A beautiful new, and gently updated edition of Charnock's magnum opus, "The Existence and Attributes of God."

Regi Addictissimus

Completely sold out to the King
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Puritan expert Mark Jones took on the monumental task of gently updating Charnock's massive volume to make it accessible to modern readers. It is beautifully executed. My friends at Crossway gave me the first set outside of their staff copies a few weeks ago. I am immensely enjoying this edition.

Product description:

A Classic Work on the Nature of God by Stephen Charnock
Stephen Charnock was a highly regarded seventeenth-century English Puritan theologian whose writings have continued to influence the church for centuries. He is known for his sophisticated approach to topics such as the existence and attributes of God, the person and work of Christ, and the doctrine of sin.
This two-volume set, edited by Mark Jones, contains an updated and unabridged edition of Charnock's classic work, Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God, written to instruct and encourage Christian pastors, theologians, and laypeople. Jones precedes each discourse with an introductory summary that explains Charnock’s general approach. In this clear, modernized presentation of this classic work, readers will experience his skillful exegesis, his influential way with words, his insight into human nature, his concern with the practical implications of who God is, and his Christ-focused approach to theology.
  • Modernized Language: Archaic punctuation, words, and phrases have been updated for the modern reader
  • Updated Bibliographic Information: In the footnotes, Charnock’s sources have been located and updated with fuller bibliographic information, showing how widely read he was
  • Chapter Summaries: Each discourse begins with a summary of the chapter to follow
  • Extensive: Covers Charnock’s defense of God’s existence and 11 attributes of God
  • Includes In-Depth Chapter on the Life of Stephen Charnock by William Symington
Pre-order here for $68, normally $120: Click Here


 
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Puritan expert Mark Jones took on the monumental task of gently updating Charnock's massive volume to make it accessible to modern readers. It is beautifully executed. My friends at Crossway gave me the first set outside of their staff copies a few weeks ago. I am immensely enjoying this edition.

Product description:

A Classic Work on the Nature of God by Stephen Charnock
Stephen Charnock was a highly regarded seventeenth-century English Puritan theologian whose writings have continued to influence the church for centuries. He is known for his sophisticated approach to topics such as the existence and attributes of God, the person and work of Christ, and the doctrine of sin.
This two-volume set, edited by Mark Jones, contains an updated and unabridged edition of Charnock's classic work, Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God, written to instruct and encourage Christian pastors, theologians, and laypeople. Jones precedes each discourse with an introductory summary that explains Charnock’s general approach. In this clear, modernized presentation of this classic work, readers will experience his skillful exegesis, his influential way with words, his insight into human nature, his concern with the practical implications of who God is, and his Christ-focused approach to theology.
  • Modernized Language: Archaic punctuation, words, and phrases have been updated for the modern reader
  • Updated Bibliographic Information: In the footnotes, Charnock’s sources have been located and updated with fuller bibliographic information, showing how widely read he was
  • Chapter Summaries: Each discourse begins with a summary of the chapter to follow
  • Extensive: Covers Charnock’s defense of God’s existence and 11 attributes of God
  • Includes In-Depth Chapter on the Life of Stephen Charnock by William Symington
Pre-order here for $68, normally $120: Click Here


I don't see the option to pre-order, just add to wishlist.
 
Somewhat off topic, every time I go to the heritagebooks website, I see an odd, html-like design that is not user friendly. Does anyone else have this experience, or am I missing something?
 
Somewhat off topic, every time I go to the heritagebooks website, I see an odd, html-like design that is not user friendly. Does anyone else have this experience, or am I missing something?
Can you take a screenshot? What browser are you using?
 
Somewhat off topic, every time I go to the heritagebooks website, I see an odd, html-like design that is not user friendly. Does anyone else have this experience, or am I missing something?
Related: I am leading a website re-design effort to make it more user friendly.. It should go live later next year.
 
Same here, wishlist only. May be cached at the CDN level?

Also, any screenshots of a standard page of text? Interested in seeing how it compares to the older Baker "wall of text" hardcover.
 
Jim,

Does this help?


Scroll to the right for a couple of page samples. RHB's price is better though.
 
Puritan expert Mark Jones took on the monumental task of gently updating Charnock's massive volume to make it accessible to modern readers. It is beautifully executed. My friends at Crossway gave me the first set outside of their staff copies a few weeks ago. I am immensely enjoying this edition.
I tend to dislike it when they "gently update the text to make it accessible to modern readers."
I hope they at least retained the original phrasing in the footnotes.

Banner did something similar with their "fresh translations" of Calvin's sermons.
Comparing Golding's translation of *Galatians* by Old Paths Publications to that of Banner's yields some pretty interesting readings in a few places.

I'll have to find the example I wrote down a few years ago...

Blessings!
 
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Banner did something similar with their "fresh translations" of Calvin's sermons.
Comparing Beveridge's translation of Ephesians by Old Paths Publications to that of Banner's yields some pretty interesting readings in a few places.

Of Calvin's sermons, Beveridge only translated "Four Sermons on Important Practical Subjects". The Ephesians ones which Old Paths republished were translated by Arthur Golding in 1577. Banner didn't say this was a fresh translation, but "revised...and checked against the original French" in 1973.

