Propagate or Perish

May 29, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Evan D. Burns

At the centennial celebration of Adoniram Judson’s arrival in Burma (July 13, 1813), many mission leaders came together to commemorate Judson’s life and labour and to reflect on the missionary impulse that dawned during the nineteenth century. In one interesting address, Rev. H. C. Mabie, D.D., of Boston, traced the influence of evangelical theology upon the missionary movement:

The act of Judson in becoming a Baptist under the circumstances en route to India, was the foremost factor in awakening a body of Christians in America to a denominational and missionary self-consciousness which it had not before known. This action on the part of Judson and Luther Rice, his associate, served also to broaden all Christendom as concerned active endeavours to reach the heathen. These pioneers, together with Judson’s predecessor, William Carey, as seconded by Andrew Fuller, the ripest theologian of his time, stood out as a new type of religionist even among the people whose name they bore. The action thus inaugurated proved not a separatist action, but the addition of a new dynamic to Christendom in the epoch of a hundred years now closed. The combined influence of the men named in England and America was so transforming that every self-respecting evangelical body throughout the world now has its foreign mission work. It only illustrates the fact that Christianity must propagate itself or perish. Life must be lost for the sake of others, if it would be saved. This is the central paradox in Christ’s religion, the law underlying all divine redemption…. They were but simple expositors of apostolic Christianity. They served in Providence to bring the Church back to its normal ideas and passion.[1]

[1]Rev. H. C. Mabie, D.D., “The Baptists in World Relations,” The Judson Centennial Celebrations in Burma: 1813-1913, (Rangoon: American Baptist Mission Press, 1914), 79-80.

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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons. They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.

Andrew Fuller and Antinomianism

May 27, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Nathan A. Finn

In recent months, a debate has been stirring mostly among our conservative Presbyterian friends over antinomianism, or the idea that because believers live under grace God’s moral law should not be considered an appointed means used in our sanctification. Most antinomians are not libertines (a common misperception), but because they downplay the necessity of good works in the life of a Christian, mainstream Reformed believers argue that antinomian views do lead to a stunted understanding of sanctification.

The Reformed version of antinomianism (there are many versions of this particular error) that has often appeared among Calvinists argues against the necessity of the moral law based upon a fatalistic view of predestination and/or a too-sharp distinction between law and gospel. PCA pastor-theologian Mark Jones’s new book Antinomianism retraces the history of Reformed antinomianism and makes some contemporary application. In fact, Jones’s comments about some well-known Calvinist pastors, especially Tullian Tchividjian, have played a key role in bringing the current controversy to a head. You can read more about the dust-up at The Gospel Coalition, Reformation 21, and Tchividjian’s website. For a timely and edifying word that is inspired by this controversy, see Nick Batzig’s excellent blog post “Dangers of Theological Controversy.”

Once upon a time, the English Calvinists Baptists faced their own kerfuffle over antinomianism. Robert Oliver discusses this topic at length in his book History of the English Calvinistic Baptists 1771-1892: From John Gill to C.H. Spurgeon (Banner of Truth, 2006). This issue played a key role in the separation of the Strict and Particular Baptists from the majority Particular Baptist movement during the first half of the eighteenth century. Among Particular Baptists, there was often a connection between antinomianism and High Calvinism, though this wasn’t always the case.

Andrew Fuller wrote against the Reformed version of antinomianism in a posthumously published treatise titled Antinomianism Contrasted with the Religion Taught and Exemplified in the Holy Scriptures (1816). Fuller’s treatise can be found in the second volume of the “Sprinkle Edition” of The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller. Fuller argued that antinomianism is, at root, a species of spiritual selfishness that is concerned more with the spiritual benefits of the faith than a wholehearted devotion to Lord that is evidenced, in part, though the pursuit of ongoing spiritual maturity.

For an excellent introduction to Fuller’s critique of antinomianism, check out Mark Jones’s plenary address on that topic from last fall’s Andrew Fuller Center Conference.

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Nathan A. Finn is associate professor of historical theology and Baptist Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also an elder at First Baptist Church of Durham, NC and a fellow of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies.

“A Supreme Desire to Please Him”

May 22, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Evan D. Burns

In addressing the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Richmond, Adoniram Judson commended the great calling of following Christ on the missionary road. A supreme desire to please God is the great motive for missionary service. This statement captures well the prevailing drive in Judson’s life and labor:

