant governor.

At the national level, Arkansas Democrats reigned supreme with a man in the White House and two powerful Senators. But the bench proved weak back home. Governor Tucker resigned his office and barely escaped prison in matters relating to the Whitewater Scandal. By his resignation, Arkansas now had a Republican governor, Mike Huckabee.

Republican governors in Arkansas are rare, but not non-existent. Following the War Between the States, several Republicans held office. When Reconstruction faded away, Arkansas became a solid Yellow Dog Democrat state. In 1966, Winthrop Rockefeller had his fortune and home in Arkansas. He was something of the black sheep of the Rockefeller family, and so he lived in exile in Arkansas. He was one of the few Republicans in the state who had the money, the name, and the social and political skills to run for office and win. Twenty-six Democrat governors had preceded him. First time out, he lost. Two years later he won. He won in part because he ran against Orval Faubus, who represented the last legs of the old segregationalist wing of the Democrat party. To a large degree winning in Arkansas as a Republican was easier than governing.

In 1970, the smooth, confident Dale Bumpers ended Rockefeller’s stormy two terms in office. Bumpers served two terms (governor’s terms were two years long at that point); then Pryor served two terms, and then young Bill Clinton served one term. In 1980, another Republican, Frank White, upset the political table by being elected governor. In Clinton’s first term, he had raised car tags fees exorbitantly, released a death row inmate, and allowed the Federal Government to house Cuban rift-raft in Arkansas. Frank White, basically a political novice and incompetent, was given a two year lease on the governor’s mansion between Clinton regimes.

Clinton gained a monopolistic hold on the governor’s office in 1982. Huckabee became governor only because Gov. Clinton went to the White House and Gov. Tucker almost went to prison. The political climate and demographics in Arkansas remained Democratic throughout Huckabee’s completion of Tucker’s term and his own two four-year terms (a change made during the Clinton years).

Conservative New Deal

Arkansas, like much of the South, is a conservative society and has a conservative local culture, but it is not a conservative political entity. In Arkansas, laissez-faire economics, limited government, and strict construction principles mean dirt roads, no electricity, poor schools, no colleges, segregation, little or no health care facilities, and corrupt local sheriffs. Free enterprise was making bootleg whiskey. The stock market crash of 1929 was not as noticeable as hog stealing. The Great Depression was simply as new name for a long-term economic plight that existed long before Herbert Hoover.

One of the key legislative figures in the New Deal was Senate majority leader, Joe T. Robinson, a Senator from Arkansas. One of the key political events of that time was the campaign swing that Lousiana Senator Huey P. Long made on behalf of Hattie Carraway’s successful campaign for her late husband’s Senate seat. Sen. Long was the epitome of Southern populism, which was politically to the far left of even Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama.

Arkansas was a Bible-belt New Deal state. In its conservatism, it tried to block the Federal government from interfering with segregation, but it also welcomed government programs to assist the many areas of poverty and backwardness. Arkansas people supported gun ownership, hated foreign influences, distrusted Washington experts, believed in the local community, the country church, old timey music, God’s Holy Word, the hometown football team, hunting and fishing, and that mixed, sometimes hypocritically adhered-to code of conduct among men and women. In its socially conservative political populism, it cast its electoral votes in 1968 for independent George Wallace. Four years later, it went for Republican Richard Nixon because it could not stomach liberal George McGovern.

Nationally, Arkansas has voted for several Republicans (Nixon in ’72, Reagan both times, George H. W. Bush in ’88, and George W. Bush in 2000 and ’04), but beyond the national level, Arkansas still adheres to the party of Jefferson-Jackson-FDR. When Arkansawyers go to the polls, many of them still vote for the Conway family, the Confederacy, the Southerners who got rid of the Carpetbaggers, Harry Truman, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, and above all Franklin D. Roosevelt. Many would no more vote Republican than they would spit on their granddaddy’s grave. All that was true, except for the northwest corner of the state, which was anti-secession in 1861, pro-Union during the War Between the States, and Republican ever since. But the bulk of the state and the majority of the population was and is Democrat. The contentions between the northwest corner and the rest of the state date back to economic and political feuds before statehood in 1836.

When the Democratic Party began imploding throughout the other Southern states in the past twenty years, Arkansas held out. For a brief period, it looked as though Arkansas might develop into a true two party state. For a time, Arkansas had a Republican governor, lieutenant governor, Senator, and two Republicans out of four members in the House of Representatives. A few years later, the Democrats had recaptured most of those positions. The death of Lieutenant Governor Win Rockefeller, Jr. in the summer of 2006 and the completion of Gov. Huckabee’s last term in January of 2007 opened the door for an almost complete Democrat sweep of the state.

So, is Huckabee a conservative? He was a tax and spend, pro-public school, pro-government program governor. He kept many, many Clinton appointees in office. Personally highly moral, vocally very committed as a Christian magistrate, and socially, very conservative on his general approach to cultural issues, Huckabee managed what no other Republican governor in Arkansas was able to do: Govern.

Speaking Tour

From Left to Right: Pastor Mickey Schneider, Dr. P. Andrew Sandlin, Ben House, Pastor Randy Booth

The past two weekends have been wonderful experiences for me and my wife. On Friday, November 2, Stephanie and I went to Good Shepherd School in Tyler, Texas where I spoke at their annual fundraising banquet. My topic was "Punic Wars and Culture Wars." When I arrived that afternoon, I was whisked into a junior high class that had just finished reading Michael Shaara's Killer Angels. I talked about how that book was structured in a fashion resembling Homer's Iliad. From there I went to a high school class that had been reading Medieval literature. We discussed the Medieval period, the changeover of the epic hero from Greek concepts to Christian, and a host of other things relating to history, theology, and literature. We attended the afternoon chapel, where the students and faculty had an "Evensong" service that ended the day with prayers.

I especially enjoyed spending time with Father John Boonzaaijer, Father Walter Bannock, and Mark Hoyt. All three are delightful men of God, committed to Christian education and to the advance of God's kingdom.

This past weekend, Stephanie and I went to San Destin, Florida where we attended the 17th annual Trinity Presbyterian Church (of Niceville, Florida) Family Advance. I was a speaker at the Advance, along with two of my best friends, Randy Booth, pastor of Grace Covenant Church in Nacogdoches, Texas and moderator of the CREC, and Andrew Sandlin, a pastor of Church of the King in California and president of the Center for Cultural Leadership. As intimidating as it is to speak along with these two men, it was even more intimidating and humbling to be participating at an event at Pastor Mickey Schneider's church. Pastor Schneider represents the epitome of godly pastoral leadership. He has long been one of my favorite people.

Randy and Andrew gave talks on different aspects of family, children, and marriage. Both of these men gave wonderful counsel concerning the need for wisdom, church life, and godliness in raising our children and transitioning them toward lives of marriage and independence from mom and day. I repeated my "Punic Wars and Culture Wars" lecture, which I hope was more tuned to practical Christian application than to obscure ancient history. On Sunday morning, I gave a talk on two great, but slightly flawed church fathers: Eusebius and Augustine.

Florida was sunny and beautiful. It has been years since I visited the state. But the fellowship and the talks, the food, and book tables were what made the trip really great.

