A reading plan for the works of Andrew Fuller

I was recently asked by a dear Irish brother for a plan of reading when it came to the works of Andrew Fuller. The following is what I suggested.

 

Without being self-serving, I hope, begin with the Armies of the Lamb. There is nothing like getting into a figure by reading his letters.

 

Then I would suggest his circular letters, those written for the Northants Association, in chronological order. These give you some idea of Fuller the churchman in the midst of connectional links and associational network of friends and fellow pastors.

 

Then read some of his sermons, esp. the ones on the ministry, justification, and soteriological issues.

 

His Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation is his most important controversial work. After it, read his Letters on Sandemanianism.

 

Finally, read his Memoirs of Pearce. What he includes in that work says so much about his piety.

Kirk Wellum on preaching and pastoring

There are a few blogs I read regularly: most of them are listed on my old site of Historia ecclesiastica. One of them is Kirk Wellum’s Redeeming the Time. In part, I read Redeeming the Time because Kirk is a dear friend. But it is also because he has a sharp theological mind that I deeply appreciate. I said a hearty amen, for instance, to this recent post on “Preaching and Beyond” (June 16, 2009).

Win a Free Set of Profiles in Reformed Spirituality at Challies.com

Dr. Haykin serves as co-editor, along with Joel Beeke, of the Reformation Heritage Book series "Profiles in Reformed Spirituality".  The newest volume in the series is by Thabiti Anyabwile and focuses on the piety of Lemuel Haynes.  To promote this volume and the series of which it is a part, Reformation Heritage Books is randomly giving away five free sets today to those who sign up at Challies.com.

This is a great set.  The volumes are multifunctional. That is, they are the perfect, non-intimidating introductions to people, doctrine, and practice of the reformed tradition. They make excellent short readings for stimulating thought and devotion. They are also good for class texts for giving students an affordable entry point into a given person and time period both primary and secondary treatments in one small book.

If you don't win the set, You can order the complete set or individual volumes at Reformation Heritage Books.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Michael Haykin Reviews Iain Murray's Heroes

Dr. Michael Haykin has reviewed the new book Heroes by Iain Murray.

In this new book from a veteran Reformed biographer and historian, Murray looks at the faith, lives, and thought of a number of well-known figures like Jonathan Edwards and Charles H. Spurgeon, as well as some lesser-known persons like Robert Kalley and William Hewitson (both of whom had a tremendous ministry on the island of Madeira among Portuguese Roman Catholics).

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Study Guide of Mahaney's Humility Now Complete

Dr. Haykin has just completed leading a reading circle group through C.J. Mahaney’s Humility: True Greatness.  I had previously posted the study questions for chapters 1 & 2 and for chapters 3-6.  I have just posted the final set of questions for chapters 7-12.  These will be available continually on the Books & Papers page, under Study Guides.

Study Guide for C.J. Mahaney Humility: True Greatness (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, 2005).

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-6

Chapters 7-12

You may purchase the book upon which this study guide is based 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.

Early Registration for AFCBS Conference Ends Sunday at Midnight

Each year the Andrew Fuller Center sponsors a major conference devoted to some aspect of Baptist thought and life.  This year’s conference is scheduled for August 24-25 and has for its theme “Baptist Spirituality:  Historical Perspectives.”  This conference is marked by great speakers, great fellowship, and several free books provided by the graciousness of publishers who sponsor the event.

Featured plenary speakers in 2009 will include: Crawford Gribben, Robert Strivens, Greg Thornbury, Kevin Smith, Tom Nettles, Greg Wills, Gerald Priest, Jason Lee, and Malcolm Yarnell. Other established Baptist History scholars, as well as several Ph.D. students will be presenting papers on the conference theme during the parallel sessions.

Until May 31st, a special rate of $75.00 for regular attendees and $45.00 for students (use code 09303108 when registering) will be available.  You will still be able to register up until the week before the conference, but it will cost $10.00 more.  You can register now by clicking here.  For more information about the conference, including lodging information, click 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.

