Godly Conversation: Rediscovering the Puritan Practice of Conference, by Joanne J. Jung

Paperback, 224 pages
Page size: 5.5 x 8.5
ISBN 978-1-60178-133-8
Retail price: $25.00
RHB price: $19.00
Pre-order here 

Endorsements:

“With one eye constantly on the needs of the contemporary church, practical theologian Joanne Jung has recovered an important aspect of Christian community from old and neglected Puritan sources. This stimulating and important study examines the gathering of the saints in informal settings, or ‘conferences,’ where Scripture and sermons were discussed and ‘ingested’ to nurture the spiritual life. The cumulative effect of Jung’s research is to put the topic of conference at the top of the list of important Puritan disciplines, thereby redressing the popular misconception that Puritans were individualists. The book offers us a detailed taxonomy of the types of Puritan conference, and it expounds for the first time the important role that women played in fostering the practice. The study is based on extensive original research in primary sources, and the author’s infectious passion for the church and its history clearly demonstrates that the ‘old’ can illumine the ‘new’ and inform and guide the church today.” —James E. Bradley, Geoffrey W. Bromiley Professor of Church History, Fuller Theological Seminary

“There is a strong resurgence of interest in the history of Christian spiritual practices, yet too few are familiar with the important contributions made by the Puritans. In this book, Joanne J. Jung provides a wonderful addition to the literature by exploring the Puritan practice of conference, a vital and varied aspect of Puritan spirituality that is not widely enough known. Not only does this study offer historical insight, it also suggests the contemporary relevance of conference for believers today.” —Kelly M. Kapic, Professor of Theological Studies, Covenant College

“Dr. Joanne Jung has done a great service to the church by bringing back to our attention the long-forgotten Puritan spiritual practice of ‘conference’ in all its various forms. Not content merely to explore this practice on an academic level (although her thorough exploration of Puritan materials would be reason enough for this book), Dr. Jung takes the next step and shows how this discipline connects with the contemporary church as an antidote to the now moribund small group movement. Godly Conversation: Rediscovering the Puritan Practice of Conference is a welcome and valuable addition to the now growing literature on spiritual formation.” —Richard Peace, Robert Boyd Munger Professor of Evangelism & Spiritual Formation, Fuller Theological Seminary

“In her thoroughly researched and beautifully written book, Professor Jung has provided her readers with an abundance of practical wisdom and profound spiritual insight. For those who hunger for authentic relationships and godly spiritual guidance, praying fervently for God’s renewing touch on their lives and in their communities, Godly Conversation: Rediscovering the Puritan Practice of Conference  provides instruction, inspiration, and hope.” —Garth Rosell, Professor of Church History, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Table of Contents:
Foreword, by J. I. Packer
1. In Search of Piety’s Forgotten Discipline
2. A Royal Conflict over Prophesyings and the Origins of Puritan Conference
3. Scripture for Puritan Eyes: The Word Read
4. Scripture for Puritan Ears: The Word Heard
5. Holy Conference: “A Kind of Paradise”
6. Holy Conference: Categorized and Exercised
7. Puritan Conference for the Contemporary Church

About the Author: Joanne J. Jung is Assistant Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University.

Puritan studies have increased tremendously over the past few decades. As more and more people take interest in the puritans, helpful resources are needed to make the literature more accessible. The Historical Dictionary of the Puritans is one such helpful resource, providing terms, names, places, and events associated with the Puritans. It also includes a valuable chronology, listing some of the more important events during the Puritan era, as well as an extensive bibliography for deeper study.

Makers of the Puritans

Are our civil and religious freedoms under threat? According to some social commentators we are living in very uncertain times in which the freedoms we have long enjoyed are coming under increasing pressure. The liberty we take so much for granted may not be as secure as we think.

When this book was first published there was little or no sign of such danger on the horizon. In 1960 the church may have taken her religious freedom for granted and perhaps had forgotten the price paid by those who had ‘fought for freedom of truth and conscience, freedom for life and worship, freedom both as citizens and Christians’. Today in the West the prospect facing the church may well be one of suffering for the sake of the gospel and of sharing the common experience of our fellow Christians in many other parts of the world.

This prospect makes the story of the four men told in this book all the more fascinating and relevant. In the seventeenth-century two Scottish Covenanters, Alexander Henderson and Samuel Rutherford, and two English Puritans, John Bunyan and Richard Baxter, were at the forefront in the struggle for liberty of conscience and freedom of worship. The story of their suffering and triumph, vividly told by a skilled biographer, enables the reader to visualize clearly both the problems which faced the church during that turbulent period of her history and the principles upon which our spiritual forefathers courageously took their stand. Of course, it would not be hard to point out their limitations and imperfections, their mistakes and failures; but they were fired by an inner nobility of motive and ideal which lifts them above petty criticism and gives them a lasting title to be known as men who were like Bunyan’s pilgrim, Valient-for-Truth.

