Westminster Theological Seminary Bulletin Volume 43, Number 1, Spring 2003

Excerpted from the Bulletin, the quarterly newsletter of Westminster, Spring 2003

More than Meets the Eye
What You May Not Know About Westminster

Professors Jonathan Chao (l) and Clair Davis (r) reminisce about their days as Westminster students

More than biblical theology and presuppositional apologetics. More than the highest caliber faculty. More than the helpful resources of our campus bookstore. Friends and alumni of Westminster are familiar with these facets of our ministry. But many of those closely associated with the seminary miss some of the details that round out the full picture. More than One Campus Most people think of Philadelphia when they hear Westminster, and that is, of course, where the majority of our faculty and students are located. Thanks to quality instruction and excellent leadership, many people are also aware of our Dallas campus, which has been growing rapidly since its establishment in 1996. With the Dallas M.Div. program having recently received full accreditation, we anticipate our first graduate there in May. +++ But we also offer various courses in New York City, London, and Seoul. Evening and weekend classes are taught in Manhattan, which may be applied toward the degree programs in Philadelphia or a Certificate in Christian Studies, and we are currently working with several organizations to develop additional programs in global ministry. Being optimistic about these possibilities, Executive Vice President J. Stafford Carson says, “We are at an advanced stage in our negotiations toward developing an M.A. program in New York with several tracks.” +++ In conjunction with the John Owen Centre for Theological Studies in London, we offer a Th.M. in Historical Theology through a series of modules taught over a thirteen-month period. These modules, like all of our classes, feature exceptional instructors, such as Dr. William S. Barker, former academic dean, who will be teaching “English Puritan Piety” in London during April. +++ With the highest percentage of Asian-American students of any conservative seminary (24 percent), Westminster is thrilled to be part of God’s work in Seoul, South Korea. There we offer a Certificate in Biblical Counseling, and last summer saw our largest graduating class in that program. A number of those students have moved into our D.Min. in Biblical Counseling, which recently brought some of them to Philadelphia for the January module. +++ As the Lord provides, we plan for programs in other parts of the world as well. Vice President for Institutional Advancement Alan White is exploring the ministry training needs in other countries. “It is evident that church growth is happening south and east on the globe,” he explains. “It is also evident that the world is becoming more urban as people flock to live in cities, more secular, more diverse. Our main aim will continue to be the training and equipping of people to meet these ministry challenges as they work in the church worldwide.” +++ When the distance education program is factored in, which makes available a number of graduate-level courses via audiotape, it is clear that we are a worldwide campus training worldwide servants of Christ. More than a Few Months a Year Not only is the ministry training we provide broad geographically, but it also takes place outside of the traditional two-semester calendar. Consider the month of January. Winter is not naptime at Westminster! Though in many ways different from the fall and spring semesters, the weeks between December exams and February opening ceremonies are busy with prospective student visits; winter term classes; and, this year, the first educational technology conference. +++ The two-day “Technology in the Seminary Classroom” conference, held on our Philadelphia campus, featured keynote addresses, seminars, discussion groups, and vendor displays. Approximately ninety attendees from forty-eight seminaries and other institutions in North America participated. Speakers included Dr. John P. Jewell, author of New Tools for a New Century: First Steps in Equipping Your Church for the Digital Revolution; the Reverend Christopher Cobb, pastor and former Westminster information technology director; and Dr. Jack Ammerman, librarian of the School of Theology Library at Boston University. Nine seminars showcased faculty work using technology to improve pedagogy, addressed various technological issues impacting theological education, and offered ideas for supporting faculty in this rapidly changing field. +++ But that was just one weekend. During the rest of the month, which serves as our winter term, many students undertook intensive modular classes not offered during regular semesters. Among these, Westminster was honored to offer two unique classes led by Dr. Jonathan Chao, ’66, founder and president of China Ministries International. More than Locally Experienced Instructors Jonathan Chao was born in northeast China and raised in Japan, moving to the States to pursue higher education. In 1978 he established the Chinese Church Research Center in Hong Kong, now known as China Ministries International, headquartered in Taipei. +++

