“Pocket Puritans” re-introduce Calvinist teachings

By David Daniels and ChristianWeek | April 10, 2009

Back in the day when I was a just-getting-started young pastor, being labeled a Calvinist was a sure route to ministerial obscurity. Everyone knew that reformed pastors neglected evangelism while perfecting their five-point anti-Arminian tirades. True Calvinists were to be avoided, and I was as anti-reformed as anyone.

It was during the 1970s, while church planting in England, that I first encountered the Banner of Truth Trust, a publishing ministry devoted to reprinting Puritan works for a fledgling reformed evangelical movement. I had been invited to attend the Westminster Fellowship, a monthly gathering of pastors chaired by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones at Westminster Chapel in London.

The monthly interaction with more than 200 reformed pastors, along with a well-stocked book room at the chapel—heavy on reformed authors—resulted in me embracing reformed soteriology. Though an exhilarating theological journey for me, it was cause for considerable concern among many friends back home in the United States and Canada.

How things have changed. Today it is cool to be a Calvinist. Just ask any of the thousands of young men and women flocking to conferences featuring contemporary reformed preachers like John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, John MacArthur and R.C. Sproul—to name just a few.

Puritans from the 16th and 17th centuries are the forerunners of today's new Calvinists. However, despite the fact that publishers like Banner of Truth have faithfully reprinted the best from the immense body of Puritan-authored literature, Puritans are still, according to blogger Tony Reinke (www.spurgeon.wordpress.com), caricatured as "dry, culturally withdrawn and excessive zealots."

Despite the current Calvinistic resurgence, many contemporary Christians cringe at the thought of wading through the finely-honed theology of a Jonathan Edwards or John Owens.

Banner of Truth is taking aim at this reticence to encounter the Puritans by introducing us to their carefully crafted summaries of significant Puritan titles. Billed as "Pocket Puritans," these 60 to 120-page booklets address themes of perennial interest to Christians. Eight titles have already been published, with more promised in the coming months.

Impure LUST (John Flavel) is a powerful warning about the "horrid nature and frightening consequences" of sexual immorality coupled with sound counsel on how to escape or avoid the trap of sexual sin. In 46 pages, we find five arguments for avoiding this sin and six directives for escaping its clutches if one has succumbed to sexual temptation.

In defending the need for such pointed counsel, Flavel said: "That this sin is a dreadful gulf, a quicksand that has sucked in and destroyed thousands, is truly apparent both from Scripture and experience. Solomon tells us, Proverbs 22:14, that it is a 'deep ditch, into which such as are abhorred of the LORD shall fall.' Oh! The multitudes of dead that are there! (sic) and if so, I cannot in duty to God, or in love to you, be silent, where the danger is so great." The book concludes with a short biographical sketch of John Flavel.

The two other titles featuring Flavel's writing are: Binge DRINKING, a no-holds-barred attack on the "soul-destroying evils of this detestable sin"; and Sinful SPEECH, a sober assessment of the all-too-prevalent failure of Christians to guard their tongues.

Other titles in the series include Living FAITH (Samuel Ward); REPENT and Believe (Thomas Brooks); UNITED We Stand (Thomas Brooks); ANGER Management (Richard Baxter); and HEAVEN, A World of Love (Jonathan Edwards).

Sinclair Ferguson, a reformed pastor and theologian who has written, edited and contributed to at least 20 books says, "To read the work of a Puritan doctor of the soul is to enter a rich world of spiritual theology to feed the mind, heart-searching analysis to probe the conscience, Christ-centered grace to transform the hearer, and wise counsel to direct the life."

Having read Puritan works for more than 30 years, I concur with Ferguson's sentiment. Though contemporary readers may at times find the prose of Puritan writers difficult to navigate at times, their passion for God's glory and their concern for the good of God's people will shine brightly through.

If you hunger for substantial writing that will feed your soul, but are not yet ready to invest in full-length works, give the "Pocket Puritans" a chance. I am certain many will feel drawn to drink more deeply from the well of Puritan theology and Christian living.