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Defence of the truth

Contending for the faith yesterday and today

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DEFENCE OF THE TRUTH
Contending for the Faith yesterday and today
By Michael Haykin
Evangelical Press. 160 pages. £7.95
ISBN 0 85234 554 2

My experience is that as evangelicals we tend to be good at our history of the Reformation and Revival periods of the church, but are not so at home with the early church fathers.

Michael Haykin is Principal of Toronto Baptist Seminary and in this book takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Letter to Diognetus, Irenaeus, the millennium in the thinking of the Greek fathers, Athanasius (‘the black dwarf’), Augustine’s City of God, Patrick’s defence of mission and outreach. The chapters usually focus on one particular incident where the truth of Scripture had to be defended. The exception is the chapter on Athanasius, where we move over quite a large period of time and on to the battle for the truth of the deity of the Holy Spirit as well as that for the deity of Christ. However, the writer wisely does not try to say everything that could be said and judiciously picks his points.

We live in an increasingly pluralist situation, where contending for the central tenets of the Christian faith is becoming increasingly necessary but also increasingly difficult, even within the church. This book is written in an easy, interesting style and will help Christians to see that they stand in good company as they try to contend for the faith today.

John Benton