J. I. PackerAnmeldelser

Loved this. Loved! Every Christian should read this.

A classic in Christian theology, Knowing God, is a deep exploration of the nature and character of God, which invites readers into a deeper relationship with the divine. It’s dense, heavy, and profound, but in being so, Packer provides practical applications for everyday life. He covers topics such as the attributes of God, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the nature of salvation, and the importance of prayer and obedience in the Christian life. One of the key themes of the book is the idea that knowing God is not just an intellectual pursuit, but a deeply personal and transformative experience. It’s a wonderful resource of valuable insights.

This book is very helpful for not only for distinguishing between secular humanism and Christian humanism, but it actually goes on to show that humanism in any form is a robbery of Christian humanism.

This book is very helpful for not only for distinguishing between secular humanism and Christian humanism, but it actually goes on to show that humanism in any form is a robbery of Christian humanism.

I have a hard time taking Protestants seriously.

Person, $, phone, due date,

The chapter on the decline of justification in the puritans is a phenomenal chapter and has immense helps for the doctrine seen in evangelicalism broadly today.

I finally tackled this after it sat on my shelf for decades. It took a year because I mostly took it in small doses. Pretty dense. Very thoughtful, thought provoking and fruitful.

O Conhecimento de Deus, livro clássico e o mais conhecido do teólogo inglês J. I. Packer (1926-2020), é o fio condutor desta preciosa coletânea que mescla beleza, profundidade teológica e exercício devocional. Durante seis dias da semana, encontramos um trecho das Escrituras e uma palavra do autor que nos convida a conhecer de perto o próprio Deus e cultivar um relacionamento com ele. Cada devocional traz, no final, uma sugestão de resposta e adoração a Deus. Conhecendo a Deus ao Longo do Ano poderá ser o livro mais importante que você vai ler este ano. Ou no próximo.

Chaves abrem portas; palavras-chaves abrem mentes, e, através das mentes, corações. Neste livro, Packer toma palavras-chaves usadas na Bíblia - termos extraídos do próprio vocabulário de Deus - e desdobra, de maneira prática, alguns dos principais pensamentos ligados a elas. O objetivo de Packer é levar-nos a amar e adorar o Cristo das Escrituras, e a mudar as nossas vidas à luz de suas verdades. A Bíblia, na qual você pode contemplar a pessoa de Cristo, é a comunicação de Deus para você acerca do Filho. Aprenda com Deus acerca de seu Filho; reaja favoravelmente a tudo quanto ali lhe for mostrado. Faça isso, e algum dia você estará dizendo juntamente com Paulo e com muitos outros milhões de pessoas salvas: “Deus... resplandeceu em nossos corações, para iluminação do conhecimento da glória de Deus na face de Cristo” (2 Co 4.6). Você conhecerá a revelação divina segundo a única maneira que, em última análise, tem proveito - a saber, pelo lado de dentro. E, conhecendo-a dessa maneira, você conhecerá o Senhor Deus.

Teologia Concisa de J.I. Packer tem todas as qualificações que podemos esperar do seu autor: teologia bíblica e espiritual; bem resumida, porém, segura; escrita graciosamente com a intenção de gerar obediência e louvor. Servirá muito bem, tanto como introdução doutrinária, manual de termos teológicos ou estudo devocional. - Sinclair B. Ferguson, Westminster Theological Seminary

Este livro que nos conduz aos pressupostos da fé cristã histórica – produzido por quem é, sem dúvida, um dos maiores teólogos da nossa geração – é extremamente apto como resumo doutrinário. Escrito em um estilo lúcido, não se amarra em controvérsias teológicas, mas provê uma pronta e compreensível declaração das doutrinas bíblicas, comprovadas em todos os pontos por citações das Escrituras. - Roger Nicole, Reformed Theological Seminary

Tenho constantemente buscado resumos sucintos do pensamento cristão que possam ser confiáveis para distribuição geral nas igrejas. Este é um dos melhores. - D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

A very good Book, one you will always refer back to :)

Review on my blog at https://www.wordsandbottles.com/blog/2022/04/24/concise-theology-review/

Concise Theology is well worth the read. In short bursts of two to three pages each (usually), J.I. Packer proceeds to lay out historic Christian beliefs for his readers. While I would have loved to see just a bit more at times, overall, I thought the pacing and breakdown was excellent.

