PRIMER:
Issue 01 – The Doctrine of Scripture
FIEC. 80 pages. £4.99
ISBN 978 1 784 980 672
The FIEC theological team deserves our thanks for this excellent first edition of its new journal, Primer. At first, I confess, I was sceptical about how useful yet another journal could prove to be, but in the end was won over by both the premise and the approach.
The premise is a resource that can be used in discussion with others, and there is an innovative design that allows the journal to actually function well for journaling and so become useful in reading and conversation with others.
Contemporary debate
The approach is helpful too. This first edition tackles the doctrine of Scripture and does so by mapping contemporary debate, mining church history, reflecting on Scripture itself, and then drawing concrete connections between the theology of the Bible and the preaching and use of the Bible in ministry. Connections between academy and church are rather in vogue as an idea, but lived examples remain rare and Primer is one of the endangered species.
Readers of this edition will find a trustworthy guide to some of the current arguments about the Bible, and will benefit from John Stevens’s review of a significant recent book about inerrancy (Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy, ed. James Merrick and Stephen Garrett). Warfield’s classic essay from 1915 on inspiration is reprinted in part here and speaks so clearly to modern hang-ups with our ancient Scripture.
Not lightweight
Although the journal intends to be a digest of the lie of the land and some of the best current thinking about the topic, it is not a lightweight publication and contains enough meat to push a thoughtful reading group to new levels or to feed a busy pastor with some fresh thinking.
The next edition, on The Doctrine of Sin, is slated to be on sale in Spring 2016 and further information is available from PrimerHQ.com
