Any good books for Christmas?

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mgkortus

Puritan Board Freshman
Did you get any good books for Christmas?

I received:

Here I Stand - Bainton (Im embarrassed to admit I have never read this before)
The Pastor in Prayer - Spurgeon
Married for God - Christopher Ash
Crisis in the Reformed Churches: Essays in Commemoration of the Synod of Dordt - PY De Jong
Preaching With Freshness - Mawhinney
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains - Nicholas Carr
Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
 
No books at all.

This may be because last year my wife got the idea to hack into my wish list at WTSbooks, and bought me much of what was on it. Sadly, my "wish list" there is not really a wish list. It's effectively a list of books I put there to look at but then decided I didn't want.

I'm hard to buy books for. Anything I want I usually get before anyone else can give it to me. There's a long history, too, of my wife discovering rare gems and getting them for me without realizing they were already on my shelves.
 
I bought subscriptions for a couple of journals for myself and purchased a few back issues of The Confessional Presbyterian, including #11 which includes Coldwell and Web's essay on the history of Christmas observance in American Presbyterianism. This has served me well for the extended discussion between several men in our church on the propriety of observing Christmas
 
I received John Daille's "A Treatise on the Right Use of the Fathers." Can't wait to read it as I have been engaging with some Eastern Orthodox types who tend to overly elevate the opinions and teachings of the ECF.
 
I received John Daille's "A Treatise on the Right Use of the Fathers." Can't wait to read it as I have been engaging with some Eastern Orthodox types who tend to overly elevate the opinions and teachings of the ECF.

Which edition/publisher, brother? I looked for that book earlier this year and only found POD editions. I've heard great things about it.
 
I received John Daille's "A Treatise on the Right Use of the Fathers." Can't wait to read it as I have been engaging with some Eastern Orthodox types who tend to overly elevate the opinions and teachings of the ECF.

Which edition/publisher, brother? I looked for that book earlier this year and only found POD editions. I've heard great things about it.

Mine is printed by the University of Michigan press. It is part of their historical reprint series. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1425...F8&qid=1482793918&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65
 
I received John Daille's "A Treatise on the Right Use of the Fathers." Can't wait to read it as I have been engaging with some Eastern Orthodox types who tend to overly elevate the opinions and teachings of the ECF.

Which edition/publisher, brother? I looked for that book earlier this year and only found POD editions. I've heard great things about it.

Mine is printed by the University of Michigan press. It is part of their historical reprint series. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1425...F8&qid=1482793918&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

Excellent, thank you!
 
A short Cliff's Notes version of Daille:

Those Writings which we have of the Early Church Fathers of the first Centuries, treat of matters far different from the present Controversies in Religion

Those Writings which bear the names of the ancient Early Church Fathers, are not all really such; but a great portion of them supposititious and forged, either long since or at later periods

The Writings of the Early Church Fathers, which are considered legitimate, have been in many places corrupted by time, ignorance and fraud, pious and malicious, both in the early and later Ages

The Writings of the Early Church Fathers are difficult to be understood, on account of the Languages and Idioms in which they wrote, and the manner of their Writing, which is encumbered with rhetorical flourishes, and logical subtleties, and with terms used in a sense far different from what they now bear

The Early Church Fathers frequently conceal their own private Opinions, and say what they did not believe; either in reporting the Opinion of others, without naming them, as in their Commentaries; or disputing against an Adversary, where they make use of whatever they are able; or accommodating themselves to their Auditory, as may be observed in their Homilies

The Early Church Fathers have not always held the same doctrine; but have changed some of their Opinions, according as their judgment has become matured by study or age

We ought to know what were the Opinions, not of one or more of the Early Church Fathers, but of the whole ancient Church; which is a very difficult matter to discover

It is very difficult to ascertain whether the Opinions of the Early Church Fathers, as to the Controversies of the present day, were received by the Church Universal, or only by some portion of it; this being necessary to be known, before their sentiments can be adopted

It is impossible to know exactly what was the belief of the ancient Church, either Universal or Particular, as to any of those points which are at this day controverted amongst us


THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS ARE NOT OF SUFFICIENT AUTHORITY FOR DECIDING CONTROVERSIES IN RELIGION

The Testimonies given by the Early Church Fathers, on the Doctrines of the Church, are not always true and certain

The Early Church Fathers testify themselves, that they are not to be believed absolutely, and upon their own bare Assertion, in what they declare in matters of Religion

The Early Church Fathers have written in such a manner, as to make it clear that when they wrote they had no intention of being our authorities in matters of Religion; as evinced by examples of their mistakes and oversights

The Early Church Fathers have erred in divers points of Religion; not only singly, but also many of them together

The Early Church Fathers have strongly contradicted one another, and have maintained different Opinions in matters of very great importance

Neither the Church of Rome nor the Protestants acknowledge the Early Church Fathers for their Judges in points of Religion; both of them rejecting such of their Opinions and Practices as are not suited to their taste
 
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Brother Bill, has your experience been with them that they raise up Church Fathers almost on par with scripture, in same vein as Catholic Church does?
 
Brother Bill, has your experience been with them that they raise up Church Fathers almost on par with scripture, in same vein as Catholic Church does?

Not quite as bad. They will confess the supremacy of Scripture, but they will argue that it must be interpreted by the church through the ecumenical councils and the consensus of the fathers. In their system, it is not any particular father, but rather the collective witness of the fathers, that carries the day in matters of interpretation. Of course the trouble is that often the intepretations of the fathers were quite fanciful and frankly disconnected from the context.
 
I mentioned a book I saw that I wanted to one of my daughters and the next thing I know I'm opening a package that contained:

1. "Lectures to My Students" from Spurgeon (the massive Banner of Truth version)
2 The Scottish Puritans 2-volume set from Banner

My girls conspired with my wife to figure out what I'd like. And they succeeded quite nicely, if I may say.
 
A short Cliff's Notes version of Daille:
Thanks AMR...

So would the Church of Rome/Greek church though see them as being more authoritarian then the Reformers did, correct?
Yes, they would indeed given their assignment Scripture and unwritten tradition to be one of the streams of their perceived authority. This is because of their view that unwritten traditions have an authority in this matter equal to that of Scripture, hence they are to be received and venerated with a feeling of piety and reverence similar to that with which the Scriptures are received and venerated. For, to Rome and the East these traditions were assumed to be dictated either orally by Christ or by the Holy Spirit and have been preserved in the their church in continuous succession.

For more see: https://goo.gl/E7BEFE
 
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Thanks AMR again...
So both Church of Rome/Greek would see themselves as part of Apostolic succession line, and thus God would have been giving to them doctrines per those traditions, He was preserving them for them to obey?
And reformers looked upon them as va;luable to use/consult, but to never take doctrines from as sacred like scripture is?
 
Thanks AMR again...
So both Church of Rome/Greek would see themselves as part of Apostolic succession line, and thus God would have been giving to them doctrines per those traditions, He was preserving them for them to obey?
And reformers looked upon them as va;luable to use/consult, but to never take doctrines from as sacred like scripture is?
Exactly so, David.
 
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