The Wagonmaster

(Porter Wagoner singing with Dolly Parton. Porter is remembered for having launched Dolly Parton's career. It was just one of many accomplishments in the life of this member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.)


I was saddened to learn of the death of country music singer, Porter Wagoner. I have many good memories of watching his show on Saturday afternoons when I was growing up. In the following years, I did not keep up as closely with country music and lost track of lots of those singers who were the stars of the 1970s, but in time, I revived an interest in those same singers. Thankfully, a number of them were still singing after 2000. Porter Wagoner himself said he did not have a pretty voice. Country music hinges on meaning and heart rather than vocal tone qualities. In my joking with my wife, who does have a beautiful voice, I contrast round-mouth singing (the kind she does in the chorale) with singing from the heart as done my many country singers. There is a place for both. Country music is home to songs from the heart, from the time of the Carter Family and Hank Williams to the present.

America has at times strayed from its Christian foundations and its belief in God. But in the depths of country music, there has always abided an unchanging faith in God, the Bible, Christianity, and the old truths, symbolized by country churches, family, and community. Country songs often returned to the themes of the old homeplace, the girl back home, neighbors, mother and daddy, celebrations with the family, and the love found between a husband and a wife and parents and children. There have always been those cynics who despise America and its mission in this world, but country music has an unswerving sense of patriotism. Yes, country songs have often and often to an extreme degree emphasized drinking (more correctly, drinkin') and marital unfaithfulness (termed, cheatin'). As Gene Edward Veith noted in a remarkable book some years back, country music has portrayed the balance that is really found in man's heart--a yearning for God along with an often uncontrollable propensity to sin. At its best, country songs, including many of Porter's best, emphasized the sin of man, but in such a way as to recognize its miserable consequences (e.g., "Cold Hard Facts of Life" and "Carroll County Accident"). It was another Southerner, a writer, not a singer, William Faulkner, who emphasized that literature centered on the 'old veritites,' that is, the old unchanging truths.

I was thankful to read in the news reports of Porter Wagoner's gospel songs, the prayers of his friends, and the evidences of faith in his life. He was a fun-loving man, who enjoyed laughing, fishing, and singing. Like so many country stars, he really loved entertaining. I never got to see him live and regret that missed opportunity. It's sad to live in a world without Porter Wagoner, Bill Monroe, Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Patsy Cline, but at least we had 'em for a while and at least we can still enjoy the music.

Humanities--Readings on the Ancient, Classical, & Biblical Worlds

The best way to begin studying the world of the Greeks is by reading Miss Hamilton's comprehensive and enjoyable account of the whole world of mythology.


Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days provides a short summary of the key mythological figures. His works is a type of Cliff's Notes to Hamilton's Mythology (although written many centuries earlier). The world of mythology was entertaining and perverse, insightful and blind, fulfilling and empty, rich in literary content and impoverished in spiritual truths, man at his self-sufficient best and man in his apostate rebellious worst.


Markos' From Achilles to Christ is yet another great resource on studying the pagans from a Christian perspective. Along with Peter Leithart's Heroes in the City of Man, this book is a great reference work for understanding the Greek and Roman classics. Both Leithart and Dr. Louise Cowan have endorsed this book.

And speaking of Dr. Cowan, her essay "Epic Cosmopoesis" is an outstanding and brilliant study on the nature of epic literature. It is not easy reading, but it pays dividends for the careful and discerning student.

Read It; Liked It

Mark Noll is a very gifted church historian. This book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, came out about ten years ago. I read it due to my ongoing interest in matters pertaining to 20th Century Christian Worldview thinkers (presented in lecture form at the Christian Student Worldview Conference--see link to the left). There is much that I agreed with in this book. It is convicting to realize that there are no significant upper-level evangelical research universities. We have Christian colleges and smaller universities, but the academic world is somewhat closed to evangelicals. I am still questioning Noll's opposition to 6 day creation. He links the Creationinst position with Dispensational Premillennialism. No doubt, many like Henry Morris in the 6-day Creation camp were Premils, but Noll never addressed the involvement of Post- and A-millennial Calvinists with Creationism.

But a few questions and even some disagreements cannot offset so much in this fine book that is fodder for thought among us who are believed to not do much thinking.







Visiting Yorktown Battlefield last July prompted me to buy and read this thorough account of this climatic battle in our War for Independence. The author, Jerome Greene, is a National Park historian and he writes as such; meaning, he notes every embattlement, every trench, every fortification of the Americans, the French, and the British. This slows the reading a bit, but the audacity of General Washington, the commitment of the American and French troops, and the Providentially ordered turning of events at Yorktown makes this a thrilling book to read.

Dr. D. James Kennedy

When a man has been blessed with long life, faithfulness to the Lord, and great success in using his God-given gifts, I believe we should view his passing as a day of celebration. So today I rejoice in the life and death and entrance into glory of Dr. D. James Kennedy. Our prayers go out to his family and friends, but our thanks goes to God for yet another example of God's grace to this land.

Okay, we are Calvinists, so we have to insert a few jabs. We have problems with Evangelism Explosion. We can't be using Arminian tactics to win the lost: Let our neighborhood Arminian churches do the field work. Then we can have deep talks with the cream of their converts and give them Reformed books and grow our churches without ever having to darken the door of an unbeliever's home.

And Dr. Kennedy had favorable things to say about Abraham Lincoln. Basically, he taught that Lincoln got religion along the way leading up to the end. Of course, those of us in the old Confederacy are willing to grant that grace extends north of the Mason-Dixon line. And maybe if Lincoln had been converted earlier and had spent a few afternoons across the Potomac attending R.L. Dabney's lectures, we could have avoided the whole 1861-1865 mess.

Dr. Kennedy was one of the few among our guys who has achieved the status of pastor of a mega-church. Sometimes I am prone to think that a work cannot be very good or very faithful unless the numbers are small and preferably diminishing. My postmillennialism is all too often confirmed by God's blessings on works that don't fit my other theological paradigms. I am all too much like the lady in Flannery O'Connor's short story 'Revelation' who sees a vision of all sorts of people ascending into heaven ahead of people like her self-righteous husband and herself.

Some of Dr. Kennedy's political forays had the same tendencies that irritate true liberals to the hilt, but irk true conservatives as well.

So from the ground, I can detect a few minor flaws in this spiritually gigantic man of stature and grace. And a giant he was. Giants do two things for us: When they are on our side, they provide us with great comfort, and they make us see how small we are. May God raise us more such giants to stalk our land.

"A way a man. Take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.'
Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2

Princeton Seminary: Triumph & Tragedy

Princeton, New Jersey hardly had the look of a battlefield in the decades before and after 1900. Set amidst an increasingly urbanized New Jersey, Princeton had a stateliness characterized by tall trees, gardens, and grand old buildings. One alumni of the university, F. Scott Fitzgerald, described it as “two tall spires and then suddenly all around you spreads out the loveliest riot of Gothic architecture in America, battlement linked to battlement, hall to hall, arch-broken, vine-covered—luxuriant and lovely over two square miles of green grass.”

Certainly Princeton treasured its history as the site of one of General Washington’s most audacious military maneuvers and victories in the War for Independence. But it was books, not bullets, that had indelibly stamped the community. Princeton—the name—connoted the university, one that is still highly prestigious in our time. Linked closely to the university was Princeton Seminary, the key training ground for American Presbyterian pastors and scholars.

