I’ve been reading Precious Blood: The Atoning Work Of Christ over a few weeks. A collection of essays which were originally presented as papers/talks at the 2008 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology.
The full title of 2008’s conference was ‘Precious Blood: Christ’s Atoning Work’.
Richard Phillips acting both as editor and contributor is joined by Joel Beeke, Robert Godfrey, Philip Ryken, R. C. Sproul, Derek Thomas and Carl Trueman.
A fine balance is struck with six essays relating ‘The Atonement in Biblical Revelation’ and six dealing with ‘The Atonement in Christian Thought’.
The nature of the chapters dealing with Biblical revelation are both instructional and devotional. I found Phillips own essay ‘Cleansing Blood’ particularly moving.
Many of the authors are pastor/theologians which showed in the application of their themes to those who read.
The second six essays provide a survey of the Church’s understanding of the atonement through its history. While committed to a historic reformed understand of penal substitutionary atonement the various essays honestly portray how that understanding arose and contrast it with other understandings which have preceded it and followed on in more recent times. Robert Godfrey and Carl Trueman’s essays are very helpful.
Phillips concludes with a brief overview of those who currently present themselves as being in the evangelical and or reformed heritage and yet are attempting to move away from a penal substitutionary understanding of Christ’s atoning work. I think he charts the battlelines along which evangelicalism will contend over at least the next couple of generations.
If that is the case books such as ‘Precious Blood’ will enable Reformed and Presbyterian folk to be well equipped for the battle.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Precious Blood - A Book Review
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