It is of great importance that all who engage in missionary efforts should be influenced by evangelical motives. It is worse than useless to be prompted by ostentation or a love of notoriety. Neither should we enter on this work to assure ourselves of our own personal interest in Christ, though such assurance may be desirable. Neither should the salvation of the heathen be the motive—the primary consideration—though this is unquestionably a legitimate end. What, then, is the prominent, all-constraining impulse that should urge us to make sacrifices in this cause? There is one Being in the universe that unites in himself all the perfections of Deity with all the purest and tenderest of human nature. He has at great expense set up a kingdom in this world. He has set his heart on the enlargement of that kingdom, and is constantly exerting his Divine agency to accomplish that purpose. A supreme desire to please him is the grand motive that should animate Christians in their missionary efforts. And in every concern of life we should often look up to that lovely Being and inquire, “Does this please him?”
When I commenced my labors in India there was not an individual beyond the Ganges that had any idea of a God. Now, in all those extensive regions, the people believe in one Supreme Intelligence. Then there was not an individual that prayed to the Christian’s God. Now there are many lovely churches and hundreds of happy Christians. I mention this, not because the Gospel has not been equally successful in other parts of the world, but because I am better acquainted with that field of missionary labor, and I desired to give you some idea of the success of the Gospel in Eastern Asia.[1]

[1]Middleditch, Burmah’s Great, 384-385.

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Historiae ecclesiasticae collecta: a weekly roundup of blogs, articles, books, and more

May 16, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Dustin Bruce

News of the Tom Nettles retirement from full-time teaching has been making its way around the Internet this week. Check out this Baptist Press article for coverage. Also, see this reflection by John Fea and this list of Nettles’ books from Books-at-a-Glance.

Blogs

On Canon & Culture, a blog of the ERLC, Noah Braymen offers a look at the great John Leyland in a three-part series. Check out part one, “The Life of John Leland: Sinner Saved by Faith Alone,” and part two, “The Life of John Leland: Preacher Evangelist.”
Don’t miss this Baptist history rap written and performed by a SEBTS student and mother of two.
John Fea discusses a new book, Why Church History Matters: An Invitation to Love and Learn from Our Past (InterVarsity Press, July 2014), with the author, Robert Rea of Lincoln Christian University.
Over at The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor highlights a George Marsden lecture on the great Jonathan Edwards.
Taylor also posts an excerpt from Timothy Larsen on “Evangelical Narratives of Declension.”
On Miscellanies, Tony Reinke posts an insightful interview with Mark Jones, “The Nature and Scope of the Atonement in the Calvinist – Arminian Debates (Interview with Mark Jones).”
Matthew Emerson interacts with “Steve Harmom and Baptist Catholicity” on Secundum Scripturas.
On Thoughts of a Pastor-Historian, Steve Weaver posts “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Books and the Preacher.”
Weaver also published a “Letter from C.H. Spurgeon to A.G. Fuller Commending Andrew Fuller.”
On Reformedish, Derek Rishmawy discusses Calvin’s “Unexpected English Fruit.”
On The Founder’s Blog, Jon English Lee discusses Sabbatarianism prior to English Puritanism.
Check out “How to study St. Thomas Aquinas: An interview with Therese Scarpelli Cory” at Medievalists.net.
Over at The Anxious Bench, John Turner discusses “American Religion and Freemasonry.”
On First Things, Peter Leithart comments on a new book dealing with post-Reformation Reformed thology in a post entitled “Ussher’s Soteriology.”
Don’t miss the latest Beeson podcast, a fascinating lecture on “Augustine and Time” delivered by Timothy George himself.
Finally, check out this recommendation of a new book by AFC director, Michael Haykin, and Jeff Robinson, entitled To the Ends of the Earth: Calvin’s Missional Vision and Legacy.

Recent Book Releases

J. A. I. Champion, The Pillars of Priestcraft Shaken: The Church of England and its Enemies, 1660-1730 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History), Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Charles E. Raven, Apollinarianism: An Essay on the Christology of the Early Church, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli, From Words to Deeds: The Effectiveness of Preaching in the Late Middle Ages (Sermo), Brepols Publishers, 2014.
Philip Jenkins, The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade, HarperOne, 2014.

From the Fuller Center

Contributor Evan Burns posts on a letter from Adoniram Judson to Ann Haseltine, in “Irrevocably Gone, Indelibly Marked.”

What did I miss this week? Share in the comments or on Twitter: @AFCBS or @dustinbruce.

Note: Inclusion of an article, book, or any other form of media on the Historiae ecclesiasticae collecta does not constitute a theological endorsement by the compiler, Michael Haykin, the Andrew Fuller Center or Southern Seminary.

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Dustin Bruce lives in Louisville, KY where he is pursuing a PhD in Biblical Spirituality at Southern Seminary. He is a graduate of Auburn University and Southwestern Seminary. Dustin and his wife, Whitney, originally hail from Alabama.

“Irrevocably Gone, Indelibly Marked”

May 15, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Evan D. Burns

On December 30, 1810, in a letter written to Miss Ann Hasseltine, Adoniram Judson mused on the number of his days in light of eternity, that he would live wisely and faithfully (cf. Ps 90:12). Every moment is gone forever and irreversibly spent, for better or for worse. He said:

We have a general intention of living religion; but we intend to begin to-morrow or next year. The present moment we prefer giving to the world. ‘A little more sleep, a little more slumber.’ Well, a little more sleep, and we shall sleep in the grave. A few days, and our work will be done. And when it is once done, it is done to all eternity. A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity. If it be marked with sins, the marks will be indelible. If it has been a useless life, it can never be improved. Such it will stand forever and ever. The same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, it will exhibit forever. It will never become less true that such a day was spent in such a manner. Each day will not only be a witness of our conduct, but will affect our everlasting destiny. No day will lose its share of influence in determining where shall be our seat in heaven. How shall we then wish to see each day marked with usefulness! It will then be too late to mend its appearance. It is too late to mend the days that are past. The future is in our power. Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever. And at night let us reflect that one more day is irrevocably gone, indelibly marked. Good-night.”[1]

[1]Edward Judson, Adoniram Judson D.D., His Life and Labours, (13).

