Dear distinguished readers,
In Thy Light is “starting afresh” with a new home, a new name, and a new look on a new, adware-free server: deDeo.org. Please update your bookmarks and subscriptions to enjoy the new digs.
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by grace,
LO
Time has given Ashley a new perspective on the “war between facts and ideas.” “I don’t think the Great Books is the right idea,” he says bluntly. “I do think that studying the classics is important but to start out that way”—trying to fully comprehend a classic text in a week—“is too difficult for students.” Instead, he points to metaphysics as the philosophical foundation for education: “It distinguishes different types of knowledge from each other, shows the relation between them, and finally unites them in the notion of God.” In 2006, he summarized this idea into what he describes as his “main book,” The Way Toward Wisdom, a grand overview of metaphysics in the vein of Aquinas and what might be described as Ashley’s own Summa.
Quoted from Cloth Bound: A Biographical Essay on Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P. | Dominican Friars O.P.; HT: Tom Osborne.
In light of the odium commonly hurled against classical Protestant doctrine by modern Protestant theologians it is interesting to compare one of Augustine’s definitions of God with that of the Westminster Divines:
Most highest, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful, yet most just; most hidden, yet most present; most beautiful, yet most strong, stable, yet incomprehensible; unchangeable, yet all-changing; never new, never old; all-renewing, and bringing age upon the proud, and they know it not; ever working, ever at rest; still gathering, yet nothing lacking; supporting, filling, and overspreading; creating, nourishing, and maturing; seeking, yet having all things. Thou lovest, without passion; art jealous, without anxiety; repentest, yet grievest not; art angry, yet serene; changest Thy works, Thy purpose unchanged; receivest again what Thou findest, yet didst never lose; never in need, yet rejoicing in gains; never covetous, yet exacting usury. Thou receivest over and above, that Thou mayest owe; and who hath aught that is not Thine? Thou payest debts, owing nothing; remittest debts, losing nothing.
—Augustine, Confessions I.4.
God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, every where present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.
—Westminster Larger Catechism 7; cf. Westminster Confession of Faith II.
A couple of years ago I flexed my inner geek and put together a custom Firefox button builder for WTS blog partners. I quickly forgot about my little bit of webmaster geekery until I received an out-of-the-blue e-mail asking why it had disappeared. I had not realized that the free web hosting account I used for it had expired. Long story short: I have renewed the account, and the link builder lives on.
For interested WTS Books blog partners: the custom button creates personalized blog partner links to any page (i.e., product pages, category listings, search pages, etc.) on the WTS bookstore website. You simply browse to the desired page, click the button, and your personalized link is automatically copied to your clipboard. For installation instructions, see the link builder.
Chris Coldwell and his Naphtali Press are up to it again: reprinting classic Presbyterian literature in a suitable and long-lasting style. This time it is the Sermons of Rutherford, Gillespie, Baillie and Henderson.
Long live the Smyth sewn book. Long live the truth.
Have you seen the renewed In Thy Light? Do you like the facelift (esp. the new home page)?
I have been meaning to start a new periodical section on my blog to highlight free theology-related e-books (good ones–ones worth reading, mind you). So, when I discovered today that the White Horse Inn has teamed up with Zondervan to provide a free download of ch. 29, “The Last Battle and Life Everlasting,” from Michael Horton’s new systematics textbook, The Christian Faith, I figured this free download would be a great place to start (even though it is not the entire thousand-page book).
In addition to the free download from Horton’s book, the White Horse Inn has released a free bonus edition of its radio program dedicated to Rob Bell’s controversial new book, Love Wins.
HT: Koinonia.
Starting today, Reformation Heritage Books is running a one-week, 50% off sale on Ron Gleason’s new biography of Herman Bavinck, entitled, Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman and Theologian. Since this is the first English-language biography of Bavinck, non-Dutch-speaking fans of Bavinck’s works will especially appreciate this introduction to Bavinck’s colorful life and erudite work. Gleason surveys both the turbulent ecclesiastical contexts within which Bavinck served as a doctor of the church and Bavinck’s multifaceted experiences in politics, philosophy, and education.
Not only is Gleason’s biography on sale this week, but also all of Herman Bavinck’s works are 50% off!
Only, then, when the unity of all creation is not sought in the things themselves, but transcendently (not in a spacial, but in a qualitative, essential sense) in a divine being, in his wisdom and power, in his will and counsel, can the world as a whole, and in it every creature, fully attain its rights. A person alone can be the root of unity in difference, of difference in unity. He alone can combine in a system a multiplicity of ideas into unity, and he alone can realize them by his will ad extra. Theism is the only true monism.
– Herman Bavinck, The Philosophy of Revelation: The Stone Lectures for 1908-1909, Princeton Theological Seminary (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1908), 136. (Read online at Google Books or Internet Archive.)
From now until August 19th Westminster Books is having a sale on all 23 vols. of the New International Commentary of the Old Testament, including the latest addition to the series: Andrew Dearman’s commentary on Hosea.
The sale works like this. When you buy 2 or more volumes, take an additional 10% off the already discounted prices. Individual volumes are thus between 45-61% off! And the entire 23 vol. set is on sale for $607.99 + $1.00 UPS shipping!
These sale prices are the lowest around. Compare Amazon ($802.40 + $3.99 shipping) which does not include the new 23rd volume on Hosea. Likewise, CBD ($599.99 + $48.00 shipping) charges and arm and a leg for shipping, does not include the 23rd volume, and does not have the product in stock until 8/26.
