Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Reformed Baptist Theological Review
Volume: RBTR 05:2 (Jul 2008)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Readers will understand that we are not able to supply these books.

Catch the Vision: Roots of the Reformed Recovery – The Men and Movements in the Mid-20th Century. John J. Murray (Darlington, UK: Evangelical Press, 2008, 191 pages)

reviewed by J. R. Walker

Reading enough books and blogs written by or referencing evangelical or Reformed preachers and authors eventually produces a list of key names – of men, churches, seminaries, organizations – that were, under God, the seedbed of the recovery of Reformed doctrine and practice that took place in the middle of the Twentieth Century. John J. Murray organizes, orders, and analyzes those various strands of recent history, putting people individually and corporately in their context and relationships. The book is in many respects a personal record. The focus is substantially on the British scene, but the books and blogs mentioned above certainly demonstrate that much of the activity during this period was generated in and from the UK, although it could be argued that in many respects the baton has subsequently passed to the US. The record, therefore, embraces both, and the interplay between them.

Beginning with the loss of ‘the vision,’ Mr. Murray paints a bleak picture of post-Downgrade Britain, before identifying some of the forerunners of the recovery, men like E.J. Poole-Connor, A.W. Pink, Ernie Reisinger, W.J. Grier, and others. The author then progresses to some of the movers and shakers of the recovery, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones prominent among them. Others given their own chapters include Geoffrey Williams (architect of the Evangelical Library), James I. Packer, Iain Murray (founder of the Banner of Truth), and Professor John Murray. The author’s affection and esteem for Professor Murray become increasingly evident as the book progresses. This is not merely a Scotocentric peculiarity – it is a reflection of Professor Murray’s doctrinal and devotional profundity, and the impact that he clearly had both on the author and on many others. Each of these key men receives a treatment selective in detail but nonetheless fairly comprehensive in scope, and – in the course of each life review – other more or less significant players swim into and out of focus.

The book closes with an assessment entitled “Maintaining the Vision.” Murray deals first of all with the expectation of a coming revival among those who shared in the Reformed recovery. He quotes a perceptive paragraph from Iain Murray, in which the latter suggested that the recovery was the prelude either to a revival or preparation for a flood of apostasy in which a few...

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