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Historiae ecclesiasticae collecta: a weekly roundup of blogs, articles, books, and more

May 9, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Dustin Bruce

Blogs

Mark Movsesian writes on the latest Bonhoeffer biography, Strange Glory, at First Things.
Thomas Kidd celebrates five years of Patheos with a roundup of his top five Anxious Bench posts. Also, make sure and sign up for his weekly newsletter.
Check out John Fea’s recent interview with Todd Brenneman based on his new book Homespun Gospel: The Triumph of Sentimentality in Contemporary American Evangelicalism(Oxford University Press, December 2013).
Learn about the influential systematic theologian John Murray.
Check out this odd but interesting piece on “A Short History of Christian Matchmaking” by Paul Putz.
American Puritanism and pop culture intersect on Books and Culture in “Cotton Mather and Uppity Women.”
Douglas Bond posts on “Isaac Watts: A Child Poet” over on the Ligonier blog.
Justin Taylor highlights a new book due out in October by Thomas Kidd in “George Whitefield: Lessons from Eighteenth Century’s Greatest Evangelist.”
See the latest from Tom Nettles on The Founder’s Blog, “Fuller and Irresistible Grace: The Necessity of Regeneration as Prior to Repentance and Faith.”

Recent Book Releases

Apollinarianism: An Essay on the Christology of the Early Church by Charles E. Raven.
Original Bishops, The: Office and Order in the First Christian Communities by Alistair C. Stewart.
Clothing the Clergy: Virtue and Power in Medieval Europe, c. 800-1200 by Maureen C. Miller.
He Leadeth Me by Walter J. Ciszek S.J. and Daniel L. Flaherty S.J.
The Pillars of Priestcraft Shaken: The Church of England and its Enemies, 1660-1730 (Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History) by J. A. I. Champion.

From the Fuller Center

Junior Fellow, Evan Burns, highlights Adoniram Judson’s piety amidst grief in “To Hold Myself in Readiness.”
Don’t forget to check out our "Whitefield & the Great Awakening" conference page.

What did I miss this week? Share in the comments or on Twitter: @AFCBS or @dustinbruce.

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“To Hold Myself in Readiness”

May 8, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Evan D. Burns

In 1826, God’s bitter providence had called Ann Judson to her heavenly home and left Adoniram Judson to mourn and continue on in his missionary labor. After her death, in a letter on December 7, 1826, to Ann’s mother, Adoniram’s heavenly-minded piety shone through the dark night:

I will not trouble you, my dear mother, with an account of my own private feelings—the bitter, heart-rending anguish which for some days would admit of no mitigation, and the comfort which the Gospel subsequently afforded—the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings life and immortality to light. Blessed assurance—and let us apply it afresh to our hearts—that, while I am writing and you perusing these lines, her spirit is resting and rejoicing in the heavenly paradise—
“Where glories shine, and pleasures roll That charm, delight, transport the soul, And every panting wish shall be Possessed of boundless bliss in Thee.”[1]
And there, my dear mother, we also shall soon be, uniting and participating in the felicities of heaven with her for whom we now mourn. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.[2]

Approximately six months after Ann’s death, their two-year old daughter Maria was also called home. In a letter to Ann’s mother on April 26, 1827, Judson recounted his horrible grief and his heavenly hope.

All our efforts, and prayers, and tears could not propitiate the cruel disease; the work of death went forward, and after the usual process, excruciating to a parent’s heart, she ceased to breathe…. The next morning we made her last bed in the small enclosure that surrounds her mother’s lonely grave. Together they rest in hope, under the hope tree, which stands at the head of the graves; and together, I trust, their spirits are rejoicing after a short separation of precisely six months. And, I am left alone in the wide world. My own dear family I have buried; one in Rangoon and two in Amherst. What remains for me but to hold myself in readiness to follow the dear departed to that blessed world, “Where my best friends, my kindred, dwell, where God my Saviour reigns?”[3]

[1]From a hymn by Isaac Watts.

[2]Middleditch, Burmah’s Great, 222; Wayland, Memoir, 1:420-421.

[3]Middleditch, Burmah’s Great, 230.

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Historiae ecclesiasticae collecta: a weekly roundup of blogs, articles, books, and more

May 2, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Dustin Bruce

Registration is now open for “Whitefield & the Great Awakening,” a conference of the AFCBS. The conference will run October 21–22 on the beautiful campus of Southern Seminary. Find out more here.

