Amazon.com
The mystery and seeming paradox between evangelism and God's sovereignty has been causing disagreements and confusion among Christians since the beginning of the 20th century. In Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer reveals that a faulty understanding of the Bible leads to the assessment that these doctrines are foes rather than friends. By debunking the erroneous view that "robust faith in the absolute sovereignty of God is bound to undermine any adequate sense of human responsibility" toward evangelism, the author adeptly moves through the obstacle course of tricky theology with ease and grace, allowing the reader a more complete understanding of the mystery of salvation. Packer manages to tackle an overwhelming piece of doctrinal truth and contain it within the subject of evangelism by concisely determining what evangelism is and what it is not. "It is our widespread and persistent habit of defining evangelism in terms, not of a message delivered, but of an effect produced in our hearers." This error is corrected when one is renewed in his or her knowledge of the sovereignty of God. Of course, fault is found on the other side as well, with those who so heavily rely on God's sovereignty to save the lost that they are lazy in obeying God's command to share the Gospel. Packer insists that love for God, at the very least, should draw one out of this stagnation and that the coupling of these seemingly diabolical doctrines will make one bold in speech, patient in God's timing, and prayerful for the salvation of others. --Jill Heatherly
Book Description
If God is in control of everything, can Christians sit back and not bother to evangelize? Or does active evangelism imply that God is not really sovereign at all?J.I. Packer shows in this classic study how both of these attitudes are false. In a careful review of the biblical evidence, he shows how a right understanding of God's sovereignty is not so much a barrier to evangelism as an incentive and powerful support for it.
Customer Reviews:
Great explanation of why and how we should evangelize--God's got our back!.......2007-10-13
When we as Christians try to reach out to others to share the good news of the Gospel, it's so easy to fall into a trap of relying on our abilities and techniques (our own or those we learn from others). In this book, J.I. Packer lays out a clear case for why all such efforts are doomed to fail, unless we recognized that it's fruitless without God also moving in the life of a new believer.
So what does that mean? That we need not bother? Far from it! Further, if only the elect are saved, does God really need us? He does, and we need to understand why. It's all in the Bible, but just as good commentaries help us to understand the context of a passage, and relate it to systematic themes throughout the Bible, so too does Packer's book do the same to explain Evangelism and our role in it.
The book is divided neatly into 4 parts: Divine Sovereignty, Divine Sovereignty & Human Responsibility, Evangelism, and Divine Sovereignty & Evangelism. Though I was listening to an unabridged audiobook version, the presenter spoke the clear breakdown of the book's sections into numbered sections and subsections (often a few levels deep). This is a very clear, well-organized, and cogent work. Call it, "The Case for Evangelism". :-)
Of course, along the way, we're washed with lots of other essential truths that bear repeating. It's a classic, timeless, valuable book, and with the audio format I look forward to listening to it again and again, just as I have with Mere Christianity and other foundational books. Just like good sermons that press key points over and over in our lives, we can never hear enough of such expository truth. I recommend it for all.
Another great book by Packer.......2007-10-09
Packer has written an excellent text on evangelism alone in this book. That he deals with the intersection of the practice of evangelism with the concept of a completely sovereign God is a bonus.
Though he's not a C.S. Lewis, Packer does write very well and is very readable, though sometimes his notations and quotations seem more along the style of a half-century ago. But the issues and mindsets which he is addressing are active and attractive to many in this day, and thusly this work is very relevant.
I recommend this to all Christians, but especially pastors and those who have any questions about evangelism. This isn't a 'how to' book, and it doesn't really have a practical application section - but what Packer is dealing with here is more theological than anything else.
And it is a great encouragement and challenge to spread the Gospel. It's not too long and the reading isn't too heavy, so it is accessible and understandable by most anyone.
The Lord of the Harvest and His Workers! .......2007-08-10
What does a Christian believe about evangelism if one adheres to Reformed doctrine of God's sovereignty? Dr. Packer answers this question fully and concisely in this work, and his points are well made and are scripturally based. The book brings up many fine points regarding how we need o and are ordered to evangelize but on the firm foundation that God is Supreme. Dr. Packer begins by speaking of the antinomy of God's complete sovereignty over all creation and our responsibility to obey Him. Dr. Packer is well aware that his readers will be non Calvinists and from the onset of the book, seeks to bridge the gap between those with opposing viewpoints. He cites the historical dialogue between to preachers, Charles Simeon and Charles Wesley to portray the areas of common ground that we share rather than the differences the two groups face. From the Reformed theological base, he addresses a number of topics, such as how the Christian should boldly and accurately present Christ as Lord and Savior bearing in mind the importance of not mis-representing the Gospel. Another responsibility that is presented is the responsibility of the hearer of the Gospel, who must also turn from sin, receive forgiveness, and surrender to Christ.
Packer criticizes those who hold confidence in evangelistic techniques and methods rather in the Lord of the Harvest. He promotes that long term relationships where the Christian shares the Word of God and seeks to genuinely love others as a more costly, but also a more effective form of ministering to others. Furthermore, the truism that God calls us to pray for this world and those who are lost is written as the most essential element in succeeding in evangelism. Thereby, whether one is reformed in their doctrine or Arminian, Dr. Packer proclaims that without us trusting in the sovereignty of God that our best efforts would be wasted, since apart from Him we can do nothing.
This is a great book that can be a great source of encouragement for those who seek to share Christ with others.
Pressing Into God.......2006-11-05
This is a remarkable and thought-provoking volume. Prof. Packer develops the view that there is an antinomy between human responsibility and the sovereignty of God. These understandings do not contradict each other and in fact exist alongside each other. We need to hold both ideas in our minds as we consider Holy Scripture and reflect on the truths of God's reality.
The work also discusses evangelism in light of this "double" understanding. The sovereignty of God in no way detracts from the need for evangelism. In fact, he makes a beautiful point in noting that were in not for God's sovereignty (and limited atonement) our evangelistic efforts would always fail. No one would come to God if it were just up to the evangelist's human zeal to win souls. A heavenly intervention is needed for souls to be saved. Because we know that Almighty God through His Son Jesus Christ is effectually calling souls to Him, we can have no crisis of doubt that our efforts are in vain.
While he does not wish to discount the modern semi-Pelagian or Pelagian approach to evangelism as being totally unworthy, at the same time, he is clearly pointing to the reformed understanding as the better of the two evangelistic understandings. Thus, I would have wished for a little less diplomatic language when expositing the two views of evangelism. He clearly does not like evangelistic services that pump up people to answer an altar call or charismatic approaches that are even more emotional, even feverish. Yet, he doesn't come out and say so. I wish he had.
Also, I very much doubt if most readers will be able to hold the ideas of God's sovereignty and unconditional election in their minds alongside the equally true and cogent thought of moral responsibility. Ultimately, one side of the antinomy or the other will be weighted more heavily. Yet, at the theoretical or conceptual level, Prof. Packer's attempt is true and even noble.
