BOOK REVIEWS
The continuing journey...
For the background to the series and a survey of the preceding titles see G&T Magazine, Issue 7, page 35
No. 8 - A journey in Revival
No. 9 - A journey in Baptism
No. 10 - A Journey in Roman CatholicismReviewed by Chris Good
8. A Journey in Revival
by Richard P BelcherA 'Revival' comes to the town, headed up by a 'ghost' from Ira's past. With it comes hype and pressure to uncritically embrace the latest move of God's Spirit. Ira however is more wary, and seeks to test the Revival against the Word. He also draws on Jonathan Edwards (a key figure in the first Great Awakening in the 18th Century) who the revivalists are claiming for support. As the movement threatens to sweep all before it, it starts to unravel and its true nature is exposed. Meanwhile a true Biblical concept of revival is established.
9. A Journey in Baptism
by Richard P BelcherThis has been a long-awaited book. The main strength of it is that Ira explicitly refutes the 'to be Baptist is to be Dispensational' stereotype and ably demonstrates that ours is a covenantal/Reformed Baptist position.
Weaknesses of the book:
- The sniper murder plot doesn't integrate with the theology
- The normal 'pursue the truth at all costs' ethos is absent - and a rather out-of-character: 'this issue isn't really that crucial and we can happily disagree' one is in its place. (Could the Ira who fought so hard for a regenerate/pure membership in Journey in Purity really be so coy about similar issues here?)
- The definition of a 'covenant' as essentially a promise including 'curses and blessings' is overstated and implies breakability of the New Covenant. The Noachic & New covenants have no curses and are unbreakable - so these are not 'essential' to the definition of 'covenant' - the definition is too prescriptive. (Malone's book, The Baptism of Disciples Alone, is better here.)
- Overall there is a reasonable comparison of the two positions, but the biggest weakness of the book is that it doesn't present some of the most powerful Reformed Baptist arguments, namely:
- the paedobaptist inconsistency re Lord's Supper (which would actually undermine many of the paedobaptist counter-arguments in the book)
- the complete consistency of the Baptist view with wider Reformed theology (TULIP, the five solas, 'no sacrament without faith', etc.)
- the lack of an exegesis of the unbreakable New Covenant from any of the relevant passages. This is a major oversight as it refutes the paedobaptist 'infant inclusion' assertion which is left pretty much standing I do hope the author didn't leave these out as it would have made it look like one side had 'won' an put off paedobaptist readers - that would be very disappointing.
In the end what we are presented with an evenly balanced argument that is the best paedobaptist argument up against a reasonably good, but not the 'best/strongest' Baptist one. For these reasons the book will not convince most paedobaptist readers to abandon their position. However it will at least effectively demonstrate that we are not dispensational and are closer to them they may have supposed.
10. A Journey in Roman Catholicism
by Richard P BelcherIra finds himself the victim of a smear campaign and is accused of writing a book announcing his conversion to Roman Catholicism. This leads to him studying some the major claims of Rome (such as the authority of the church, the nature of justification, and Mary) against Scripture and history and finds them wanting indeed. Finding the perpetrator of the fraud turns out to be a more of a puzzle though - especially with Dink missing - and their lives may depend on it!
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