New Title on Manlys "Soldiers of Christ" Available for Order

Soldiers of Christ:  Selections from the Writings of Basil Manly, Sr. & Basil Manly, Jr. was edited by Southern Seminary professor Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin, in conjunction with Dr. Roger D. Duke and Dr. A. James Fuller.  Soldiers of Christ focuses on the writings on the father and son duo without whom, as current SBTS President R. Albert Mohler, Jr. notes in his Foreward, Southern Seminary would not exist.  This work was published by Founders Press and is available from order now from Reformation Heritage Books. FROM THE BACK COVER:

Basil Manly, Sr. and his son Basil Manly, Jr. played vital roles in shaping a number of the central institutions of the Southern Baptist community in its formative years in the nineteenth century, including the influential Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Undergirding their churchmanship was a vigorous Calvinistic Baptist piety that was expressed in sermons and tracts, hymns and confessional statements, letters and diaries, all of which are represented in this timely volume of selections from their writings. Here we have a wonderful window onto the vista of nineteenth-century Southern Baptist life with all of its glorious strengths as well as its clear failings.

COMMENDATIONS:

"The introductory and biographical essays on the lives of Basil Manly, Sr., and Basil Manly, Jr., as well as the carefully selected collections from their writings found in this volume are wonderful and much-welcomed additions to Baptist studies. I am quite pleased to recommend Soldiers of Christ.” — David S. Dockery, President, Union University

“The publication of these writings is long overdue and is most welcome, and the editors have done their work well.” — Gregory A. Wills, Professor of Church History, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Michael Haykin, James Fuller, and Roger Duke have done us a service by introducing the Manlys to a new generation.” — Nathan Finn, Assistant Professor of Church History, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“A fascinating, moving, and shocking look at piety among Southern Baptists in the middle two-thirds of the nineteenth century.” —Tom J. Nettles, Professor of Historical Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“A superb collection of well-edited primary sources by two of the most formative shapers of Southern Baptist life in the nineteenth century.” —Timothy George, Senior Editor of Christianity Today

FROM THE FOREWARD BY R. ALBERT MOHLER, JR.

"Humanly speaking, the formula is easy: no Manlys, no Southern Seminary. This year, as The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrates its sesquicentennial, our indebtedness to the Manlys of South Carolina is increasingly clear. As an institution, our history is inextricably tied to the lives and ministries of Basil Manly, Sr. and Basil Manly, Jr."

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Published by Founders Press.  240 pages.  Paperback.  2009.

Order here from RHB for $18.00 $12.00 (34% off)

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Warfield on the utter folly of Darwinian evolution

I would venture to assert that the greatest theologian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is B.B. Warfield. As time goes on, I am more and more impressed by him. Here he is on Darwinian evolution—simply brilliant:

"Aimless movement in time will produce an ordered world! You might as well suppose that if you stir up a mass of type with a stick long enough, the letters will be found to have arranged themselves in the order in which they stand on the printed pages of Dante’s Inferno. It will never happen — though you stir for an eternity. And the reason is that such effects do not happen, but are produced only by a cause adequate to them and directed to the end in view. . . . Assuredly, what chance cannot begin to produce in a moment, chance cannot complete the production of in an eternity. . . . What is needed is not time, but cause.”

HT: Fred Zaspel

A new malady: "le Calvinite"

There is undoubtedly a rash of conferences on John Calvin this year (we had our own one at Southern in April), as it is the quincentenary of his birth. The eminent French evangelical theologian and historian Sébastien Fath has noted that there is a term for this passionate interest in Calvin: “Calvinite,” which he identifies as a masculine noun in French and of which the definition runs as follows: “maladie commémorative focalisé sur tout ce qui touche à Jean Calvin. Pic épidémiologique en 2009.”

Well, there is no doubt that 2009 is the crucial year for this "illness"! Though, what a joyous illness it is!

See post here.

But how to translate the word into English? Any suggestions? Calvinomania?

HT: Jeff Walters

Last Week for Early Registration for AFCBS Conference

Each year the Andrew Fuller Center sponsors a major conference devoted to some aspect of Baptist thought and life.  This year’s conference is scheduled for August 24-25 and has for its theme “Baptist Spirituality:  Historical Perspectives.”  This conference is marked by great speakers, great fellowship, and several free books provided by the graciousness of publishers who sponsor the event.

Featured plenary speakers in 2009 will include: Crawford Gribben, Robert Strivens, Greg Thornbury, Kevin Smith, Tom Nettles, Greg Wills, Gerald Priest, Jason Lee, and Malcolm Yarnell. Other established Baptist History scholars, as well as several Ph.D. students will be presenting papers on the conference theme during the parallel sessions.