Dr. Jonathan Chao lectures on Christianity in conflict in socialist China

In January, Chao spent three weeks on the Philadelphia campus leading classes on “Christianity in Conflict in Modern Chinese History” and “Christianity in Conflict in Socialist China.” The two courses provided an historical overview of the development of Christianity in Chinese society, from the eighth century Tang Dynasty to modern China under the Communist regime. Students learned how the general public and political leaders reacted to Christianity; how missionaries to China have succeeded and failed; and what the current political, social, and economic dynamics mean to the Chinese church. With first-hand experience, Chao focused on the challenges facing house churches in particular, encouraging the students to appreciate the “apologetical function of suffering.” +++ Current student Virginia Yip, who was raised in Hong Kong and is finishing her M.A.R. this year, participated in both of these classes. “The Chinese church, in Asia and the Diaspora, is greatly indebted to Westminster for her achievements in theological education,” Yip says. “The Chinese students here believe that the theology taught in this institution is exactly what the Chinese church needs today.” +++ More than a single campus. More than cutting-edge conferences. More than winter classes taught by outstanding faculty with worldwide ministry experience. Westminster continues to be more than the sum of its parts, making the most of our resources to “extend the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ.”

Reaching Muslims for Christ
John Leonard, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology
The meeting began with singing. Forty North African believers sang in Arabic and French, clapping in time with the darbuka (a North African drum) and breaking out in yoyos (the Arab cry of joy at festive occasions). Hafida, a recent convert, told how she had been involved in Folk Islam but through the influence of a North African Christian couple, our group, and a dream, had come to faith in Jesus. A visiting Egyptian pastor preached, and later we shared mint tea (a favorite North African drink) and cookies. Believers sat casually with non-believers, answering questions and sharing their faith with their Muslim friends. There was no confrontation between Islam and Christianity; it felt like so many North Africans’ living rooms during happy times. +++ For ten years my family and I worked in France with Muslim immigrants from North Africa, holding numerous meetings like this one, and had the wonderful experience of seeing many Muslims come to faith in Christ and grow into mature leaders in the church. Along the way we learned a number of important principles. Swim at the shallow end of the pool. Most evangelists want to reach as deeply into the Muslim community as possible. This means evangelizing those who are most committed to their religion and their culture. In my experience these people are hard to reach by foreign missionaries because they see us as a threat to their culture. +++ Swimming at the shallow end of the pool means that instead of working with those who are the most committed to their religion and culture, work with those who seek to leave it. Find those who have already decided that Islam is false and are open to embracing the truth. Their recognition of the falsity of Islam is a sign that the Holy Spirit might be calling them to himself. How then do you reach the rest of the community? Let those who have responded to Christ be the witness to the community and not you. What is the deep end of the pool for you is, culturally, the shallow end for your converts. Fish with a net, not a pole. Most people believe that Muslims are reached only through relational evangelism, so they pour out their lives into a few Muslims. Unfortunately, friendship is not a guarantee of conversion. I call the personal evangelism approach “fishing with a pole,” because it is a one-on-one approach. A problem with this method is that it goes against the basic cultural value that Arabs are communal, not individual. Further, this method cuts off the person from exposure to the most important evangelistic tool: the church. +++ Instead, introduce the interested Muslim to a group of Muslim converts, and in this context the real power of the gospel will be seen. Christianity will be understood as a communal religion, not a private belief in God. Too often the gospel is presented in such a way that people can believe without ever hearing anything about the church. Fishing with a net recognizes that it is the church that does the evangelizing together. Sow broadly. Most people who are convinced of the relational approach say the kind of people that I have mentioned above are rare. That is true! But that is why you sow broadly. I estimate that one in a thousand Muslims is interested in the gospel. How can you find that one person? By organizing a search party, as you would for a missing person, recruiting as many fellow Christians as possible to help you look for that individual. You will find that there are many Christians in natural relationships with Arabs who are interested in sharing the gospel with them and bringing them to your group. Be part of the group, not the center. One of the problems that people in ministry have is that they want to place themselves in the center of the ministry and make themselves indispensable. In the group approach it is hard to tell who is the center; everyone looks equal. This is another important cultural point in Arab society and religion. There is no hierarchy in the mosque; there should not be in the group. If the group is to look like a Christian group in Arab culture then you, as a foreigner, must not take center stage. Spend your time making leaders. Most of us would be content with a few converts, but this is not the task the Lord assigned us. He commanded us to make disciples, leaders in Christ’s kingdom. When you practice discipleship evangelism, you train people to Christ. If you create leaders that are interested in creating other leaders, then you have fostered a movement. The best way to make leaders is to give them responsibility early in their conversion. +++ All of this must be bathed in prayer. Prayer is one of the most important disciplines you can teach, and you do it by praying with others. +++ What more biblical method of evangelism and discipleship is there than the church—through prayer, preaching, and living out the Word together—inviting others to join us in the worship of our God?

