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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Excellent book (as all Iain Murray's are). "The Forgotten Spurgeon" focuses on Spurgeon's Calvinist views.
Invaluable insights from Iain Murray on the three main controversies of Charles Spurgeon's ministry.
There’s an interesting phenomenon in Christianity in which the whole of Christendom claim fellowship with the most famous figures that arise out of the religion, even if those figures come from a completely different denomination. Christianity is a very factious religion, there is an incalculable number of sects and groups that exist and the religion has a long history of ex-communications and pronouncements of heresy that stretch back to its earliest days. In other words, ecumenism just doesn’t work. Despite this fact, almost everyone in the religion wants to claim kinship with Augustine, Mother Teresa, Johnathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon even if their theology doesn’t match up.
This is, of course, the cult of celebrity and one of the most famous members of that cult-like admiration is Charles Haddon Spurgeon, sometimes called by his nickname “The Prince of Preachers”. Charles Spurgeon is a fascinating figure in the history of Christianity because almost everyone who has a passing knowledge of church history knows who he is, and admires him, but almost none of those people will know what he stood for unless they’ve actually studied him. Spurgeon was a dedicated Calvinist, a theology that would normally keep many from admiring him, and The Forgotten Spurgeon seeks to reestablish his theology as first importance when remembering who he was.
As such, The Forgotten Spurgeon isn’t necessarily a biography but an examination of the preacher’s life and doctrine through an analysis of the three different controversies he dealt with while he was alive. Mr. Murray begins by explaining that Spurgeon himself had to explain reformed theology to the people of England due to the fact that newspapers attempted to claim that he was a Calvinist in name only. He then moves into the eventual conflict between Spurgeon and the theology of infant baptism, which essentially served as a foretaste of the theological downgrade that was yet to come. Finally, Mr. Murray moves into the most important fight Spurgeon was involved in, the rise of Arminianism.
What anyone who reads the book, and Spurgeon’s own sermons, can say is that he was a man under conviction. Regardless of whether or not you find yourself a Calvinist, it would be intellectually dishonest to say anything other than that Spurgeon had a genuine belief in his theology and was willing to defend it no matter the cost. Mr. Murray does an excellent job narrating this fact through his own writing and the use of numerous quotations from Spurgeon’s sermons, diaries, and contemporary articles written about him. In painting a portrait of a man who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and defend what he saw as the truth, Mr. Murray excels, but it’s his tracing of history that I find wanting.
What I mean by this is that the writing present here seemed to be a bit scattered, I found it difficult to trace what happened at what points and their connection to one another. In the first chapters, the reader is given an excellent, very coherent, view of how Spurgeon came to prominence and how he exploded in popularity. Spurgeon's defense of his Calvinism and everything that occurs up to the building of the first Metropolitan Tabernacle is well written and well-sequenced. Beyond these opening chapters, the book largely reads like a series of vignettes or scenes in which we hear about things that occur and Spurgeon’s involvement in them, but their connection to one another and the general timeline wasn't clearly established. This problem only gets worse once Mr. Murray describes the events after Spurgeon’s death, it certainly seems like the Metropolitan Tabernacle was a mess after its central figure passed, but it doesn’t have to read that way in the historical description being offered.
Despite the issue with structure, the content remains very good. Mr. Murray explains the issues that arise in the churches of England well and his use of Spurgeon’s words has a two-fold effect of not only showing the reader how these controversies shaped Spurgeon’s public ministry but also how the theology espoused in the controversies was dubious at best. I learned more about the nuances of the Calvinistic view of grace and the Arminian position on the atonement in this one book than in most other resources I've come across. In this regard, The Forgotten Spurgeon can also be used as an excellent tool to teach apologetics surrounding Calvinism as most of Spurgeon’s involvements in these controversies meant that he had to defend Calvinism’s correctness to a public that was beginning to move past it.
