From the infinity of timeAnd reality’s sturdy fabric, Your inconsequential eros Is seen as gossamer-thin: O for an Eros transcendent, Giving reasoned passion, and That fair City—firm and holy— The home of all true saints.
Michael A.G. Haykin©2009.
Christianus sum
The statement is simple and has come from the lips of uneducated and scholar, Oriental and Occidental, wealthy and disenfranchised, African and European, male and female, adult and child—and it is the most important confession a human being in this age can make. It is a sentence that has come in the security of being surrounded by friend and family. But it is also a declaration that has been made in the midst of foes, hungry for the speaker’s death.
It is a statement that moves heaven to joy and stirs hell to anger and hate.
It is simply this: Christianos eimi. Christianus sum. I am a Christian.
Oh, I am very biased: but I can conceive of no greater statement of identity that I could make. My whole being, what I am and what I have is bound up with these three English words (or two Greek or Latin words!).
On these words hang the whole future of the one who speaks them. And with the millions in the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant I am happy to let my soul rest there as well.
Remembering John Calvin Conference on April 15th
(Click image to enlarge.)
Location: Legacy Center 303 on the campus of Southern Seminary
This mini-conference celebrating the 500 year anniversary of John Calvin’s birth will be held on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 from 9am - Noon. There will be three lectures by Dr. Shawn Wright, Dr. David Puckett, and Dr. Michael Haykin focusing on various aspects of Calvin’s life and thought.
- Dr. Wright will speak on “John Calvin: Pastor.”
- Dr. Puckett will speak on “John Calvin: Preacher and Teacher.”
- Dr. Haykin will speak on “John Calvin: Missionary Advocate.”
No Registration Required!
FREE BOOKS! The first 50 in attendance will receive complimentary copies of John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God by John Piper and The Soul of Life: The Piety of John Calvin edited by Joel Beeke. We will also randomly give away several copies of Steven Lawson’s The Expository Genuis of John Calvin.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
Anne Steele's hymnody
Why do we plead for the retention—yea, more, the prizing—of the hymnal heritage of the past? Why simply because some of these old hymns say things so powerfully that their disappearance from ecclesial memory would be such a great loss. In this light, consider this hymn from the pen of Anne Steele (1717-1778). It has her characteristic “watermark”—Christian profundity yoked to introspection and hesitancy—and a powerful conclusion that moves the modern heart as deeply as any subjectivity of the eighteenth century.
Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell In thy atoning blood! By this are sinners snatch’d from hell, And rebels brought to God.
Jesus, my soul, adoring bends To love so full, so free; And may I hope that love extends Its sacred power to me?
What glad return can I impart, For favours so divine? O take my all, this worthless heart, And make it only thine.
Dr. Haykin Reviews W.H. Whitsitt: The Man and the Controversy by James Slatton
A new biography of Southern Seminary's third president has just been released from Mercer University Press. Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin here provides his review of the book and his response to the startling revelations it provides about W.H. Whitsitt, the man.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
New Book on Charles Darwin's Religious Views
Joshua Press has recently released David Herbert's Charles Darwin's Religious Views: From Creationist to Evolutionist. This book is a spiritual biography that focuses primarily on the religious experiences of Charles Darwin’s life. Its intent is to demonstrate how Darwin’s rejection of the Bible led him to adopt the naturalistic assumptions that were foundational to his belief in evolutionism. Well-researched and written in an engaging style, Dr. Herbert brings to life the spiritual journey of one of history’s most controversial figures.
Derek Thomas, Professor of Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, MS, commends the volume as follows:
A fascinating and important study of Charles Darwin, one of the most significant figures of our time. The book is a tour de force in its analysis of the creation-science debate, as well as an insightful account of the man himself. It includes a careful and cautious study of the so-called 'Lady Hope Tract,' suggesting a deathbed conversion. I highly recommend it, especially for those embarking on scientific study at any level.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
Saying "thank you"
“God is in the details.” How true this is. Think of gratitude, for example. Essential to the fabric of public life and foundation of the family is the simple phrase “thank you.” Without these words gracing our speech, what are we but animals? The most recent issue of The Gospel Witness, a great publication of Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto, has taken for its theme this subject: “The Biblical Basis for Gratitude” (February 2009). There are three good articles—by Allen R. Mickle, Joe Harrod, and Nathan Finn—on the seemingly mundane, but awfully profound, subject of saying “thank you.” Well worth reading!