F I R S T P E R S O N
Ministry in Mexico:
Natalie Carley, ’98, Trains Biblical Counselors in Mérida
Like many of my classmates, I came to Westminster after getting experience in other fields (biology and psychology). I wanted to be used specifically to equip other equippers of the saints. After more than a dozen courses in psychology at five institutions (including another seminary), I concluded that what I really needed was to learn to “correctly handle the Word of truth.” I arrived in 1994, not sure what a Presbyterian was, knowing only that Westminster taught counseling from the biblical perspective I craved. Soon I discovered that this community is more alive with passion for the Lord, his Word, and his people, than any I have known before or since. +++ I was warned about learning “dry theology” at seminary, but to me that is an oxymoron. Reformed theology leaves us agape, evokes tears of sorrow and tears of joy, rips us apart and puts us back together again. Westminster taught me to worship God with my mind. I learned how to think, how to let the Word define reality and view everything through its lens, how to savor the Word of God and be nourished by it. As I tell my students now, it is not about the imparting of information; it is about the transformation of our minds, as commanded in Romans 12:2. +++ This transformation would be incomplete without the biblical counseling courses that take it to its logical conclusion. I studied all the big names in Christian counseling, and I believe Westminster stands head and shoulders above all others in this crucial area of working out the application of the gospel in rich detail to all of life. Under men who are still my mentors, I learned the sufficiency of Scripture in interpersonal ministry of the Word (a.k.a. counseling), and this is what I aim to transmit to others. +++ I was asked to come as a missionary to Mérida, México, to teach biblical counseling at San Pablo Presbyterian Seminary, founded by Westminster alumnus David Legters, ’64. Just after finishing the M.Div. in 1998, I arrived here, alone in the middle of a city of a million people. Now I can scarcely enter a Protestant church without being recognized. Most of my students are Presbyterians, but I teach a two-year diploma in biblical counseling program, which includes leaders from other denominations. The opportunities for me to serve are limited only by my energy; I am constantly invited to give classes in Mérida and surrounding pueblos. +++ Repeatedly, I hear what an impact my ministry has had on the ministries and lives of others. Sometimes I am uncomfortable that so many pastors look up to me, but I remind myself that it is not because of who I am but because of the excellent education I received. My goal has been to “replace myself” and God is blessing this desire, as various graduates of my classes are now teaching them, and one former student is now enrolled at Westminster. In the end, more than anything else, I hope I leave them with a deeper love for God and his Word and the ability to live what they believe.

Clair Davis Honored for Decades of Service

At a faculty tea reception this spring, Professor D. Clair Davis, ’56, will be formally presented with a Festschrift in honor of his thirty-six years of service to Westminster. The Practical Calvinist: An Introduction to the Presbyterian and Reformed Heritage, edited by Peter Lillback, ’85, senior pastor of Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, reflects upon Davis’s influence in both the academy and in the church. Published by Christian Focus/Mentor Publications, the volume contains an interesting array of articles by twenty-eight contributors, including a series of articles on the five points of Calvinism by Davis himself, plus a collection of anecdotes by colleagues, students, and friends. +++ “I am startled and grateful,” was Davis’s response to the book. With characteristic humor, he says, “Westminster continues to give me colleagues who love me and will quickly share all the answers I don’t have, and students who are godly, committed, and who frequently agree with me!” +++ Davis taught theology for several years at Wheaton College. In 1966, he became professor of church history at Westminster, where he is known as a storehouse of details and an inimitable storyteller. He has also devoted numerous years to the board of Mission to the World. He celebrates his seventieth birthday on March 25.

T H E P R E S I D E N T ’ S P A G E
Samuel T. Logan, Jr.