Until May 31st, a special rate of $75.00 for regular attendees and $45.00 for students (use code 09303108 when registering) will be available.  You will still be able to register up until the week before the conference, but it will cost $10.00 more.  You can register now by clicking here.  For more information about the conference, including lodging information and a schedule of the plenary sessions, click 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.

Living in a Canadian cultural contradiction

What a contradictory culture we live in. Militant about protecting young children from possible sexual abuse and physical harm (there is such a case going on right now in southern Ontario)—and rightly so—but also adamant about the right to slay unborn children—and yes, they are children too—in the womb. It is blatant hypocrisy. Does not such government-condoned slaughter of utterly helpless babes here in Canada undermine any right we have to feel moral superiority to the Nazi regime in their treatment of the Jews or the slaveholders of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? For all our purported concern for the helpless and disenfranchised, is it not sheer hypocrisy when we will not extend that concern to the enwombed?

Audio from Conference on Holy Spirit Now Online

On Saturday, Dr. Michael Haykin led a conference on the Holy Spirit on Saturday on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit at Farmdale Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY.  The MP3s of the conference sessions and Q & A session are below:

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Moody Interview with Haykin on The Christian Lover

Dr. Haykin was recently interviewed on Moody Radio by Paul Butler about his latest book, The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers (published by Reformation Trust).  The complete audio feature is available online here.  The interview lasts about seven and a half minutes.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Discount Registration for 2009 Conference Until May 31st

Each year the Andrew Fuller Center sponsors a major conference devoted to some aspect of Baptist thought and life.  This year's conference is scheduled for August 24-25 and has for its theme "Baptist Spirituality:  Historical Perspectives."  This conference is marked by great speakers, great fellowship, and several free books provided by the graciousness of publishers who sponsor the event.

Featured plenary speakers in 2009 will include: Crawford Gribben, Robert Strivens, Greg Thornbury, Kevin Smith, Tom Nettles, Greg Wills, Gerald Priest, Jason Lee, and Malcolm Yarnell. Other established Baptist History scholars, as well as several Ph.D. students will be presenting papers on the conference theme during the parallel sessions.

Until May 31st, a special rate of $75.00 for regular attendees and $45.00 for students (use code 09303108 when registering) will be available.  You will still be able to register up until the week before the conference, but it will cost $10.00 more.  You can register now by clicking here.  For more information about the conference, including lodging information and a schedule of the plenary sessions, click 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.

New Booklet from Michael Haykin on Current Financial Crisis

The current financial crunch has shaken and rattled the West to a depth that has not been seen since the 1930s. This financial collapse is affecting far more than America. Much of the world has been similarly impacted, with failing banks and the disappearance of financial liquidity. What is God saying in the midst of it? How has God worked during previous crises? Perhaps it is only now that we begin to ask profound questions that many of us tend to ignore in daily life. Why did this happen? What does it all mean? What is God saying in the midst of this financial mess? In whom do we trust? This new booklet from Michael Haykin provides a timely perspective amidst our financial chaos.  Scheduled to be released at the F.I.R.E. Conference in Indianapolis, IN in a couple of weeks, it can be pre-ordered now at a 50% savings from Audubon Press.  That's only $1.99 each.  This offer is good through May 20th.  You can also order by calling toll-free 800-405-3788 M-F 9:00-5:00 CST.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

Free Conference with Dr. Haykin on "The Holy Spirit and Ourselves"

On Saturday, May 16th, Dr. Michael Haykin will lead a morning conference on the Holy Spirit at Farmdale Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY.   This free conference will last from 9 am - Noon (EST).  Conference Sessions are as follows:

  • The Gift of the Holy Spirit
  • The Work of the Holy Spirit
  • The Holy Spirit and the Spiritual Disciplines

For directions to Farmdale Baptist Church, click 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.

Some quotes from Booth's ordination sermon on 2 Cor 4:2

A couple of days ago I mentioned my discovery of an hitherto unknown sermon by Abraham Booth--at least unknown to me. Here are a few quotes from the sermon, which is based on 2 Cor 4:2, in which Booth deals with the manner and aim of preaching: "When I contemplate the Apostle Paul, as the most honoured and useful servant of the Lord Jesus, in spreading the glories of divine grace, I can hardly forbear wishing, like Augustin, to have beheld him in the pulpit; if, thereby, I might form a more correct idea of his doctrine and manner of preaching. Yet such a wish is quite unavailing; and indeed, the gratification of it quite unnecessary. For that incomparable man, in his several epistles, has drawn his own character both as a Christian and as a minister of Christ. In the words of our text, we have the representation of Paul in the pulpit. His grand business is, to manifest the truth."