I will also mention that Mr. Murray’s use of footnotes was more than a bit disruptive at times. If an author wants to use footnotes to mention sources, or clarifications of some of the content, I fully understand and support them. What I do not understand or support, however, is the use of footnotes to write an additional paragraph of information that could easily be placed into the main text. There are several long footnotes in each chapter of The Forgotten Spurgeon and I fail to see why they couldn’t have been moved into the main body of the chapters themselves. None of these long footnotes are irrelevant to the content being discussed, but their length did more to make me lose my place in what I was reading than they did to help, and this is doubly bad when one considers the issues this book already has with structure and keeping a coherent timeline.
Despite my issues with the structure and use of footnotes, Mr. Murray is an excellent writer. There is a tendency in the world of Christian publishing to fall into one of two camps: Funny and easy to read, or dense and intellectual. However, Mr. Murray manages to successfully straddle the line between both of these camps, he’s intellectual but not in a way that excludes certain readers from understanding and he’s easy to read without sacrificing the theological complexity of discussing grace and the atonement. More than anything else, his ability to write is what stands out in this book, through the whole thing I felt like I was in the head of someone examining current events, and it went a long way to keep my attention when I would wonder what the connection between the current event was and the one previous.
Overall, this is a book that I would recommend to people looking for a view on Spurgeon the apologist. It wouldn’t be the first book on The Prince of Preachers that I would recommend to people looking to learn more about him generally. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to learn the difference between the Calvinistic view of grace and the Arminian view, however, as the argumentation on the consequences of both views and how they line up with biblical theology is first-rate. I can certainly see myself referring back to those chapters many times when looking for ways to compare and contrast those theological viewpoints, and it’ll certainly become a mainstay in my library to hand out for anyone looking to study the topic.
This is, of course, the cult of celebrity and one of the most famous members of that cult-like admiration is Charles Haddon Spurgeon, sometimes called by his nickname “The Prince of Preachers”. Charles Spurgeon is a fascinating figure in the history of Christianity because almost everyone who has a passing knowledge of church history knows who he is, and admires him, but almost none of those people will know what he stood for unless they’ve actually studied him. Spurgeon was a dedicated Calvinist, a theology that would normally keep many from admiring him, and The Forgotten Spurgeon seeks to reestablish his theology as first importance when remembering who he was.
As such, The Forgotten Spurgeon isn’t necessarily a biography but an examination of the preacher’s life and doctrine through an analysis of the three different controversies he dealt with while he was alive. Mr. Murray begins by explaining that Spurgeon himself had to explain reformed theology to the people of England due to the fact that newspapers attempted to claim that he was a Calvinist in name only. He then moves into the eventual conflict between Spurgeon and the theology of infant baptism, which essentially served as a foretaste of the theological downgrade that was yet to come. Finally, Mr. Murray moves into the most important fight Spurgeon was involved in, the rise of Arminianism.
What anyone who reads the book, and Spurgeon’s own sermons, can say is that he was a man under conviction. Regardless of whether or not you find yourself a Calvinist, it would be intellectually dishonest to say anything other than that Spurgeon had a genuine belief in his theology and was willing to defend it no matter the cost. Mr. Murray does an excellent job narrating this fact through his own writing and the use of numerous quotations from Spurgeon’s sermons, diaries, and contemporary articles written about him. In painting a portrait of a man who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and defend what he saw as the truth, Mr. Murray excels, but it’s his tracing of history that I find wanting.
What I mean by this is that the writing present here seemed to be a bit scattered, I found it difficult to trace what happened at what points and their connection to one another. In the first chapters, the reader is given an excellent, very coherent, view of how Spurgeon came to prominence and how he exploded in popularity. Spurgeon's defense of his Calvinism and everything that occurs up to the building of the first Metropolitan Tabernacle is well written and well-sequenced. Beyond these opening chapters, the book largely reads like a series of vignettes or scenes in which we hear about things that occur and Spurgeon’s involvement in them, but their connection to one another and the general timeline wasn't clearly established. This problem only gets worse once Mr. Murray describes the events after Spurgeon’s death, it certainly seems like the Metropolitan Tabernacle was a mess after its central figure passed, but it doesn’t have to read that way in the historical description being offered.