His reticence notwithstanding the book is a marvelous reflection on the issues of responsibility, God's sovereignty, and the need for evangelism. I recommend that all Christians read it, and believe everyone will be wiser for the time spent.
126 pages of the best stuff I've read.......2006-09-18
Wow! What a great book. Currently struggling with a rejection when I applied for a minsitry position in our church I began looking for books to help me deal with my feelings (imagine, because I'm a Calvinist, I am unsuitable to serve in what is viewed as a "leadership" position in my church...backup guitar player). I found this book in my search for understanding and I think I see a little clearer why I have been tried by God. He obviously wanted me to study and get a better understanding of His word and my beliefs. Well, this book really helped! I can much better answer the naysayers that accuse Calvinists of not being evangelical (as I am). I have a much clearer perspective on what evangelizing is meant to do, and what God wants from us when we witness for Christ. If you're reading this review, then quit wasting your time reading me, and read J.I Packer! You will not be sorry!
Book Description
Neoliberalism is commonly viewed as an economic doctrine that seeks to limit the scope of government. Some consider it a form of predatory capitalism with adverse effects on the Global South. In this groundbreaking work, Aihwa Ong offers an alternative view of neoliberalism as an extraordinarily malleable technology of governing that is taken up in different ways by different regimes, be they authoritarian, democratic, or communist. Ong shows how East and Southeast Asian states are making exceptions to their usual practices of governing in order to position themselves to compete in the global economy. As she demonstrates, a variety of neoliberal strategies of governing are re-engineering political spaces and populations. Ong’s ethnographic case studies illuminate experiments and developments such as China’s creation of special market zones within its socialist economy; pro-capitalist Islam and women’s rights in Malaysia; Singapore’s repositioning as a hub of scientific expertise; and flexible labor and knowledge regimes that span the Pacific.
Ong traces how these and other neoliberal exceptions to business as usual are reconfiguring relationships between governing and the governed, power and knowledge, and sovereignty and territoriality. She argues that an interactive mode of citizenship is emerging, one that organizes peopleâand distributes rights and benefits to themâaccording to their marketable skills rather than according to their membership within nation-states. Those whose knowledge and skills are not assigned significant market valueâsuch as migrant women working as domestic maids in many Asian citiesâare denied citizenship. Nevertheless, Ong suggests that as the seam between sovereignty and citizenship is pried apart, a new space is emerging for NGOs to advocate for the human rights of those excluded by neoliberal measures of human worthiness.
Book Description
Rogues, published in France under the title Voyous, comprises two major lectures that Derrida delivered in 2002 investigating the foundations of the sovereignty of the nation-state. The term “État voyou” is the French equivalent of “rogue state,” and it is this outlaw designation of certain countries by the leading global powers that Derrida rigorously and exhaustively examines.
Derrida examines the history of the concept of sovereignty, engaging with the work of Bodin, Hobbes, Rousseau, Schmitt, and others. Against this background, he delineates his understanding of “democracy to come,” which he distinguishes clearly from any kind of regulating ideal or teleological horizon. The idea that democracy will always remain in the future is not a temporal notion. Rather, the phrase would name the coming of the unforeseeable other, the structure of an event beyond calculation and program. Derrida thus aligns this understanding of democracy with the logic he has worked out elsewhere. But it is not just political philosophy that is brought under deconstructive scrutiny here: Derrida provides unflinching and hard-hitting assessments of current political realities, and these essays are highly engaged with events of the post-9/11 world.
Customer Reviews:
Derrida Deconstructs the notion of "Rouge States".......2006-11-05
If you are in to Derrida, political science, contemporary political philosophy, understanding the contemporary political landscape, and notions of a new Democracy to come - this is a must read.
Book Description
In the last few years, 9/11, a tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and many other tragedies have shown us that the vision of God in today’s churches in relation to evil and suffering is often frivolous. Against the overwhelming weight and seriousness of the Bible, many Christians are choosing to become more shallow, more entertainment-oriented, and therefore irrelevant in the face of massive suffering.
In
Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, contributors John Piper, Joni Eareckson Tada, Steve Saint, Carl Ellis, David Powlison, Dustin Shramek, and Mark Talbot explore the many categories of God’s sovereignty as evidenced in his Word. They urge readers to look to Christ, even in suffering, to find the greatest confidence, deepest comfort, and sweetest fellowship they have ever known.
âJohn Piper and friends tackle some of the hardest and most significant issues of Christian concern, producing one of the most honest, faithful, and helpful volumes ever made available to thinking Christians. It is filled with pastoral wisdom, theological conviction, biblical insight, and spiritual counsel. This book answers one of the greatest needs of our timesâto affirm the sovereignty of God and to ponder the meaning of human suffering. We need this book.â
â
R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky
âFor all who don’t live a charmed life, for all who have given themselves to the point of exhaustion, for all who have been betrayed by pious backstabbers, for all who wonder if they can even go on,
Suffering and the Sovereignty of God will be green pastures and deep, still waters.â
â
Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., Senior Pastor, Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee
âThis is not another theological volume that complicates what appears to be an irreconcilable paradox; it is a book that grows out of practical experience and applies Scripture to a realistic world where we all live.â
â
Jerry Rankin, President, Southern Baptist International Mission Board
âThis book will challenge you to believe that God is truly sovereign, not just in the safe haven of theological inquiry, but also in the painful messiness of real life. You will be encouraged to live more consistently by God’s grace and for his glory.â
â
Mark D. Roberts, Senior Pastor, Irvine Presbyterian Church, Irvine, California
Customer Reviews:
A BLESSING!!!!!.......2007-08-03
I think this is such a hard topic for many of us who personally have gone through difficult times. I know the theology, but it didn't make my heart feel any better. I have three special needs children and I have never been able to really understand our suffering within our family. I know God is wonderful and works all things for good for those who love him. I believe in Romans 8:28, but my heart had moments where life felt so difficult for my husband and me. This book has been a real blessing to me and has really given me hope while raising these babies. I realize that God has called me to raise these children for a purpose higher than i really know here on earth. I needed this book at just this time in my walk. I pray that whoever reads this book will be as blessed as I have been. If God led you to read these reviews, i say buy this book and let God speak to you through it. God bless~
Humbling Essays.......2007-02-05
This book has some great essays. It provides a great mix of theology, and personal testimony, and narratives of how God uses suffering to progress the gospel. The question of suffering is very complex so having a variety of writers from diverse backgrounds attacking the issue from slightly different perspectives helps the reader to understand how God uses suffering to glorify Himself, to mature us in Christ, and to progress the gospel. Suffering can not always be explained, but we have a God who has suffered through his Son and that should bring great comfort to us. The most poignant essays were by Piper and Joni. Another good essay was Suffering and Missinaries. The book starts off with essays by Piper and Taylor putting suffering within the framework of God's sovereignty.