Recently I had the privilege of meeting with other seminary leaders to discuss the numerous challenges facing seminaries today. These sessions identified current challenges—managing finances in a difficult economy, governing distance locations, handling changing development and enrollment issues, for example—and offered steps in the solution direction. +++ One of the greatest challenges overall is that of meeting the needs of a modern church. Last year, accredited seminaries in the U.S. spent $1.2 billion educating students. How will churches benefit from this expenditure? Does it really make a difference in the quality of religious leadership? +++ An intensive national survey indicates that, on average, across all denominations, eighteen hundred ministers leave the ministry every month! This means that every year more ministers leave the ministry than are produced annually by all accredited seminaries combined. What can seminaries do to better prepare ministers and reduce the “drop out” rate? +++ At one of the meetings, several pastors addressed this question, but they disagreed on what the church needs and where seminaries should focus attention. One minister spoke about the need for seminaries to instill a powerful love for the Bible; more than anything else, he said, the church needs leaders that delight to spend time studying God’s Word. Another pastor stated that the church has completely failed to address institutionalized racism, and evangelical seminaries must make education in racial and gender justice a top curricular priority, or become increasingly irrelevant. A third individual spoke about ministering to victims of various kinds of trauma, declaring that the main need in the church today is individuals who can lead in ministering to those who are hurting. +++ Deciding what we must do to better serve the church is extremely difficult because “the church” cannot agree on what is most important. All of those who spoke at these meetings would profess agreement with what would broadly be considered evangelical theological positions. But there is tremendous disagreement as to what evangelical seminaries should be and do in support of the evangelical church. +++ No one seminary has all the answers to the challenges we face, but none of us can afford to ignore the experiences of others. We must not define ourselves by these experiences or by national trends, but we should be aware of both and, if we choose to act contrary to them, we should know that we are doing so and be certain that our reasons are excellent. Extending the knowledge of God’s glory in Christ has never been more complex…or more exciting! Now, more than ever, we need your prayers for wisdom. If you have any thoughts about the issues above, drop me a line. I would LOVE to hear from you!!

To comment on these issues, email Dr. Logan at slogan@wts.edu.

Richard Gaffin Installed as Krahe Professor
Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., ’61, was installed as Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary on October 16, 2002. The service, held on the Philadelphia campus, was attended by members of the Gaffin family, friends, students, staff, and faculty. Gaffin gave a rich address, “Biblical Theology and the Westminster Standards,” following which he was formally installed by George R. Cottenden, ’67, secretary of the board of trustees. Sinclair B. Ferguson, visiting professor of systematic theology and senior pastor of St. George’s-Tron Church in Glasgow, gave the charge to Gaffin. Present was Charles W. Krahe, pastor emeritus of Seventh Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for whom the faculty chair is named. +++ Gaffin has been a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and on the faculty at Westminster since 1965. To order an audio copy of Richard Gaffin’s inaugural address, click here.

ON CAMPUS

CRAIG CENTER FUNDS RESEARCH ON THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY
The Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards at Westminster Theological Seminary has hired Barry Waugh, ’02, to begin the process of identifying and then indexing the many names that appear in the three volumes of the minutes of the Westminster Assembly. Thousands of theologians, clergymen, and Englishmen of all sorts require identification for sections of the minutes to be meaningful. Waugh’s willingness to lend his expertise advances the project significantly and will open a wide window into the Assembly’s practices in licensing and, on occasion, disciplining ministers. Waugh will be working in close contact with Chad Van Dixhoorn, ’99, who has transcribed and edited the text of the Assembly’s minutes (housed in Dr. Williams’s Library, London). Identification of most of the persons in the minutes was not feasible until Van Dixhoorn located the necessary supporting manuscripts and printed sources in the fall of 2002. Waugh’s appointment was made possible by an anonymous gift. Further work on this and other Assemblyrelated projects awaits additional funding. Among the future intended projects of the center are a major conference on the international impact of the Westminster Standards (tentatively planned for October of 2004), the acquisition of additional library resources in support of the center (specifically, Early English Books Online), provision for visiting scholars (both junior and senior) to use the resources and facilities of the Center, and the development of an interactive web site dealing with the Westminster Assembly and the Westminster Standards. Anyone desiring further information or wishing to be included on the center’s mailing list should contact Dr. Carl Trueman, the executive director of the center.

Faculty Books
Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change by Paul David Tripp (P&R, 2002). A helpful manual for everyone in ministry. Advice on how to enter purposefully into meaningful relationships with other believers to achieve mutual accountability, speaking the truth in love to encourage lasting change growth in the grace of Christ. A biblical model for practical, down-to-earth ministry. $16.99.

Reformation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Carl R. Trueman (Joshua Press, 2002). A series of lectures delivered to the July 2000 Word and Spirit Conference at the Evangelical Theological College in Wales. Addresses fallacies promoted by both foes and friends of the Reformation, applying enduring principles of Reformation theology to contemporary church issues. Brief but powerful. $9.49.

Order online at www.wts.edu.

