# Mike Horton



## Mayflower (Oct 25, 2006)

What does you think about the books of Mike Horton ? I have no read any of it yet, but iam curiuos to hear any thoughts or reviews ?


----------



## BobVigneault (Oct 25, 2006)

His books are very readable and on a popular level. You don't have to have a masters degree to follow him. He avoids extremes in treating our ecclesiastical differences. I like him.


----------



## caddy (Oct 25, 2006)

_God of Promise: Introducing COVENANT THEOLOGY_ is very good. Reading it now.


----------



## Devin (Oct 25, 2006)

I've read "Putting Amazing Back Into Grace"

It's an excellent introduction to the doctrines of grace with a very, very readable style. I think it's a great book to give your neighbor when they ask what Calvinism is and why we're passionate about it.


----------



## Mayflower (Oct 25, 2006)

caddy said:


> _God of Promise: Introducing COVENANT THEOLOGY_ is very good. Reading it now.



What does this book makes so different than other books on covenant theology ? I heard that God of promise is gonne be a serie of more volumes to come.


----------



## Mayflower (Oct 25, 2006)

What about :

- A better way ?
- In the face of God ?


----------



## Blueridge Believer (Oct 25, 2006)

He has a program on the internet called the White Horse Inn thats pretty good. Kim Riddlebarger is on there a lot.


----------



## RamistThomist (Oct 25, 2006)

He is probably the best popular communicator of the Reformed faith today. I don't buy his Two Kingdoms stuff, but I have given away more of his books on Reformed theology to "inquiring calvinists" than any other stuff.


----------



## R. Scott Clark (Oct 25, 2006)

Mike has written more than a dozen books.

He is presently writing a series of academic books using the covenants of redemption, works, andgrace as organizing principles:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Eschatology-Michael-Scott-Horton/dp/0664225012/sr=1-1/qid=1161807256/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9139336-0299364?ie=UTF8&s=books"]Covenant and Eschatology[/ame]

and

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Servant-Michael-Scott-Horton/dp/0664228631/sr=1-2/qid=1161807256/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-9139336-0299364?ie=UTF8&s=books"]Lord and Servant[/ame]

and there are two more to come. The next vol. contains a brilliant and devastating critique of the NPP among other things.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/God-Promise-Introducing-Covenant-Theology/dp/0801012899"]




[/ame] is a semi-popular work boiling down some of his work in the academic volumes.

Mike is quite worth reading. I've learned as much from him and Darryl Hart as from any other folks in recent years. 

The White Horse Inn is a national radio broadcast over most of the Salem stations in the USA and available internationally on the web. Ralph, I hope you'll listen. 

Mike is also editor-in-chief of _Modern Reformation_ magazine which appears 6 times a year.

On top of all that Mike teaches full-time at Westminster Seminary California and is a minister in the United Reformed Churches (a break away federation rooted in the CRC - GKN) a husband and the father of 4 children.

rsc



Mayflower said:


> What does you think about the books of Mike Horton ? I have no read any of it yet, but iam curiuos to hear any thoughts or reviews ?


----------



## caddy (Oct 25, 2006)

I have absolutely no idea what makes it different. This is actually the 1st book I have ever read on C.T.



Mayflower said:


> What does this book makes so different than other books on covenant theology ? I heard that God of promise is gonne be a serie of more volumes to come.


----------



## R. Scott Clark (Oct 25, 2006)

Unlike most modern (20th century) books on covenant theology, Horton begins with the premise that the traditional 3 covenant view is correct and goes on to show that a considerable body of modern biblical scholarship from a variety of points of view (Jewish, papist, secular) support the main lines of his argument.

Most of the other modern introductions to covenant theology begin with the premise that covenant theology needs to be revised along this line (omitting the covenants of works or redemption or making the covenant of grace conditional on obedience or baptismal union/election etc).

rsc



caddy said:


> I have absolutely no idea what makes it different. This is actually the 1st book I have ever read on C.T.


----------



## InwooJLee (Oct 25, 2006)

The White Horse Inn broadcast and Horton's books were like my grandmother who took care of me when my parents (a toxic church, but pretending not to be) were gone for a very long time. 

WHI and the books guided and convicted me (and many many others) through Scripture to get out of that toxic church peaceably and into somewhere where the Word was rightly preached and the sacraments rightly adminstered, and where there was a healthy concern and practice of church discipline (pg. 142 in _[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Where-World-Church-Christian-Culture/dp/0875525652/sr=8-1/qid=1161834605/ref=sr_1_1/104-5072540-2633521?ie=UTF8&s=books"]Where In The World Is the Church?[/ame]_). I love the White Horse Inn.

