P T Forsyth Collection
October 15, 2012
I see that Logos have set up a P T Forsyth collection. It is subject to 'community pricing' here. As a one-finger typist of limited 'online community' sociability, I do not have the foggiest idea what 'community' or 'pricing' means in that context but it sounds impressive. Many of the books are, of course, out of copyright, so I am guessing they are also available in PDF; though the Logos collection no doubt brings with it the typical cross-referencing advantages.
Asked recently why I liked P T Forsyth, given that he is not exactly a Reformed Orthodox figure, I gave the following brief answer:
1. He ruthlessly attacks sentimentalism in religion. He shares this trait with Barth and Machen, both of whom share a further connection to him: as Forsyth studied under Albrecht Ritschl, Barth and Machen studied under Ritschl's brilliant student, Wilhelm Herrmann. In their different ways, all three came to see that classic German liberalism was ultimately a form of sentimentalism. Of course, while I believe only Machen opposed sentimentalism on grounds secure enough to sustain his critique, the fact that all three men shared the same enemy on this makes all three worth listening to. This is why, for example, Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind still speaks so powerfully today: seeker-sensitive preaching, preaching that contextualises first and looks to the word of God only second, if at all, is always going to end up as so much sentimental blancmange.
2. He sees the centrality of the cross to theology and preaching. Again, his own view of the atonement is, I would argue, defective; but in seeing the cross as rendering sentimentalism as void and as turning the gospel from a how-to thing into a declaratuon of what God has done, he points the church in the right direction. It was reading his little book, The Cruciality of the Cross which, according to Iain Murray, turned Martyn Lloyd-Jones from a preacher of regeneration to a preacher of Christ crucified.
3. Like so many great figures in church history -- Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, Newman, Lloyd-Jones -- he is just so readable and so eminently quotable. No beating around the bush, no pulling of punches: just one direct hit after another. He is a pleasure to read, and a pleasure to quote to others.
Asked recently why I liked P T Forsyth, given that he is not exactly a Reformed Orthodox figure, I gave the following brief answer:
1. He ruthlessly attacks sentimentalism in religion. He shares this trait with Barth and Machen, both of whom share a further connection to him: as Forsyth studied under Albrecht Ritschl, Barth and Machen studied under Ritschl's brilliant student, Wilhelm Herrmann. In their different ways, all three came to see that classic German liberalism was ultimately a form of sentimentalism. Of course, while I believe only Machen opposed sentimentalism on grounds secure enough to sustain his critique, the fact that all three men shared the same enemy on this makes all three worth listening to. This is why, for example, Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind still speaks so powerfully today: seeker-sensitive preaching, preaching that contextualises first and looks to the word of God only second, if at all, is always going to end up as so much sentimental blancmange.
2. He sees the centrality of the cross to theology and preaching. Again, his own view of the atonement is, I would argue, defective; but in seeing the cross as rendering sentimentalism as void and as turning the gospel from a how-to thing into a declaratuon of what God has done, he points the church in the right direction. It was reading his little book, The Cruciality of the Cross which, according to Iain Murray, turned Martyn Lloyd-Jones from a preacher of regeneration to a preacher of Christ crucified.
3. Like so many great figures in church history -- Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, Newman, Lloyd-Jones -- he is just so readable and so eminently quotable. No beating around the bush, no pulling of punches: just one direct hit after another. He is a pleasure to read, and a pleasure to quote to others.
