Review: How Then Shall We Worship?: Biblical Principles to Guide Us Today

How Then Shall We Worship?: Biblical Principles to Guide Us Today by R.C. Sproul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The title is a little of a misnomer - when I bought it I thought that this is an academic work that would address the styles of worship and discuss the different positions about it, but it turns out actually it is geared at the layman reader and explores worship a little more at the personal level than at the corporate setting. Also in a slight deviation from the main theme of worship, other topics like prayer, baptism and the Lord's supper are also discussed. If the title in subsequent revisions were changed to following Christ or living a Christian life, I would be happy to add at least 1 stars to the rating.

Sproul writes in the first person and provides an easy read with the conversational style for the opening chapters of the book. Thereafter, chapters 6-8 on the topic of baptism were excellent - it helped me understand the position of infant baptism for the first time! In contrast, Chapter 9-11 seemed to lack theological exhaustiveness (width) and substance (depth); after reading each chapter I felt a desire to have been persuaded more so I could agree with Sproul’s substantives.

Mercifully, in Chapter 12 (The sounds of worship), the excitement and endgame to starts to pick up, with the delightful church history juxtaposed against tradition from Scripture. It was a pleasant surprise to find a rather exhaustive study/discussion guide at the end of the book (because this too is not reflected on the cover). I’d like to say that this book has the potential to become a really great 5 Star title with minor tweaks to the titles, editing and by further elaboration in some chapters, but with Sproul’s passing in 2017, I doubt we would see that come to fruition.

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Review: What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics

What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics by R.C. Sproul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although the subtitles state "understanding the basics," I perceive that the target audience would lean more toward the scholarly types (rather than the popular level readers). Weighing in at 250 pages, it definitely would fall short of the 500 or 1000 pages required to be a seminary level textbook, but the content was immense and very rich. It would probably hold the interest of a christian who affirms a reformed position (more so than an arminian-leading believer).

I tried reading this book on three occasions, and as I had to write a review, each time I started from the beginning. I would like to believe that I wrestle close to the middle of the Reformed-Arminian spectrum, but somehow I struggled to plough through the pages. While the beginning of the pages were extremely engaging and interesting, I felt that the meatier content toward the middle was a great challenge to read and digest.

To the Sproul fans out there, I'm very sorry but I find that his ability to explain complex theological terminology and concepts (with elaboration through logic or illustrations) in a manner that the layperson can understand is not on the same level as John Stott, Edmund Clowney or Gordon Fee. Writing an accessible book on such a large topic is truly a daunting task, and Sproul did put up a tremendous contribution with this piece of work. It could have been so much better if there were more pictures, diagrams, highlighted excerpts, quotes etc that would have provided mental breaks to the monotony of page after page of dense knowledge.

I received this book from Baker Publishing Group's Blogger Review Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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