Princeton Seminary was the bedrock of Reformed theology in America, the hub of Calvinism, the archive of the traditions of the English Puritans and Scottish Covenanters, and the bastion of Protestant orthodoxy. Princeton was respected, honored, even feared for its unswerving, unyielding commitment to the theology of Calvin and Knox and of the Westminster divines.

David Calhoun’s Princeton Seminary: The Majestic Testimony 1869-1929 honors and highlights the accomplishments of this famous school of theology. This is the sequel to an earlier volume titled Princeton Seminary: Faith and Learning 1812-1868. Both volumes, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, detail how Princeton Seminary sought to achieve the highest possible Christian attainments in both scholarship and piety. Seminaries are institutions, but the caliber of any institution, and especially one dedicated to advancing the Kingdom of God, depends upon the stature of the men who occupy the positions of influence. Princeton Seminary was a gathering place for theologians. Like the Inklings in England and the Agrarians of Vanderbilt, it was the community of scholars and thinkers who set a standard that is still admired today.

Names such as Hodge, Alexander, Patton, Greene, Warfield, Machen, and Vos are among the faithful who were both products of the Princeton tradition and teachers who expanded that tradition. The majestic testimony occurred in the chapel, the classrooms, and the prayer closets of the seminary professors. It was a hall of giants, a gathering of theological titans. One longs to have been the custodian sweeping the halls within earshot of the lectures of these men and other equally honorable colleagues. They were, like the saints of Hebrews 11, men of whom the world was not worthy.

J. Gresham Machen said, “The old Princeton Seminary may have been good or it many have been bad—opinions differ about that—but at least it was distinctive and at least it was a power in the affairs of men. It was known throughout the world as the chief stronghold of a really learned and really thorough-going “Calvinism” in the English-speaking peoples. Even its opponents, if they were scholars, spoke of it with respect.”

Calhoun’s book chronicles the successes and challenges to the seminary during the years between the end of the War Between the States and beginning of the Great Depression. The earlier decades saw the culmination of the career of Charles Hodge, a theologian who epitomized the attainments of Princeton. Hodge’s Systematic Theology, growing out of sheaves of lecture notes, commanded attention of students preparing for the ministry both then and now. Charles Hodge, great theologian that he was, was not a powerful pulpit preacher. His skills were manifested more in the classroom than in the pulpit. Hodge was so highly revered that on the fiftieth anniversary of his teaching career at Princeton, the whole town closed down to celebrate his achievements.

Hodge did not just focus on the theology of the Reformation; he wrote a book called What is Darwinism?, one of the first Christian responses to the Darwinian tidal wave. Hodge thought that a consistent Darwinism would inevitably lead to atheism. He did not object to all of the scientific aspects of the theory however. Hodge’s legacy included not only his written works, but his progeny. His sons, Archibald Alexander Hodge (who name bore witness to his father’s mentor) and Caspar Wistar Hodge, both taught at the seminary, as did his grandson, Caspar Wistar Hodge, Jr.

In 1887, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield began his work as a professor at Princeton. This huge Kentuckian waged decades of warfare against the opponents of the verbal inspiration of Scripture. More and more during the time of Warfield, Calvinistic theology was under attack. In large part, the point of attack was on the authority of Scripture, since Calvinism without Biblical support has no other foundation. Although he was a recognized leader in the Presbyterian Church at large, Warfield completely confined himself to Princeton, due in part to his labors but due mainly to his need to care for his invalid wife. Warfield’s range of intellectual interests included literature, history, and poetry; his writings were mainly in theology and church history. In conjunction with Geerhardus Vos, a Biblical theologian of Dutch heritage, Warfield brought Abraham Kuyper to Princeton where he gave his famous 1896 Stone Lecture series, which still abound in book form, titled Lectures on Calvinism. Warfield influenced quite a few future scholars and teachers. One of his most brilliant admirers was J. Gresham Machen.

During the time when Machen was a professor of New Testament, the war against Princeton theology changed from being a running battle into a siege. Certainly, Princeton was increasingly surrounded by hostile forces both within Presbyterian circles and from without. Certainly, the term siege aptly describes the plight during the last years of Warfield and the tumultuous decade that followed. But the faithful theologians inside the camp did not simply wait for the enemy to break down the gates.. Machen and others fought back quite aggressively. Machen’s books, in particular his Christianity and Liberalism, strongly confronted the various shades of liberal theology that sought to undermine orthodoxy. Machen did not view theological liberalism merely as incorrect theological position: He contended that liberalism, in its denial of Scripture, Christ’s deity, and the atonement, was a different religion altogether.

Machen’s leadership was not without its flaws and critics: His manner in some aspects of the battle, his actions which led ultimately to breaking with the seminary and the northern Presbyterian church, and the legacy of bequeathing to his theological heirs a contentious spirit have all enabled the more comfortable of us to occasionally find fault with him. Yet with both his alleged and actual faults and failings, and despite the losses he endured in his many battles, Machen was a towering Christian man, warrior, and scholar. Like Aeneas fleeing a burning Troy, Machen fled from the destruction of Princeton Seminary, but saved vital remnants for rebuilding its theology.

History is most easily remembered by noting the brightest lights, but thankfully Calhoun includes a number of professors who were the intellectual and spiritual peers to Hodge, Warfield, and Machen. Time does not allow us to comment upon some of the less prominent professors who appear in the book. God raised up a whole host of good and brilliant men who taught at Princeton until its fall.

Still the question haunts the reader: What happened? Calhoun’s book is a tragic history. It is like imagining that sometime after Eisenhower, Patton, and Montgomery had pushed the Nazis to the Rhine River, the Axis Powers won World War II.

Calhoun covers some of the more national Presbyterian controversies, such as the Charles Briggs case, but that greater story goes beyond this book. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church had rejected the teachings of modernism in the heresy trials of the church and in key declarations in 1910 and 1916. But the poison still crept in. Calhoun points out the following:

Some presbyteries, however, were ordaining men who accepted the higher critical method and other assumptions of liberalism. The movement from evangelicalism that had been proceeding more or less quietly for half a century was far more general than had been thought, and by the second decade of the twentieth century liberal sentiment in the church was widespread. Doctrinal issues were avoided, heresy prosecutions disappeared, and theological liberals gained leadership positions in the church.

Of course, there never were enough liberals to hijack the church. They found faithful allies amongst those in the church who generally adhered to the Presbyterian standards, but who sought accommodation and peace and unity above doctrinal faithfulness. Fighting the same kind of battle some years later in post-World War II Netherlands, Herman Dooyeweerd said, “It is an urgent matter that we, openly and regardless of who is involved, choose sides in the issue: reformation or accommodation. This question dominates Christian life today.”
(We would add that Dooyeweerd should have said “at all times” instead of “today.”)

Whatever good gifts and graces they may have had, Joseph Ross Stevenson, president of Princeton Seminary from 1914 to 1936, and Charles Erdman, professor of practical theology, punctured Princeton’s majestic testimony by their willingness choice of accommodation over reformation. Better that they had possessed Warfield’s belligerence. On one occasion, Mrs. Stevenson, the wife of the president, said, “Dr. Warfield, I hear there is going to be trouble at the Assembly. Do let us pray for peace.” Warfield responded, “I am praying that if they do not do what is right, there may be a mighty battle.”

