I just posted on The Gospel Coalition Blog about the latest CCI article: “Human Flourishing” by Danielle Sallade.
I predict that this article will be the most popular CCI essay thus far in terms of how many people read, recommend, and cite it.
Tom Schreiner’s Foreword
Here is Tom Schreiner’s foreword to Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology.
* * * * * * *
I became a Christian when I was seventeen years old, and the first theology I knew was Keswick theology. I read many books and heard numerous sermons that exhorted me to “let go and let God,” to live the victorious Christian life, to surrender absolutely and completely to the Lord, to live in unbroken victory for significant periods of time, to live as a spiritual Christian instead of a carnal Christian. I read Hannah Whitall Smith, Charles Trumbull, Andrew Murray, Watchmen Nee, Major Ian Thomas, John Hunter, etc. My youth pastor, who discipled me and taught me the rudiments of the Christian faith, gave a steady diet of Keswick teaching as well. When I attended seminary, at my youth pastor’s suggestion, I attended a church that promulgated Keswick theology because I was convinced that those who did not share such a theology were less biblical.
Let me be quick to say how much I learned from Keswick theology. It upholds the Scriptures as the authoritative and inerrant word of God. It highlights the majesty and beauty of Christ. It embraces and rejoices in orthodox Christian theology. Most important, it takes the Holy Spirit seriously. Christians can and should live in a way that pleases God through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a theological cipher; his presence is vital and energizing so that believers can triumph over the flesh.
[Read more…] about Tom Schreiner’s Foreword
Dan McCartney on James
The Spring 2010 issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology is available, including a PDF of twelve books reviews that conclude the issue. I contributed this one:
Review of Dan G. McCartney, James [Amazon | WTS Books]. The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 14:1 (Spring 2010): 84–85.
My conclusion:
McCartney evidences a firm handling of the text as well as the secondary literature, and he writes clearly and thoughtfully. His book joins Moo, Bauckham, George H. Guthrie (2006, revised EBC), and Craig L. Blomberg and Mariam J. Kamell (2008, ZECNT) as one of the volumes that preachers, teachers, and students will consult first and with most profit when studying the book of James.
Here are those other four books on James:
Update:
Keswick Endorsements
Here are twenty-one endorsements for Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology.
* * * * * * *
Forty years ago, as a brand new Christian, I devoured Keswick theology, which had great appeal to me as a vibrant and dynamic faith. I wrote “Let go and let God” inside my Bible. But the more I studied Scripture and looked at my own life, the more I saw that much of this theology didn’t ring true. As a former insider, I found Andy Naselli’s critique to be fair, accurate, theologically sound, and biblically persuasive. Andy’s book offers the bonus of serving as an insightful study of the doctrine of sanctification. I highly recommend it.
Randy Alcorn
Founder and Director of Eternal Perspective Ministries
Sandy, Oregon
This book packs an extraordinary amount of useful summary, critical analysis, and pastoral reflection into short compass. One does not have to agree with every opinion to recognize that this is a comprehensive and penetrating analysis of Keswick theology down to 1920. The book will do the most good, however, if it encourages readers in a more faithful way to pursue that holiness without which we will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).
D. A. Carson
Research Professor of New Testament
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Deerfield, Illinois
Interview on Keswick Theology
I recently answered these questions from Kevin DeYoung after he read my book on Keswick theology:
- Give us a brief history of the Keswick movement.
- Who were some of the significant people involved with Keswick, both those who influenced it and those influenced by it?
- I really like how you explain Keswick theology by going through a typical Keswick conference. Would you explain the conference and theology for us?
- What are the chief problems with the Keswick view of sanctification?
- Where do we still see Keswick’s influence today? Is their’s a common error that resurfaces often in the church? If so, what makes its so attractive?
- What projects are you currently working on, either for yourself or for Dr. Carson?
—from “Andy Naselli on Why ‘Let Go and Let God’ Is a Bad Idea”
Related: Let God and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology
Update on 8/23/2017: My latest book attempts to survey and analyze “let go and let God” theology:
Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology
That’s the title of my first solo book.
The publisher is Lexham Press, which is a division of Faithlife. (Logos Bible Software is also a division of Faithlife.)
You can read the book’s front matter in this 31-page PDF, which includes twenty-one endorsements, the table of contents, Tom Schreiner’s foreword, and my preface.
From the preface:
This book’s thesis is simple: Keswick theology is not biblically sound. It demonstrates this by answering three basic questions:
- Where did Keswick theology come from (chap. 2)?
- What exactly is it (chap. 3)?
- And why is this second-blessing theology not a blessing (chap. 4)?
If you’ve encountered some aspect of second-blessing theology, you’ll be fascinated to see how it fits in the story in chapters 2–3. And you’ll be challenged to consider its serious flaws in chapter 4. My goal is not to make you an arrogant know-it-all who pugnaciously goes on a second-blessing witch-hunt. My goal is to edify you by warning and equipping you. I’ll consider this book a success if it helps you understand second-blessing theology better, see why it’s not a blessing at all, and follow a better—more biblical—way in your Christian walk.
Related:
- Keswick Theology (March 24, 2008)
- Other posts on Logos Bible Software
- Interview on Keswick Theology (with Kevin DeYoung)
- Endorsements
- Tom Schreiner’s Foreword
- Preface
- Lectures on Keswick Theology
- Interview on Keswick Theology (with Alex Chediak)
- Will your book be available in print?
- Four guest posts on Kevin DeYoung’s blog:
- Three Recent Interviews
- “Why ‘Let Go and Let God’ Is a Bad Idea,” Tabletalk (August 2011): 74–75.
Update on 8/23/2017: My latest book attempts to survey and analyze “let go and let God” theology more accessibly:
https://andynaselli.com/keswick-theology
The Glory of God
Coming June 30, 2010:
Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson, eds. The Glory of God. Theology in Community. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010. 255 pp. [Amazon | WTS Books | Crossway]
I just surveyed it, and it looks excellent.
Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Stephen J. Nichols, “The Glory of God Present and Past”
- 2. Tremper Longman III, “The Glory of God in the Old Testament”
- 3. Richard R. Melick Jr., “The Glory of God in the Synoptic Gospels, Acts, and the General Epistles”
- 4. Andreas J. Köstenberger, “The Glory of God in John’s Gospel and Revelation”
- 5. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., “The Glory of God in Paul’s Epistles”
- 6. Christopher W. Morgan, “Toward a Theology of the Glory of God”
- 7. Bryan Chapell, “A Pastoral Theology of the Glory of God”
- 8. J. Nelson Jennings, “A Missional Theology of the Glory of God”
Endorsements
“The glory of God, celebrated by angels, but often lost on the church today, is here restored to our vision. This is a serious engagement with biblical truth and it asks the reader to engage with it seriously, too. When we climb a mountain, we know that however long is the ascent, it is all made worthwhile by the view from the top. So it is here.”
—David F. Wells, Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
How would you respond to someone who said he would never read your book for the simple fact that James P. Boyce was from the South and owned slaves?
Tom Nettles’s answer to that question is superb.