Meet the Puritans

This encyclopedic resource provides biographical sketches of all the major Puritans as well as bibliographic summaries of their writings and work. Meet the Puritans is an important addition to the library of the layman, pastor, student and scholar.

The English Puritans

The Puritan era was extremely important in the formation of the English constitution and its affect upon the church. It gave us tradition of pastoral theology unsurpassed in the history of the English-speaking world.

Today, a significant proportion of the church has decided that its ministry today should be carried out pragmatically rather than theologically. ‘what works’ is more important than ‘what is more biblical’. If we want to be effective in the 21st century then we need to sit at the feet of the Puritans.

The Genius of Puritanism

What can account for the revival of interest in the Puritans today? Perhaps it is that they were strongest where the church today is weakest. As Lewis observes, the Puritans employed themselves in the “great business of godliness,” so as to bring a God-exalting and gospel-saturated approach to all things. They were indeed “physicians of the soul” who were strongly characterized by personal piety, sound doctrine, and the pursuit of a well–ordered church life.

For more titles on and about the Puritans see here at RHB.

Danny says,

“The purpose of this website is to promote the seventeenth century English Puritans. We intend to do this by means of original research, theological and devotional commentary upon the writings of the Puritans, reviews of books about the Puritans, recommendations of books about the Puritans, and by providing Recommended Reading of helpful materials in your study of the Puritans.”

Books by Daniel Hyde:

Jesus Loves the Little Children: Why We Baptize Children

While a Reformed understanding of God’s sovereignty is becoming more acceptable among evangelicals, many people still struggle to accept infant baptism as legitimate practice of the church. Much of this resistance is due to a misunderstanding of the Reformed position, as well as a different perspective on the biblical views of God’s covenantal relations with families. In this book, Daniel R. Hyde provides a helpful assessment of infant baptism, arguing cogently for its validity while remaining sympathetic to skeptical readers.

With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession

The Belgic Confession contains doctrine that is worth dying for, as its author and many adherents learned all too well. Opponents of the Belgic Confession have put its adherents to death because, through this powerful document, the church speaks its prophetic biblical message to the world in which it exists. Yet because this confession of faith has been neglected far too long in the Reformed churches, author Daniel Hyde offers a necessary, fresh exposition and application of its doctrine in the twenty-first century, with the hope of setting the Reformed churches on fire for their historic Christian, Protestant, and Reformed faith in the midst of a cold and lifeless world.

In Living Color: Images of Christ and the Means of Grace

While man has universally and perpetually desired the visual in his relationship with God, God has given His people the Word and sacraments as manifestations of His presence until Christ comes again, visibly and corporeally—in living color. This is the classic Reformed exegesis of Scripture as expressed in its confessions. Forward by Joel R. Beeke.

God with Us: Knowing the Mystery of Who Jesus Is

JESUS. The name means so many things to so many people. This book has as its aim to know Jesus. In order to know Him experientially and personally we must know what the Bible says about Him. To come to this knowledge we must delve into the holy mysteries of the Word of God and the historic Christian faith. Whether you are a skeptic, an agnostic, an inquirer, or a convinced Christian, this book is meant to cause you to consider the mysteries that Jesus claimed of Himself that you too might join the cloud of witnesses that no man can number, confessing the name of Jesus—“God with us.”

This is a magnificent two-volume set, calculated to stir the soul and to find a place of honour and affection in every Christian who loves to read the thrilling history of the Scottish church! – Sinclair B. Ferguson

The 17th century was a dynamic period in Scottish church history, and yet many of its rich records lay hidden in privately owned manuscripts for two hundred years. It was only with the evangelical awakening of the 1840s that close attention was given to their publication, and a Society, formed for that purpose in Edinburgh, took the name of the historian, Robert Wodrow (1679-1734). On the 26 volumes thus published subsequent authors have depended heavily, and particularly so with respect to the two volumes originally entitled Select Biographies. In an era when Puritan literature is again being rediscovered their reprint is timely, providing as it does the opportunity to go back to first-hand sources. Here, for the most part, men and women live in their own words, or in the witness of their contemporaries. The 19th-century editor, William Tweedie, himself an evangelical leader, thought it worthwhile to be the editor of this rare material, and all who have possessed them endorse his judgment.