The battle for Princeton Seminary in the early twentieth century constitutes one of the most defining events of our country’s history. Never mind that the history books generally miss it. Never mind that many well read people know nothing of it. Theology is more critical to the health of the nation than secure borders. Adherence to Scripture is more necessary to national survival than the latest weaponry. Islamic terrorists are far less of a threat than theological liberalism.

The lights went out at Princeton by 1929. A few professors, including C.W. Hodge, Jr., the last of the Hodges, and Geerhardus Vos, stayed on due to impending retirements and economic needs. Machen soon assembled a stellar group of men, including Oswald T. Allis and Cornelius Van Til (and later, John Murray), at the newly formed Westminster Theological Seminary. The brightness of old Princeton shone again at Westminster, although the setting and hardships may have diffused its rays for a time. The majestic testimony still survives in whole shelves of books by the old Calvinist professors that are kept in print and are still read and discussed. Even in areas, such as apologetics, where the older views serve as a point of departure, the Princeton theologians still command respect. No Calvinist should take to the street without having had at least a bit of Hodge, Warfield, and Machen under his belt. George Marsden notes, “[T]he Princetonians have been more influential in twentieth-century evangelicalism than they were among their nineteenth-century contemporaries.”

God’s ways are mysterious. He wins wars with capitulations; He advances His kingdom with retreats; He defeats His enemies with the demise of His own champions. I certainly cannot grasp why the bad guys got Princeton and the faithful remnant had to start all over again. Still the whole matter casts us at the feet of God with an acknowledgement that His ways are not ours and glory be for that fact. And glory be to God for the majestic testimony of Princeton Seminary from 1869 to 1929.

Post-Vacation/Worldview Conference Reading

After visiting Roanoke Island in North Carolina, I had to plunge into the story of the earliest English settlements in the New World. This is a delightful account of events both before and after the mysterious Roanoke venture.

Christian Worldview Student Conference Lectures

CALVINIST WORLDVIEW THINKERS IN THE
WILDERNESS YEARS

Lecture One: After Spring, Winter
Synopsis: Abraham Kuyper’s Stone Lectures in 1898 outlined an optimistic vision for a Christian Worldview based upon Calvinistic theology. In 1976, Francis Schaeffer wrote and lectured on many of the same topics, but from a more somber sense that the Western world was in decline.

Lecture Two: The Exodus into the Wilderness
Synopsis: The first half of the twentieth century witnessed many cultural and political crises, such as the two world wars and the Great Depression. Exceeding both the wars and the economic crisis was the spiritual and cultural breakdown. Events such as the Scopes Trial, the triumph of theological liberalism in the northern Presbyterian churches, and the popularization of anti-Christian philosophies threatened the Christian foundations of the United States.

Lecture Three: Those Amazing Dutchmen
Synopsis: The seeds for a reformation of Christian thought began in the Netherlands in the 1800s in the wake of the French Revolution. God raised up a profound historian named Groen Van Prinsterer. Building upon GVP’s legacy was Abraham Kuyper, who succeeded in bringing Christian principles to success in the church, state, schools, and press. From Kuyperian foundations, even more was done to apply Christian thought to all areas of life. Herman Dooyeweerd has especially noted for his encyclopedic contributions to Christian thought, particularly in philosophy.

Lecture Four: The University Without a Campus
Synopsis: Cornelius Van Til specialized in the field of apologetics. He focused on defending the Christian faith against competing philosophies. His rigorous presuppositional approach then provided a basis for applying Christian thinking in all areas of life and thought. Along with Van Til was a community of Reformed scholars who often built the foundations he laid out. Many of these men wrote scholarly Christian books that were published by the Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, which was operated by Charles Craig.

Lecture Five: L’Abri and Chalcedon
Synopsis: Both Francis Schaeffer and R. J. Rushdoony popularized Christian worldview thinking. Their ministries, personalities, writing styles, and visions were quite different, yet both were totally dedicated Christian thinkers, rooted in the theology of the Reformation. Both sought to apply Christian thinking to every area of life. All Christian worldview thinking today traces back directly to one or the other and often both of these men.

One summer back in the early 1980s, I stumbled upon a great television series. That in itself sound unbelievable, but trust me. It was on the PBS Educational network, which was then the fourth of four viewing options. It was series called "Fall of Eagles."

It was based on events in the late 1800s when three ruling houses dominated Europe: the Hapsburgs of Austria-Hungary, the Romanovs of Russia and Hohenzollerns of Germany. The series highlighted "centuries of despotism, a continued lack of social reform and the advent of the devastating First World War [which]caused the vultures of revolution to start circling." There were 13 parts to this epic drama and an all-star cast that included Patrick Stewart, Gemma Jones, John Rhys-Davies, Gayle Hunnicutt and more.

I saw almost the whole series that summer. It was back in the olden days, before I had a VCR and the means of recording shows. Never again did I see it or hear of it. After Algore invented the internet, I tried to find information about the series. At times, I even wondered if such a thing really existed or if I had dreamed it up.

I recently discovered that the series is now available on DVD. My set came in yesterday. All of you are invited to come over to my house and join me in watching it.

This series is a dramatized account of the lives of the Hapsburgs, the Romanovs, and the Hohenzollerns. Family lives are interspersed with the affairs of government. Human foibles are highlighted among the royal rulers. Dissatisfied revoutionaries (such as V. I. Lenin, played by Patrick Stewart) comprise the subplot. The stories of these three families is tragic. The First World War led to the overthrow of these families. This in turn led in short order to the Bolshevik Revolution, the ushering in of 70 years of Communist oppression, the rise of the Nazis, the Holocaust, and then World War II.

One of the best books to read on this whole subject and era is Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. This book deals with events leading up to the outbreak of World War I and continues with a tremendous account of the first month of World War I. If ever you think the French have no fight in them, read this account of the Battle of the Marne. Her prequel, The Proud Tower, is also a wonderful history of Europe and America in the 1890s.

David Fromkin's Europe's Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? is a more recent and methodical survey of that tragic month. To list the major causes of World War I (nationalism, militarism, colonialism, etc.) or the immediate cause (the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Princess Sophia) is easy. But to undo the tangle of diplomatic manuevers, idiotic expectations of easy victories, and blind leadership is quite a story. All that happens before the first rifle is fired or the first trench is dug. The first months of that war involve some of the most amazing battlefield accounts in history. The German Schlieffen Plan was brilliant in theory, but flawed in execution.

Another incredbile book regarding this time is Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra. It is the best book to read to begin understanding Russia's long and torturous history. (A very good movie version of this book has also been made.) This biography of a loving, beautiful, powerful, but weak and tragic couple reads like a novel. It's another tragic episode of history: Czar Nicholas had plenty of faults, blind spots, stupid notions, and imbecilic advisors, but he was a good father and husband, and a man of Christian convictions. His wife was manipulative, schizophrenic, consumed with protecting her son (the Czaravitch Alexis, who suffered from hemophilia)and petty, but she was a devoted wife, mother, and a woman of fervent Christian faith. The Bolsheviks who murdered them were dogs, cut-throats, and moral degenerates. But that goes without saying, for they were Bolsheviks.

I hope that the series Fall of Eagles is as good as I remember.

