Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Frame's "The Doctrine of the Christian Life"

David Powlison writes about John Frame's new book, The Doctrine of the Christian Life:
I took John Frame's class on Christian ethics 30 years ago. His wisdom then fundamentally shaped my understanding. It is such a pleasure now to revisit, in print, the fruits of his continued thinking about how we are to live. Frame shows forth God's commandments as broad and deep, as sweetly adaptable to the varieties of human experience. He shows forth how the person, promises, and actions of our redeemer God are always intrinsic to our wisdom, our faith, and our love. He sets forth a vision for the Christian life that, in fact, in the details, glorifies the God of glory.
I couldn't agree more with Powlison's assessment, having also sat under Frame's classroom teaching through this material. For example, t is among the most helpful thinking I've seen on the Ten Commandments and Christ and culture.

You can see the print lectures online for free (link updated), but I would recommend buying the big book. The table of contents can be viewed here.

This is the third book in Frame's Theology of Lordship Series. The first was The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God (a very helpful exploration of covenantal epistemology), and the second was The Doctrine of God (the best book I've read on the topic [see my review in JETS here]; it also won the 2003 ECPA Gold Medallion Award in the Theology and Doctrine Category).