"Take care, that under pretence of being open and explicit, you do not degenerate into dogmatism, or become personal in your, addresses. In the pulpit, you have to do rather with characters than with persons. You are bound, in faithfulness and in duty, to declare, that drunkards, covetous, self-righteous men, shall not inherit the kingdom of God: but you must not single out any particular person before you; for you will then become ungenerous, and the consequences will be injurious."

"The more you keep the approbation of conscience, and the favour of God, in your eye, the more careful will you be to study your text and to manifest the truth which it contains; that the understanding and the conscience of your hearers may be duly enlightened, feel its authority, and God himself approve your labours. My brother, you have first of all to do with the understanding of your hearers, and as there is a glorious harmony and influence in divine truth, it must certainly operate on the will.

“If you preach the whole counsel of God faithfully, you must expect to be treated by some as an Arminian—if you assert the unchangeableness of salvation for those who, though undeserving, yet believe in Christ, you must expect to be reproached by others as an Antinomian."

Clothing

Clothing is far more important than our “casual” culture would like to admit. Clothing can never be equated with piety (1 Peter 3:3-4), but nor is it negligible, as the New Testament indicates (see 1 Timothy 2:9-10). It reflects inner attitudes. For ministers and pastors, my dear friend Don Whitney has some excellent advice. See his article "Clothing Tips for Ministers" here.

Video Interview with Dr. Haykin about The Advent of Evangelicalism

A video of Dr. Haykin being interviewed at ETS last November about his recent work published by Broadman & Holman Academic, The Advent of Evangelicalism is now available online.

The Advent of Evangelicalism:  Exploring Historical Continuities is a thorough analysis of David Bebbington’s 1989 book, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s which put forth the idea that evangelical religion is the result of transatlantic revival in the 1730s, and that it took a working together attitude toward the Enlightenment rather than a contradictory one. Today, Bebbington’s thesis has gained international acceptance, and scholars from Europe and North America present a review of its primary arguments and conclusions here in The Advent of Evangelicalism (B&H Academic, 2008).

Contributors include: David W. Bebbington, Joel R. Beeke, John Coffey,Timothy George, Crawford Gribben, Michael A. G. Haykin, Paul Helm, D. Bruce Hindmarsh, David Ceri Jones, Thomas S. Kidd, Timothy Larsen, Cameron A. MacKenzie, A. T. B. McGowan, D. Densil Morgan, Ashley Null, Ian J. Shaw, Kenneth J. Stewart, Douglas A. Sweeney, Garry J. Williams, and Brandon G. Withrow.

Posted by Steve Weaver, Research and Administrative Assistant to the Director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin.

On Abraham Booth: new sermon discovered and a pungent quote

Working yesterday on a title for the forthcoming book by Dr. Raymond A. Coppenger, the father of Dr. Mark Coppenger, on Abraham Booth—it will be entitled “A messenger of grace”: A study of the life and thought of Abraham Booth (1734–1806) (Joshua Press, 2009)—I found a hitherto unknown sermon by Booth, an ordination sermon for Dr. John Stanford, who eventually came to the United States. It is a meditation on 2 Corinthians 4:2, and quintessential Booth. He argues that Paul, as one who sought to make known the truth, is a pattern for imitation. There is hope that this new sermon will be included in a future volume of the collected works of Booth, currently being published by Particular Baptist Press—see The Works of Abraham Booth, Volume I. (Springfield, Missouri: Particular Baptist Press, 2006). In the course of this discovery I also came across a remark Booth makes vis-à-vis a quote from his favourite author, John Owen (1616-1683). Booth is speaking about his dislike of the use of the title “Reverend,” a disapprobation common to Baptists of his day, and he quotes Owen quoting Martin Luther (1483-1546): Nunquam periclitatur religio nisi inter Reverendissimos (“Religion is never in any danger except among the most Reverend gentlemen”!). Of course, dangers have arisen from other quarters, but how often in the history of the church has it been ordained ministers who have sought to destroy the very faith they were commissioned to protect. May God enable all who have pledged themselves to be servants of the Word to be faithful to that trust.