The Reagan Book Boom

The presidency of Ronald Reagan had several surprising effects. In the early stages of the 1980s, the media coined the term Reaganomics to describe what they viewed as the disastrous economic program of cutting taxes and encouraging investment that Reagan promoted. Hardly had his economic program been put in place when the liberals started crying, "Foul." Yes, there were some miserable economic factors lurking in the 1980s. Largely, they were the results of the failed policies of President Jimmy Carter and his predecessors. In time, Reaganomics came to represent an economic boom that has continued in this country to this day.

Also surprising was the success of Reagan's Cold War strategy. His vision of dealing with the Soviets and with worldwide Communist expansion was very complex and detailed. It went like this: We win/they lose. It worked.

More than his economic program and even more than his expansion of the military, Reagan's moral and Christian vision of the purposes for the United States and of humanity led to his successes. In many ways, America was on a downward spiral throughout the 1960s and 70s. Reagan has come to symbolize a turn-around that took place. Pres. Carter's vision of America was one of gas shortages, cultural mailaise, and rabbit attacks. His answer was to alert Americans of the need to get over an inordinate fear of Communism. After all, he might have added, the Communist only expanded into 10 additional countries during his flawed 4 year reign of error.

The Reagan boom still continues. And it continues in fresh new books that highlight different aspects of his life and presidency. The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism by Paul Kengor examines what should be an obvious truth: Reagan's life-long obsession with defeating the Communists economically, politically, geographically, and spiritually was a success. Reagan's aggressive approach--criticized and scoffed by Democrats and Republicans alike--resulted in changing the face of the world and in putting Communism in the dustbin of history, just as he predicted.

Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History by John Patrick Diggins is a remarkably interesting book. Prof. Diggins is a political science professor whose tendency is to lean strongly to the left. For a time, profs and leftists were the bitterest enemies of Reagan. For a time, they deigned Reagan to be a misguided, foolish, and empty-headed man. He was, after all, an actor. Diggins represents the views of many scholars who now recognize the depth of Reagan's intellect and vision. I am not sure that I will agree with all of Diggins' assessments of Reagan, but he is one man I can really appreciate for his recognition of Reagan's strength of mind.

That strength of mind can be seen up close in Reagan's Diaries. This 700 plus page book is an abridged version of the daily accounts Reagan kept while in the White House. Douglas Brinkley edited the diaries and wrote an outstanding introduction which highlights Reagan's style and power.

So far, I have only been able to start Kengor's book and to scan the other two. I like to read at least one good account of Reagan each year. Looks like I will be triply blessed this year.

Thank You Reverend Falwell

By now, the death of Reverend Jerry Falwell is all over the news. His friends and admirers are mourning, but rejoicing that God raised him up in our time to be a voice for both the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the abiding Law-Word of God. Of course, his enemies—and he generally made the right people mad—have added their barbed eulogies to the list. We have been reminded of several occasions where Rev. Falwell stuck his foot in his mouth. It happened not because his mouth was always moving, but because his feet were always moving.

I want to take this occasion to offer up one big Calvinistic Presbyterian “Thank You” to Jerry Falwell along with a prayer of praise to God for giving him to our nation and the world for a time.

Growing up Methodist in the 1960s/70s, I was blessed with the remnants of the great church tradition and faith of the Wesley’s. We sang the great hymns of Charles Wesley along with other worthy standards of the English Protestant tradition (Watts, Toplady, Reginald Heber, etc.). We also recited the Apostles’ Creed weekly. To this day, when I lead in the reciting of that Creed, I have to use the text or else I will say, “From there He will come to judge the quick and the dead” rather than the revised phrase “the living and the dead.” We also recited the Lord’s Prayer and sang the Doxology and Gloria Patria. Unfortunately, much of the preaching and teaching did not measure up to the traditions of the Wesley’s and certainly not to that of George Whitefield.

The preaching and teaching may have included a simple presentation of the Gospel, but it was veiled. The preaching was not of the extreme liberal variety—“Jesus did not bodily arise from the dead”—for this was Southern small town Methodism. As Flannery O’Connor noted about us Southerners, we may have not been Christ-centered, but we were Christ-haunted. The preaching was more a mix of social gospel and good works. No clear calls for repentance, no ringing declaration that Christ alone saves, no Luther-like stand taken on the authority of Scripture alone. Methodist preachers, in my limited experience, seemed rather placid and bland in their homilies.

It was at this point around 1973 that I first started watching Jerry Falwell’s “Old Time Gospel Hour.” It came on at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday nights. I should have been in bed by that time, but I was drawn to Falwell’s preaching. From him, I began to better understand the centrality of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting Him and not my good works, believing the Bible to be the Word of God, and living for Christ every day. Was I a believer before I heard Falwell? I don’t know. I was not an atheist (as Falwell was before his conversion) or a doubter. I was stumbling along in the dark.

For an important season or two in my life, Falwell's Old Time Gospel Hour fed me the heart of the Christian Gospel--believing on the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When I went off to college, I got smacked right between the eyes with Calvinism, and I changed directions even more visibly. In time, the various doctrines and ramifications of Reformed theology drew me further away from Falwell’s premillennial and fundamentalist theology. Many—perhaps a few too many—aspects of Falwell's theology and style fell away from my spiritual orbit, but I have never forgotten the joy that came from hearing his preaching when I was in my late teens.

Thankfully, about twelve years ago when Jerry Falwell came to Texarkana, I had the opportunity to speak to him and personally thank him. He preached a rambling and not very good sermon, but even on that occasion, he made yet another key statement that I never forgot. Falwell said that when he appeared on television or spoke on the radio or at some other public function—and he spoke on many such occasions—he would always find the occasion to speak about the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sure enough, he entered the national dialog on social, cultural, political, and economic issues, but he always referenced Christ’s Lordship and the free offer of the Gospel—a free offer to those who were usually railing against Christ Himself, but who thought they were only attacking Falwell.

Falwell preached the Gospel to a community, nation, and world that plugged its ears to it. Falwell preached; the Holy Spirit unplugged ears. Falwell started a thoroughly Christian university when Christians were barely even cognizant of the need for truly Christian educational institutions. When Falwell began mobilizing Christians into political action, abortion was largely being opposed only by Catholics. Getting Protestant, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christians in politics in the late 1970s was like trying to motivate people to immigrate to Antarctica. But Falwell was persuasive—and right. He promoted the preaching and writings of Francis Schaeffer. Just as significant, he promoted the Presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan after it became clear that Reagan was more than just a military hawk and economic conservative. On the news yesterday, it was said that the Moral Majority was responsible for registering 12 million Christian voters. That voter surge pretty much explains what happened in 1980 and again in 1984.

Falwell was a real, true postmillennialist—meaning, he sought to preach the Gospel to every man. He was a real, true Kuyperian and Reconstructionist: Instead of writing screeds against fellow believers, he really worked to bring God's law to bear upon the Republic. He flaws were great because his zeal was great. While he was not a Calvinist, he was a better Calvinist in many ways than I will ever be.

Take care brothers, more of the workload just fell on the rest of us.