Despite the issue with structure, the content remains very good. Mr. Murray explains the issues that arise in the churches of England well and his use of Spurgeon’s words has a two-fold effect of not only showing the reader how these controversies shaped Spurgeon’s public ministry but also how the theology espoused in the controversies was dubious at best. I learned more about the nuances of the Calvinistic view of grace and the Arminian position on the atonement in this one book than in most other resources I've come across. In this regard, The Forgotten Spurgeon can also be used as an excellent tool to teach apologetics surrounding Calvinism as most of Spurgeon’s involvements in these controversies meant that he had to defend Calvinism’s correctness to a public that was beginning to move past it.
I will also mention that Mr. Murray’s use of footnotes was more than a bit disruptive at times. If an author wants to use footnotes to mention sources, or clarifications of some of the content, I fully understand and support them. What I do not understand or support, however, is the use of footnotes to write an additional paragraph of information that could easily be placed into the main text. There are several long footnotes in each chapter of The Forgotten Spurgeon and I fail to see why they couldn’t have been moved into the main body of the chapters themselves. None of these long footnotes are irrelevant to the content being discussed, but their length did more to make me lose my place in what I was reading than they did to help, and this is doubly bad when one considers the issues this book already has with structure and keeping a coherent timeline.
Despite my issues with the structure and use of footnotes, Mr. Murray is an excellent writer. There is a tendency in the world of Christian publishing to fall into one of two camps: Funny and easy to read, or dense and intellectual. However, Mr. Murray manages to successfully straddle the line between both of these camps, he’s intellectual but not in a way that excludes certain readers from understanding and he’s easy to read without sacrificing the theological complexity of discussing grace and the atonement. More than anything else, his ability to write is what stands out in this book, through the whole thing I felt like I was in the head of someone examining current events, and it went a long way to keep my attention when I would wonder what the connection between the current event was and the one previous.
Overall, this is a book that I would recommend to people looking for a view on Spurgeon the apologist. It wouldn’t be the first book on The Prince of Preachers that I would recommend to people looking to learn more about him generally. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to learn the difference between the Calvinistic view of grace and the Arminian view, however, as the argumentation on the consequences of both views and how they line up with biblical theology is first-rate. I can certainly see myself referring back to those chapters many times when looking for ways to compare and contrast those theological viewpoints, and it’ll certainly become a mainstay in my library to hand out for anyone looking to study the topic.
This is a book I haven't read in quite some time. It is also one of my longest-owned books, as turning to the facing page I see that I put in my name and dated it 2009! So I've had this little paperback for a while and I believe only read once before this re-read. But this book is pretty marvelous, I must say. It's a slim little volume (including appendix, under 250 pages) but it is meaty and dense and not a book one can fly through. I loved it, though I feel this kind of book may not be for everyone. This is an interesting book, because it was published in a time when it was much needed, in a time when there was much more ignorance around the man and ministry of Spurgeon. Murray wrote this book to educate the evangelical Christian world on what Spurgeon believed and how he conducted his ministry. This is most definitely not a biography. If it's a biography of Spurgeon you are looking for, I'd point you to Spurgeon's two volume autobiography. This, however, has much more of a doctrinal focus. Was Spurgeon just a crowd-pleasing and rousing evangelist in the tradition of Finney, Moody and Billy Sunday? Most certainly not! (And I am certainly aware that the three men just mentioned are not entirely similar and would most likely resent being placed in the same sentence!) But no, while Spurgeon most certainly did have a gift for public speaking and a way with words, Spurgeon did not lean on his own rhetorical talents but in fact rested in and continually pointed to the doctrines of grace as he pointed all people to Christ. This book, in order to showcase the beliefs of Spurgeon and how they buttressed his ministry, focuses on three major controversies that Spurgeon took part in. Again, this book is not a biography so get ready for some in-depth discussion of prickly theological issues. What this book attempts to get across is that Spurgeon did not care to follow any one system or teacher, but he went to the Word of God and this is what he preached. Spurgeon had a deep and abiding faith in his Lord, and his passion for his Lord shines forth in his preaching of the Word. I'm