U2's new album
A few days ago I read a fairly negative review of U2’s new album, No Line on the Horizon. Not sure why I ever heed such without first checking the item in question. My assistant, the "Invaluable Mr. Weaver," played me a couple of songs from the album on Friday last as he drove me to the Louisville airport. I was hooked. I have really liked some of U2 in the past, but this album is tremendous, with some hard-hitting, haunting tunes and memorable lyrics.
“Magnificent,” for example, is stellar and a powerful witness to the electing love of God.
To read a post by Steve Weaver about the new album click here.
A little more on Maria Hope
A quick check has revealed that Maria Hope (1789-1866) was associated with Byrom Street Chapel in Liverpool and among a number of her nephews, there were two called Samuel Pearce Hope and William Carey Hope. She was only 26 when Fuller wrote to her. She must have met Fuller on a trip he took to Liverpool, probably on one of his fund-raising trips for the BMS that kept him away from home for up to a quarter of the year.
Maria Hope--Andrew Fuller's correspondent in his final days
In January 1815, only a few months before the death of Andrew Fuller—when Britain was gearing up for its decisive showdown with the French dictator Napoleon—the Baptist leader decided to answer an enquiry about his life, his early religious impressions and conversion, from “a friend in Liverpool.” That was the very way that I described his correspondent in my The Armies of the Lamb: The spirituality of Andrew Fuller (Joshua Press, 2001), p.75. I had no more information, though, about the person in question. Imagine my delight and amazement when this afternoon—through the help of my good friend Dr Grant Gordon—I was able to identify this correspondent as “Miss Maria Hope” of “Hope Street, Liverpool.” Grant alerted me to a letter of Fuller’s best friend John Ryland Jr., in which Ryland talks about his writing of his friend’s memoir after Fuller’s death. The letter is written to Maria and Ryland talks about the letters that Fuller had written to her.
Wowsers! What a find! I must say: it was incredible to read the letter.
Pastors' rooms?
Here is a fascinating audio slideshow on the BBC site of the studies of writers and poets by Eamonn McCabe entitled Writers’ Rooms. There is an idea here for someone to do Pastors’ Rooms! HT: Justin Taylor
Dr. Michael Haykin Interviewed on the Reformed Forum
Dr. Michael Haykin was recently interviewed by the Christ the Center panel on the Reformed Forum podcast. The focus of the interview was upon the importance of reading and studying the early church fathers. You can access the episode in which Dr. Haykin was interviewed here.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
David Bebbington on Andrew Fuller
I never cease to be amazed at the animosity that some Christians show to the writings of Andrew Fuller. You would think they were reading the works of one of his arch-opponents, the deist Thomas Paine! As for me, I must wholeheartedly agree with the recent evaluation of the eighteenth-century Baptist divine by Dr. David Bebbington, who is convinced of Fuller’s “extraordinary importance in the history of theology” (e-mail to the author, March 11, 2009).
Special Subscription Offer for Eusebeia
The Andrew Fuller Center publishes a semi-annual journal featuring articles and book reviews related to Baptist history and thought. Subscriptions to the journal are available yearly for $30 ($35 international). Payment can be made to “The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.” Please send subscription requests and payment to:
The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2825 Lexington Road Louisville, KY 40280
For a limited time, all who subscribe, following the instructions above, and mention this offer in their correspondence will receive a free copy of Dr. Haykin's A Cloud of Witnesses: Calvinistic Baptists in the 18th Century. This book is a collection of nine biographical sketches with a prologue by the late pastor David Fountain. It relates the story of ongoing faithfulness among eighteenth-century Christians namely Hercules Collins, William Mitchel, Anne Dutton, Abraham Booth, John Ryland Jr, John Thomas, Coxe Feary, Samuel Pearce and John Sutcliff. It also tells of the blessing that came to their communities later in that century. It is a story that will thrill, encourage and challenge the readers.
When we receive your payment and subscription information, we will send out a copy of the most recent issue of Eusebeia (volume 9 on Andrew Fuller) and your free copy of A Cloud of Witnesses. If you are already a subscriber, or already have issue 9, you can simply indicate which issue you would like for your subscription to begin. This way everyone can take advantage of this great offer.
Our next issue (volume 10) will feature articles on the Puritans and will be published in the near future.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
Why Read Andrew Fuller Today?
Dr. Haykin answers this question in a guest blog post on the blog: I Will Build My Church . . . In Ireland. The same article has been posted in pdf format on this site's "Paper" page.
Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.