Russian Literature, part 1

God's grace is beyond our comprehension, both personally and culturally. No doubt but that 20th century Russia was a land that suffered heavily. World War I was a disaster for Russia, and it was followed by two revolutions, and then by a brutal civil war of the Whites against the Reds. That war saw the emergence of the Bolsheviks (Communists). In time, the brutality and ruthlessness of Lenin spawned the maniacal murderous dictator Josef Stalin. For several decades, Stalin brutalized and exterminated the various subject peoples within the Soviet Union. These atrocities did not cease even when Stalin was forced to pay for his mistake of trusting Adolf Hitler by pulling the total might of the USSR into a war for survival against Nazism. The Russian people emerged victorious in that war, but were still under the reign of Stalin until the early 1950s. Stalin's several successors were improvements over him only by comparison.

Added to wars, revolutions, Communism, and atrocities, Russia suffers from a harsh climate, cultural pessimism, and an oftentimes theologically deficient Christian church. Yet God has granted certain blessings to the Russians, and through them, to the world.

One of those blessings is the writer Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy penned two of the greatest novels of all times: War and Peace and Anna Karenina .
There are several obstacles to getting into these novels. Primarily, they are both quite long. And being Russian, the names (and Russian uses of patrynomics along with nicknames and last names)creates difficulties in getting the characters straight. War and Peace, for example, has more characters than Russia had population at the time of the book's setting (the Napoleonic Wars).

It might be easier to read Anna Karenina before reading War and Peace. But there is still a better way to begin trekking across the vast steppes of Russian literature. Tolstoy's shorter writings appear in numerous collections. He wrote quite a few novellas, which can be defined as either really long short stories or really short novels. I introduced my Modern World Humanities class to Tolstoy through the book shown above, titled The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. Quite a few variations of this book exist. This particular one has four selections: "The Death of Ivan Ilych," "Family Happiness," "The Kreutzer Sonata," and "Master and Man."

Here is what I recommend: Begin with "Master and Man." I first read it years ago in high school and never forgot it. It is a purely Russian story, including cold, snow, a sled, a peasant, a rich landowner, and vodka. The story concerns Vasili, a money-hungry land baron, and his faithful servant Nikita. A trip to a neighboring village to conclude a profitable land deal results in their getting lost in the snow. I will stop here and let you find out what happens. In short, the story will endear you to Tolstoy and enable you to see the power of his vision.

"The Death of Ivan Ilych" is perhaps the most famous of Tolstoy's shorter works. The slow demise of Ivan, his agonies and despair, and his re-evaluation of the world around him make this a powerful parable-like picture of our plight in this world.

"Family Happiness" appears at points to be an ironic title. Marya, the first person narrator of the story, seeks romantic happiness though both proper and improper means. She is young, full of life, and hopelessly romantic in her vision of life. Like Anna Karenina, her quest for love leads her toward destruction, but unlike Anna, she sees the error of her ways.

"The Kreutzer Sonata" is an unusual story where a bitter, wicked man tells of his failed marriage. I have no in-depth comment on it; I did not like the story and will keep the jury out concerning a judgment of that work.

In the first three works cited, Tolstoy repeats a major theme: There is a superficial side of life. It is all surface. It may include romantic idealism or economic success or social standing. Whatever the case, this glittering surface lures us unto it to the point that we miss reality. In each story, the major character is brought to a change of mind in the closing scenes. Tolstoy's concluding revelations are not great and profound occurences. The change occurs not within a series of actions, but from within. Tolstoy's characters receive revelations, but revelations such as those we know from the Holy Spirit. At one point then, the character is chasing after something false, illusive, and empty. Then they see a greater, a spiritual, a true reality. The subtlety of the change is the surprising point. It is like an atheist who becomes a believer: He suddenly sees and interprets all reality from a radically different starting point.

Tolstoy is one of our great Christian writers. But let us understand what it means when an artist is a Christian. First of all, a Christian writer is writing fiction, not submitting himself to an ordination board of a Reformed presbytery. Fiction is not systematic theology. It is art. Art distorts; it is fabric and is a fabrication; it is an untruth. But it is cast in this distorted fabricated form in order to better deliver a message. Jesus' parable of the lost sheep tells us nothing about the economics of agriculture and stock management. A 1% loss of a flock is negligible. One lost sheep is simply the cost of doing business. But Jesus gives this story to show a greater truth: God's sovereign love for the lost sheep. As William Faulkner said about himself, he wrote fiction because he was interested in truth.

Second, Tolstoy's being a Christian writer does not tell us whether or not he went to heaven when he died. Tolstoy's theology is a hodgepodge of Biblical snippets, sentimental mush, contrariness, contradictions, and humanistic reasonings. You would not want him to teach your Sunday school class, but don't worry: Tolstoy was in much opposition to the organized church. Perhaps the state of Russian Orthodoxy commends his opposition. But he was not a Luther. He was a mystic at points, however. By Christian writer, I mean that Tolstoy self-consciously borrows from and builds upon Christian truths. "Master and Man" shows the Christian message of redemption and sacrifice for others. "The Death of Ivan Ilych" shows the vanity of this world and the need for repentance. "Family Happiness" illustrates the nature of true family and marital love. War and Peace carries a host of characters through stages of weakness and failure to spiritual insight. Anna Karenina, my favorite Tolstoy novel, contrasts one who grows in grace in the midst of family life with one whose life is wrecked by sin.

Yes, Russia has suffered much, but God has still blessed that land.

My favorite qualification for elders is that the elder must be the husband of one wife. My preaching, teaching, pastoral skills are all deficient. Thankfully, I am not given to much wine (I generally don't like the taste of wine) or to brawling, and I cannot be accused of being a new convert. My understanding of theology is barely enough to survive on and I never mastered learning the Greek or Hebrew alphabets. I am neither a dynamic soul-winner or a profound theological thinker. But I am the husband of one wife, Stephanie.

Forgive this straying from the topic of books and issues into this personal wallowing, but there are other priorities in life besides books.

Children of Tolkien

Of course, I have this book. Have I started it yet? Of course, I have started it. I start almost every book I get. I have made it to the end of Christopher Tolkien's introduction, and I am quite intimidated by the names and background. Makes me long for the ease of character lists in a Tolstoy epic. I must confess that I am a late-in-time convert to Tolkien. I don't recall in my youth ever hearing of him. Maybe I came across his name while I was in college; I don't recall. When I was taking a course on children's literature in pursuit of a teaching certificate, I read The Hobbitt. I thought it was okay, but was not compelled to read it again until I read it to my oldest son when he was about 6 or 7 (he is now 13).

Only after the movies series came out did I begin to read The Lord of the Rings. In fact, the first time I read The Fellowship of the Ring, I really did not like it. Then I watched the movie, which I only partially liked. Then I watched the movie again and asked Nicholas, my oldest son, lots of questions. He had, by this point, read the trilogy and repeatedly read from his Tolkien Bestiary. Then I began reading the trilogy in earnest.

Maybe, I should add that I had read several books about Tolkien before I read The Lord of the Rings.

The truth is that I had a very impoverished childhood with bad effects for decades to follow. Thankfully, in the years before I read Tolkien, I did read quite a bit. My reading ranged through the years from William Faulkner to R.J. Rushdoony, and from Shelby Foote to Paul Johnson; so, I was not without hope; I was only deficient in a few hundred areas in terms of basic literacy.

