Based on other books they’ve written, The Faithful Parent: A Biblical Guide to Raising a Family should be very helpful. Check out the sample pages, which includes a Foreword by Ted Tripp and the Table of Contents.
Martha Peace is a conference speaker, Bible teacher, and biblical counselor to women through the Faith Biblical Counseling Center in Sharpsburg, Georgia.
Stuart W. Scott is Associate Professor of Biblical Counseling at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, a fellow of NANC, and has over 25 years experience in counseling and pastoral ministry.
The Faithful Parent: Martha Peace & Stuart Scott
Please Consider Helping Desiring God
Over the years I’ve been remarkably impressed by the humility of those who lead Desiring God. They have made so much available for free on the Internet (at great expense to their organization), their prices on books consistently beat Amazon, John Piper receives absolutely no DG salary, and their notifications of financial need are extremely polite and rare.
Which is why now, at a time that they are facing the possibility of budget cuts, would be a great time to help them, even with a small contribution. Here’s Executive Director Jon Bloom’s explanation of the situation:
Just Do Something – Kevin DeYoung
Last night I finished reading Kevin DeYoung’s book Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will. It is part of the research I’m doing for a manuscript I need to deliver to a publisher by the end of September (for a book on “doing college well”). As I had hoped, DeYoung’s book is a helpful and brief corrective to the widely held and deeply flawed view that God has a discoverable, personal will for our amoral decisions (where to go to college, which job to take, which Christian to marry, etc.). DeYoung’s writing is engaging and clear, and this short book is a quick read. The applications at the end of the book on how to go about seeking God’s wisdom in choosing a job and a marriage partner were also helpful; they flushed out the principles into the nitty-gritty of actual decision making.
I was particularly pleased to see the application of biblical decision making principles (and a bias to action/productivity) be aimed, at numerous instances in the book, at the somewhat meandering, delayed adultescence, twenty and thirtisomethings. That was the same audience that I had in mind when I wrote With One Voice a few of my subsequent articles. I appreciated DeYoung’s pastoral heart and clear, biblically informed teaching. I warmly commend this book to you.
John Piper’s Latest Book: Must You Hear the Gospel to Be Saved?
John Piper’s latest book is entitled Jesus: The Only Way to God – Must You Hear the Gospel to Be Saved? It ships August 1, but is available now from Desiring God for $4.99. The book’s description:
In our shrinking, pluralistic world, the belief that Jesus is the only way of salvation is increasingly called arrogant and even hateful. In the face of this criticism, many shrink back from affirming the global necessity of knowingand believing in him.
In Jesus: the Only Way to God John Piper offers a timely plea for the evangelical church to consider what is at stake in surrendering the unique, universal place of Jesus in salvation.
Coach John Wooden (1910-2010)
U.C.L.A. Head Coach John Wooden died at the age of 99 on June 4, this past Friday. The basketball coach of the most winning team in college history, Coach Wooden’s life was above all one of extraordinary faithfulness. Faithful to his wife for 53 years (the only girl he ever kissed or dated), faithful to his calling as a basketball coach, faithful to the U.C.L.A. Bruins, whom he coach for 28 years, and (by all accounts) faithful to his Master Jesus Christ.
His teams at U.C.L.A. won 10 national championships in a 12-season stretch from 1964 to 1975 (at which time he retired). From 1971 to 1974, U.C.L.A. won 88 consecutive games, still the N.C.A.A. record. (In fairness, it is more difficult for today’s coaches to assemble such dynasties, because many great players quit college to go pro.)
Coach Wooden could recall poetry and had a number of pithy remarks. Here’s one:
At God’s footstool to confess,
A poor soul knelt and bowed his head.
I failed, he cried. The Master said,
Thou didst thy best, that is success.
This short poem conveys the important difference between success by external markers (such as a letter grade in a class, or a team’s record of wins and losses) and success before God, the Audience of One. Wooden expressed this another way:
Don’t be too concerned with regard to things over which you have no control, because that will eventually have an adverse effect on things over which you have control.
In other words, focus on the fundamentals, do your very best, and let the results play out. Don’t get caught up in comparing yourself to others, because that actually hinders you from reaching your potential. This Wooden quote is particularly helpful for talented but lazy people:
Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the champions who played for Wooden, recalled that there “was no ranting and raving, no histrionics or theatrics.” He continued:
“To lead the way Coach Wooden led takes a tremendous amount of faith. He was almost mystical in his approach, yet that approach only strengthened our confidence. Coach Wooden enjoyed winning, but he did not put winning above everything. He was more concerned that we became successful as human beings, that we earned our degrees, that we learned to make the right choices as adults and as parents.”
“In essence,” Abdul-Jabbar concluded, “he was preparing us for life.”
In the tumultuous 1960s, a reporter asked one of Wooden’s African-American players about racial problems on the team. In fact, Wooden had racially integrated his team early in his tenure at U.C.L.A. The Black player replied, “You don’t know my coach, do you? He doesn’t see race at all, he sees ball players.”
With the help of Steve Jamison, Wooden penned an autobiography, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and Off the Court.
A Very Important Book: Let Go and Let God?
Andy Naselli is an intelligent, highly educated man. He earned two PhDs before he turned thirty: a PhD in theology from Bob Jones University and a PhD in New Testament Exegesis and Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School under D. A. Carson. He has taught New Testament Greek at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and he currently teaches Bible and theology as adjunct faculty at several colleges and seminaries. He has published nearly twenty articles, forty book reviews, and a few books.