I haven't suffered much. I was humbled by stories of suffering in this book. The book was very encouraging because the authors of these essays were very honest in their struggles, but yet praised God for the suffering. Their endurance was not their effort, but God's strength working through them.
Suffering and yet Sovereignty.......2006-12-06
In Piper's book, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, he makes a clear distinction at the very beginning of Chapter 1 that the reasoning behind his book stems from the ultimate reality that God is the supreme value in and above the universe. I found that comforting, knowing that this book was going to focus on suffering without giving God the easy way out. After reading through it, I realized that this is exactly the focus that Piper intended to convey in his writing. It gives a very heartfelt and sincere, yet firm message that the Lord allows all things according to His will and purpose.
Throughout scripture we are reminded of God's purposes in suffering and the vital role that it plays in strengthening our faith and dependency on God. I had not yet come to grasp however, (until reading this book) that many times suffering is the cost of obedience. I think too often we are told that obedience leads to greater fulfillment and contentment in Christ. Ultimately, yes, but there is definitely something to be said for individuals that choose to be obedient, knowing full well that the road is paved with suffering.
I also found it interesting that this type of suffering leads not only to greater obedience but also to greater compassion. This wouldn't have been my natural inclination. I don't usually think about the Apostle Paul, Jeremiah the Prophet, or King David as being very compassionate. Perhaps this is due to their human perspective in relation to their sufferings and the call on their lives. However, you can not read the words of Christ and not sense the compassion that he has for us.
I would and have been recommending this book to a number of my friends. Excellent read!
Excellent Book!.......2006-12-01
When the condition of suffering is brought up in today's society, relatively few people can identify with. The modern world, more specifically Western society in all its affluence, is populated with denizens that spend most of their brief lives attempting to avoid suffering. People look to various techniques or goods in their quest to minimize any type of suffering for a mere hint of such a condition is undesirable. From drugs, money, sex, food, entertainment, religion and so on are being utilized for escapism as the reality of suffering becomes too much. As Christians, how are we to endure suffering or even explain it? All too often I hear Christians ask the question of why bad things happen to good people?
The recently released book Suffering and the Sovereignty of God edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor aim to answer the question of suffering from a biblical basis. Based on the 2005 Desiring God National Conference of the same name, the editors have assembled the speakers from that event to put to paper the content of their sessions. If you attended the conference, the book's editors have arranged the various essays by themes instead of the actual order of each session and included additional material outside the conference relating to suffering.
The heart of the book is divided into three parts:
1. The Sovereignty of God in Suffering
2. The Purposes of God in Suffering
3. The Grace of God in Suffering
Part one contains two essays - one written by Pastor Piper and the other by Mark R Talbot. - that tackle the role of God's sovereignty in our suffering. Part two considers the "why" of suffering in four essays - two by Piper, one by Steve Saint, and one by Carl Ellis Jr. Part three closes out the book looking at grace in suffering with writings by David Powlison, Dustin Shramek, and Joni Eareckson Tada. The last part of the book contains appendices of Don't Waste Your Cancer by John Piper and David Powlison as well as a transcript of the Q&A session with Piper and Justin Taylor from the conference.
The arrangement of the chapters is purposeful, attempting to let each chapter build upon themes and concepts addressed. Even so, the chapters do not have to be read in order to benefit from the writings. In part one Piper shows how God is sovereign over the various methods Satan uses to cause suffering. As humans we all too easily attribute suffering to the Enemy and leave God out of the picture. Mark Talbot, in his essay, reiterates God's sovereignty and goodness through suffering and simultaneously engages the errant view of open theism. Then in part two the book covers the reason of "why" suffering exists. Here in this section Piper explains the ultimate reason for suffering is to "display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God." The second essay is based on a chapter from another of Piper's books Let the Nations Be Glad and works out some reasons how suffering affects a Christian. Steve Saint then further extends this line of thinking into relationships in missions and relates it to his own personal experiences. The final essay of the section by Carl Ellis Jr. parallels Saint's in some ways as he examines suffering in a horizontal sense of one human to another. Part three then engages how God's grace in suffering. David Powlison's essay helps to demonstrate how God meets us in our personal sufferings. There is no quick and easy answer as Dr Powlison aptly points out but he guides us through some biblical principles to help us out. Dustin Shramek reminds us of the immense pain that suffering produces. Though Christians may know the theologically correct answers to suffering, as humans the emotional and physical pain of suffering still exists and does not usually quickly pass. Closing out this final part of the book, Joni Eareckson Tada shows us how we are to place our hope and joy in God and not our own circumstances. Suffering tends to draw our gazes inward and on the Self which is our naturally sinful tendency instead of looking to God. The appendices serve as a coda for a few months after the conference both John Piper and David Powlison were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Don't Waste Your Cancer is Dr. Piper's pre-surgery meditation on his condition that God purposed in his life; Dr Powlison added his own thoughts to this writing shortly after being diagnosed himself. The Q&A portion gives Piper an opportunity to address some corollary issues tied into suffering as well as some personal insights.
Overall this book is immensely profitable whether you read it from cover to cover or skip around. The writers all engaged suffering horizontally while at the same time vertically. Despite the brevity of each chapter for a collaborative work such as this, the topics were handled with conciseness and depth. Suffering is an immensely personal condition that creates more difficulty in our already difficult human lives. Suffering and the Sovereignty of God helps guide us in the biblical truth Christians have that answer the hard questions when such circumstances arise and how we should bring this Truth to a dying world.
A Blessing from Audio to Print.......2006-11-04
This topic could be no more relevant for the church. It's not a question of modern days, but one that has continued long throughout the history of Christianity. Maybe, however, no other group of gifted men have come together, as one, to put together such a gem of all books.
I am thankful for such a book. You will find it honest, true, straighforward, and absolutely and purely Biblical. If you're wanting a read that will make you feel perky, good about yourself, and inward focused, than don't read this. If you're ready for a heart-wrenching, long-enduring read, than pick this up (and be sure you can sit for a while).
This book will bring to the front of your heart one of the issues that you have just bumped down to the bottom of the priority list. Get it. Read it. Pray through it. Cry through it. Live with the truth of it.
Book Description
The work of Giorgio Agamben, one of Italy’s most important and original philosophers, has been based on an uncommon erudition in classical traditions of philosophy and rhetoric, the grammarians of late antiquity, Christian theology, and modern philosophy. Recently, Agamben has begun to direct his thinking to the constitution of the social and to some concrete, ethico-political conclusions concerning the state of society today, and the place of the individual within it.
In Homo Sacer, Agamben aims to connect the problem of pure possibility, potentiality, and power with the problem of political and social ethics in a context where the latter has lost its previous religious, metaphysical, and cultural grounding. Taking his cue from Foucault’s fragmentary analysis of biopolitics, Agamben probes with great breadth, intensity, and acuteness the covert or implicit presence of an idea of biopolitics in the history of traditional political theory. He argues that from the earliest treatises of political theory, notably in Aristotle’s notion of man as a political animal, and throughout the history of Western thinking about sovereignty (whether of the king or the state), a notion of sovereignty as power over “life” is implicit.
The reason it remains merely implicit has to do, according to Agamben, with the way the sacred, or the idea of sacrality, becomes indissociable from the idea of sovereignty. Drawing upon Carl Schmitt’s idea of the sovereign’s status as the exception to the rules he safeguards, and on anthropological research that reveals the close interlinking of the sacred and the taboo, Agamben defines the sacred person as one who can be killed and yet not sacrificed—a paradox he sees as operative in the status of the modern individual living in a system that exerts control over the collective “naked life” of all individuals.
Customer Reviews:
The Body = The Nation.......2006-12-13
I was first introduced to this text in one of my college courses. I'm not quite familiar with all of Agamben's theory on power, but I have read portions of, "The Camp as Biopolitical Paradigm of the Modern." This text I found to be weighty and at times difficult to read, but it sparked an interest in me to read more. I would like to contribute to the reviews with a simple interpretation of a few things that I read.
I'm intrigued with Agamben's idea of how society creates the category of the devalued through the category of the valued. An example of this categorical sorting is how the Nazis created this category of the devalued with the Jewish people, thus raising their own status of the valued. The Nazis were able to gain control/domination through the use of their concentration camps. By labeling others in society as lower than oneself, one can easily determine whether one's life is worth keeping around.
Another interesting point is how one's body/identity doesn't belong to that person, but rather the government and society owns that body. An example is of the creation of our American society, which came about through the killing of the Native Americans and bringing in of Slaves to further gain land and power. By controlling and taking over the body, the new America was created. It's fascinating to think of one's identity and body as one with the nation/government through citizenship, yet there are many examples within our own American society. America has taken citizenship away and than contradicted itself to ask the non-citizen to contribute to our causes (i.e. "war" or "economy"). An example of this control over citizenship is related to the Japanese-American internment camps during WWII. Once in these camps, Japanese-Americans' rights as a citizen were taken, than the government asked if they would fight for America. Thus the Japanese-Americans would have to prove themselves worthy of being a citizen/body of the United States of America.
Homo Sacer is a must read........2006-06-06
Agamben's best known work lives up to the hype. One of the most powerful aspects of this book is its shocking predictions about the world to come. Published many years before the initiation of the war on terror, Agamben signals the beginning the of a style of governance built on permanent exception. He insists that the extermination of the Jewx by the Nazis was not simply a horrible enigma that should never return, rather biopolitical atrocities have continued to intensify. This book is a must read for any person interested in understanding how the deep seated structure of sovereignty and its spatio-temporal course through power relations have brought us to the seeming limit poit of exception become rule. A handbook for contemporary politics. This is a great book.
Political Ontology and Bio-Politics.......2005-11-29
Agamben begins his inquiry into sovereignty in the light of the problematic left to contemporary political ontology via Hobbes, Schmitt, and up to Heidegger (Dasein being that being who's very being is always at stake for that being, and ontological difference), post Heideggerian political thought (Nancy, Lacoue-Labarthe, and Derrida) and finally Foucault's bio-politics. While Agamben's criticisms of these thinkers is brief (and somewhat reductive) it does serve the importance of situating his own conception of bio-politics, sovereignty and life as a radicalized "state of exception".
The Logic of Sovereignty is not one of a mere inclusion of beings into a political sphere or form of life specific to it (bios) which emerges or is transformed from an originary bare life (zoe). Rather Sovereignty establishes itself as "sacred" or "set apart" from the polis. There is nothing legal about law, in that the very founding moment of political ontology is apolitical and extra-juridical (because there is no normative law that has been set up yet). Benjamin distinguishes between two forms of violence (constituting and constituted). However, while the Sovereign constituting power of law must claim to be wholly outside the law in order to have created it, it must also regulate and constitute its power through law itself, thus including itself within the law. The Paradox of Sovereignty then is that its life is an "inclusion through exclusion". The signifier of law is absent (or non-signifying form) but is signified through this very non-signification of absence.
Homo Sacer then is the non-criminal criminal , the "extra-juridical" exception that is designated by the sovereign. The homo sacer can be legally killed by any person but is not a juridical killing. That is to say, killing the sacred human is not homicide nor is it sacrifice. The norm of political subjects are set against the exception of the homo sacer, but also included in the norm in its very opposition and ability to exile homo sacer. Agamben sees homo sacer and the sovereign to have this very inclusion by exception in common. Both the Sovereign and homo sacer can be killed but not sacrificed. (It is not a legal issue to kill a King but rather a heretical or anti-juridical one in this account). The Werewolf (half man and wolf inside the city and outside of it, man and animal, political and non-political) and the Sovereign, the inside and outside become an "indistinction" which no longer holds up for modern politics.
The Camp is the modern political space or "coming to light" of this "indistinction" between nature and law in the form of bio-politics. Modern politics as bio-politics takes life as what is at stake for its own life. Bare life as the state of exception, or the sacred, now becomes the rule. As for homo sacer everyone was sovereign, for the sovereign everyone is homo sacer. "The Enemy" as constitutive outside to the norm of civil society now becomes the inside in a society as war carried out by other means (politics). Society as life itself is the `enemy outside which is inside'. In fact, it was the rule from the inception of western politics. The camp then refers to the Nazi bio-political movement where law and fact are indistigusihable. The "suspension of law" and "states of emergency" are not purely juridical, and the holocaust cannot be understood in terms of law alone, but can only be understood as the indefinite suspension necessary for sovereign power to kill without crime, and without sacrifice.
One of the strengths of Homo Sacer is that it is able to weave the problems of political ontology together with the historico-political configurations and aporias of Nazism/mythology/capitalism/ and statism. In a subtle way Agamben is challenging the whole of contemporary political ontology to begin to rethink politics in terms of (actual)potentiality: (Life). Bio-politics as the state of exception (as rule) is no longer oriented toward the impossibility of the law (as form of the law without signification) but is rather concerned with the form-of-life (as indistinction/exception). A political ontology that is not concerned with the impossibility of laying claim to bare life as such, or the fascist mobilization of its totality and implementation, but rather with the practical creation and proliferation of non-statist, non-hierarchical experimentations in political practices that would create new ways of living and maximize the diversity of lives that would decide these ways. Life as potentiality (never reducible to any given definition or determination (totalitarianism) always calls for the emergence of a new politics of the actual, pointing always to the inexustablity/infinity of Life itself.