Pushing the Antithesis

The writer of Hebrews says of Abel, "And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks." There have been many great men of faith who believed, prayed, read their Bibles, and ministered during their days on earth, but who still speak through their faith. We have so many early Church Fathers, such as Augustine; we have the great Protestant Reformers, such as Calvin and Luther; we have so many great men of God since the Reformation, such as Jonathan Edwards, Abraham Kuyper, and Charles H. Spurgeon. God continues to bless us through the ministries of those who though dead, still speak. We are especially and particularly blessed by those who left a legacy of books, sermons, and writings for us.

Not too many years back, the Church lost a great and wonderful servant, Dr. Greg Bahnsen. There are lots of great Christians who are my heroes and guides, but only a few that in addition to their fame were personal friends. Dr. Bahnsen was a friend. I have been recently delighting in some of the ongoing works of Dr. Bahnsen that are now available. I have been blessed by introducing my students to the teachings of this great defender of the Christian faith.

In the early 1990s, a number of Christians of high school and college age attended a Christian Worldview Conference, sponsored by American Vision, that featured Dr. Bahnsen lecturing on Apologetics. Although, Dr. Bahnsen's knowledge in a number of subject areas was vast and profound, apologetics--in the tradition of Cornelius Van Til--was his forte. These lectures were recorded by means of video and then were pushed aside and overlooked for many years. Recently, the staff at American Vision rediscovered the videos, which had a surprisingly good quality, and so these lectures are now available. The five-part lecture series is titled BASIC TRAINING FOR DEFENDING THE FAITH. Along with the video lectures, the series contains an extensive 300 page study guide.

More recently, Dr. Gary DeMar of American Vision has edited Dr. Bahnsen's lectures with some reorganization, footnoting, and addition of more resources. These have been publishing in the book Pushing the Antithesis. This is an easy to use study of apologetics for classrooms, Sunday school, or personal study. There are twelve chapters, a glossary, and useful recommendations for more reading. Dr. DeMar has taken Dr. Bahnsen's work and made it more accessible for Christians to read and apply. (Dr. Bahnsen's great accomplishment was in taking Dr. Van Til and making his studies more readable.)

To get the flavor of Dr. Bahnsen's gifts, you simply must listen to "The Great Debate: Does God Exist" by Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein. This debate took place over twenty years ago and people are still finding the bits and pieces of the shattered remains of Gordon Stein after he was hit by the powerful defense of Christian Theism by Greg Bahnsen. We recently used this debate in my rhetoric class, and the students loved it. You will be incredibly encouraged and edified by Bahnsen's debate style. It was not simply a matter of intellect and verbal and rhetorical skills; however, that defined Bahnsen. Rather, it was his unswerving commitment to the Word of God and love for God that enabled him to so readily defeat this opponent.

More of Bahnsen's apologetics can be gleaned from reading Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith. This book consists of a number of essays that Bahnsen wrote on apologetics for different journals, newsletters, and magazines. This work might be best used as the follow-up to Pushing the Antithesis. The two books have some overlap, but there is enough difference to merit having and reading both.

All of these materials--and a host of other media and print works of Bahnsen--can be ordered from Covenant Media Foundation. Randy and Marinell Booth have done a marvelous work of keeping Bahnsen's works available for the Christian world. Pushing the Antithesis and the Basic Training for Defending the Faith videos are available from American Vision. Gary DeMar's books, magazine, and other works are yet another major accomplishment of Christians in our time. The web-site for American Vision is www.AmericanVision.org.

A German & a Dutchman

The ethnic make-up of America has often been described as a melting pot. But we were not the first melting pot. Alexander the Great united many peoples by conquest and culture in an effort to unite mankind. The Roman Empire improved on his methods and sustained the effort over a larger piece of real estate and over a longer expanse of time. But the true melting pot was inaugurated at the Great Commission when Jesus Christ sent His disciples forth with the mission of discipling, baptizing, and teaching all nations in His name and Word.

Paul describes the melting pot effect of Christianity in terms of the unity created in the church because of the diversity of gifts present there. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-5, he writes, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.”

The melting pot of gifts can be seen all through church history. The examples of great Christians with widely varying personalities and strengths are numerous. Calvin and Luther form an interesting pair, as do George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. During this past year, God has called home two good and faithful servants who bore the same last name and served the same Lord, but with widely varying ministries. I refer here to Henry Morris and Leon Morris. Dr. Henry was a scientist who focused on the issue of creation while Dr. Leon was a theologian who focused on Biblical preaching and exegesis. Two different men, two different gifts, and two different ministries, all glorifying the same God.

Another team of God’s workmen that fascinates me illustrates both the melting pot nature of the church and of American history. Here I speak of an American of German heritage and a Dutch boy who immigrated to the nation. The first was Loraine Boettner (pronounced ‘Bet-ner’) and the second was Cornelius Van Til. They were contemporaries. Both were Presbyterians. Both were the products of the last great days of Princeton Theological Seminary. Both were mentored by J. Gresham Machen. Both were warriors in the same battles. Both wrote books published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company. Yet their writings, their influence, and their gifts were drastically different.

Boettner’s dates were 1901 to 1990 and Van Til’s dates were 1895 to 1987. Both men came to their intellectual and spiritual maturity in the 1920s. It is easy to romanticize that era. Perhaps there were certain virtues still attached to the family farm (and both were farm boys), community and church ties, and ice cream being made on the front porch on a Sunday afternoon. But however calm and secure life was in middle America, inside the power structures of the Presbyterian church, war was being waged over the essential truth of Christianity. In short, the Protestant and Calvinistic theology that had built and sustained Presbyterianism was undercut by theological liberals who, in their hearts, denied the creeds and confessions of the church. In the middle of this battle was a large group of moderates whose love of truth was only exceeded by a love of unity (sarcasm intended). Historic Calvinism did not implode upon its own logic as Oliver Wendell Holmes’s poem “The One Hoss Shay” had said. Instead, it was shown the door and exiled from the churches and institutions it had founded.

Christian theology in America entered a dark age. This great depression exceeded the later one that was merely economic. Richard Niebuhr rightly described the preaching of theological liberalism as “a God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” The grand old architectural structures, meaning the down town churches, became the sepulchers of a dead theology.

But Reformed theology has never depended upon architecture, bureaucratic institutions, governing boards, the favored nods of state, or ebb and flow of intellectual trends. Scripture has always been the Calvinist’s true cathedral, and God has always graciously raised up those who worshiped in Spirit and truth.

Loraine Boettner and Cornelius Van Til were teachers to a remnant, to a core group, to a faithful few, and in time, God has blessed their ministries.


Boettner's Ministry

Boettner began publishing his books in the 1930s. Van Til slowly began putting his lectures into print in the 1940s. It is doubtful that either man or their publisher ever saw any financial gain on their writings. Any chance of a profit was offset by the tendency both had to give away or sell at discounted prices their works.

Their benchmarks of success would not come until around the 1980s. That was thirty to forty years after their books hit the shelves. Many best sellers came and went during those decades. Many authors enjoyed lots of fame and influence. Yet, I doubt that any two authors were ultimately more important than these two.

In short, Boettner taught his readers how to believe and Van Til taught his students how to think. Boettner wrote in a plain simple style with numerous Scripture references, abundant quotations from theologians, and unadorned, unapologetic Calvinistic doctrine. He synthesized the Princeton tradition, adding little in the way of original exegesis or insight, and taught a Calvinistic soteriology and a Postmillennial eschatology.