Also, take an associated course with Dr. Michael Haykin and receive Master’s level course credit. Conference registration is included with tuition.

Blogs

Fred Sanders reflects on this week’s Future of Protestantism debate with Prescriptions for Protestants.
Video from Wheaton College’s recent conference, “The Spirit of God: Christian Renewal in the Community of Faith, have now been made available online. There are several sessions that may peak your historical interest.
On Doctrina Coram Deo, Shawn Wilhite reviews Rowan Greer’s Captain of Our Salvation: A Study in the Patristic Exegesis of Hebrews.
Sharon James writes on “The Life and Significance of Ann Hasseltine Judson (1789-1826)” in the recent issue of SBTS Journal of Missions.
On The Church Society blog, Simon Tomkins cleverly presents “An interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Check out this “Coffee Table Talk at the Café Einstein Stammhaus in Berlin” about the study of early Christianity at Marginalia Review of Books.
Check out John Fea’s recent interview of Luke Harlow based on his forthcoming book, Religion, Race, and the Making of Confederate Kentucky (Cambridge University Press, May 2014).
Also, check out John Fea’s upcoming project writing a history of the American Bible Society.
Check out this post on the Crossway Blog, “Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The World’s Best Grandfather.”
Finally, on the Founder’s Blog, check out two posts by Tom Nettles, “Fuller the Non-Calvinist” and “Fullerite: the Doctrine of Inability.”

Recent Book Releases

John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet by Jon Balserak. Oxford.
Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Charles Marsh. Knopf.
The Letters of Heloise and Abelard: A Translation of Their Collected Correspondence and Related Writings (New Middle Ages), ed. Mary Martin McLaughlin and Bonnie Wheeler. New Middle Ages.
While not a recent release, Steve Weaver informs us as to how some copies of Jonathan Arnold’s, The Reformed Theology of Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) have been made available to those of us on this side of the pond.

From the Fuller Center

Steve Weaver announces that registration is now open for the Fuller Center’s Fall conference on “George Whitefield and the Great Awakening.”
Contributor Evan Burns posts on Adoniram Judson’s declaration that “The Best of All Is, God With Us.”
Also, Michael Haykin presents “Andrew Fuller on the extent of the atonement: A surrejoinder to Drs. Allen and Caner.”

What did I miss this week? Share in the comments or on Twitter: @AFCBS or @dustinbruce.

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Registration Now Open for "Whitefield & the Great Awakening"

May 2, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Steve Weaver

EP-140-2014 Andrew Fuller_LargeBanner_1048x400px_v4

Registration is now open for this year's conference on George Whitefield and the Great Awakening. This will be the eighth annual conference of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies at Southern Seminary and it promises to be one of the best. The conference speakers are some of the top scholars who have published on George Whitefield and the Great Awakening. The conference schedule is packed with excellent topics being addressed by the most well-respected authors on Whitefield. The parallel sessions are filled with excellent papers by accomplished scholars.

The conference will be a tercentenary celebration of the birth of Whitefield, occurring as it does on the 300th anniversary of the year of his birth. This year will also mark the release of a major new work on Whitefield by Thomas S. Kidd to be published by Yale University Press, hopefully in time for the conference.

I am sure there will be no better celebration of George Whitefield and the Great Awakening anywhere else in 2014. Make plans to join us in Louisville, Kentucky on October 21-22 for a concentrated two days focused on George Whitefield and his legacy.

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Steve Weaver serves as a research assistant to the director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies and a fellow of the Center. He also serves as senior pastor of Farmdale Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY. Steve and his wife Gretta have six children.

“The Best of All Is, God Is With Us”

May 1, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Evan D. Burns

Adoniram Judson, after many years of pain and thankless labor, witnessed the death of the chief of the Karen people in Burma. Most deaths led to sadness because they died without the light of the gospel of Christ (since the Bible was still being translated). But this death was different than most; this Karen chief died in the Lord. After witnessing the old dying chief’s conversion and baptism, the mysterious providences that clouded Judson’s life and labors didn’t seem so inscrutable anymore. Judson rejoiced with the chief that God is indeed with us. Judson wrote:

The dying words of an aged man of God, when he raised his withered, death-struck arm, and exclaimed, “The best of all is, God is with us.” I feel in my very soul. Yes, the great Invisible is in these Karen wilds. That mighty Being, who heaped up these craggy rocks, and reared these stupendous mountains, and poured out these streams in all directions, and scattered immortal beings throughout these deserts—he is present by the influence of his Holy Spirit, and accompanies the sound of the Gospel with converting, sanctifying power. “The best of all is, God is with us.”
“In these deserts let me labor, On these mountains let me tell How he died—the blessed Saviour, To redeem a world from hell.”[1]

[1]Middleditch, Burmah’s Great, 294.

