A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Ryan M. McGraw
Telling the Bible’s story of God and the world can take a lot of space. Explaining what this story means by arranging its parts into logical segments by systematizing and condensing Scripture’s message as a whole does so too. Yet any writer or minister seeking to add a full range of applications from the system of doctrine will realize quickly that doing so can allow the size of books to get rapidly out of hand. Beeke and Smalley’s massive four-volume Reformed Systematic Theology is a remarkable achievement, interweaving biblical, historical, and practical theology systematically, but accessible to the average reader. However, though these volumes are easy reading, they are long reading, making this single-volume condensed version a welcome companion to the original set. In this work, the authors impressively abridge their larger project into ninety-five chapters in seven parts. Rather than re-evaluate content that I have treated elsewhere, this review assesses the abridgement itself, and takes stock of the series in a brief retrospect.
As far as the quality of the present volume, it reads like a digest or greatest hits of the authors’ larger treatments of topics. This carries advantages and disadvantages with it. As for advantages, the authors get to their points quickly, summarizing core ideas in a much more manageable thousand or so pages instead of nearly five-thousand. Moreover, a content summary precedes every chapter as a handy reference and entry point into their subject matter. The glossary at the end of the book and the chart linking chapters in this text to larger treatments in the preceding volumes add to the value of this single-volume version of RST. Respecting disadvantages, due to the brevity of topics treated, the text loses some of its persuasive force, reducing arguments to statements and short paragraphs requiring elaboration to be compelling. The authors still include large amounts of biblical and historical material, though they lose a good bit of the compelling depth of biblical and historical reasoning that made the original books so valuable. Particularly, historical quotations included here often do not add much substance to Beeke and Smalley’s assertions, beyond the inherent value of exposing readers to a rich array of classic Christian literature. It almost feels like they quote for the sake of quoting rather than for persuading. Other single-volume systematic theologies furnish readers with a substantive theological diet. While remaining solid and nourishing, this single-volume work tastes more like an appetizer not designed to stand on its own.
In reviews of the authors’ larger project, this reviewer noted that, in his view, these books represented one of the finest modern treatments of Reformed systematic theology. What this means is that readers will find standard confessional Reformed theology here, without pushing the envelope with innovative or creative material, yet remaining robustly exegetical, deeply conversant with historical theology, and, especially, digging deep into theology’s personal and practical implications. Essentials of Reformed Systematic Theology, though less robust and persuasive than its predecessor, is a good reference tool that reads well in its own right. This will not likely be the only systematic theology that readers will need, but no single book can offer everything in this respect. What the book offers best is the same depth of devotion that readers have come to expect from Beeke and Smalley, which is what is often the main missing ingredient from comparable texts. Read this summary as a reliable guide to the theology of Scripture, but, more pointedly, as an introductory exercise in training your mind and heart to think about theology devotionally and doxologically.
Ryan McGraw
Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary