Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous
Journal: Reformation and Revival
Volume: RAR 10:3 (Summer 2001)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous
RAR 10:3 (Summer 2001) p. 181
Book Reviews
Historical Dictionary Of The Reformed Churches, Robert Bendetto, Darrell L. Gruder, and Donald K. McKim. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press (1999). 508 pages, cloth, $79.50
This handsome, well-bound, and useful reference volume is the work of three scholars affiliated with theological seminaries which profess to be Reformed institutions. All are connected with churches aligned with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, an ecumenical body in which liberal religious persuasions predominate. The authors have, nevertheless, provided substantial coverage of historically orthodox persons and institutions from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Their material relative to the twentieth century slights conservative figures and movements. There are no entries, for example, about Louis Berkhof or Carl McIntire, and even large conservative schools of theology such as Calvin Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary receive no attention. There is no specific information about denominations such as the Christian Reformed Church, the Bible Presbyterian Church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church in the United States, or the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America.
In spite of weaknesses due to omissions, this is a valuable
RAR 10:3 (Summer 2001) p. 182
able book. It begins with a chronology of Reformed history from 1500 to 1997 which cites major events all around the world in which Reformed churches or individuals were involved. The term Reformed, as the authors have employed it, includes Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Anglicans, and some Baptists, as well as those ecclesiastical movements which use the label directly. Entries appear in alphabetical sequence, with persons, geographic regions, church bodies, doctrines, and events arranged in that order. Many items are very brief, while others are substantial. The coverage of geographic regions in which Reformed churches have been at work is extensive and is one of the best features of the book.
Among the schools of modern theology, the authors of this Historical Dictionary appear to have a preference for the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth and Emil Brunner. In some entries the authors reveal their biases by citing the higher criticism of Scripture and Darwinian evolution as progressive views (280). Toward what goal such concepts have progressed, they do not say. The contention that Barth regarded the Bible as the written word of God (352) is misleading as stated, but no clarification is forthcoming.
Near the end of this book is a bibliography of about 120 pages topically arranged. Most entries are in English but some in...
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