not going to outline the rest of the book here, but a couple takeaways that struck me. One of these is from the early part of Spurgeon's ministry and centers around his disputes with the "hypers" that accused Spurgeon of preaching a gospel too unfettered. "You're not Calvinist enough!" they cried. Spurgeon vigorously contended with these teachers (at times most likely too harshly in the fire of his youth!) and defended his practice of offering the gospel to all. On the other hand, Spurgeon also aroused the ire of the pastors that had a more Arminian bent. "You're too Calvinist!" they cried. He did not shy away from calling them out and confronting them in their misunderstanding of God and man. One other note? If you're not someone with at least a partially-Calvinist bent, this book will most certainly irk you at times. Though I would still recommend it heartily! This review is rambling, and for that I apologise. I could go on and on about why I loved reading this book (I love history, I love biographies, I love ecclesiology, I love church history, I love theology, I love reading about doctrinal debates, I love reading about people whose hearts burned for the glory of God and the salvation of souls!) but at the end of this day, this book thrilled my soul because it was about a man who God used to great effect in the time and place in which he lived. This was a man who did not back away from the tough fights or decide to not engage in prickly theological disputes with other pastors in fear that he would be called unloving or old-fashioned. This was a man who had a mighty faith in God - given to Him by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit in his heart - and who rested in the truths of the Holy Scriptures as his sword and shield. He was not overly dogmatic in things that did not matter, but if he encountered teaching or practices that were endangering the church of God and the souls therein? He fought. We need more fighters in the Christian evangelical world, not teachers that will roll over at the first signs of the world's disapproval. We don't want mere pugilists however - we don't want men who fight for the thrill of it. But we do indeed need more preachers in this day and age who will eagerly study the Word of God to seek to understand what God is saying and then go forth as watchmen in the night, proclaiming the truths of God and calling forth men and women to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. One other note? Doctrine matters. At times in our emotional, feelings-based day and age, we shudder at the word "doctrine" - almost a dirty word, one may say. But what we believe about God and about this world (doctrine!) has a direct affect on how we live our daily lives. We cannot avoid it - we all have a "doctrine". But where does ours come from, we should ask? Does it come from the world and culture around, colored and warped by fleshly and demonic ideals? Or does our doctrine come from the Word that our God has given us? Spurgeon understood that to begin compromising on the nature and reality of God's Word would be akin to introducing deadly poison to the very life of the Church. Spurgeon stood in the gap and it might be said that it killed him, in the end. But he did fight the good fight, he kept the faith. Might we seek to understand how God may use us in the time in which we now live and may we gird up our loins to stand firm for the truth and glory of God. This book greatly grieved me in some ways, to see the ways in which the church over the ages continues to stumble and bumble around, falling constantly on her face as man pursues his ways that he feels are better than God's ways. But in other ways, it encouraged me to see and recognize that God yet has a remnant, that God is yet sovereign, and that God may still be trusted in, day in and day out for all things. I love to see God working in the lives of men and women and in the life of His Church.
Not a biography in the fullest sense but a rather a look at the triumvirate of theological controversies Spurgeon faced in his lifetime: (1) his stand for historic Calvinism while at New Park Street in the 1850s, (2) his involvement in the baptismal regeneration debate of 1864, and (3) the Down-Grade controversy of 1887-1891. Spurgeon never sought to be antagonistic, but when truth was being undermined he valiantly engaged in "contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). In his commitment to truth and biblical fidelity, Spurgeon spoke against tolerated error, not out of a desire for self-promotion or becaus of a combative spirit or overly narrow creed, but because of a genuine desire to see God's glory upheld and his Word faithfully represented. Here's a truth worth imbibing in the deepest part of our souls: where the Word of God is, there God dwells and his saints are nourished and protected.
This year I’m going to be using the 2018 VT Reading Challenge to guide my reading choices, and I’m going to be a little more consistent than I was last year. Last year, I picked and chose and found myself with about 20 books I never got to because they were “too much” of a stretch for me or boring. This year, I’m going to actually go straight through from start to finish so that I can make sure I actually hit all the categories. Second time’s a charm, right?
