Today I wanted to draw your attention to a few notable books…but books I have not had opportunity to read or review in full.
Reformation Heroes
Reformation Heroes: A Simple, Illustrated Overview of People Who Assisted in the Great Work of the Reformation.
This is a beautiful, hardcover, coffee table book that provides an overview of many of the heroes of the Reformation. It is written by Joel Beeke and Diana Kleyn and targeted at older children and teenagers. The book has many illustrations, some of which are old drawings and etchings and many of which are originals created by Caffy Whitney. It is published by Reformation Heritage Books. It is probably just a little too advanced for my children right now, but I do look forward to reading it to them when they are old enough to understand and enjoy it. It’s well worth the purchase price of $18. You can find it at Reformation Heritage Books.
Pocket Puritans
Pocket Puritans is a new series of books published by Banner of Truth. They are small books (easily pocket-sized) and thin ones, with the largest weighing in at just 120 pages. Each deals with a particular topic by excerpting the writings of a particular Puritan. The first four in the series feature Jonathan Edwards on heaven, John Flavel on lust, Richard Baxter on anger management and Samuel Ward on faith. They are just $6 each and are ideal for quick reading, for an introduction to Puritan writing, or for placing on a resource table at the back of church. I understand that there are many more of them coming in the days ahead, so these four are only the beginning of the series. Check banneroftruth.org for details.
The Quotable Oswald Chambers
The Quotable Oswald Chambers is pretty well what you’d expect from the title—a collection of quotes from Chambers. The collection is compiled and collected by David McCasland who authored Abandoned to God, a biography of Chambers. As with any book of this type, the ability to find quotes is almost as important as the quotes themselves. In this case the quotes are arranged topically and there are both Scripture and subject indexes. Of course you can also flip to any page and, in all likelihood, find something of value. Case in point, I flipped to page 122 and found this, on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit: “Beware of the ‘show business’—‘I want to be baptized with the Holy Ghost so that I may do wonderful works.’ God never allows anyone to do wonderful works: He does them, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost prevents my seeing them in order to glory in them.” And on page 250, looking at solemnity, this: “Reverence and solemnity are not the same. Solemnity is often nothing more than a religious dress on a worldly spirit.”
As a bonus to those who use Logos on their computers, the book includes a CD-ROM containing the complete searchable text of the book in Libronix format.
Heirs with Christ
The Puritans have gotten bad press for their supposed lack of teaching on the doctrine of spiritual adoption. Affronted by the maligning of his Puritan heroes, Joel Beeke has set out to prove that they had much to say about this important doctrine. The result is the newly-published Heirs With Christ: The Puritans on Adoption. It is a 134-page hardcover that sets the record straight, giving not only examples of Puritans who did teach about adoption but sharing the substance of that teaching. It’s another one you can find at Reformation Heritage Books.
