Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith

I write as a member of the conservative, confessional Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which was created when J. Gresham Machen was excommunicated from the liberal Presbyterian Church-USA, for advocating that theological liberalism was a completely different faith than Christianity and that liberals ought to admit this and withdraw from the Church. This volume is published by the PCUSA's publishing house, Westminster-John Knox Press. Consequently, it is decidedly liberal in its outlook. But therein lies its great value.It denies a covenant of works, marginalizes Princeton theology and refers to Machen as a militant. It has no entry for the doctrine of imputation yet feminist theology and universalism seem to have had no trouble having their articles included.Nonetheless, I personally have enjoyed and benefitted from the entries on covenants, the Church and numerous others as well as the articles that cover liturgical issues.When I want the quickest word on what the liberals are thinking, I can find it at my fingertips. When I need more, many of the significant articles have bibliographies of relevent resources. It also notates any words within a column that may have its own, more comprehensive article.I recommend this book for nearly everyone in a historic Christian Church: Lutherans, Presbyterians and Reformed, conservative or liberal, laymen and minsters.Your library isn't complete without this work. If you're missing this volume, you're missing out.

This is a very good attempt to pull together the different strands of reformed thought into a single volume for quick use. Of course, any book of this type will leave some unsatisfied ,and my own objection to it is that too much space is given to theologians and organizations which are really NOT reformed in the sense that most of us would understand it. I don't see any need for a long article on the World Council of Churches right after a long one of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Many of the theogians selected were reformed in background alone and changed entirely in view. Still, the material on Protestant scholaticism is great and most of the major points are hit. Though a book twice the size is needed, this is certainly a fine attempt.