All Articles For Book Reviews

The Reformed Family Worldwide: A Survey of Reformed Churches, Theological Schools, and International Organizations, compiled and edited by Jean-Jacques Bauswein and Lukas Vischer. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999. Pp. xiii + 740. $35 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] Committees on ecumenicity, theological libraries, students of the universality of the Reformed faith, and world travelers will prize this thick book. It is a listing, alphabetically by country (beginning with Albania!), of all the Reformed churches in the world. “Reformed” is stretched to its uttermost limits and then some. The total is 746 church federations. Each denomination is very briefly introduced as...

Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, by Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999. 122 pp. $6.99 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] This small book (it really does fit in one’s pocket) will prove extraordinarily useful to the reading layman and the student of theology, whether seminarian or minister. It consists of a concise description of more than 300 important theological terms. These terms include doctrines, e.g., amillennialism, postmillennialism, and premillennialism; names of many prominent theologians, both ancient and contemporary, e.g., Augustine and Karl Barth; church assemblies, e.g., the Synod of Dort (“biased...

Portraits of Faithful Saints, by Herman Hanko. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1999. Pp. xiii + 450. $32.95 (Hardcover). [Reviewed by Prof. Russell Dykstra.] Portraits of Faithful Saints is a truly fine work about men and women who have played some role in the history of the church of Jesus Christ. The book is comprised of fifty-two chapters on individuals who ought to be (or become) household names in Christian, and especially Reformed homes. Such men as Polycarp, Tertullian, Athanasius, and Augustine are included in the ten chapters on the ancient church. In the medieval period, another ten...

God’s Renaissance Man: The Life and Work of Abraham Kuyper, by James Edward McGoldrick. Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2000. Pp. 320. $18.99 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] Professor McGoldrick’s recent biography of Abraham Kuyper is a welcome addition to the body of such works in English. There are only two other major studies of Kuyper’s life and work in English, Frank Vanden Berg’s Abraham Kuyper and Louis Praamsma’s Let Christ be King: Reflections on the Life and Times of Abraham Kuyper. McGoldrick’s book builds on these two works, although it is a freshstudy of Kuyper from the sources. Both of...

Johannes C. Sikkel: A Pioneer in Social Reform, by R. H. Bremmer. Neerlandia, Alberta, Canada/Pella, Iowa: Inheritance Publications, 1998. 47pp. US$5.90/CAN$6.95 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] The appeal of this small book to the Reformed reader is manifold. It introduces a prominent minister in the reformation in the Netherlands known as the “Doleantie” who is otherwise only a name on several Dutch books gathering dust on the bookshelf. It indicates the extent to which the Doleantie and its preachers were involved in the national life of the Netherlands, particularly politics and labor. And it demonstrates the sharp disagreements among the...

Roundtable: Evangelicals in Conversation with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, by Timothy C. Tennent. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002. Pp. 270. No price given. (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. Robert Decker.] To his credit Dr. Tennent rejects the notion that, “The Christian gospel is … one among many different paths to God. Christianity is ranked side by side with religions such as Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism…” (p. 9). The author believes that Christianity is the only true religion. He is an “Exclusivist.” Tennent does, however, believe that there must be honest, open dialogue with the adherents of the world’s religions. This honest,...

Our Goodly Heritage Preserved, published by the Protestant Reformed Churches in America, 2000. 136 pages, $15.00 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. Russell J. Dykstra.] For a homey and personalized presentation of the Protestant Reformed Churches, the reader is encouraged to pick up Our Goodly Heritage Preserved. It is a commemorative book drawn up in connection with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. The soft-covered book is intended to be a companion volume to the work on the doctrinal history of the PRC, For Thy Truth’s Sake. Our Goodly Heritage Preserved was proposed as a “booklet” which would...

For Thy Truth’s Sake, Herman C. Hanko, Grandville, MI: RFPA, 2000. 541 pages. $39.95 (hard-cover). [Reviewed by Rev. Charles Terpstra.] With a great deal of excitement we heartily welcome and recommend to our readers a beautiful new volume, For Thy Truth’s Sake, published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association. Written by Prof. Herman Hanko, the resident historian from the Protestant Reformed Seminary, this book was commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC) in this year of our Lord 2000. The book records and celebrates the mighty work of Jehovah God in giving, preserving, developing,...

Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope, by Keith A. Mathison. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 1999. Pp. xii + 287. $14.99 (paper). [Reviewed by the editor.] In no way does this volume on eschatology establish post-millennialism as a doctrine of hope. What it does establish is that the doctrine of the last things condemned by the Second Helvetic Confession as “Jewish dreams” is alive and well among reputedly conservative Presbyterian publishers and theologians. The publisher is P&R. The author is a recent graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary. In the main, the book is a cursory explanation of carefully selected texts of...

A Critical and Expository Commentary on the Book of Judges, by Andrew R. Fausset. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1999. Pp. viii-340. $19.99 (cloth). [Reviewed by Prof. Robert Decker.] Here is a fine commentary of the book and era of the Judges. The work is detailed and complete. The exposition is correct for the most part. Ministers and lay persons alike who are looking for good, solid exposition of this book of the Bible will find it in this commentary. The Rev. A. R. Fausset correctly views this period as one during which the Lord chastised His people for their...