Michael Horton 6 volume collection http://www.logos.com/product/21323/michael-horton-collection ships March 12th. Can anyone tell me what your thoughts are on Michael Horton's works. We have a few other of his works available in Logos. Would you recommend his books and this collection in particular?
I haven't read the books in this collection but have read through his systematic theology - http://www.logos.com/product/26683/the-christian-faith-a-systematic-theology-for-pilgrims-on-the-way
I found it very well written, with him outlining his understanding of doctrine and theology well.
He writes from the perspective of a Reformed Christian and - in my view - has some really useful and helpful things to say (even if one doesn't agree with all of them[:)])
I like the fact that the book is God-centred, with Horton splitting the major part of the book into six sections each of which explores different aspects of what we understand about God and how he relates to creation and humanity. He starts with the subject of knowing God and moves on through the God who lives, the God who creates, the God who rescues, the God who reigns in grace and concludes with the God who reigns in glory.
So I would strongly recommend this book but can't comment on the ones in this particular collection.
Based on a book I read, if I had to stick a label on Horton it would be "serious evangelical charismatic".
In that book he writes thoughtfully and pastorally.
Have not had a chance to read his more theological offerings though.
Can anyone tell me what your thoughts are on Michael Horton's works. We have a few other of his works available in Logos. Would you recommend his books and this collection in particular?
I would. I'll let him speak for himself. Here are a few quotes from Gospel Driven Life-
“The gospel is unintelligible to most people today, especially in the West, because their own particular stories are remote from the story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation that is narrated in the Bible. Our focus is introspective and narrow, confided to our own immediate knowledge, experience, and intuition. Trying desperately to get others, including God, to make us happy, we cannot seem to catch a glimpse of the real story that gives us a meaningful role.” (p. 71)
“The last thing we need is a church that keeps us sealed up in our own compartment with others of similar experiences in life. We need to be integrated into the body of Christ. Younger believers don’t need another speaker to come in and tell them about dating, self-esteem, and relationships. They need to have relationships with saints who have put on a few miles in the Christian life and have faced challenges to their faith and practice that younger believers have not.” (p. 197)
“The theme of eating and drinking in the presence of God is prominent from Genesis to Revelation. Instead of waiting for their host to give them the fruit form the Tree of Life, Adam and Eve wanted their Happy Meal here and ordered from their own menu.” (p. 232)
“ The word “orthodoxy” itself means right belief and praise. It has been said frequently that the church is to be “in the world, but not of it.” In all sorts of ways, the churches in the West, particularly in the United States, seem to be “of the world, but not in it.” Having built our own subculture complete with sanitized knockoffs of nearly anything in the world, we can be cajoled, entertained, flattered, pampered, and praised without having to justify what we believe and why we believe it to the rest of the world.” (pp. 260-1)
And here are a few quotes from Christless Christianity-
“I asked Dr. Schuller how he would interpret the following admonition from Paul to Timothy:
But understand this, that y in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Tim 3:1-5)
Before I was even able to compose my own question, my distinguished guest immediately responded to these apostolic words by saying, “I hope you don’t preach that. It would hurt a lot of beautiful people.” (p. 33)
“As we can see then, the process of secularization is far more pervasive than theological differences between conservatives and liberals. It is not secular humanists but we ourselves who are secularizing the faith by transforming its odd message into something less jarring to the American psyche.” (p. 54)
“The gospel of submission, commitment, decision, and victorious living is not good news about what God has achieved but a demand to save ourselves with God’s help. Besides the fact that Scripture never refers to the gospel as having a personal relationship with Jesus nor defines faith as a decision to ask Jesus to come into our heart, this concept of salvation fails to realize that everyone has a personal relationship with God already: either as a condemned criminal standing before a righteous judge or as a justified coheir with Christ and adopted child of the Father.” (p. 74)
“ ‘How can I be right with God?’ is no longer a question when my happiness rather than God’s holiness is the main issue. Joel Osteen is simply the latest in a long line of self-help evangelists who appeal to the innate American obsession with pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Salvation is not a matter of divine rescue from the judgment that is coming on the world but rather a matter of self-improvement in order to have your best life now.” (p. 74)
“Regardless of the official theology held on paper, moralistic preaching (the bane of conservatives and liberals alike) assumes that we are not really helpless sinners who need to be rescued but decent folks who need good examples, exhortations, and instructions.” (p. 151)
“God’s downward descent to us in grace reversed by our upward ascent in pragmatic enthusiasm, we are increasingly becoming a sheep without a Shepherd—and all in the name of mission. Instead of churching the unchurched, we are well on our way to even unchurching the churched.” (p. 204)
“The church is not the gospel. Whether packaged in high church forms…or low church versions…, the idea is rife among us today that the church is engaged in a redemptive mission, extending Christ’s saving life and mission into the world. But if we are to get the focus off us and back onto Christ…, we will have to stop giving ourselves so much credit. We do not redeem; we were redeemed. The incarnation…is not a prototype for us and our incarnational living and ministry in the world; it is a unique event of a unique person, of which we have been made witnesses rather than co-agents.” (p. 230)
“If the focus of our testimony is our changed life, we as well as our hearers are bound to be disappointed.” (p. 254)
This series of books was a serious change-agent in my own life. Hope this helps.
a label on Horton it would be "serious evangelical charismatic".
I've only read one of Dr. Horton's books (and have 3 more in line to read), but I listen to his radio program weekly. Unless you mean something completely different from the common understanding of "charismatic", I don't think the label accurately describes him.
Thank-you for your comments. This set sounds like a must have for my library. I really want to get into his books.
a label on Horton it would be "serious evangelical charismatic". I've only read one of Dr. Horton's books (and have 3 more in line to read), but I listen to his radio program weekly. Unless you mean something completely different from the common understanding of "charismatic", I don't think the label accurately describes him.
My mistake, I got the author mixed up. I was thinking of Stanley M Horton.
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