I don’t know if Forged in Reformation will eventually be known as a magnum opus of dispensational thought, but I can say that the effort and scope of this book is well worth such a grand title. According to the Introduction, “the church of the twenty-first century is in need of another reformation.” And if the Church is to heed this call to reform, we need to follow in the footsteps of the reformers. We need to be critical in our self-examination, and look back over the past 500 years of protestant history with an eye for which theological system is most conducive to the principles of the Reformation. Forged in Reformation is a book which “articulates in each and every chapter how, five-hundred years later, dispensational thought upholds and advances the legacy of the Reformation unlike any other theological system in Christian tradition.”
The book itself is broken into two main sections, the first of which aims to present a historical backdrop to the issues present at the time of the Reformation along with some key figures of the time. You’ll find a chapter that looks at the 95 theses of Luther, one that is a biography of John Nelson Darby, and one that looks at anti-semitism as a by-product of Luther’s inconsistent hermeneutic. The second part of the book is organized according to the five solas of the Reformation – sola Scriptura, sola gratia, solus Christus, sola fide, and soli Deo gloria. The bulk of the second section is on the first sola, sola Scriptura. And this is rightly so, as all the other solas stem from, or find their basis in, this Scripture-alone tenet.
The book is written by multiple authors from a variety of schools and publications around the nation. Each chapter is written by a different author and is thus much like a reference book in which different sections of the book are written by unique authors. I have never read a theological book like this, but it isn’t unlike commentaries written by a group of people in which different people tackle different passages or books. This approach had some pros and cons. The pro is that you get a variety of perspectives and styles. If you don’t enjoy the style of one writer, or the way they organize their thinking, you’re typically only 30 pages away from the next author – this can be well received at times. The con is that you may have to go over material again and again. Part of the goal of the editors of this book is to make sure all the authors work together without needless overlap, but ultimately it’s inevitable with this sort of book that you’ll get some overlap.
My favorite chapter of the book was chapter 10, by Thomas Baurain entitled “Sola Scriptura: Return to Literal Grammatical-Historical Hermenteutics.” As you can tell by the title this chapter is in the beginning of the second part of the book as it starts to address sola Scriptura. I loved the chapter because Baurain makes a strong case against liberalism and neo-orthodoxy, suggesting that these are the result of modern hermeneutics that ignore the original intent of the author of Scripture. The results of this erroneous hermeneutic can be seen when empiricism and naturalism is applied to Scripture, so that people tend to think that “science has all the answers.” The main point of the chapter is that dispensationalism is the result of a consistent literal grammatical-historical hermeneutic, and covenantalism is a result of an inconsistent literal hermeneutic.
Chapter 5 provided the most new information and was written by Cory M. Marsh, titled “Luther Meets Darby: The Reformation Legacy of Ecclesiastical Independence.” This chapter was in the first section of the book and provided a good historical picture of the ecclesiology of Luther and Darby. It was essentially a wonderful history lesson that presented 3 critical letters written by Luther attacking the “Romanist Walls” erected by the Catholic Church. Along with 3 critical letters written by John Nelson Darby that furthered the advancement of the independent local churches. Essentially, Darby was carrying on where Luther left off.
Chapter 17, by Luther Smith, titled “Soli Deo Gloria Revealed Throughout Biblical History,” showcases how God is glorified throughout all of biblical history, starting with Adam and Eve and continuing into the future dispensations. The concepts in this chapter warranted more time and space in my opinion. I know in a book like this it’s hard to get everything in (even if you have 600 pages to do so), but this topic seemed like it was cut short a bit. The premise of this chapter is that God’s glory is seen in many different ways throughout Scripture. This view is in contrast with the views of Covenant Theology which has a philosophy of history that is essentially Christocentric. In other words, they see Christ in almost every aspect of human history. Smith has a high view of Christ, but he doesn’t see Christ in every area of Scripture, instead he views the glory of God being displayed in a multitude of ways through various dispensations. To expand on this concept I would have preferred if the author had spent more time contrasting the Covenant Christocentric view of Scripture with the Doxological view presented in this chapter.
If you have a chance to pick up this book I highly recommend it. It’s unique in that it discusses the connection between dispensational thought and the Reformation in striking and explicit ways. The book has made a bold statement by suggesting that dispensationalism advances the legacy of the Reformation unlike any other system of theology. After reading it, you’re likely to agree.
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Top-notch Resource
This resource is a top-notch guide to how the dispensational movement and its tenets both embody and fulfill the reformation begun by Huss, Luther, Calvin, and others. Sola Scriptura was the rallying cry of nearly every reformer right up until the point they dealt with anything Jewish people, the covenants of the Bible, prophecies of the future, or the coming kingdom. The world-class scholars in this book will help any reader see the connections, recognize what was missing from the original reformers, and understand how that was supplemented to the full when Dispensational-oriented scholars and pastors came to the fore. This book is a must read.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2023
This resource is a top-notch guide to how the dispensational movement and its tenets both embody and fulfill the reformation begun by Huss, Luther, Calvin, and others. Sola Scriptura was the rallying cry of nearly every reformer right up until the point they dealt with anything Jewish people, the covenants of the Bible, prophecies of the future, or the coming kingdom. The world-class scholars in this book will help any reader see the connections, recognize what was missing from the original reformers, and understand how that was supplemented to the full when Dispensational-oriented scholars and pastors came to the fore. This book is a must read.
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