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Andrew Fuller on the extent of the atonement: A surrejoinder to Drs. Allen and Caner

April 28, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Michael A.G. Haykin

I suspect it is a sign of Andrew Fuller’s greatness as a theologian that his thought should occasion differing interpretations. Because of this, the blogosphere (let alone other social media like Facebook and Twitter) is not the best of places to carry on the sort of discussion that drills down into the depths of his thought. Such a conversation is best carried on in face-to-face discussions or through such media as monographs and academic articles.

This being said, let me make one final response to Drs David Allen and Emir Caner regarding their interpretation of Fuller. First of all, let me say that I am very thankful for the thoughtful response of Dr David Allen (“Gaining a Fuller Understanding: Responding to Dr. Michael Haykin”, SBC Today) to my earlier comments on an article by Dr Emir Caner that included a discussion of Andrew Fuller’s Calvinist soteriology (“Historical Southern Baptist Soteriology, pt. 2/3: What Were the Early SBC Leaders’ View of Salvation?”, SBC Today. He is obviously drawing upon his extensive article on “The Atonement: Limited or Universal” in his and Steve W. Lemke, eds., Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point Calvinism (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2010), 61–107, where he actually refers to Fuller on three occasions. This background to Allen’s remarks may well explain elements of his reply to me: he perceives there to be theological and biblical issues at stake and he is eager to recruit Fuller to defend his position on those theological and biblical issues.

I, on the other hand, am approaching Fuller as an historian: I am not uninterested in the theological and biblical issues, but my main approach to Fuller is as an historian. I really want to understand what he is saying and why and how his historical context shapes his interaction with Scripture. To that end, in addition to reading Fuller’s thoughts, secondary sources beyond Peter Morden’s fine study of Fuller—Offering Christ to the World (Paternoster, 2003), which Caner quotes at second-hand from a piece by Allen—like Gerald L. Priest, “Andrew Fuller, Hyper-Calvinism, and the ‘Modern Question’ ” in my ed., ‘At the Pure Fountain of Thy Word’: Andrew Fuller as an Apologist (Paternoster, 2004), 43–73; Chris Chun, The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards in the Theology of Andrew Fuller (Brill, 2012), 142–182; and especially Geoffrey F. Nuttall, “Northamptonshire and The Modern Question: A Turning-Point in Eighteenth-Century Dissent”, Journal of Theological Studies, ns, 16 (1965), 101–123 are absolutely vital to read before pronouncing any sort of magisterial interpretation of Fuller on the convoluted issue of the atonement. For my own take, on this question, see “Particular Redemption in the Writings of Andrew Fuller (1754–1815)” in David Bebbington, ed., The Gospel in the World: International Baptist Studies (Studies in Baptist History and Thought, vol.1; Carlisle, Cumbria/Waynesboro, Georgia: Paternoster Press, 2002), 107–128. So: I am writing as an historian, not as a biblical theologian. I am not trying to elucidate what the New Testament says about this issue, but understand what Fuller believed. The question of whether he was right or wrong is another issue as is the question of whether Southern Baptists are his heirs etc.

To read my 4+ page response in its entirety, please download the full PDF here.

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Michael A.G. Haykin is the director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies. He also serves as Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Haykin and his wife Alison have two grown children, Victoria and Nigel.

Historiae ecclesiasticae collecta: a weekly roundup of blogs, articles, books, and more

April 25, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Dustin Bruce

Happy Birthday to Oliver Cromwell who was born April 25, 1599. Check out a former post by Michael Haykin on Cromwell, “Religious Freedom: Historical Highlights & Patterns. Part 1: The Puritans and Oliver Cromwell,” or his book, To Honour God: the spirituality of Oliver Cromwell.

Blogs

On Euangelion, Michael Bird posts a recent lecture by Diarmaid MacCulloch entitled, “What if Arianism Had Won?”
David Murray lists “Top Ten Biographies of Men” and “Top Ten Biographies of Christian Women” on his blog, HeadHeartHand.org.
On First Things, in a post entitled “What’s the Bible For?,” Peter Leithart interacts with a recent article by Mathew Levering on Augustine’s understanding of the Spirit as “love” and “gift.”
Miles Mullins writes on the important concept of “Christian Humility? In Academia?” on The Anxious Bench.
Also on The Anxious Bench, John Turner begins a series on the role of visions in the history of Christianity with “Eucharistic Visionaries.”
On the Founders blog, Tom Nettles discusses Ann Judson’s conversion to Baptist principles in “Truth compelled us to be.”
Paul Helm posts “The many dimensions of Calvinism – again” on his blog, Helm’s Deep.
Fuller Center Jr. Fellow Ian Clary weighs in on a recent debate with “Fuller and the Atonement” on the City of God blog.
The most recent edition of Themelios, associated with The Gospel Coalition, has dropped and includes an article by Collin Hansen, “Revival Defined and Defended: How the New Lights Tried and Failed to Use America’s First Religious Periodical to Quiet Critics and Quell Radicals” and another by Ryan Van Neste, “The Care of Souls: The Heart of the Reformation.” Also, check out the smattering of book reviews on History and Historical Theology.
Finally, on the American Historical Association blog, Vanessa Varin offers advice we can all use in “Spring Cleaning: 5 Tips for Being a More Organized Historian.”