I don't think the analogy works in the end, but you get the point: cookie crumbs?, eh to a lot of others not grown up in the Reformed Church, points to gold. 

Also, there's a "WHI" Prison can you believe that? this is awesome:
"One of the things over the years that really struck me is how many letters we get from prisoners. We will hear sometimes pastors with very good academic credentials say, 'your program is very intellectual, it's not very evangelistic, your not really reaching out to non-Christians your kind of on a head trip and people cannot really understand the topics you guys keep bringing up.' Then, we would get letters from prisoners who could barely write legibly telling us that--and you could almost see the tears running down their face-- that it changed their life...."--Horton Introduction to the White Horse Inn broadcast.


----------



## Semper Fidelis (Oct 26, 2006)

R. Scott Clark said:


> On top of all that Mike teaches full-time at Westminster Seminary California and is a minister in the United Reformed Churches (a break away federation rooted in the CRC - GKN) a husband and the father of 4 children.
> 
> rsc


You neglected to mention that 3 of his 4 childen are TRIPLETS.

Yikes!

His son James and my son James are the same age. I'm told by a common friend that they look alike.

I have nothing but great feelings for the man. He is very intelligent, a great ambassador of the Reformed faith, and I've always looked forward to his articles in _Modern Reformation_ over the 8 years I have subscribed. His _White Horse Inn_ is a great blessing as well.

In the Fall of 2002, I contacted Mike while stationed in Camp Pendleton and he was gracious enough to visit me aboard the base and have lunch with me and a fellow Reformed believer. A very gracious and humble man in person.


----------



## Me Died Blue (Oct 26, 2006)

He's probably my favorite popular theologian of our day. When encountering Reformed theology, I had already studied the doctrines of grace, providence, basic Covenant Theology and even some worship before I found out about him. But he was the one who really gave me a comprehensive picture of Reformed _spirituality_, and how all those doctrines really come together in my own relationship with God, as well as how that relationship is essentially inseparable from the communal spirituality of the visible Church.

Actually Ralph, it was _In the Face of God_ that first made all of that clear to me. Being the first book of his I read, it goes into the nature of spirituality, just what that even means, the biblical place of objective and subjective grace (and how the latter is twisted at the expense of the former), the nature of salvation and how the Cross informs the rest of our spiritual lives, the relation of our spiritual lives to our lives and callings in the world (and the false dualism of the two that is often emphasized today), the place of the Church and the true worship of God, and the Word and sacraments as means of grace, with a definite note given to how the latter are almost completely neglected and misunderstood today. Many of the hyper-subjective, moment-driven tendencies he critiques along the way have definite resemblances to ancient Gnosticism, but far from being the central focus of the book, some analysis of Gnostic thought and practice simply serves as an accompaniment to further understand the root problems of much of today's evangelical mindset and way of life. I've talked about _In the Face of God_ in several past threads as well. I think it is one of Horton's most under-read books, for some reason - yet one of the most beneficial. So I was glad when he actually talked about that one longer than any of his other books in this interview. I couldn't recommend the book highly enough.

Also, I'm currently reading through his _God of Promise_ as well, and one of the elements distinguishing it from most other contemporary introductions to Covenant Theology is his use of the Ancient Near East treaties and grants to help clarify the central and important biblical concepts. But it is just that - clarification; he does not in the least use any of them as a replacement for Scriptural foundation and derivation. Overall, that unique element of his work (building upon Kline and others) has already helped me significantly in further confirming and sharpening my understanding of the covenantal framework of Scripture.


----------



## dannyhyde (Oct 26, 2006)

Me Died Blue said:


> Actually Ralph, it was _In the Face of God_ that first made all of that clear to me.



This was the book of Dr. Horton's that really brought my wife into the Reformed Church. We both came out of Pentecostalism, but for my wife, the issues of music style, having a relationship with Christ, having authentic emotions, etc., where things she needed to wrestle with and reconcile with her own faith and that of our Faith. _In the Face of God was so clear to her, that she taught through the book with a group of women, many of whom were struggling as well, and all of whom are now Reformed._


----------



## caddy (Oct 26, 2006)

^^^

This sounds familiar. Raised Methodist, Married in and attended a Pentecostal Church right out of H.S.., Moved on to an Independent Baptist Chuch, then to a SBC Church. I continue to pray, given where R.Theology has brought me in the last few years, if I can continue here.


----------

