SolaScriptura
Puritanboard Brimstone
In March of this year I posted an inquiry as to the value-addedness of acquiring Beeke's Reformed Systematic Theology despite having lots of other systematic theology texts. It has been about 5 months and I wanted to post a follow-up, but found my original thread closed, so I'm posting this here (if an admin wants to merge the two, that's totally fine by me, and might actually be helpful for others):
Based upon the feedback I received, I went ahead and acquired it. I absolutely LOVE it. It has become my favorite systematic theology text. I love how his warm experiential Calvinism comes through on nearly every page and the practical effects of the Puritan influence on him are obvious. The work is wonderfully comprehensive yet accessible, his treatment of the subjects is thorough without being exhausting, he introduces his readers to advanced concepts and language yet he provides helpful explanation of those terms and phrases, he interacts with enough scholarly work in his footnotes to provide an adequate starting point for in-depth academic study... and all of this with a definite bent towards worship and adoration. It's fantastic! I'm not sure I'll ever need to pull Berkhof off the shelf again!
I'm actually going to start a class at my church this Fall this this text as our guide. So helpful!
Based upon the feedback I received, I went ahead and acquired it. I absolutely LOVE it. It has become my favorite systematic theology text. I love how his warm experiential Calvinism comes through on nearly every page and the practical effects of the Puritan influence on him are obvious. The work is wonderfully comprehensive yet accessible, his treatment of the subjects is thorough without being exhausting, he introduces his readers to advanced concepts and language yet he provides helpful explanation of those terms and phrases, he interacts with enough scholarly work in his footnotes to provide an adequate starting point for in-depth academic study... and all of this with a definite bent towards worship and adoration. It's fantastic! I'm not sure I'll ever need to pull Berkhof off the shelf again!
I'm actually going to start a class at my church this Fall this this text as our guide. So helpful!