His major book was The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. The book began with a defense of Scripture and the Sovereignty of God. From there he tackled the Five Points of Calvinism, point by point, verse by verse, precept upon precept, leaving no Calvinistic stone unturned. The next section of the book answered the common objections to Calvinism. Then for good measure, he devoted one of the last sections to the history of Calvinism.

Anyone who became familiar with Calvinism through this book also became much more familiar with the Bible. Boettner both printed and referenced numerous texts to buttress each point he made. The reader also became familiar with the “who’s who” of Reformed theology. Of course, Calvin himself was quoted, as was the Westminster Confession of Faith. But other theologians, such as Benjamin B. Warfield, Charles Hodge, R. L. Dabney, Abraham Kuyper, J. Gresham Machen, and Louis Berkhof were among the key thinkers that Boettner referenced.

For many of us, books like Boettner’s Reformed Doctrine came into our lives after we had been saved. Few of us were self-consciously Arminians. Many of us first reacted to Boettner’s gentle persuasion with much hostility. In time, the trickle of Bible verses became a tidal wave, and the arguments we hastily erected against Calvinism came crashing down. The dawning in our hearts of a knowledge of the sovereignty of God was a grand experience.

Likewise, Boettner’s treatment of history opened the door for more study. Boettner’s coverage of Calvinistic influences in history is poorly documented at points, occasionally totally incorrect, and sometimes a bit inflated. He was blazing a trail, not smoothing a road. Others have built upon and improved his labors.

Van Til's Work

Boettner wrote well and communicated his position effectively. In contrast, Cornelius Van Til is not remembered for either writing or communication skills. Basically, Van Til’s thought is a cluster of ideas centering around the concept of presupposing the truth of the Triune God as revealed in Scripture. This basic idea, referred to as Presuppositional Apologetics, became the center of Van Til’s defense of Christianity against all its opponents. All thought, all truth, all predication (to use a Van Til term) presupposes the true God or stands in rebellion to Him. Hence Christianity applies to all areas of life. Hence no area of life and thought is neutral. Hence unbelievers know, but suppress the truth of God in everything. Hence every fact is a God-created, God-centered, God-interpreted fact.

Van Til’s defense of the faith established an epistemological foundation that opened the door to lots of ‘therefores.’ It has been the ongoing homework assignment of Van Til’s students and readers to flesh out those ‘therefores’ and make the application of God-centered thinking to all areas of life.

Van Til wrote lots of books. The depth of his thought is substantial, but the breadth of it was limited. His books are repetitive, rambling, disorderly, and quite difficult at points. Apparently, his teaching style was much the same. But what raised him to great heights was his recurring assertions of the presuppositional nature of Christian thought. Adding images to the ideas were a series of powerful illustrations that Van Til repeatedly used to describe his concepts. So presuppositions were like the flame throwers that reached inside the pill box fortifications of modern thought. So modern man depending on his humanistic assertions was like a man of water drowning in the water trying to make a rope out of water to save himself. So the unbeliever was like a blind man in a dark room looking for black cat that was not there.

Reformations occur at the sovereign pleasure of God. He uses means, people, and places according to the His own purpose. Within the realm of the means at God’s disposal, certain patterns recur. Reformation begins in the readings, writing, and prayers, or in other words, scholarly labors, of godly men. Historian Harbison Harrison commented on this in regard to the scholars of the Protestant Reformation. He wrote, “The Protestant Reformation began in a scholar’s insight into the meaning of Scripture. It was to a large extent a learned movement, a thing of professors and students, a scholars’ revolution.” Luther, Calvin, and others in their learned company were not the first. Ezra 7:10 tells us “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” It was Ezra’s detailed Bible study that provided for the teachings that impacted the remnant of Israel described in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah. To the degree that we are witnessing either a modern reformation or the precursors of modern reformation, credit goes to such men of God as Boettner and Van Til.

Very simply summarized, here is what Boettner accomplished:

First, Boettner caused readers to re-examine and carefully study the Scriptures. For me personally, I learned how to study the Bible from his book Studies in Theology. Reading Boettner never pulled the reader away from the Bible, but rather grounded him in it. Second, Boettner compared his writing to a bouquet of flowers collected from the garden. By this, he meant that he had simply gathered the insights of great theologians. He did what good teachers always do: teach great insights with clarity and continually point the students to sources for yet more insights. So personal libraries that began with a Boettner book soon grew to include books by the key names in Reformed theological history. Third, through this method, Boettner caused Christian men to love reading good books of theology. No doubt there really are dry, dusty theological tomes, but superceding those works are the great Calvinistic works that still surge with a love of God and truth and conviction of Scripture and Reformed teachings. Fourth, Boettner impressed upon his readers the importance of studying church history. Perhaps more than any other theological tradition, Calvinism honors the past. A Calvinist who does not love history, if such exists, is an oxymoron. And due to Boettner’s brief survey of Calvinism in history, many of his readers have fleshed out the details and built upon his summary.

Finally, Boettner awakened many to the splendor of the sovereignty of God in salvation. When I first saw the title The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, my thought was that predestination surely seemed like an idea that needed reforming and I hoped this lady named Loraine succeeded at changing it. The book not only corrected my understanding of who the author was, but it changed virtually every point of my previously misdirected theological compass.

Van Til's Contribution

While Boettner taught many of us how to rightly believe in the Sovereign Triune God, Van Til taught us how to think in terms of that belief. Harry Blamires began his book The Christian Mind by bemoaning the loss of Christian thought. For many of us, since we never had a Christian mind, we never realized what was lost. The Bible was believed in the heart, but academic subjects were thought out in the mind, or so we thought. Faith was to be applied internally; reason externally. And of course, most of the subjects, except maybe the evolution chapter of biology, were neutral. Then came Van Til. Central to Van Til’s contribution to thought was his insistence that no area of life, no fact, no belief is neutral.

Not only did Van Til provide answers and approaches to modern views opposing Christianity, he also gave confidence. Van Til never looked to archeology or science or psychology to rescue the Bible from its attackers. And Van Til pointedly summarized the culture war of his age and now of ours to the essential issue: “There is no alternative but that of theonomy and autonomy.” So every area of life reduces to war between the Sovereign God who has spoken in Scripture or autonomous man in rebellion against the self-same God. From Van Til’s sketchings, the canvases were left for others to apply the paint of God’s Word to education, family life, counseling, politics, and the culture.

While Boettner helped foster a love of the sovereignty of God in salvation, Van Til helped expand that love of God’s sovereignty to all areas of life. There is no telling how many men are standing in pulpits these days whose lives and ministries were changed by one or both of these men. There is no telling how many people are sitting in pews today who may or may not know these men, yet have been influenced by those who did know and read them.

In both cases, there are now writers and books that surpass the works of these men in readability and perhaps further insights. You can get better books on the sovereignty of God and Calvinistic theology than Boettner’s and you can find more readable useful books on Christian apologetics and thought than Van Til. Yet those writers and books exist only because they stand on the shoulders of Boettner and Van Til.

(Thanks to Chalcedon Foundation for posting this article on their web-site earlier this year.)