B. B. Warfield

Warfield on the Christian Life

March 14, 2012 by Andy Naselli

This book, the first in a promising new series that Stephen Nichols and Justin Taylor are editing, comes out later this month:

Fred G. Zaspel. Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel. Theologians on the Christian Life. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 240 pp.

See endorsements by

Sinclair Ferguson
D. A. Carson [Read more…] about Warfield on the Christian Life

Carson and Zaspel in Albuquerque

February 21, 2012 by Andy Naselli

If you’ll be within driving distance of Albuquerque on March 9–11, you may want to consider attending the 2012 Clarus Conference with D. A. Carson and Fred Zaspel (conference schedule).

And if you know anyone near Albuquerque, you may want to let them know about it.

My friend Ryan Kelly is hosting it again: [Read more…] about Carson and Zaspel in Albuquerque

Getting the Old Princetonians Right

February 9, 2011 by Andy Naselli

Books like this are rare:

Paul Kjoss Helseth. “Right Reason” and the Princeton Mind: An Unorthodox Proposal. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2010. 257 pp.

Helseth destroys the fifty-years-old paradigm about the Old Princetonians (esp. Archibald Alexander, A. A. Hodge, B. B. Warfield, and J. Gresham Machen) that postconservative evangelicals continue to use today.

I’ve heard John Woodbridge rave about Helseth’s research on the Princetonians many times. Woodbridge initially encouraged Helseth to write this book, and Woodbridge’s foreword sets the historical stage for how unusual and bold this book is.

You can view a PDF of Woodbridge’s foreword (along with endorsements by scholars like John Frame, Roger Nicole, and Steve Nichols) here.

Warfield the Affectionate Theologian

February 8, 2011 by Andy Naselli

The theologian B. B. Warfield was a scholar. One of the best. And he refused to separate theology and spirituality.

I write this in Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology (p. 283, numbering added):

Pitting doctrine against devotion is a false dichotomy because God intends them to go together. They are not mutually exclusive; one without the other is incomplete.

[Note 199] Warfield strikes an outstanding balance in five articles reprinted in his Selected Shorter Writings , 2 vols., ed. J. E. Meeter (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1970, 1973), listed here chronologically:

“Authority, Intellect, Heart,” 2:668–71;

“The Indispensableness of Systematic Theology to the Preacher,” 2:280–8;

“Spiritual Culture in the Theological Seminary,” 2:468–96;

“The Religious Life of Theological Students,” 1:411–25;

“The Purpose of the Seminary,” 1:374–8.

See also Andrew J. B. Cameron and Brian S. Rosner, eds., The Trials of Theology: Becoming a “Proven Worker” in a Dangerous Business (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2010).

Those five articles by B. B. Warfield profoundly influenced me when I was in seminary. Hugely helpful and motivating.

Here’s a sample from “The Religious Life of Theological Students” (1:411–12): [Read more…] about Warfield the Affectionate Theologian