Recent Book Releases

Kevin Belmonte, D.L. Moody - A Life: Innovator, Evangelist, World Changer. Moody.
John Bowlin ed., The Kuyper Center Review, volume 4: Calvinism and Democracy, Eerdmans.
Roger Williams, Bishop Lists: Formation of Apostolic Succession of Bishops in Ecclesiastical Crises, Gorgias Press.
Paul Figueras, An Introduction to Early Christianity, Gorgias Press.
David Bebbington, The Nonconformist Conscience (Routledge Library Editions: Political Science Volume 19), Routledge. Now in Kindle.
Timothy Furry, Allegorizing History: The Venerable Bede, Figural Exegesis and Historical Theory, Timothy Clarke & Co.
Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Heretics (KNOW Series), Zondervan.
Justin S. Holcomb, Know the Creeds and Councils (KNOW Series), Zondervan.

From the Fuller Center

Contributor Evan Burns highlights Fuller’s Edwardsean roots in “The Sum of All These Rewards.”
Michael Haykin offers a rejoinder to Emir Caner’s recent post on SBC Today in “Andrew Fuller’s Calvinist soteriology: a brief response to Emir Caner.” Make sure and check out the comments.
Michael Haykin also provides a “Reading Plan for the Latin Fathers (April-June 2014).”

What did I miss this week? Share in the comments or on Twitter: @AFCBS or @dustinbruce.

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“The Sum of All These Rewards”

April 24, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Evan D. Burns

In “Love to God and Divine Things for Their Own Excellency,” Andrew Fuller muses on the pleasures of loving and pursuing God. In very Edwardsean language, Fuller upholds the duty of delighting in God as the soul’s highest joy.

The gospel undoubtedly holds up rewards to stimulate us to duty, rewards addressed to our emulation and thirst of happiness; and if the deists on this account reproach it as a selfish theory, I have no doubt but their reproach is groundless. The gospel ought not to be denominated a selfish theory because it inculcates a regard to ourselves. If, however, it could be proved that we are there taught so to pursue our own interest as that the glory of God shall not be regarded as a supreme, but as a subordinate end, the charge were just. But the rewards contained in the gospel convey no such idea as this, for the following plain reason:—The sum of all these rewards is God himself. Grace and glory are only God’s communications of himself. Hence it follows that such rewards, properly pursued, instead of excluding supreme love to God for what he is in himself, necessarily imply it. Without such a love, as hath been already observed, it is impossible in any right manner to seek either his approbation or blessing.[1]

[1]Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 2: Controversial Publications, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 728.

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“Andrew Fuller’s Calvinist soteriology: a brief response to Emir Caner”

April 23, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Michael A.G. Haykin

It was extremely gratifying to see Andrew Fuller (1754–1815) cited as a vital theologian at the onset of the modern missionary movement in Dr. Emir Caner’s recent piece on “Historical Southern Baptist Soteriology” that appeared on the SBC Today website. Usually when Baptists are considered in this regard, the name of William Carey (1761–1834) alone receives mention, and Fuller, who was the theological muscle behind Carey, is forgotten. There were, however, some surprising aspects to Caner’s treatment of Fuller, especially as it relates to Fuller’s Calvinist soteriology. According to the article, Fuller really cannot be considered a Calvinist (something that, by the way, would warm the cockles of the hearts of hyper-Calvinist critics of Fuller like William Gadsby). By 1801, Caner reckons that Fuller had given up the concept of particular redemption for a general redemption, affirmed that “faith is not a gift from God,” and rejected “Total Depravity as articulated by some of his contemporary High [that is, hyper-] Calvinists.”

To read my response in its entirety, please download the full PDF here.

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Reading Plan for the Latin Fathers (April-June 2014)

April 19, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Michael A.G. Haykin

April 19–26 Read Tertullian’s Against Praxeas Question: What are Tertullian’s main arguments against modalism and how does he anticipate the later Trinitarian formula “three persons in one being”?

April 27–30 Read Cyprian, To Donatus Question: Outline Cyprian’s understanding of conversion.

May 1–7 Read Cyprian, On the Unity of the Catholic Church Question: What are the marks of the true church according to Cyprian and how does he substantiate his view?

May 8–15 Read Novatian, On the Trinity Question: How does Novatian show from Scripture that Jesus is God?

May 16–23 Read Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, Book 1 Question: Outline Hilary’s conversion.

May 24–31 Read Augustine, Confessions (the whole book) Question: Outline the way that Augustine depicts God as The Beautiful.

June 1–7 Read Augustine, City of God 1.1–36; 4.1–4; 11.1–4; 12.4–9; 13.1–24; 14.1–28; 15.1–2; 20.1–30; 21.1–2; 22.8–9; 22.29–30 Question: What is Augustine’s understanding of history?

