# Thomas Schreiner's "Covenant and God's Purpose for the World"



## TheOldCourse (Jan 28, 2018)

Has anyone read it? My church is going to be using it as the text for its Sunday School classes on covenant theology and I was curious if anyone had any exposure to it. I thought it was surprising (to put it mildly) to see a Presbyterian church using a book on CT written by a Baptist who has been associated with New Covenant Theology in the past. I was hoping to find a careful Reformed review of it but all I could find was a mostly positive one from a confessional Baptist.


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## Beezer (Jan 28, 2018)

Chris,

I literally just started it and can't offer anything substantive on it. However, I too echo the surprise in hearing a PCA church is going to use it as the primer for a CT class! If its not too late try and get them to switch to Jonty Rhodes' book "Covenants Made Simple."

Totally separate, but this reminds me of my days in the PCA when I was seriously considering Presbyterianism. I was amazed at how many Baptists there were and I was equally surprised by the dependence on Baptist publishers for Sunday School curriculums, etc. 

At any rate...here's an interview Books at a Glance conducted with Thomas Schreiner on the book, which might give you a better understanding on its scope and emphasis.

Reactions: Like 1


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## TheOldCourse (Jan 28, 2018)

Beezer said:


> Chris,
> 
> I literally just started it and can't offer anything substantive on it. However, I too echo the surprise in hearing a PCA church is going to use it as the primer for a CT class! If its not too late try and get them to switch to Jonty Rhodes' book "Covenants Made Simple."
> 
> ...



Thank you for the interview link, I'll take a look. Your suggestion or Michael Brown's book would make so much more sense. I'm guessing it's too late but I do intend to speak with the session about alternatives.

My experience in the PCA has been similar to yours. It's not the first time my church has used a broadly Reformed Baptist book as a basis for Sunday School but it's the first time they've used one on a topic so near to the core of the disagreement between Baptists and P&R folk. Nothing against Baptists, but I always wonder why (though I have my suspicions), with centuries of exceptional P&R works on theology and practical divinity, so many PCA churches continue to prefer books written by those outside of our confessional standards for instruction of their laity.


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## Stephen L Smith (Jan 28, 2018)

I am pretty sure the author is a New Covenant Theologian. Therefore he would reject key truths in the 1689 Baptist Confession.


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