Audio Tapes and CDs
“A History of the Church in China,” by Dr. Jonathan Chao, President of China Ministries International and Lecturer in Apologetics at Westminster. A single tape. Item # JCRV1. $4.99.

“Biblical Theology and the Westminster Standards,” by Dr. Richard B. Gaffin. The inaugural
address of Gaffin as Charles Krahe Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster, delivered October 16, 2002. A single tape. Item # INRG2. $4.99

“The Old Testament and the Poor” and “The New Testament and the Poor,” by the late Dr. Harvie Conn. Lectures from Conn’s popular classes, featuring theological contemplation by a practical pastor and missionary. “Old Testament” is an eleven-CD set: item # HCOT500-CD, $49.50. "New Testament” is a thirteen-CD set: item # HCNT600-CD, $58.50. Order both sets together: item # HCOTNT-CD, $99.50.

Above prices do not include shipping and handling. To order, call 800-WTS-TAPE or visit our web site at www.wts.edu.

Join Our Monthly Support Team!
Send a gift of $25 or more each month and as a thank you we will send you a new tape each month. Messages will include lectures and conference material from current faculty as well as selected materials from our archives. You will receive regular teaching and at the same time help the seminary train the next generation of pastors and church leaders. Send your first gift with a note, “Add me to the tape of the month team” and we will send your first tape right away. (Electronic Funds Transfer is now available; please contact us for more information.)

CLASSNOTES
Larry Sibley, ’59, spent nearly two weeks in November 2002 teaching at Riga Reformed Theological Seminary in Latvia. He requests prayer for the fledgling seminary, which is seeking a full-time, resident professor.
Yong Choon Kim, ’63, professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Rhode Island, taught the summer 2002 course “Asian Culture and Christian Worldview” at the Vancouver Institute for Evangelical Worldview, and presented a paper at a conference in Washington D.C. for the centennial celebration of Korean immigration to the U.S.
Gerrit Noort, ’82, is policy officer on missions for the national office in Utrecht of Global Ministries of the Uniting Protestant Churches in the Netherlands.
John Mark Hicks, ’85, recently published Come to the Table: Revisioning the Lord’s Supper (New Leaf Press, 2002). He was appointed professor of theology at Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tenn., in 2000.
Charles H. Roberts, ’91, recently graduated with the Th.M. and D.Min. from Whitefield Theological Seminary in Lakeland, Fla. He completed a two-year term as moderator of the Northeast Presbytery of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod, and currently serves on the board of trustees at Erskine College and Theological Seminary, and on the Synod’s executive board.
Dean Ulrich, ’96, has been appointed professor of Old Testament at Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Ambridge, Penn., after serving for a year as visiting professor.
Robert Cara, ’01, is now associate professor of New Testament and academic dean at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, N.C.
Benjamin K. Hopp, ’01, was called in August 2002 to pastor Bethlehem Reformed Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Freeman, S.Dak. Plans are underway for a May 2003 ordination.
James J. Cassidy, ’02, was ordained on November 15, 2002, by the OPC Presbytery of Ohio, and was installed as pastor of Westminster OPC in Johnstown, Pa.

We love to hear from our alumni! Email your update to mwithrow@wts.edu

DEATHS
Henry Warner Coray, ’31, on October 20, 2002. A graduate of Wheaton College, he was a missionary to China from 1934-1937 and served on the PCA/OPC Committee on Foreign Missions for fourteen years. He also pastored OPC congregations in Pennsylvania and California. He was the author of several books, including J. Gresham Machen: A Silhouette, published in 1981. He was 98.
Donald C. Graham, ’37, on September 8, 2002. A Wheaton College graduate, he was licensed by the OPC in June of 1937, and after briefly serving as U.S. Army chaplain, he spent the next five decades ministering to OPC congregations. After founding the Pensacola Theological Institute, he served as executive director of the National Presbyterian and Reformed Fellowship. In 1986 he was appointed evangelist and director of the Waterfront Rescue Mission and was on the board of trustees at Westminster for many years. He was 97.
Lawrence R. Eyres, ’38, on January 23, 2003, of cancer. He came to Westminster after graduating from Wheaton College in 1934, and in 1938 was ordained by the PCA/OPC Presbytery of New York and New England. For the next fifty-five years, he faithfully led OPC congregations in New Hampshire, Oregon, Illinois, California, Ohio, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Wisconsin. His family remembers him as a “gentle, gracious man who loved His Lord and loved people, whose life’s work is summed up by the word pastor.” He was 91.
John A. Houseward, ’52, on November 29, 2002, of cancer. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force who served in the South Pacific, he graduated from Calvin College in 1948. After completing his studies at Westminster, he spent four years teaching, including one year as a professor at Calvin Seminary, and then was ordained by the Christian Reformed Church in 1955. Over the next thirty-three years, he served CRC congregations in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, and Australia. He was 78.
Clarence G. Werkema, ’54, on October 2, 2002. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Navy. For over forty-five years he ministered as a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church, retiring in 1983. He was 82.
Adrian Van Andel, ’58-’59, on July 18, 2002. A graduate of Calvin Seminary and a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserves, in 1975, he was appointed chief of chaplains of the VA hospital at Palo Alto, Calif. He served there until 1985, when he officially retired from ministry. He continued to volunteer, ministering to the sick and disadvantaged, until he was overtaken by Alzheimer’s and pneumonia.
Raymond Lindholm, ’67, on October 3, 2002, of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Born in Canada, Ray grew up in the Midwest and graduated from Washburn University in Topeka, Kans., in 1962. Following seminary, he served Baptist congregations in Minnesota and North Dakota for over thirty years. He avidly committed Scripture to memory, spending the last months of his life memorizing the book of Ephesians. He was 65.

