Thursday, October 30, 2008

Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology

I would like to recommend two resources to the blog's readers for help in seeking to understand Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology.

First, I would like to recommend reading Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ, edited by Ronald D. Miller, James M. Renihan, and Francisco Orozco and published by Reformed Baptist Academic Press. It focuses especially upon the writings of Nehemiah Coxe and John Owen.

The book may be purchased for a very good price at Solid Ground Christian Books. Here are the recommendations listed on the SGCB site:

"This volume brings together wonderful insights from two faithful church leaders of an earlier generation with helpful analyses from competent teachers of today. The results is a valuable resource for students, academics, and pastors." - Tom Ascol

"More times than I can count - and personally I find it so frustrating - I have heard Reformed theology defined in such a way that it excludes those who hold to believer's baptism. This valuable work will help set the record straight." - Michael Haykin

"Nehemiah Coxe's work on the covenant is an important piece of writing by a significant seventeenth century Particular Baptist theologian. Its republication is long overdue. This work is an important resource for twenty-first century Reformed Baptists." - Robert Oliver

"Paedobaptists have seldom, if ever, considered the possibility of a covenantal credobaptist position, and many Baptists are simply ignorant of the centrality of the covenant and its usefulness in defending their own beliefs. This book is an attempt to begin to rectify this deficiency." - Jim Renihan

"For various reasons, many reformed Baptists of our time have failed to realize that historic Covenant Theology was fully appreciated and theologically deployed in the very best of the Calvinistic Baptist tradition. Whereas many Baptists today who are reformed have opted for speaking of themselves as some form of dispensationalist (modified or progressive) or have felt drawn to so-called 'New Covenant Theology,' Baptists who embrace the great Reformed distinctives (like Spurgeon did) have seen themselves as covenant theologians. May their tribe increase!" - Ligon Duncan

Second, I would like to recommend Fred Malone's lecture given at the 2005 Southern Baptist Founders Conference. It is entitled The Hermeneutics of Baptist Covenant Theology, and it deals with exactly what it says in a very capable and informative manner. I should point out, however, that the actual lecture doesn't begin until just over four minutes into the recording.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the resource information and for this site. I have recently come into studying covenant theology but, as a Baptist was having difficulty understanding how to reconcile it with believer's baptism. (I was also loving to listen to brothers like Michael Horton and Kim Riddlebarger but feeling some internal tension while they speak of paedobaptism). I am just beginning this journey but look forward to frequenting your site.

    God bless you,
    Ron Foster

    ReplyDelete