A short-and-sweet summary of Michael Reeves’ Theologians You Should Know. This is easily one of my favorite nonfiction reads so far this year.
Brief introductions to theologians who have changed the way Christians thought about God and the Bible, from the early church fathers to Luther to Packer.
Surprisingly, I most enjoyed the chapters on the theologians with whom I most disagreed. Perhaps it’s because I knew so little about them. (For example, Aquinas—who structured much of his theology upon Aristotle’s thinking—and Schleiermacher, the hugely influential liberal theologian I didn’t even know existed.)
Reeves is concerned that the reader use his introductions to “go on” and read straight from the source. I plan to do just that with Calvin and Owen. Schleiermacher? Probably not. But I have taken to heart his warning in the final chapter of the book.
“But my real fear now is that readers will go away with the wrong idea. Reading the greats ought to breed modesty, and he who spends time with these giants should sense what a clod he is. The reality, though, is that even the vaguest familiarity with a celebrity can induce the most cockeyed egotism. Thus if somehow I have left any reader feeling that he is a match for even one of these theologians, I apologize now. The attempt to introduce simply can convey the impression that the subjects are simple. But to have mastered an introduction to a theologian is not to have mastered a theologian….the whole point of this book has been, not to bag and collect, but to introduce, to lead on.”
Reeves
Another excellent book by this author is Delighting in the Trinity.
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