Prof. F. Bruce Gordon's "Calvin" (amazon) is a new biography of John Calvin released in 2009, which coincides to John Calvin's 500th birthday. I learned about the biography from the 2009 Desiring God National Conference: With Calvin in the Theater of God. Although there are many biographies of Calvin, this particular one received the most attention in the conference, primarily because it was the most recent and released in the year of Calvin 500th's birthday, but also because most people at the ... continue reading...

Jonathan Edwards believes that Jephthah did not put his daughter to death but devoted her to perpetual virginity. At first I was skeptical, but his comparisons to Hebrews 11 and several of the women devoted to virginity in the NT as well as commands to Widows makes this seem even more likely. So after reading it, I think Edwards is right on it. I've quoted the pages in full below, but you may read it directly from Yale here:Jonathan Edwards on Jephthah's Vow in Works Volume 15, Pages 160-169Note... continue reading...

The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) (PDF) is the most well known and respected of all the Reformed Confessions, although whether it is the best is contested by the Heidelberg Catechism and others. The Westminster Confession (WCF) stands in the tradition of John Calvin's Institutes, and John Knox's Influence on Scotland, England and the Church of England (Anglican Communion). It is still used by most confessional reformed churches, but usually it has been slightly modified; for example, th... continue reading...

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... continue reading...

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 Cen... continue reading...

John Calvin was an expository preacher, who preached sequentially through the scriptures, a few verses at a time, until he had commentated on almost the entire bible (baring a few books including Revelation). He had recorders who would record his lectures as he taught directly from the Hebrew and Greek, and then Calvin would compile his lectures into publish commentaries that we can all read today.I was reading Calvin's commentary on Daniel 1-6, but took a quick digression to learn what Calvin t... continue reading...

Seven Periods of the Apocalypse, According to Moses LowmanFrom Jonathan Edwards Works: Apocalyptic Writings (WJE Online Vol. 5), pg 55-59Jonathan Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758) based his interpretation of Revelation on Moses Lowman's (1680–1752) timeline of Revelation. Below is a chart that I obtain from the Edwards Center at Yale, that outlines the events of Revelation, and then lists the corresponding epocs in history that Lowman believed the symbols foretold, as well as ... continue reading...

I highly recommend reading The Unity of the Bible by Daniel P. Fuller, not only because it is #2 of John Piper's recommend reading list, but because Fuller successfully applies a unified continuum of the Covenant of Grace across the entire bible. Covenant Theology traditionally teaches that man was under a Covenant of Works until the Fall and then operated under a Covenant of Grace after the Fall, but Daniel Fuller has challenged that theory suggesting that there has only been one way to be save... continue reading...

I don't remember where I found out about this book, but it was very interesting to read, considering it was written in the late 300's AD. The Literal Meaning of Genesis Vol.1 by Augustine of Hippo is a fascinating book. It's valuable to learn what people in the 4th Century understood about the nature of the universe, solar system and the earth. I realize that most people today believe in The Myth of the Flat Earth, which suggests that everyone before Columbus believed the earth was flat, and lik... continue reading...

While mere mortals are arguing about whether Christians today may lay out a fleece to determine God's will like Gideon had done in Judges 6:37-40, Jonathan Edwards laughs. Jonathan Edwards reveals to us the true interpretation of Gideon's Fleece: Jonathan Edwards, Notes on Scripture (WJE Online Vol. 15), pg 350: #364 Judges 6:37–40 "Concerning Gideon's fece. There being first dew on the fleece, when it was dry upon all the earth beside, and then dew on all the ground, but dry upon the fleec... continue reading...

The Gospel According to John by D.A. Carson is arguably the best commentary I have ever read on any book of the bible, especially the Gospel of John. Carson is consistently evangelistic, committed defending the Gospel and answering the best critics such as Rudolf Bultmann and C.H. Dodd, as well as redeeming the valuable material that the critics have produced. Carson also quotes the best arguments from other excellent commentaries such as The Gospel of John by F.F. Bruce. Indeed everything is in... continue reading...