Freedom of the Will by Jonathan Edwards
I purchased and read the new Yale paperback edition of Jonathan Edward's The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1: Freedom of the Will. Normally, each volume of the Yale Edition of Edward's Works costs over $100! but recently three of the volume were released as paper back editions. So I snatched up Vol1 for only $20! What a deal. It includes great footnotes and a long preface for the book's background. The full text of On The Freedom Of The Will is available online for free at the Yale Edwards Center.Freedom of the Will is Edward's magnum opus, but despite of its huge influence, it is still very readable. Edward's sermons are the most accessible, but of his longer works, this is the easiest to follow along with deductions. This book is not a string of bible verses, but a long philosophical argument, so I was surprised how few times he quoted the bible. Edward's purpose is to show that by plain reason, Free Will (or Arminianism) is not a tenable position.
The book begins by defining Free Will and consider what various Arminians and Calvinists mean when they say that they have free will. Then Edwards begins to challenge the concept of a Free Will. What is it that caused you to choose what you chose? Is free will something that's different than the desire to choose? If your free will is truly free, do you have any choice over what you will do next? Basically Edwards practically discusses how is it that we have come to choose what we actually choose.
Towards the end of the book, Edwards answers several tough questions. For instance, he suggests that God himself doesn't have a free will, and must always choose what is most perfect by his nature. He is all powerful, unlike man, but he is bound to only do what is most holy and righteous in the end. Evil is described by God withholding his holiness, in the same way as if the sun were to stop shining than darkness would occur due to the nature of the things shined upon which have no light of their own.
Edwards also points out that Arminians are so insistent on free will, but they do so because of the presupposition that God is not evil, and if there was no-free will, then God would be the doer of evil... but consequently that view requires that God has no ability to do evil, and therefore does not have free will. So the only person in the arminian view who has free will is man. Edwards also notes that some people object to God not having a free will, but just because something is disagreeable doesn't mean its wrong.
Edwards also notes that if there is Free Will, then the future is not knowable or fixed. If God merely knows all the possible outcomes, then he cannot say for certain which of the outcomes will happen, so therefore God is unable to make promises to us about what will happen to us in the future. And when God makes prophecies, they are merely speculation or conjecture that could be thwarted by someone's free will. So if you accept that God could be thwarted, then you make Jesus out to be a liar, because Jesus promised exact things would happen, even saying that not one iota of his word would pass away, even though the whole world will pass away. The repercussions are mind blowing!
Overall an excellent book. I highly recommend it to anyone who has questions about predestination and election.
By: Wyatt Houtz 
The Mortification of Sin by John Owens (Review)
I highly recommend The Mortification of Sin by John Owen with a foreword by J.I. Packer. The longer title of Owen's book is On the Mortification of Sin in Believers, and it is available online in entirety for free (here and here). It's another short and small book with 176 half-sized pages. I highly recommend it!.jpg "John Owen")
John Owen (1616 - 1683) was a Reformer who lived a hundred years before Jonathan Edwards, and was a famous Calvinist theologian, and church leader in England. In this book, Owen describes the sinful and fallen condition of man as inescapable, and our only recourse is to put sin to death everyday, even though it is impossible to purge ourselves from our sinful nature. Unless we daily put our sin to death, it will constantly increase and manifest itself in different ways that will overcome us.John Owen writes everything that should have been written in "Every Man's Battle" series. I highly recommend that you read it today!
By: Wyatt Houtz
Christ and Culture Revisited by D.A. Carson (Review)
D.A. Carson is arguably the greatest N.T. Theologian alive today. Carson has published over 50 books and this week I read one of his latest books: Christ and Culture Revisited (April 2008) and I highly recommend this book! D.A. Carson revisits H. Richard Niebuhr infamous and highly influential book "Christ and Culture" (1956). Fifty years have passed since Niebuhr's book debuted, and Carson reevaluates Niebuhr's five categories on how Christ and Culture relate and how Niebuhr's categories have impacted the world for better and for worse. I would have appreciated the first quarter of the book if I had actually read Niebuhr's work, but I sheepishly admit that I have not read it. Nevertheless, D.A. Carson explained each of the five categories before he critiques them, so I still recommend this book, even if you have not read Niebuhr either.
Christ and Culture Revisited begins by reevaluating each of Niebuhr's five categories:
- Christ against culture
- The Christ of culture
- Christ above culture
- Christ and culture in paradox
- Christ transforming culture
Carson discusses the impact of these five views on society and government. The advance of Secularism and Democracy and their influence on Christianity is discussed at length, especially in the case of "the separation of Church and State" in America and in European counties.
Carson provides revealing insight into Jesus' famous statement "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." (Matt 22:21). Carson makes a great point that although Caesar's image is on the coin, Caesar is a man made in the image of God. Carson also noted the treasonous implications of not paying tribune to Caesar. This particular passage has been used as a proof text for "the separation of Church and State." Carson considers some of the fundamental flaws in the philosophy of total separation.
I enjoyed Carson's evaluation of Thomas Jefferson and his Jefferson Bible. Most people are surprised to learn that the separation of Church and state is not part of the original constitution or bill of rights. The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from establishing a state religion but does not require the total separation from all religious involvement. Most of the original framers were Calvinist Christians but due to the advance of Democracy, Jefferson's subsequent writings have raised the high wall between state and church. Some of Jefferson's writings and Supreme Court precedent cases are also scrutinized by Carson.
Carson touches on many other topics like Just War and Faith Based programs, and Theocracies. Overall, the book is a highly insightful into the worldviews prevalent today. I highly recommend this book as well as all of Carson's books and lectures. He is one of the few authors that I return to read again and again.
By: Wyatt Houtz 
Jonathan Edwards Biography
I'm currently reading Jonathan Edwards : A Life by George M. Marsden. I'm rarely interested in biographies, but if you're like me, then you should make this one exception and read this book! The book begins by describing New England in the 1700's -- an era after the puritans but before the United States were established. The book is full of details but its far from boring. Marsden's writing is engaging. For example, he writes "George Whitefield is coming to Northampton!" and I wonder who is George Whitefield and why is he excited? So when Marsden does explain the details, I'm excited too!
After reading most of the book, I realized that this biography is also a history of the Great Awakenings in the mid-1700. After Jonathan Edwards left Yale, he became a pastor in Northampton (near Boston.) A great pentecostal revival started in his church and everyone within 200 miles of his church became a Christian (and they were all Calvinists too!) The book is immediately relevant when I wonder, how is it possible that everyone was a Charismatic Calvinist 250yrs ago? The church is dying out in America and is arguably dead in Europe. The church was so strong, the people thought that the Millennial Kingdom of peace and Christ's reign had already started! What is the Millennial Kingdom?
Many famous characters such as John Wesley, George Whitefield, Aaron Burr, Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklyn appear throughout the biography and Jonathan Edward's theology is explained through the events of his life instead of through biblical proof texts.
I've blogged about Jonathan Edward's sermons before but his writing is as difficult to read as it is valuable to learn. George Marsden transforms the inaccessible, incomprehensible and influential works of Jonathan Edwards into the most entertaining, educating and though-provoking biography I've ever read.
By: Wyatt Houtz
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