Packer is pastoral, caring for the body of Christ, and passionate, reveling in the glories of Christ, the work of the Spirit and the majesty of the Father. Even when I either disagreed or would have stated something slightly differently, I found him to demonstrate humility and patience, no easy task when your intent is to be concise.

For example, in addressing the old testament law, I would argue against the tri-partite breakdown of a "moral, judicial and ritual law", fleshed out more fully as "moral...political...and ceremonial." (pp.90-92). Certainly, the Mosaic law contained all of these, but that it had a self-aware division along these lines, such that the ceremonial/ritual law could be of "limited application" in contrast to the moral law, is not apparent. Instead, the whole law, even the decalogue, seems to intermix these various statutes and regulations in a way that is difficult to unwind.

Dealing with baptism, I found his handling to be amazingly understanding. He acknowledges historical and present disagreements, while maintaining the deep connection among those with a reformed soteriology (specifically speaking of Presbyterian and Baptistic formulations). From a baptistic perspective, I wished that he was consistent in applying the regulative principle, as I believe he would likely find the admitted lack of scriptural warrant for paedo-baptism (p.214) as a powerful argument in favor of believer's baptism. But I was thoroughly appreciative of his patient and measured approach. His last statement gives just a bit of the flavor of that: "The ongoing debate is not about nurture but about God's way of defining the church." (p.216) I heartily agree!

And as a way of wrapping that thought up, and finishing my response to this book, I offer the following quote:

"The task of the church is to make the invisible kingdom visible through faithful Christian living and witness-bearing. The gospel of Christ is still the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23; 24:14; Acts 20:25; 28:23, 31), the good news of righteousness, peace, ad joy in the Holy Spirit through entering a disciple's relationship to the living Lord (Rom. 14:17). The church must make its message credible by manifesting the reality of kingdom life." (Concise Theology, p.194)

If the task of the church is to "make the invisible kingdom visible", and I whole-heartedly agree it is, then let's baptize accordingly!

Again, a well-written, helpfully concise overview of historic Christian beliefs. Get it, read it, and dig deep into God's word.

Excellent and very deep.

Excellent read

This is a collection of 22 very good essays about the God in Christianity. Sometimes I feel like I'm reading a sermon. The essays are all very organized in terms of logical flow. But the connection between one essay to another is not as clear cut. My favorite is one of the longest ones; it discusses how Christians are basically adopted by God into His family through Christ's death and resurrection. The author makes a clear argument that many tenets of Christianity can become much easier to understand if we view them through the lens of Christians having been adopted into God's family. I also really enjoyed the two essays about the wisdom of God.

Some quotes that I found particularly memorable:

"Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord."

"It needs to be said with the greatest possible emphasis that those who hold themselves free to think of God as they like are breaking the second commandment."

"How are we to think of the Incarnation? The New Testament does not encourage us to puzzle our heads over the physical and psychological problems that it raises, but to worship God for the love that was shown in it."

"So many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord’s parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet those needs) averting their eyes and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians — alas, they are many — whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves."

"It is not for us to imagine that we can prove the truth of Christianity by our own arguments; nobody can prove the truth of Christianity except the Holy Spirit, by his own almighty work of renewing the blinded heart."

"What the preacher (in Ecclesiastes) wants to show him (the reader) is that the real basis of wisdom is a frank acknowledgment that this world’s course is enigmatic, that much of what happens is quite inexplicable to us, and that most occurrences “under the sun” bear no outward sign of a rational, moral God ordering them at all.....The kind of wisdom that God waits to give to those who ask him is a wisdom that will bind us to himself, a wisdom that will find expression in a spirit of faith and a life of faithfulness."

"People today are in the habit of disassociating the thought of God’s goodness from that of his severity. Nothing but misbelief is possible as long as it persists."