COMING EVENTS
April 11-18 – Professor Steve Taylor teaches a one-week New Testament course at a seminary in the Middle East.
April 24 – Dr. Richard Gaffin preaches and lectures at Erskine College and Seminary in Due West, S.C.
May 29 – Westminster Theological Seminary holds its seventy-fourth commencement for the Philadelphia campus. Honorary doctorates will be awarded to George Marsden, Alastair Dunlop, and Robert den Dulk.
October 28-30 – Westminster holds its annual Institute on Biblical Preaching on the Glenside, Pennsylvania campus. Participants include Dr. Wesley Pinnock, Dr. John Bettler, and Dr. John Armstrong. Seminar participants include Dr. Hughes O. Old, Dr. Carl R. Trueman, Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson, and Dr. Samuel T. Logan. Special alumni and prospective student events will be held in conjunction with the conference.

BOOKNOTES
Standing Forth: Collected Writings of Roger Nicole (Christian Focus, 2002). Nicole is a familiar name to students of the Reformed theological heritage. With admirable clarity and precision, he discusses the doctrine of Scriptural inerrancy, the doctrine of Scripture in Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, the question of whether Calvin held to limited atonement, and the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament. The book includes a brief biography by Westminster’s former librarian John Muether, ’79, and a helpful subject index.

The Lost Soul of American Protestantism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), by Darryl G. Hart, ’81. Westminster’s former librarian and professor of church history offers up a rousing challenge to the traditional historiography of Christianity in America. Hart challenges the hegemonic two party assessment of American Christianity that portrays a struggle between liberals and conservatives (or evangelicals), finding this model lacking because it neglects a significant minority that he denominates “confessionalists.” Hart gives an historical account of three confessional traditions within American Christianity: Presbyterianism, Lutheranism, and the Continental Reformed tradition, each of which stands outside the American religious mainstream. Whether one agrees with the description and assessment of confessionalism, this is an interesting and informative read.

Charles Hodge Revisited: A Critical Appraisal of His Life and Work (Eerdmans, 2002), edited by John W. Stewart and James H. Moorhead. The product of a 1997 symposium cosponsored by Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary. The coeditors, both professors at Princeton, have included a number of thought-provoking essays by various contributors on such topics as Hodge’s place in the “intellectual weather” of the nineteenth century; Hodge’s influence on the history of ideas in America; Hodge and the beauties and deformities of science; and Hodge as expositor of the spiritual, political commentator, and anti-slavery proponent. An interesting assessment from a variety of vantage points.

Stephen J. Nichols, ’95, has brought to life another hero of the past. His Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought (P&R, 2002) provides biographical material, theological review, bibliographical sources, and indices of persons, Luther’s works, and Scripture. Among other items, Nichols perceptively deals with Luther’s “Three Treatises,” and “The Bondage of the Will,” and examines his response to the peasants’ revolt and his conflict with Zwingli over the nature of the Lord’s Supper. Luther comes to life anew in the pages of this volume, which J. I. Packer says “deserves to be widely read.”

Longer reviews may be found on Westminster’s web site under Bookstore Newsletter. To order, call 888-WTS-BOOK or visit www.wts.edu.