His first Ph.D. was on the Keswick theology of sanctification. This dissertation has recently been published by Logos Bible Software and is now available. It strikes me as an immensely helpful resource on one of the most widespread theological errors of our day.
Keswick theology grew out of the teaching of folks like John Wesley (Wesleyan perfectionism), Phoebe Palmer (Methodist perfectionism),Charles Finney (Oberlin perfectionism), and Robert Pearsall Smith (the higher life movement). Keswick proponents you may know of include Andrew Murray, J. Hudson Taylor, and Amy Carmichael. Those heavily influenced by Keswick theology include D.L. Moody (Moody), R.A. Torrey (Biola), and Lewis S. Chafer, John F. Walvoord, Charles C. Ryrie (Dallas).
Personally, I grew up absorbing Keswick thinking (though I had not heard its name). The view can perhaps be summed up by the phrase “let go, and let God”. The idea is that by surrendering fully to Christ, a Christian can live the “victorious, higher life” and evade all known sin.
Here is the product description:
Keswick theology—one of the most significant strands of second-blessing theology—assumes that Christians experience two “blessings.” The first is getting “saved,” and the second is getting serious. The change is dramatic: from a defeated life to a victorious life, from a lower life to a higher life, from a shallow life to a deeper life, from a fruitless life to a more abundant life, from being “carnal” to being “spiritual,” from merely having Jesus as your Savior to making Jesus your Master. So how do people experience this second blessing? Through surrender and faith: “Let go and let God.”
Second-blessing theology is pervasive because countless people have propagated it in so many ways, especially in sermons and devotional writings. It is appealing because Christians struggle with sin and want to be victorious in that struggle—now. Second-blessing theology offers a quick fix to this struggle, and its shortcut to instant victory appeals to genuine longings for holiness.
This book’s thesis is simple: Keswick theology is not biblically sound. This book tells the story of where Keswick theology comes from, explains what exactly it is, and then refutes it while building a case for a biblical alternative. No other book surveys the history and theology of second-blessing theology like this and then analyzes it from a soteriologically Reformed perspective.
Here are a few endorsements:
“This book packs an extraordinary amount of useful summary, critical analysis, and pastoral reflection into short compass. One does not have to agree with every opinion to recognize that this is a comprehensive and penetrating analysis of Keswick theology down to 1920. The book will do the most good, however, if it encourages readers in a more faithful way to pursue that holiness without which we will not see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).”
-D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
“For years popular Christian teachers have been telling us the secret key to the victorious, higher, deeper, more abundant Christian life. We’ve been told just to “let go and let God.” If you’ve heard that teaching, you’ll want to read this book—the definitive history and critique of second-blessing theology. You’ll learn not only where this theology went wrong, but will also discover afresh the well-worn old paths of biblical faithfulness and holiness. Andy Naselli is an extraordinarily careful scholar who leaves no stone unturned, but also a compassionate guide who longs to help and serve the church of Jesus Christ. Readers of this work will be instructed and encouraged in their Christian walk.”
-Justin Taylor, Vice-President of Editorial; Managing Editor at Crossway Publishing
“Forty years ago, as a brand new Christian, I devoured Keswick theology, which had great appeal to me as a vibrant and dynamic faith. I wrote “Let go and let God” inside my Bible. But the more I studied Scripture and looked at my own life, the more I saw that much of this theology didn’t ring true. As a former insider, I found Andy Naselli’s critique to be fair, accurate, theologically sound, and biblically persuasive. Andy’s book offers the bonus of serving as an insightful study of the doctrine of sanctification. I highly recommend it.”
-Randy Alcorn, Founder and Director of Eternal Perspective Ministries
“Andy Naselli’s thorough description and careful analysis of Keswick theology makes a major contribution to contemporary evangelical theology and to the Christian doctrine of sanctification, more broadly. Like many others, I was early influenced by Keswick theology through books and teachers in the Keswick tradition. While I came to appreciate their stress on Christ’s ability, by His Spirit, to enable faithful Christian living, their “let go, let God” methodology is both unbiblical and deeply misleading as a means of sanctification. I wish that Naselli’s excellent study had been available when I struggled with these issues. And so now, I gladly commend this book to all sincere Christians who can both learn from the excesses of the Keswick model while also coming to see more clearly and rightly the Bible’s pathway of progressive growth in sanctification.”
-Bruce A. Ware, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Holiness movements are part and parcel of the church in every age. In their emphasis on the need for Christianity to make a difference, they represent an important biblical emphasis; but in their detachment from a biblical anthropology, they often tend inevitably towards legalism, lack of assurance, and, worst of all, self-righteousness. In this work, Andy Naselli subjects one of the most influential of modern holiness movements to vigorous, but fair-minded, analysis. In so doing, he makes an important contribution not just to church history but also for all those who seek to address the relevant issues in an informed and thoughtful manner.”
-Carl Trueman, Academic Dean, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Professor of Historical Theology and Church History, Westminster Theological Seminary
To read all twenty-one endorsements along with the foreword by Thomas R. Schreiner, see this PDF.
And here’s a helpful interview of Andy Naselli conducted by Kevin DeYoung.
Thanks, Dr. Naselli, for completing such an important book.
Update: I interviewed Andy Naselli about this book.
“Spiritual But Not Religious”
CNN takes a “pros and cons” look at the “spiritual but not religious” trend and some of the sociological factors that might be driving it.
Price will come to about $8.75/copy (including shipping). Please allow 7-10 days for delivery. (Sales tax has been added for CA purchases, per CA law.)