Critique of Agamben's somewhat reductive (although appropriate) critique of Heidigger, Battaille, Nancy, Derrida etc. aside for a moment, what remains a gapping hole in this work is the complete lack of eco-critical perspective on life. Almost every time Agamben speaks of life it is always in terms of a human life (a human political refugee, a proletariat, the life of a human political body, or a human sovereign king or people). It is his call for the creation of a people (resonances with Deleuze here) that he seems to close up his work on life. His very inquiry into the `open' of Bare Life (potentiality) as always political (indistinction) is closed up through the work in his neglect of animal, plant, and non-organic life, and hierarchical (statist?) (almost humanist) privileging of the bios politicos of the human.
Interesting but Problematic.......2005-05-23
Agamben's sets up his work in the left-open space of Foucault's work, the void in which "subjectivization" (the internalization of the order into the individual psyche)and police/political strategies might intersect. It is this void that Agamben desires to write, a (non)place in which "life" is incorporated into the political order. Agamben goes about this by beginning with a reading of Greek and Roman philosophical and poetic texts and weaving a continuity from these early works through the works of Thomas Hobbes, Carl Schmitt, and Jacques Derrida. The continuity he describes is that of sovereignty founded upon the "suspension" of "bare life." "Life," here, is "natural life," natural being that element (like the referent in language) that is the always already included absence (or as Agamben calls it the "exclusive inclusion"). This relation of suspension also creates the possibility of the "state of exception," a space in which the force of law is exerted outside of law.
This state in which the law is outside of itself allows for a renewal of the force of law, it transforms the law through its absence. Such a process involves the creation of sacred life, the life that can be killed without sacrifice and without guilt. It is from here that Agamben takes a look at the concentration camp and comes to the conclusion that this exceptional state of political life is in fact the norm of our contemporary reality: the exception has become the rule. "Life" in modern times is the life in the camp, whether it be in a totalitarian regime or one of mass democracy.
The strengths and faults of Agamben's lie in this continuity of sovereingty. On the one hand, it provides a discourse (indeed, a kind of meta-discourse) for placing philosophy and politics in relation to each other. It makes a poignant argument for the politicization of life as not merely a modern affair (as Foucault largely situates it) but, in fact, the founding moment of Western civilization, of the civis and the polis. However, this poignancy is also the achilles heel of Agamben's argument. Agamben's argument accounts for modernity as a "coming into light" of life's incorporation in politics. This subordination of modernity to a realization of what was already there is reductive to the point of excluding some of Foucault's most interesting insights into the diagramming (or beuraucratization) of life. In other words, much of Agamben's argument seems to derive its powers from excluding particularities. (This exclusion of particularities extends to a reductive reading of Derrida's "The Force of Law.")
Don't get me wrong, Agamben's work is important, especially his considerations of Walter Benjamin and Aristotle. Like Benjamin, he raises the stakes. Revolution becomes not merely the transition of one state to another but an eradication of the state that must also involve a revolution of language. Like, Benjamin in his "Critique of Violence," this transformation is ambiguous. Agamben locates it in the sphere of ontology's limits: the revolution will deconstruct the difference of world and person and of pure being and being. It will heal the fissure of life and politics that captures life in politics. Though this is a noble cause, it could certainly use elaboration, an elaboration that may not be possible within the reductive limits of Agamben's historicizing.
Well, there are some problems..........2005-05-23
WOW! Agamben's work continues to become more accepted and it continues to get shorter and shorter; his texts these days seem more like pamphlets than anything else. While Homo Sacer is the exception to this, it is perhaps the one text where Agamben's brevity lends him to making some theoretical blunders.
First, many people believe Agamben is the new Foucault. This simply is not true. There are no new "X's"; each thinker is who her or she is and not another. Yet, Agamben does make the move early in Homo Sacer to read Foucault and Arendt together on the question of totalitarianism. Well, this could be a problem since Foucault believes that the Holocaust has no ideological underpinning, while for Arendt it is the ideology of national socialism that constitutes the Holocaust. Seems like an irreconcilable difference that he not only does not mention but does not overcome.
Second, his notion of biopolitics, well, is hardly Foucauldian. So, are we operating with a new conception of the biopolitical? I think Agamben needs to be more clear about this. Agamben thinks the origins of biopolitics is contained within the difference between zoe and bios and does not understand, as Foucault articulates, the transformation of the sovereign right to kill to to sovereign's necessity for creating and enhancing the social body, which understands the human being as a species and not as an individual or citizen in Foucault's reading of the emergence of the state. Now, with the specialization of the human it becomes necessary that the biological existence of the human being become what is at stake for the state; however, it is this move to the biological existence of the human that it can become specialized.
All of this work by Foucault, which is more nuanced than what I have put forward in this review...but its a review so I chose to leave it brief, is missing in Agamben's work and as I stand on the Foucauldian side of the fence and find his work more compelling and thorough, I really find Agamben's notion of the biopolitical theoretically problematic
Book Description
The contemporary era of globalization and the spread of transnational governance have altered conventional understandings of the nation, of nation-state sovereignty, and of territoriality. In The Anthropology of the State, editors Aradhana Sharma and Akhil Gupta contend that these changed conditions necessitate that we rethink rule, more broadly, as well as the institutions, practices, and processes that make up "the state. " The volume outlines an anthropological framework for doing so -one that foregrounds questions of culture and transnationalism -and maps potential directions for future study of "the state. "The Anthropology of the State introduces some of the most exciting approaches to the study of the state in a transnational world. This volume is unique in that it stresses the interplay between theory, ethnography, history, and critique. It brings together classic and contemporary theoretical examinations of the state along with cutting-edge ethnographic analyses of specific state practices, institutions, and ideas in diverse geographical locations and historical periods. The articles in this volume are presented for students and scholars in a range of disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, political economy, and postcolonial studies.
Customer Reviews:
accessible and excellent.......2006-03-26
this is a well-chosen collection with excellent introductions by the editors--they succinctly clarify concepts like governmentality, transnational forms of non-state sovereignty, etc. that are often presented in obtuse, unnecessarily technical language. highly recommended.
Book Description
How did the world come to be organized into sovereign states? Daniel Philpott argues that two historical revolutions in ideas are responsible. First, the Protestant Reformation ended medieval Christendom and brought a system of sovereign states in Europe, culminating at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Second, ideas of equality and colonial nationalism brought a sweeping end to colonial empires around 1960, spreading the sovereign states system to the rest of the globe. In both cases, revolutions in ideas about legitimate political authority profoundly altered the "constitution" that establishes basic authority in the international system.