The first book on the challenge is to read a biography. For this category, I have chosen Iain Murray’s The Forgotten Spurgeon. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I actually bought this to satisfy the challenge requirements to read and Iain Murray book last year, and didn’t get around to it. . . Possibly because I was really struggling with my anxiety and depression at some points last year, and I found myself reading a little more fluffy and escapist type books than I tend to read in a regular year.
Despite the fact that this book is classified as a biography, Murray himself does not classify this as a biography, but instead as a tracing of Spurgeon’s thought through three great controversies in his ministry, and it is true that if you’re looking for personal details about Spurgeon’s life, you might want to look elsewhere. These controversies are: (1) His strong stand of Calvinism against both the hyper-Calvinists and the Arminians in the 1850s; (2) The Baptismal Regeneration debate in 1864; and (3) the Down-Grade controversy of 1887-1891.
Spurgeon against Hypercalvinism and Arminianism. In this section, Murray spends a great deal of time discussing how Spurgeon differentiates himself from both the hyper-Calvinists and the Arminians. Through that he also examines Arminianism in the light of how Spurgeon interpreted scripture.
In the end, this is a discussion about purity of doctrine and how your approach to interpretation of certain doctrines will impact your worldview. You also realize, as you read this section that the important issue is “Is it Biblical?” not “Is it logical?” or “Is it how I want it to be?” I felt a certain kinship with Spurgeon as I realized that he, who identified himself as a Calvinist, had things about freewill and personal responsibility that remained unresolved for him. He had things that he hadn’t neatly tied together. Like him, I live in the area of not being able to logically reduce the Bible to give a neat answer.
I feel like I’m Switzerland when it comes to Calvinism vs. Arminianism, and so I read thoughtfully, and attempted to figure out where some of my leanings lie. I’m still thinking about it, and I will continue to contemplate this section as I go back and look at this section of the book in preparation for writing. This section of the book is an excellent presentation of reformed theology and has raised some questions for me to ponder and to work through.
Baptismal Regeneration. Murray actually only spares a chapter for this short lived controversy. Also, instead of truly discussing baptismal regeneration and the perspectives of that, Murray assumes some knowledge of the differing perspectives. That makes this a weak section of the book. I am no further along the road of consideration in this than I was when I began the book. I know my position, and I’m not even completely certain of Spurgeon’s after reading the book. This is the most poorly addressed controversy in the book as it mainly considers whether or not it was more possible to reform the Church of England from within or without.
The Down-Grade Controversy. In this controversy, we see that Spurgeon is warning against the “down grade” of doctrines in our faith. More liberal academics are beginning to deny the deity of Christ, and Arminians are also being to take a focus off of doctrine and sanctification and onto counting the numbers of converts. The idea was that the high view of scripture was ending and instead focus was on human reason and on our ability to assent to doctrines. We were taking the focus of of God’s glory and putting the focus on ourselves, our response, and our decisions about whether a doctrine was applicable. Along the way, Arminianism was on the rise, and people were shoving the Calvinistic doctrines aside as antiquated. Progressivism will win this one, and Spurgeon withdraws from the Baptist union and finds that a real toll has been taken on his health.
I found myself, as I read this section, wowed by how much I take for granted as a normal part of my church life that was progressivist at heart. I think about how much my interpretation of scripture has been influenced by the “modern” and “progressive” ideas that Spurgeon wholeheartedly condemned. I think about how much we compromise in terms of the simplicity of Christ just to draw people in and to up our number of converts. I wonder how our generation will be judged in history in terms of our faith and the damage we have done in the name of entertaining people and attempting to influence them for Christ. Yet, in the place we are in, it is only realistic to believe that we must continue with some of what is progressive here because it is the very nature of our gospel. It’s a hard place to be and to think from, and again, I’ll be pondering this section for a time to come.
Murray also considers what happens with Spurgeon’s church after his death and why the church went in a direction that Spurgeon would have disapproved of. It’s all interesting stuff, but there are some things that I wish Murray would have spelled out a little more clearly.
