That You May Prosper
That You May Prosper: Dominion by Covenant by Ray R. Sutton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As Doug Wilson says, when you first discover the hammer you think everything looks like a nail. This Covenant structure was seen to be the solution to all biblical debates, and I actually think it is. But Sutton has the mind of a lawyer, not the mind of a poet, so this book will give you a lot of structure and only a few glimpses of glory, a lot of law and not so much grace. The problem of the modern western church is the lack of understanding God’s law, so despite the fact that this book isn’t the whole story, this shouldn’t hurt. There are some areas where I disagreed with Sutton’s applications, but like all groundbreaking books, it’s a solid foundation that paves the way for further work. Like the church, theology is a group effort, a pooling of different gifts, and Sutton’s offering is a crucial one.
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August 10th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Sutton’s grown a lot over the years. I was just speaking to one of the deans over at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and he informs me that Sutton is planning a total overhaul and rewrite of the book.
August 10th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Sounds interesting!
August 12th, 2011 at 9:32 am
It does indeed. In Sutton’s study on baptism, he says that he sees two of the five points as sub points, making it a three-point, and therefore trinitarian, structure. I wouldn’t hold your breath; he’s a very busy Bishop in the REC and is unlikely to get it done in the next few years. All the same, the pastorate has withdrawn a lot of the legalist stuff from the first version. In fact, in his book on baptism, he gives an essentially FV reading of the covenant, which is nice. Apparently that has an older pedigree in the Anglican church than in the Presbyterian.