Packer concludes on this note: “Finally we have been brought to the point where we both can and must get our life’s priorities straight. From current Christian publications, you might think that the most vital issue for any real or would-be Christian in the world today is church union, or social witness, or dialogue with other Christians and other faiths, or refuting this or that ism, or developing a Christian philosophy and culture, or what have you. But our line of study makes the present day concentration on these things look like a gigantic conspiracy of misdirection. Of course, it is not that; the issues themselves are real and must be dealt with in their place. But it is tragic that, in paying attention to them, so many in our day seem to have been distracted from what was, is, and always will be the true priority for every human being-that is, learning to know God in Christ” (278).

An excellent read! Chapter 2 on the people who know their God, chapter 18 on the heart of the gospel, and chapter 19 on adoption were influential.

what great truths! so much richness in who my God is :) i love how BIG he is as i finish this book :)

“knowing God involves, first, listening to God’s Word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; second, noting God’s nature and character, as his Word and works reveal it; third, accepting his invitations and doing what he commands; fourth, recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown in thus approaching you and drawing you into this divine fellowship.”

excellent book! he comes full circle jn explaining and encouraging.... to obey, to trust, to pray. lots of good doctrine in this book!

For sometime now I've been interested in Anglican theology but was slow to investigate my interest. So when the opportunity to review The Heritage of Anglican Theology by J. I. Packer appeared, I jumped at the chance. Who better to explore and explain the history of the Anglican church than by J.I. Packer?
Almost immediately I was drawn into the web of Anglican history, the good and the bad, the ebb and flow, and the main players down through time. Beginning in the early 1500's, Packer takes us all the way through today's current standing in the Anglican church. As with any theological persuasion or denomination, there is both the bad and the good, the mainstream and the fringe, the conservative and the liberal. Theology and worship, true worship of God, can be messy and so it was in Anglican history.
The writing style was most pleasant; an easy read. Complex terms and ideas are explained for the unfamiliar with Anglicanism. Of course, the worship of God, church history, and theology never operate in a vacuum. When, and it was often necessary, British history, culture, and politics are explained. Though this was a work on Anglican history, Packer always explained the correct method of worship and Biblical understanding.
To get a flavor of of the book, below is a list of chapter titles

1 Taking the Measure of the Anglican Mainstream

2 The English Reformation

3 Puritan Theology

4 Richard Hooker

5 The Caroline Divines

6 Rational Divinity

7 Revival Theology

8 The Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholicism

9 Nineteenth-Century Broad Church Theology

10 Anglican Modernism

11 Early Twentieth-Century Anglican Theology

12 Concluding Thoughts on Anglican Theology

Afterword: Further Thoughts on the Anglican Concept of Doctrine

Recommended Reading

Index

Overall the reader will get a thorough understanding of the state of Anglicanism both past and present.

I would give this five out of five stars! Excellent book. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

What a great book. Can certainly see why it's been such an influential book. 22 chapters in 3 parts - Know the Lord - Behold your God1 - If God be for us... Read it!

A good introduction to some important people who stood for a biblical theology.

The book is somewhat long-winded, but Packer is clearly enthusiastic on his topic (he particularly loves Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones).

《認識神》是二十世紀最重要的基督教書籍。巴刻呼籲世俗化、人本的教會回到聖經，重新建立以神的屬性、神的應許與誡命為中心的信仰生活。這是以聖經建立的神學，是滿有神學意義的聖經研究，值得一讀再讀，以默想回應。
——林慈信牧師（美國中華展望總幹事）

巴刻博士說：「渴慕認識神的引導是屬靈健康的標記。」因此，他在這本豐富的屬靈作品中提供了最佳處方，同時列出一份令人靈魂飽足的菜單，包含了深度的默想， 悉心編排的經文，內容則是由巴刻系列著作中採擷摘錄，以精簡易記形式展現出巴刻神學思想的精華。每月主題均引導讀者追溯到一切真喜樂的源頭──神自己，幫 助您隨時隨地思想神的旨意，享受祂的豐富與奇妙。

LIBRERA 3 FONDO
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