Of the two volumes packed with biography, the first tells the story of John Welsh, Patrick Simson, and John Livingstone, men ‘who acted a prominent part in their eventful times but whose histories were not so generally known’. The son-in-law of John Knox and minister of Ayr, Welsh was one of ‘the most remarkable men of his time . . . for his learning, piety, and zeal.’ Simson was minister at Stirling and, although less well known than Welsh, was of a similar noble character. It was said of him that few were able to surpass him in learning, judicious counsel, and boldness in opposing error. Livingstone, perhaps the most powerful preacher in Scotland during the mid-seventeenth century, was instrumental in a revival at the Kirk of Shotts, before going on to minister in Killinchy (Ireland), Stranraer, and Ancrum. He played a notable part in the tumultuous events of those years, including the negotiations that led to the return of the exiled King Charles II. Letters, sermons, and some other rare material supplement the biographies of these men.

Also included in this first volume are: the Last and Heavenly Speeches of John, Viscount Kenmure (attributed to Samuel Rutherford), the Memoirs of Walter Pringle, and the Soliloquies of Mrs Janet Hamilton of Earlstoun. All give insight into, not only the manners and spirit of the age, but also the faith, love, zeal, and sufferings of men and women whose lives speak to us of apostolic Christianity. They devoted themselves to the Word of God and prayer. They enjoyed real communion with Christ. They knew the Holy Spirit and believed in his power to change both lives and nations.

The second volume of Scottish Puritans – Select Biographies contains the lives of David Dickson, William Guthrie, and James Fraser of Brea. Dickson, ‘a star of the first magnitude’ among the eminent ministers of Scotland, laboured In Irvine with extraordinary fruitfulness for twenty-three years, before suffering ejection and exile under the episcopal policies of King James I. A leader of remarkable tact and learning, he was appointed Professor of Divinity at Glasgow and later at Edinburgh. Some of his works, including commentaries on the Psalms, Matthew, and Hebrews, as well as the first sympathetic and full commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith, are still available today. Guthrie, the minister of Fenwick, was widely regarded as ‘the greatest practical preacher in Scotland’. The author of The Christian’s Great Interest, John Owen reckoned him to be ‘one of the greatest divines that ever wrote’, and providing more theology in his small book than Owen had in several folios! Admired by many of his contemporaries, he acted a prominent part and exercised an extensive influence in his own day. Fraser of Brea, a gentleman by birth, was ‘one of the ablest men in a time of able men’. Ordained to the ministry in times of severe persecution, he was eventually arrested and imprisoned on the notorious Bass Rock. He is chiefly remembered for his memoirs, of which Alexander Whyte wrote, Fraser ‘will live in that remarkable book as long as a scholarly religion, and an evangelical religion, and a spiritual religion, and a profoundly experimental religion lives in his native land . . . it has few if any equals.’ Alongside the records of these three leaders are to be found the stories of lesser-known Christians: men such as John Nisbet, the covenanting soldier and martyr, and John Stevenson, the land-labourer of Carrick, whose experiences of the Lord’s grace amidst terrible suffering were so very remarkable. The volume concludes with short pieces about three women, Mrs Goodal, Lady Coltness, and Lady Anne Elcho, whose testimonies to God’s grace show us how Christian women lived in days often dark and difficult.

In these records we find a whole gallery of men and women whose lives and deaths speak to us of apostolic Christianity. Although not to be used as models in all things, the Scottish Puritans and Covenanters still exemplify the same kind of spiritual and missionary zeal that has ever been associated with the advance of the kingdom of God. Their lives were centred on the Word of God and prayer and they enjoyed real communion with Christ. They knew the Holy Spirit and believed in his power to change lives and nations. What Spurgeon once said of David Dickson’s Explanation of the Psalms we say of Scottish Puritans – Select Biographies, ‘We commend it with much fervour.’ — Iain H. Murray

Author: By Peter Lewis, Foreword by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Price: $14.00   $11.00

Publisher: Soli Deo Gorlia, A Division of Reformation Heritage Books

Cover Type: Paperback

Pages: 144

Description: What can account for the revival of interest in the Puritans today? Perhaps it is that they were strongest where the church today is weakest. as Lewis observes, the Puritans employed themselves in the “great business of godliness,” so as to bring a God-exalting and gospel-saturated approach to all things. They were indeed “physicians of the soul” who were strongly characterized by personal piety, sound doctrine, and the pursuit of a well-ordered church life.

Endorsements: “Lewis provides an excellent foretaste of the rich meal that readers of the works of the Puritans can enjoy. his arrangement of the matter—the brief biographical touches, the judicious selections threaded into a continuing theme, etc.—is brilliant.” —D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“This is an excellent introduction to the Puritans, their writings, and their pastoral work. it examines their role as pastors, counselors, and theologians, as well as private people. The detailed section on spiritual depression is especially helpful.” —Joel R. Beeke

Pre-Order: by calling (616) 977-0599

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