The first book on the challenge is to read a biography. For this category, I have chosen Iain Murray’s The Forgotten Spurgeon. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I actually bought this to satisfy the challenge requirements to read and Iain Murray book last year, and didn’t get around to it. . . Possibly because I was really struggling with my anxiety and depression at some points last year, and I found myself reading a little more fluffy and escapist type books than I tend to read in a regular year.
Despite the fact that this book is classified as a biography, Murray himself does not classify this as a biography, but instead as a tracing of Spurgeon’s thought through three great controversies in his ministry, and it is true that if you’re looking for personal details about Spurgeon’s life, you might want to look elsewhere. These controversies are: (1) His strong stand of Calvinism against both the hyper-Calvinists and the Arminians in the 1850s; (2) The Baptismal Regeneration debate in 1864; and (3) the Down-Grade controversy of 1887-1891.
Spurgeon against Hypercalvinism and Arminianism. In this section, Murray spends a great deal of time discussing how Spurgeon differentiates himself from both the hyper-Calvinists and the Arminians. Through that he also examines Arminianism in the light of how Spurgeon interpreted scripture.
In the end, this is a discussion about purity of doctrine and how your approach to interpretation of certain doctrines will impact your worldview. You also realize, as you read this section that the important issue is “Is it Biblical?” not “Is it logical?” or “Is it how I want it to be?” I felt a certain kinship with Spurgeon as I realized that he, who identified himself as a Calvinist, had things about freewill and personal responsibility that remained unresolved for him. He had things that he hadn’t neatly tied together. Like him, I live in the area of not being able to logically reduce the Bible to give a neat answer.
I feel like I’m Switzerland when it comes to Calvinism vs. Arminianism, and so I read thoughtfully, and attempted to figure out where some of my leanings lie. I’m still thinking about it, and I will continue to contemplate this section as I go back and look at this section of the book in preparation for writing. This section of the book is an excellent presentation of reformed theology and has raised some questions for me to ponder and to work through.
Baptismal Regeneration. Murray actually only spares a chapter for this short lived controversy. Also, instead of truly discussing baptismal regeneration and the perspectives of that, Murray assumes some knowledge of the differing perspectives. That makes this a weak section of the book. I am no further along the road of consideration in this than I was when I began the book. I know my position, and I’m not even completely certain of Spurgeon’s after reading the book. This is the most poorly addressed controversy in the book as it mainly considers whether or not it was more possible to reform the Church of England from within or without.
The Down-Grade Controversy. In this controversy, we see that Spurgeon is warning against the “down grade” of doctrines in our faith. More liberal academics are beginning to deny the deity of Christ, and Arminians are also being to take a focus off of doctrine and sanctification and onto counting the numbers of converts. The idea was that the high view of scripture was ending and instead focus was on human reason and on our ability to assent to doctrines. We were taking the focus of of God’s glory and putting the focus on ourselves, our response, and our decisions about whether a doctrine was applicable. Along the way, Arminianism was on the rise, and people were shoving the Calvinistic doctrines aside as antiquated. Progressivism will win this one, and Spurgeon withdraws from the Baptist union and finds that a real toll has been taken on his health.
I found myself, as I read this section, wowed by how much I take for granted as a normal part of my church life that was progressivist at heart. I think about how much my interpretation of scripture has been influenced by the “modern” and “progressive” ideas that Spurgeon wholeheartedly condemned. I think about how much we compromise in terms of the simplicity of Christ just to draw people in and to up our number of converts. I wonder how our generation will be judged in history in terms of our faith and the damage we have done in the name of entertaining people and attempting to influence them for Christ. Yet, in the place we are in, it is only realistic to believe that we must continue with some of what is progressive here because it is the very nature of our gospel. It’s a hard place to be and to think from, and again, I’ll be pondering this section for a time to come.
Murray also considers what happens with Spurgeon’s church after his death and why the church went in a direction that Spurgeon would have disapproved of. It’s all interesting stuff, but there are some things that I wish Murray would have spelled out a little more clearly.