Ideas exercised influence first by shaping popular identities, then by exercising social power upon the elites who could bring about new international constitutions. Swaths of early modern Europeans, for instance, arrived at Protestant beliefs, then fought against the temporal powers of the Church on behalf of the sovereignty of secular princes, who could overthrow the formidable remains of a unified medieval Christendom. In the second revolution, colonial nationalists, domestic opponents of empire, and rival superpowers pressured European cabinets to relinquish their colonies in the name of equality and nationalism, resulting in a global system of sovereign states. Bringing new theoretical and historical depth to the study of international relations, Philpott demonstrates that while shifts in military, economic, and other forms of material power cannot be overlooked, only ideas can explain how the world came to be organized into a system of sovereign states.
Customer Reviews:
Dan Philpott is the man!.......2003-09-30
This guy is the man! Great book, good ideas, great teacher!!
Book Description
With real case stories, Wells and Ahmed bring to life both the hopes for and the failures of international guarantees of property rights for investors in the developing world. Their cases focus on infrastructure projects, but the lessons apply equally to many other investments. In the 1990's inexperienced firms from rich countries jumped directly into huge projects in some of the world's least developed countries. Their investments reflected almost unbridled enthusiasm for emerging markets and trust in new international guarantees. Yet within a few years the business pages of the world press were reporting an exploding number of serious disputes between foreign investors and governments. As the expected bonanzas proved elusive and the protections weaker than anticipated, many foreign investors became disenchanted with emerging markets. So bad were the outcomes in some cases that a few notable infrastructure firms came close to bankruptcy; several others hurriedly fled poor countries as projects soured. In this book, Louis Wells and Rafiq Ahmed show why disputes developed, point out how investments and disputes have changed over time, explore why various firms responded differently to crises, and question the basic wisdom of some of the enthusiasm for privatization. The authors tell how firms, countries, and multilateral development organizations can build a conflict-management system that balances the legitimate economic and social concerns of the host countries and those of investors. Without these changes, multinational corporations will lose profitable opportunities and poor countries will not gain the contributions that foreign investment can make toward alleviating poverty.
Customer Reviews:
For specialist only.......2007-09-23
I found the book by chance whilst doing my Master degree research on the high profile case of Karaha Bodas and its International Arbitration process. Previously shouted "Eureka!", but got amazed on its tag price, especially when compared to its content; mostly Indonesian companies' case. Its real life case study approach should be appreciated though, but I do not think that this book would be useful served all but to some specialists.
Not really interesting.......2007-05-04
This book is not really interesting. I expected a good book about property rights and financial investments, but the book is uses cases all the time. There is no theory in it. The whole case is about Indonesia. It is only useful for people that like to know more about the history of investments in Indonesia. The title of this book is very misleading.
Book Description
A gripping and provocative tale of violence, alcohol, and taxes, The Whiskey Rebellion pits President George Washington and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton against angry, armed settlers across the Appalachians. Unearthing a pungent segment of early American history long ignored by historians, William Hogeland brings to startling life the rebellion that decisively contributed to the establishment of federal authority.
In 1791, at the frontier headwaters of the Ohio River, gangs with blackened faces began to attack federal officials, beating and torturing the collectors who plagued them with the first federal tax ever laid on an American product -- whiskey. In only a few years, those attacks snowballed into an organized regional movement dedicated to resisting the fledgling government's power and threatening secession, even civil war.
With an unsparing look at both Hamilton and Washington -- and at lesser-known, equally determined frontier leaders such as Herman Husband and Hugh Henry Brackenridge -- journalist and popular historian William Hogeland offers an insightful, fast-paced account of the remarkable characters who perpetrated this forgotten revolution, and those who suppressed it. To Hamilton, the whiskey tax was key to industrial growth and could not be permitted to fail. To hard-bitten people in what was then the wild West, the tax paralyzed their economies while swelling the coffers of greedy creditors and industrialists. To President Washington, the settlers' resistance catalyzed the first-ever deployment of a huge federal army, led by the president himself, a military strike to suppress citizens who threatened American sovereignty.
Daring, finely crafted, by turns funny and darkly poignant, The Whiskey Rebellion promises a surprising trip for readers unfamiliar with this primal national drama -- whose climax is not the issue of mere taxation but the very meaning and purpose of the American Revolution.
With three original maps by Jack Ryan.
Customer Reviews:
A biased, simplistic hack job.......2007-10-09
I have read dozens of books on early American history. This is by far the worst. I expect histories to at least attempt some balance. This book has none. It is simply big, evil, bad guys (Hamilton and owners of government debt) vs poor, oppressed, good guys (small whiskey producers in the West).
Errors & Such.......2007-02-24
I could list several errors in the text but the most notable is that of geography. Hogeland erroneously lists Newburyport as being in New Hampshire. It is in Massachusetts and as any well trained historian can atest it is one of the more significant municipalities of early America. Every liberal minded American should know all about Newburyport, MA before embarking on anything else relevant to the time and place from where our nation was born. To make such a clear error into print lets us know to always beware of what we read. It also arises questions of source types and research efficiency.
Overall I found the text acceptable and easy to read. The Adobe font used is easy on the eyes even in dim light. The use of uncommon words I find uneccessary. One should leave the literary genius to works of greatness. I understand that his publisher pushed him but Mr. Hogeland was not being crafty just careless. Another word should be said on that of casting unwarranted character judgement throughout the book. I know some characters are colorful individuals to say the least but cut someone down based upon your own social moray is simply juvenile. It just leaves a bad taste in one's mouth. Overall I do enjoy reading books like this as it fun to expose myself to shoddy writing. I myself am a terrible writer and it makes me glad to know that I am not the only one.
I will keep this book on my shelf and reread it but I doubt if I'll ever purchase another one of William Hogelands works on any of those edited by Lisa Drew. Nor, do I expect to cite this text.
was Hamilton good for America?.......2007-02-09
Hamilton doesn't fare well in this text. Once again, I'm left wondering why He is on our Money. 'Wondering why Gallatin wasn't even given a guest appearence on one of the Lewis & Clark Nickles.
My Thanks, again to the S.F. writer L. Neil Smith for starting my questioning of Hamilton, That was over 20 years ago. The Novel was "The Probability Broach".
The Whiskey Rebellion.......2007-01-03
Purchased as a gift for my son-in-law who is a history buff. Received in time for Christmas and packaged well (as usual for Amazon.com)
Excellent story telling, excellent history.......2006-12-28
I had never fully understood the reasons for and the behind-the-scenes conniving leading up to and causing the Whiskey Rebellion. Now I do. This is the best book on the Whiskey Rebellion I have ever read. Not only does it explain all the whys, whos, and whats; it is entertaining besides.
On the one hand there was Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and his wealthy cronies, friends and supporters. On the other hand, there was the lower class (many who were soldiers in the American Revolution). By holding down the poor, Alexander found a way to further enrich the already wealthy. I never did like that Hamilton character; now I really, really don't.
Angry, armed, poor people being screwed over by the rich and powerful. Hmmm, just after they--many of where soldiers--won our independence. It isn't any wonder they were a wee bit irritated.