June 8–15 Read Patrick, Confession Question: What is Patrick’s understanding of the missionary call?

Download the Reading Plan for the Latin Fathers (PDF)

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Historiae ecclesiasticae collecta: a weekly roundup of blogs, articles, books, and more

April 18, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Dustin Bruce

Blogs

Over at First Things, check out Stephen Webb’s review of Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry by Hans Boersma.
Readthefathers.org has a series of Holy Week readings taken from the Church Fathers. Check out their first post, “Lectures for Holy Week: The Procatachesis of Cyril of Jerusalem.”
At ChurchHistory.org, Thomas Kidd writes “Jefferson Versus the Historians, or Barton Versus the Historians? Thomas Kidd Responds to Arthur Sherr.”
On The Christian Century blog, James Bratt reviews Daryl’s Hart Calvinism: A History.
Over at The Anxious Bench, John Turner ties together recent events with early Christian history in “The Passions of Perpetua and Frans van der Lugt.”
Also at The Anxious Bench, check out Thomas Albert Howard’s post, “That’s So Dys-Evangelical.”
On NT Exegesis, Brian Renshaw posts a “Maundy Thursday – A Reflection from Augustine.”
John Fea, on The Way of Improvement Leads Home, has a video from a recent OAH panel discussion addressing the question “Is Blogging Scholarship?”

Recent Book Releases

Bryan Loritts, ed., Letters to a Birmingham Jail: A Response to the Words and Dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Moody.
Sarah Rolfe Prodan, Michelangelo’s Christian Mysticism: Sprituality, Poetry, and Art in Sixteenth-Century Italy. Cambridge.
St. Epiphanius of Cyrpus, Ancoratus (Fathers of the Church). The Catholic University of America Press.
Stephen Cox, American Christianity: The Continuing Revolution. University of Texas Press.
Richard Allen, David Jones, and Trystan Hughes, The Religious History of Wales. Welsh Academic Press.

From the Fuller Center

Contributor Evan Burns discusses a Fuller sermon in “The Children of the Resurrection.”
Ryan Hoselton posts on “William Ames’ Holy Logic.”
Michael Haykin highlights “An excellent comment by Andrew Atherstone on reading history.”
Also on the blog, Michael Haykin posts a reflection on the recent passing of Dr. Rowan Greer.

What did I miss this week? Share in the comments or on Twitter: @AFCBS or @dustinbruce.

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"The Children of the Resurrection"

April 17, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Evan D. Burns

In “The Magnitude of the Heavenly Inheritance,” Andrew Fuller exposited Romans 8:18-23 on the hope of resurrection. He made the following three main points:

I. Such is the magnitude of the glory to be revealed in us, that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with it.
II. Such is the magnitude of the glory to be revealed in us at the resurrection, that its influence extends to the whole creation.
III. Such is the magnitude of the glory to be revealed in us at the resurrection, that those Christians who have possessed the highest enjoyments in this world were not satisfied with them, but groaned within themselves, waiting for the possession of it.

And then he concluded his sermon with this great meditation on the joy and anticipation of the Christian’s future resurrection:

The terms by which the resurrection of believers is expressed, namely, “the adoption,” and “the redemption of our body,” serve to heighten our ideas of the glorious event….. From the day they received the Saviour, they received power to become the sons of God; the Lord Almighty, as by a judicial act and deed, put them among his children; but still, the body being doomed to die because of sin, till this dishonour is wiped away there is something wanting to complete the execution of the deed. Our vile body must be changed, and fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body, ere we can be actually and fully introduced into the heavenly family. We must put on immortality, before we shall be fit company for immortals. We must be made equal to the angels, ere we can associate with angels. Finally, To be completely “the children of God,” we must be “the children of the resurrection.”
Similar observations might be made on the term redemption, as here applied to the resurrection of the body. This term as familiarized to Christians by the apostolic writings. They had “redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins;” but here the word is used in a new sense, denoting the last act of deliverance, even that of the body, from under the thraldom of death and the imprisonment of the grave. It is in reference to this last act of deliverance that Christ is said to be “made unto us—redemption.” The redemption of our souls by his blood preceded his being made unto us wisdom, or righteousness, or sanctification; but the redemption of our body, as being the last act of deliverance, succeeds them. The body is a part of Christ’s purchase as really as the soul. It is on this principle that the Corinthians were dissuaded from polluting it by fornication: “Ye are not your own, but bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” The resurrection of the body, therefore, is the recovery of the last part of the Redeemer’s purchase, signified by that expressive sentence, so often repeated, “I will raise it up at the last day.”
This is the glory which shall be revealed in us, with which the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared: this is the great crisis of creation, to which all that precedes it tends, as to its last end; and the result to which believers, who have possessed the richest communications of grace in this life, look with earnest expectation.[1]

[1] Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 1: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc., ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 340-41.