I think Golding was an excellent translator but in my opinion he seems to taken a little more literary license than some other translators (has Dr Duguid ever mentioned that translation is hard? ;)). The result is excellent to read to be sure, but the changes Banner made (against the original French) may have been warranted, I don't know.
 
Of Calvin's sermons, Beveridge only translated "Four Sermons on Important Practical Subjects". The Ephesians ones which Old Paths republished were translated by Arthur Golding in 1577. Banner didn't say this was a fresh translation, but "revised...and checked against the original French" in 1973.

I think Golding was an excellent translator but in my opinion he seems to taken a little more literary license than some other translators (has Dr Duguid ever mentioned that translation is hard? ;)). The result is excellent to read to be sure, but the changes Banner made (against the original French) may have been warranted, I don't know.
You're right...it was Golding...*fixed*
I'll have to find my notes and share the passage(s) I'm talking about sometime...perhaps in another thread.

Thanks and blessings...
 
I tend to dislike it when they "gently update the text to make it accessible to modern readers."
I hope they at least retained the original phrasing in the footnotes.

Banner did something similar with their "fresh translations" of Calvin's sermons.
Comparing Golding's translation of Ephesians by Old Paths Publications to that of Banner's yields some pretty interesting readings in a few places.

I'll have to find the example I wrote down a few years ago...

Blessings!
I too would rather have the original text as it was. Than again, I like facsimile editions with the archaic type and spelling. Looking at some editions on Internet Archive I cannot see why Mark Jones would've gone to all the trouble and labor of even a light update.

I just finished Issac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, and have the past couple of weeks been reading Gurnell's The Christian In Complete Armour. I love the quaint (to me) way these authors express themselves in the language that was current in their time of life.

Exchanging 'has' for 'hath', and such like, may be more accessible to the average reader not well versed in the writings of the Puritan era, but would such a person even approach something like Charnock's magnum opus ? I'm glad they published such a nicely done new edition, and I may get it in spite of the update ... and I may even like it better than if it had been left sans update. Stranger things have happened. :scratch:
 
I can never understand the negativity towards modernizing Puritan works. It is not as if you lose out on the original when these modern ones come out. And let every work of modernization be assessed by itself; rather than discounting the whole endeavour altogether.

Let us rejoice in the opening of the gates to the old paths. And let Crossway or other publishers worry if it is a good business endeavour or not.

I myself purchased it (on Logos at a good pre-release price) because having both and seeing any interesting variances between modern and old, and any footnotes, would help me dig deep into this precious work.
 
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I understand the concerns about updating the text. In my estimation, we should celebrate that a publisher with as much distribution as Crossway is turning their attention to the Puritans, especially a seminal work such as Charnock's. Plus, Mark Jones is no slouch regarding the Puritans and shares the same concern as each of you. Jones has been critical of editors taking liberty with Puritan works, so I trust he was very evenhanded with his approach.

Ultimately, this makes this critical work available and more accessible to those intimidated by the antiquated language. I welcome this release with eagerness and excitement.
 
Pre-ordered a couple of days ago. Very much looking forward to it.

Years ago, I had the Baker 2-volume reprint - in purple hardbacks!
 

60. And looks like the demand is so high there is a reprint set for next year
 
Finally got me :doh: Just what I need, another 2191 pages on the shelf to delve into.

I was concerned with the weight of the 'light update' and wanted to see examples of the text. Amazon has the 'look inside' feature and I was able to see Mark Jones' explanation of exactly what his edit consists of, and further along some of the author's text. The editor translating the frequent Latin, 'Chaldee', and Greek withing the text is a blessing to me, and the text 'sounds' as a Puritan of the time is supposed to as far as I could see.
So here we are .... if the Lord wills I may read half of what I have on my shelves ... and if not it won't be for lack of trying. I went to Reformation Heritage Books where it is in stock for a few bucks more than WTS. :graduate:
https://www.amazon.com/Existence-Attributes-God-set-Unabridged-ebook/dp/B09SBQDDSV
 
Christian Focus' Christian Heritage imprint is an excellent example of how to update classic works. They split the text up into lots of subsections with new headings and maybe touch up some of the punctuation. But they leave the text itself pretty much intact, and very importantly they don't change the Scripture quotations.
 
We bought the remaining inventory from Crossway last week because we sold quickly through the original order. We should have it until the next print run.
 
Just finished Discourse 5 on The Eternity of God (skipped to this as it is what I am teachign on currently) - absolutely excellent.

I was very impressed by the speed of shipping, packaging, and the quality of the books themselves. These are high value items for the price and worth every penny.

The text is very well typeset and easy to read. The footnotes are very helpful (wish there were more but I'm a footnote junky and I am sure those are time-consuming to generate).

Charnock's writing is beautiful. Maybe a poor analogy but if Turretin might be compared to math or logic, Charnock is prose or poetry. His content is similar to what I have read in other systematics on the topic but the way he says it is just masterful. At times it would take me an hour to get through only a couple pages because his statements got me lost in thought (a good thing).

If the other discourses are similar, I can highly recommend the work and this particular version. At $70, its a "must" for Doctrine of God enthusiasts.
 
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