The Ancient Church Fathers: senior partners in a conversation
I vividly remember a conversation in the early 1990s I had with a person transitioning from Fundamentalism to something further to the left theologically. It was, for me, a defining moment. The topic of the Nicene Creed had been raised and this individual stated that such a document was of no authority in his life since it was written by men and had no divine input. Such a statement then and now strikes me as both arrogant and false. It fails to understand the profound biblical import of the document concerned. Also at one fell swoop, the entire cast of characters in the history of the Church is disposed of and all that matters is the individual’s own mind and his or her Bible. Of course, I know where this person was coming from: nuda Scriptura, which is essentially an exaltation of autonomy at the expense of all tradition that ultimately leads to a radical individualism well-nigh indistinguishable from a Paine or Emerson—well, the individual would have given this caveat, a commitment to biblical authority. Essentially, though, his view was crafted in the same crucible that saw the rise of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons and the entire nineteenth-century reaction against a learned ministry.
The inimitable Victorian Baptist Charles H. Spurgeon, though, well answered this errant position: “It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others.” [Commenting and Commentaries (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1876), 1].
And, if I were to have that discussion today, I would ask the person to ponder these wise words of J.I. Packer: “Tradition--is the fruit of the Spirit’s teaching activity from the ages as God’s people have sought understanding of Scripture. It is not infallible, but neither is it negligible, and we impoverish ourselves if we disregard it. I am bold to say that evangelicals, even those of Anabaptist polity, should be turned by their own belief in the Spirit as the Church’s teacher into men of tradition, and that if we all dialogued with Christian tradition more we should all end up wiser than we are. [“Upholding the Unity of Scripture Today”, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 25 (1982), 414].
How then to read the Ancient Church Fathers in whose era the Nicene Creed was framed? As Evangelicals who adhere to the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura (something quite different from nuda Scriptura), we cannot read them as authorities alongside Holy Scripture. But we cannot utterly discard them either. Rather, just as the Bible admonishes us to honour the aged among us, so we need to consider the Fathers as senior conversation partners in our theological task—as Packer says, “not infallible, but neither…negligible, and we impoverish ourselves if we disregard” them.
Grace Irwin and Margaret Clarkson
I just read in the Vic Report (Winter 2009), 18 that Grace Irwin (1907-2008) has gone to be with the Lord. She died September 16, 2008. After graduating from Victoria College in 1929, she served for 38 years as "a charismatic teacher of classics at Toronto's Humberside Collegiate Institute." In addition to her teaching, she was also an amateur actress into her nineties and an authoress, penning excellent lives of John Newton and Lord Shaftesbury. I distinctly remember reading her fascinating autobiography a few years ago when my family and I vacationed at Port Elgin on Lake Huron.
She also pastored Emmanuel Evangelical Church in Toronto for many years, after retiring from teaching. The church had been founded by H.H. Kent, a student of T.T. Shields (did all the men in those days have the same letters for their Christian names?)--and while I would disagree with her taking on such a role--she leaves behind a tremendous legacy in the city of Toronto.
Her memorial service was taken in part by one of her nephews, the well-known Christian publisher John Irwin, who referred to an occasion when Grace addressed an audience in the University of Toronto’s magnificent Convocation Hall.
“Grace stood at the podium and announced that Erasmus had written long ago what she wished to say to those who now packed Convocation Hall. For several minutes she read, or rather recited from memory, with great expression, Erasmus's Latin preface to the New Testament.”
(HT: SUZANNE'S BOOKSHELF )
For a great picture of Grace Irwin, see http://www.mirror-guardian.com/article/56790.
Also recently deceased is the great hymnwriter, Margaret Clarkson (d. March 17, 2008), aged 93. I still remember hearing her lecture on hymnody at Central Baptist Seminary, where I taught first, in the 1980s.
William Gurnall
If anyone has any leads as to where to find substantial biographical information about the Puritan William Gurnall (beyond the standard biographical dictionaries), would you be so kind as to e-mail me at mhaykin@sbts.edu ? Many thanks in advance for any information.
A study guide for C.J. Mahaney's book on humility
Some friends of my wife and I have started a reading circle in which we intend to read together, over the course of four-month blocks, a book for edification and fellowship. We have begun with C.J. Mahaney’s Humility: True Greatness. I hope to put under the Books & Papers link the study guide we are creating for this book. The first set of questions will be there shortly. I do this in the hope that these questions will encourage others to study about, and long for, this vital virtue.
UPDATE: The study guide for chapters 1-2 of Humility: True Greatness has been posted online on the Books & Papers page, under Study Guides. SW
Dr. Haykin Interviewed on 'Renewing Your Mind'
On today's Renewing Your Mind program, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin was interviewed by John Duncan about his newest book, The Christian Lover, published by Reformation Trust. Listen here (after today you may have to look in the "Audio Archives" for the February 13th program).