The most important book of the year?
April 21, 2014
I don't know Kevin DeYoung. As far as I know I don't owe him any money. I'm not writing a book so I'm not expecting him to give me a cover blurb. I have never received a free copy of any of Kevin's books. I have never been to Michigan. I think I have covered all my bases.
With a clear conscience therefore, I am pretty sure that the most important book published this year is Taking God at His Word. I am using the word "important" deliberately and with premeditation. What Kevin DeYoung has given us in his new book is a well-written yet accessible, brief yet thoughtful doctrine of Scripture. What is more, he does this in less than 125 pages.
DeYoung focuses on the Scripture's authority, inerrancy, sufficiency, necessity, and clarity. Most of the books in my library on the doctrine of Scripture are quite lengthy and/or scholarly. Certainly there are other relatively brief and accessible books on the doctrine of Scripture out there. Some of them are very good. But I cannot think of a book on the doctrine of Scripture which covers so much ground so effectively in such a brief and readable fashion.
My intention here is not to provide a review of Taking God at His Word so much as a plea for you to read it. If you are a pastor or ministry leader I encourage you to buy it by the box and get it to the people you serve. I am privileged to serve as pastor of a church in a university town. This book is, I believe, going to be very important to the students we minister to in helping to bolster their confidence in God's Word.
The Word of God will always be under attack. It has been so since the serpent said to the woman, "Has God really said?" So books like Taking God at His Word are perennially relevant. But it is not just the authority and inerrancy of the Bible which are attacked. In evangelical, Bible-affirming circles the sufficiency and clarity of Scripture are undermined quite openly. Here is another reason why DeYoung's new book is so important. I have not read a more effective and readable explanation and defense of these attributes of Scripture in a single volume.
Taking God at His Word is not to be seen as a replacement for the more scholarly and magisterial volumes on the doctrine of Scripture. I continue to thank God for the work of Warfield, Bavinck, Henry, Young, Woodbridge and Gaffin. I love Michael Kruger's two recent volumes on canon. J.I. Packer, John Wenham, and Greg Beale have proven to be indispensable. But I have never seen one little book do so much so effectively as Taking God at His Word.
That is about as big a recommendation I can offer.
With a clear conscience therefore, I am pretty sure that the most important book published this year is Taking God at His Word. I am using the word "important" deliberately and with premeditation. What Kevin DeYoung has given us in his new book is a well-written yet accessible, brief yet thoughtful doctrine of Scripture. What is more, he does this in less than 125 pages.
DeYoung focuses on the Scripture's authority, inerrancy, sufficiency, necessity, and clarity. Most of the books in my library on the doctrine of Scripture are quite lengthy and/or scholarly. Certainly there are other relatively brief and accessible books on the doctrine of Scripture out there. Some of them are very good. But I cannot think of a book on the doctrine of Scripture which covers so much ground so effectively in such a brief and readable fashion.
My intention here is not to provide a review of Taking God at His Word so much as a plea for you to read it. If you are a pastor or ministry leader I encourage you to buy it by the box and get it to the people you serve. I am privileged to serve as pastor of a church in a university town. This book is, I believe, going to be very important to the students we minister to in helping to bolster their confidence in God's Word.
The Word of God will always be under attack. It has been so since the serpent said to the woman, "Has God really said?" So books like Taking God at His Word are perennially relevant. But it is not just the authority and inerrancy of the Bible which are attacked. In evangelical, Bible-affirming circles the sufficiency and clarity of Scripture are undermined quite openly. Here is another reason why DeYoung's new book is so important. I have not read a more effective and readable explanation and defense of these attributes of Scripture in a single volume.
Taking God at His Word is not to be seen as a replacement for the more scholarly and magisterial volumes on the doctrine of Scripture. I continue to thank God for the work of Warfield, Bavinck, Henry, Young, Woodbridge and Gaffin. I love Michael Kruger's two recent volumes on canon. J.I. Packer, John Wenham, and Greg Beale have proven to be indispensable. But I have never seen one little book do so much so effectively as Taking God at His Word.
That is about as big a recommendation I can offer.