Hamilton creates a problem that leads to armed conflict; George Washington then has to step in to end it.
After you read this book, you will understand all the why, whats, whos, hows, and wheres. This is a wonderful book--excellent history and entertaining besides.
Book Description
Arthur W. Pink Pink (d. 1953) is noted for his independent thinking. He was so well read, and had such a photographic memory, that he could give you the page and column in a host of reference works and commentaries. This book shocked the Christian world in 1919 when he first published it. He fiercely defends the sovereignty of God, and all the cognate doctrines such as the Doctrines of Grace. It is THE book to give to those just after conversion, and a prime book to give to anyone who defends the free will of man. Pink was a Baptist preacher who held pulpits in England, America, and Australia. His early training was in scientology. His conversion was instant, and complete dedication to the cause of God and truth quickly became evident. This early book by Pink lays Scripture end to end to prove God's control over all persons and events. It is uncompromising, and as such it raises the hackles on the necks of many new students of this doctrine. Persons who knew Pink seldom objected to anything he taught, because he could literally quote hundreds of verses of Scripture verbatim on the subject under discussion. This book may be overwhelming, but it is certain that its many printings have been used of God to convince people of His sovereignty. His doctrinal belief is that that God both elects and reprobates, as Romans 9:21-23 clearly teaches. It is an important stone to guide the steps of those who are not yet convinced of God's absolute sovereignty over all persons and events.
Customer Reviews:
The Lord of My Destiny.......2007-08-10
The reformed doctrines as presented by the divines of Dort to refute the Arminians' Remonstrance, which Pastor Pink covered in this book, are a sweet affirmation, a humbling, comforting, glorious, robust, impregnable, formidable, human-pride-demolishing, biblical defense of the absolute sovereignty of God where the doctrine of unconditional election exalts in the sovereignty of God the Father in salvation, the doctrine of limited atonement exalts in the sovereignty of God the Son in salvation, and the doctrine of irresistible grace exalts in the sovereignty of God the Holy Spirit in salvation. The blessed Trinity then works in unity to preserve the elects to be faithful to the end, hence the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. Moreover, St. Paul certainly had in mind the deceitful heart of men when he wrote the third chapter of the epistle to the Romans, as well as the beginning of the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, to deliver a crushing blow to all vain human boastings of their free-will, by hammering on the utter inability of the fatally-corrupted will of men to do any good in the sight of God in and by themselves, so that "every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God", hence the doctrine of total depravity, which, though discussed in this book, but not as comprehensively as in Martin Luther's "De Servo Arbitrio", a.k.a., "The Bondage of the Will". To deny all these, as Pastor Pink puts it, is "to undeify" or "to unGod" God of his God-ness because two essential must-have attributes of God's God-ness for him to be God are his omnipotence and omniscience. Embracing Arminianism also dangerously elevates men to the level of the sovereignty of God; a realm where if men insist to enter, would render them blasphemous to God. Finally, in my view, Pastor Pink, though he did a marvelous job in distinguishing between natural and moral ability, might have a done a little too much in attempting to explain the missing link between the sovereignty of God and human responsibility, as well as other objections, to the point that it sounds like he ended up begging the questions. Perhaps there is indeed no humanly answer to this great mystery, which then all we can do is to affirm, adore and rejoice in its truth. "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God."
As a related side comment, I would like to add the following thoughts. Prof. Mark Talbot points out during his address at 2005 Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis, MN, (he explains it in the context of Opentheism, but I believe it is applicable here as well) that the doctrine of autonomous-self teaches that God values man's free-will so much that he is willing to pay any price. God is really good in cleaning things up to the point that the alternative plan B that he executes looks even better, more perfect than the botched plan A that man has frustrated. So in a way, the doctrine of autonomous-self treats God like a lackey or a genie in a bottle whom man can stir as he wills. I regard this Arminian stand on the free agency of man and God as the most self-centered among man-centered doctrines, even more man-centered than opentheism. Opentheism at least admits the future is unknown, even God has no control over it and anybody could change it. The Arminian doctrine in regard to the free-agency of men, particularly as stated in the first article of Remonstrance, that faith is the condition of election, is worse than open-theism because it teaches the future is already known, at least in regard to salvation, who is saved and who is not, and who makes this decision before the foundations of the world is men. Then God responds to each individual decision either by saving or condemning. Everything God does is for the benefits of man, and here is man, the center of the universe and God's idol. This, I fear, may God forbid, is the desire behind those who embrace the doctrine of autonomous-self which is nothing but the very ambition of Lucifer to be exalted above God (Isa 14:13-14) because the resemblance between the two is striking.
If it is to be inquired how the Arminian doctrine of autonomous-self or free-will could exist and what the spirit behind it is, where men insist on being the captain of their destiny, it is helpful to study the account of the fall of Lucifer from grace whose account was given in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (Isaiah 14:11-15)
We learn the cause of him being eternally condemned by God from v.13 and 14 is that he is so filled with pride and self-adoration that he declares himself to be worthy to ascend into heaven and be exalted above the stars of God. He considers himself to be as equally valuable, as equally worthy, if not more valuable and more worthy than God himself that he should be like the Most High. In response, God removed him from his original state and declares that his splendor be nullified and brought down to shame, and he himself be brought down to hell, to a place of eternal torment which is the lake of fire (Rev 20:10) forever as his eternal destiny. When Lucifer was removed from heaven, his name became Satan, and was cast to the earth.
In the account of the Fall in Gen 3, after which God offered the promise of deliverance through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross implied in v. 15, we may observe a correlation between Satan's sinful ambition to what he tempted Adam and Eve with, which eventually led the couple to sin against God and caused the entire humanity to be totally and hopelessly depraved under the same condemnation that Lucifer has as a result. The correlation is clearly seen in Gen 3:5, when Satan, disguised as a serpent, said to Eve, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Here are the double lies offered to Eve springing out of the same principle behind his botched coup attempt; first, that she would be like gods, and thus independent, able to rule over herself apart from God, and secondly, there is not one God, but many gods; each is sovereign over himself or herself.
From this train of thoughts, we may observe that first; the doctrine of autonomous-self, or often referred to as "free-will", whether it be "Christian" or non-Christian one, though may not appear explicitly, originates from the same spirit by which Lucifer rebels against God, that is, the spirit of self-idolatry. Secondly, the doctrine of autonomous-self is indeed a non-Christian doctrine because there is nowhere in the Bible that teaches such a doctrine and therefore, should be rejected by all true Christians, as Pastor Pink affirms in this book.
A classic.......2007-05-17
When studying the sovereignty of God, this book is a must read. Pink write in easy to understand terms that aids in the often misunderstood doctrine of God's sovereignty. He takes on the controversial subject without apology.
