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22Feb/110

Ten Theologians That Have Influenced Me

Here is my "Top Ten List of Most Influential Theologians." I'll quickly stress that the following theologians have influenced me the most, and only contains books that I've read too. I've excluded authors, if I've only read one of their books too. Some of these authors (like Calvin, Edwards and Warfield) are still very influential to me, but others like (G.E. Ladd and John Piper) were very helpful stepping-stones in the past but are no longer as influential to me as they once where. So there's several gotchas.

The following list is roughly in order by most influential theologian to least, and the titles are generally arranged by most influential to least influential with a supplemental list of related books I've read about the author worth noting.

  1. John Calvin

    1. Institutes of the Christian Religion
    2. Calvin Commentaries
    3. Related:
      1. John Calvin (a biography by Theodore Beza)
      2. Calvin (a biography by Bruce Gordon)
      3. Lectures on Calvinism (by Abraham Kuyper)
      4. The Legacy of Sovereign Joy:  God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (The Swans Are Not Silent)
      5. Calvin and Augustine (by Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield)

  2. Jonathan Edwards

    1. On The Freedom Of The Will
    2. An Unpublished Essay on the Trinity
    3. Religious Affections
    4. The Preciousness Of Time And The Importance Of Redeeming It
    5. The Nature of True Virtue
    6. The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader
    7. The Blessing of God: Previously Unpublished Sermons of Jonathan Edwards
    8. The Blank Bible
    9. Related:
      1. Jonathan Edwards: A Life (a biography by George Marsden)
      2. The Supreme Harmony of All: The Trinitarian Theology of Jonathan Edwards by Amy Plantinga Pauw

  3. Augustine of Hippo

    1. On The Trinity
    2. The City of God (translated by Henry Bettenson)
    3. Confessions
    4. Enchiridion
    5. The Literal Meaning of Genesis Vol 1
    6. Related:
      1. The Legacy of Sovereign Joy:  God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (The Swans Are Not Silent)
      2. Calvin and Augustine (by Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield)

  4. Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield

    1. The Authority and Inspiration of the Scriptures
    2. Calvin and Augustine
    3. Biblical Doctrines
    4. Person and Work of Christ
    5. Studies in Theology
    6. Evolution, Science,  and Scripture: Selected Writings (edited by Mark Noll and David Livingstone)
    7. The Plan of Salvation

  5. D. A. Carson

    1. The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God
    2. Christ and Culture: Revisited
    3. The Gospel According to John
    4. Exegetical Fallacies
    5. The KJV Debate: A Plea for Realism
    6. For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word Volume 1
    7. For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word Volume 2
    8. The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus
    9. NT use of the OT
    10. Podcasts and online content

  6. N.T. Wright

    1. Resurrection of the Son of God
    2. Jesus and the Victory of God
    3. The New Testament People of God
    4. Paul: In Fresh Perspective
    5. Judas and the Gospel of Jesus
    6. Related:
      1. The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright (by John Piper)

  7. John Owen

    1. Death of Death in the Death of Christ
    2. On the Mortification of Sin in Believers

  8. John Piper

    1. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
    2. The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God
    3. The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright
    4. The Legacy of Sovereign Joy:  God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (The Swans Are Not Silent)
    5. Podcasts and online content

  9. Martin Luther

    1. Table Talk
    2. 95 Thesis
    3. Babylonian Captivity of the Church
    4. Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation
    5. Related:
      1. Here I Stand : A Life of Martin Luther (by Roland Bainton)
      2. The Legacy of Sovereign Joy:  God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (The Swans Are Not Silent)

  10. George Eldon Ladd

    1. Theology of the New Testament
    2. The New Testament and Criticism
    3. The Gospel of the Kingdom
    4. Related:
      1. A Place at the Table: George Eldon Ladd and the Rehabilitation of Evangelical Scholarship in America (a biography by John A. D’Elia)

By: Wyatt Houtz

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14Nov/090

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851 - 1921) or commonly known as B. B. Warfield was an amazing American Presbyterian minister and prolific writer that you need to get to know better. I found four volumes of B. B. Warfield's "works" at half price books for $3 each, which is amazing deal. (Half Price Books apparently doesn't account for inflation, because these books were printed in 1948 and sold new for only $7). B.B. Warfield is particularly known for his defense of the Inspiration of the Bible, and for the scholasticism of his books. D. A. Carson complemented Warfield by saying that Warfield never said anything wrong (my paraphrase). Unfortunately, most people today latch onto a few statements that Warfield said that seems to support Darwinian evolution, but are usually out of context or against other things Warfield has wrote.

"Inspiration and Authority of Bible" by B.B. Warfield is a behemoth. I believe that a layperson could read the first half of the book but unless you have a basic understand of the Koine Greek language (biblical greek), Latin, some Hebrew, and a little background in Greek Philosophers, as well as Philo and some Judaisim, the second half of this book will be impossible to read. There are many untranslated paragraphs in Latin and Greek that I stared at for a long time just try to understand what Warfield was talking about. It was an amazing book overall, and by the last page, my respect for Warfield shot through the roof.

"Inspiration and Authority of Bible" divides revelation into three categories: Theophanies, Dreams & Visions, and Conscription. Warfield says that all three times of revelation occur throughout the entirety of the bible, but the age of the patriarchs were dominated by Theophanies, or appearances of God to Man. During the age of the prophets, dreams and visions were the primary way that God provided revelation to man, and then conscription was during the apostolic age, which included typologies and the use of the Old Testament by the Apostles. Warfield notes that the holiness of the man has no influence on the importancy of the prophecy. Something is not more important because Moses said it rather than Zephaniah, because ultimately it is not the man but God who has spoken both things, so we should not error by favoring Moses because he provided more numerous prophecies. This is also extremely relevant to church creeds and councils, but their publications are the result of man's deductions and not from God's direct revelation according to the three ways I listed: Theophanies, Dreams & Visions or Conscriptions.

In the second half of "Inspiration and Authority of Bible", Warfield goes to great lengths to demonstrate that Theopneustos in 2 Timothy 3:16 was correctly translated as of divine origin rather than spirit-filled, and the doctrine of biblical inspiration was held by all the apostles and Christ himself, and is not a new invention by fundamentalists. 2 Peter 1:20 is also discussed at great length.

2 Peter 1:20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

The other three books that I purchased are "Calvin and Augustine," "Perfectionism," and "The Plan of Salvation." I will probably read "The Plan of Salvation" next, because it is a shorter book that critiques different views on how salvation is obtained in different Christian denominations, ie. Calvinism, Catholicism, Orthodox, etc. I'm looking forward to it.

By: Wyatt Houtz

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Wyatt Houtz
Seattle, WA USA
Pastor // Mars Hill Church
Computer Engineer // Expedia
Presbyterian // Reformed
Univ. of Michigan Alumnus
           

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