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William Ames’s Holy Logic

April 15, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Ryan Patrick Hoselton

One of the few things I remember from my freshman philosophy class is learning about the syllogism. The syllogism is a logical tool used to deduce a conclusion from a major and minor premise (for example: A: All students wear red. B: John is a student. C: Therefore, John wears red). You’ve probably seen it before, but have you seen it used as a formula for holy living?

The Puritan theologian William Ames (1576–1633) believed that the syllogism—when used rightly—offered considerable moral guidance, for it contained the “force and nature of conscience (I.3).”[1] Ames defined the human conscience as “man’s judgment of himself, according to the judgment of God of him (I.1).” The syllogism provided the means for the conscience’s operation of accusing, excusing, and comforting the moral agent. It consists of three elements:

The Proposition: The proposition fulfills the role of the major premise. The Latin term Ames employed is synteresis, meaning a source for principles of moral action.Ames also referred to the proposition as a “light” and a “law.” God’s will and commandments furnish this “storehouse of principles.” While nature can often lead men and women in moral living, God’s revealed will is the only perfect rule of conscience, illuminating mankind’s moral duty (I.4–7).
The Witness: the witness, which Ames also termed the “index,” “book,” “review,” or “assumption,” functions as the minor proposition. The witness is a subjective statement about the self for the purpose of considering one’s moral condition in reference to the proposition. It measures the moral agent alongside the law. The moral state of the human will is compared with the standard of God’s will (I.21–25).
The Conclusion: the conclusion, also referred to as the “judgment,” derives partly from the proposition and partly from the witness. In the conclusion, “God’s commandment and man’s fact are mutually joined together.” The conclusion passes the sentence, or “application,” of either comfort or condemnation for the man or woman in light of the major and minor premises (I.28–32).

In sum, “in the Proposition God’s Law is declared, and in the Assumption, the fact or condition of man is examined, according to that Law; so in the Conclusion, the sentence concerning man is pronounced according to his fact…by virtue of the Law that hath been declared” (I.28).

Ames provides two examples. The first delivers accusation but the second comfort:

1. [A] “He that lives in sin, shall die” [B] “I live in sin” [C] “Therefore, I shall die”
2. [A] “Whoever believes in Christ, shall not die but live” [B] “I believe in Christ” [C] “Therefore, I shall not die but live (I.3)”

For Ames, the objective of the syllogism was to assist men and women in assessing their moral condition in light of God’s commandments and in conforming their wills to God’s will. Ultimately, it shows us how desperately short we fall, pointing to our need to rest faith in the Christ who followed God’s will perfectly.

[1] William Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof (London, 1639). You can access the text at this link.

Ryan Patrick Hoseltonis pursuing a ThM at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in Louisville, KY with his wife Jaclyn, and they are the parents of one child.

An excellent comment by Andrew Atherstone on reading history

April 14, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Michael A.G. Haykin

In a book review that appeared in the most recent Banner of Truth, Andrew Atherstone, whose work I admire, has this comment regarding Natalie Mears and Alec Ryrie, eds., Worship and the Parish Church in Early Modern Britain (2013)—he is talking about the way the Reformation impacted the Christian in the pew: “The lives of ordinary Christians in the Reformation world were filled with nuance, variety, contradiction and complexity, just as they are today.” So true! Budding historians as well as seasoned authors need to take note.

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A Puritan plea for intolerance and a Puritan imprecatory prayer

April 12, 2014 Andrew Fuller Center

By Michael A.G. Haykin

It was Oliver Cromwell who once noted that every sect cries for toleration, but once they have it, they will not give it to any other body of believers. He knew the heart of all too many of his fellow Puritans only too well.

A good example would be Nathaniel Ward (1578–1652), a graduate of that bastion of Puritanism, Emmanuel College at Cambridge, and one of the foremost Puritan ministers in Essex. After Ward came to New England in the 1630s he wrote The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America (London, 1647), in which he refuted the charge that the New England Puritans were “a Colluvies of wild Opinionists” and stated that “all Familists, Antinomians, Anabaptists, and other Enthusiasts [i.s. fanatics], shall have free liberty to keep away from us,” for they were “adversaries of [God’s] truth” and as such deserved no toleration. Ward was convinced that religious toleration was a stratagem of the devil so as to “disstate the truth of God.” In fact, his “heart naturally detested” “tolerations of divers religions, or of one religion in segregant shapes.”

We love the Puritans for many things, but not for this, and we thank God there were other Puritans like Cromwell who were of a different mind.

I have another thing against Ward: he did not like the Irish. He described them as the “very Offal of men, Dregges of Mankind,” and went so far as to pray for the soldiery of Cromwell’s Irish campaign: “Happy is he that shall reward them [the Irish] as they have served us, and Cursed be he that shall do that work of the Lord negligently, Cursed be he that holdeth back his Sword from blood: yea, Cursed bee hee that maketh not his Sword starke drunk with Irish blood” (“A Word of Ireland” in The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America). He is obviously reacting to stories of Irish atrocities in killing Scots Presbyterians in northern Ireland. But such imprecatory prayers breathe a spirit utterly foreign to the Spirit of Christ.

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