MUST READ! Even if youre predisposed to hate it..........2006-12-11
I read this book in the last year of my undergraduate education (last year, 2005). I wish I had read it earlier - there is absolutely no doctrine of Christianity that causes one to be at peace quite like the Sovereignty of God! I picked it up while doing a study on various attributes of God and, thankfully, it became one of my favorite books. It goes well hand in hand with his "Attributes of God", even comparing it with A.W.Tozer's "Knowledge of the Holy"; in fact, I would suggest you read those two, especially Pinks book, before you begin this one, it only helps...
Many people hate Pink because of this book. It was the "famous" chapter on "The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation" that gave many Arminians and some Calvinists that twitch that is associated when his name is mentioned. Be careful what edition you buy, avoid the Banner of Truth copy because they deliberately omit that chapter (and a couple others), claiming that Pink abandoned his veiws regarding that chapter. Whether he did or not is irrelevant; you should get your moneys worth - what he wrote is what you should get, not what other poeple think he believed and would have taken out. I have the Sovereign Grace Publishers copy, its a good copy, complete. I like the ample space they leave for margins, great for note-takers like me.
The first few chapters are a little slow going but necessary, I must admit. The exciting part really starts at chapter 4: "The Sovereignty of God in Salvation". He splits up the chapter into three parts, each three devoted to how the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are Sov. in Salvation. Its got one of the better defenses I have seen for a strictly limited atonement. One thing I loved about this chapter is that Pink made sure he always brought the attention back to God; in fact, this is typical of Pink in almost everything he writes!
The next chapter, "The Sovereignty of God in Reprobation" is one that was, for me, the 'life changer', in the word of one of the commenters below. From my understanding (im not an educated theologian, yet), this is one of the greatest defenses for a supralapsarian position I have ever read. He also calls to mind many Scriptures to point out that God is sovereign even over the death of an unbeliever, and that "The Lord hath made all things for Himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." (Prov. 16:4). He says (p. 105) " In the Day of Judgement the Lord will say unto many, "I never knew you". Note, it is more than simply "I knew you not". His solemn declaration will be, "I NEVER knew you" - you were never the objects of My approbation. Contrast this with "I KNOW (love) My sheep, and am known (loved) of Mine" (John 10:14). The "sheep", His elect, the "few", He DOES "know"; but the reprobate, the non-elect, the "many" He knows NOT - no, not even before the foundation of the world did He know them - He "NEVER" knew them!" This is difficult stuff for people to swallow, but it clearly is what Scripture teaches in Romans 9 (for example, where Pink leads us to immediately after that quote). It is certainly an eye-opener, to say the least! At this point, youre either going to love him or hate him, this is usually when you make up your mind. Either way, you really should hang in there and be honest with yourself and God; ask yourself the question "could Pink possibly be right? Is this what Scripture says?" One has to ask that because if he is, many of us, like me before reading this, would be commiting Idolatry: worshipping a kindly old man rather than the roaring lion of Judah, the God of the living and the dead. The scary thing is, I dont know of a singlle person who's found mistakes with his exegesis. Whether they agree with the final result or not, the man is right in his analysis. Thats why many love him.
Chapters 8 and 9 do a great job at reconciling the Sov. of God and the Human Will and Responsibility. He contains a typical response but spelled out with many Scriptures, examples, and images - almost reminds me of Thomas Watson in the use of his imagery. It also contains some paragraphs that, to me, are worth the price of the book. These four chapters (4, 5, 8, and 9) are gold mines in and of themselves! Whether or not God is Sovereign over every aspect of our lives we are very clearly commanded to "preach the Gospel to every creature" as Pink points out. Whether or not we understand every nuance of God's plan of redemption, we MUST obey and preach the Gospel. To neglect this duty is to miss the point incredibly. Not only does he emphasize this point but he goes on to make a very needed explanation of what freedom truly is: "...the holding in check of sin, the preventing of the exercize of the carnal mind ... was not a DESTROYING of their 'freedom,' rather was it the inducting of them into real freedom" (p 184), ... WOW! (p. 185) "True liberty is not the power to live as we please, but to live as we ought! Hence, the only One Who has ever trod this earth since Adam's fall that has enjoyed perfect freedom was the Man Christ Jesus, the Holy Servant of God, Whose meat it ever was to do the will of the Father." That concept is liberating! When you realize what freedom truly is you, naturally, become humble and suddenly dont have a problem with God electing you! You might wonder "why me, why not the next guy?" Pink would tell us, "The secret things belong to the Lord..." (Deut, 29:29) redirecting our attention back to God, where it belongs, dwelling on ourselves is pride - an act of "unfreedom". We would be instructed to say "even so, Father, for it seemed good in Your sight" (Matthew 11:26).
Anyway, I just thought I'd put out a couple of bits of this book out there. Its beautifully written with many many Scriptures. Almost every single paragraph of the book has a verse, many have more. The appendices in the end are VERY useful. I whole-heartedly recommend this book, buy it and be nourished!
If you want more resources for studying free-will, responsibility, and the sovereignty of God, I would like to direct you to "Bondage of the Will" by Martin Luther (the one translated by JI Packer and OR Johnston) - and if youre really into hurting your self mentally and training your soul hard - "Freedom of the Will" by Jonathan Edwards. Classics ... very hard-core. The second book is so good, but only if youre prepared for a bit of slow and difficult reading (its worth it). If you want a rather simplistic, yet thorough, introduction to Calvinism and the Reformed Faith before tackling any of these books, might I suggest "Putting Amazing Back Into Grace" by Michael Horton.
Understanding the full scope and implication of 'sovereignty'........2006-08-15
Excellent! Such a clear explanation of sovereignty and the doctrines of grace. This is a 'life-changer'. I read it along with the bible and saw that every doctrine he explainded was clearly validated with scripture! Every christian reading this book will see their understanding deepen and their priorities change as they see God's plan with greater light!
Awesome book.......2006-07-11
I have studied this book twice so far, almost 15 years apart. Both readings strengthened my faith in God and encouraged me through tough times. It was written for tough times, when people are struggling with pain and suffering, fear and doubts about God's role on earth. It's not so much written about us, it's written about God, and it convicts us and reminds us of who God is and has to be, or He wouldn't be God, someone or something else would be. It can be a hard truth, but it is a neccesary truth for His own to gain strength and security. Read the book if you need help or want to help someone else.
Books:
- Fraud: The Strategy Behind the Bush Lies and Why the Media Didn't Tell You
- Global Strategy (with World Map and InfoTrac )
- Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
- Heroes and Martyrs: Emma Goldman, Sacco & Vanzetti, and the Revolutionary Struggle
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- Digital Biology
- Ethics and Technology: Ethical Issues in an Age of Information and Communication Technology
- Advances in Accounting Education: Teaching and Curriculum Innovations, Volume 3
- Phylogenesis foa's ark: foreign office architects
General
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Knowing God
Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People
Chosen by God
The Holiness of God
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