Title: Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life
Authors: D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 0-89107-673-5
Pages: 283
Reviewer: Matthew Hoskinson
Summary of the Book
D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge are well-known Christian authors (Carson’s books | Woodbridge’s books), but Letters Along the Way is unlike any of their other works. Carson and Woodbridge both serve as research professors at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in New Testament and church history, respectively.
Unlike their academic works, Letters tells the story of a Princeton junior who comes to know Christ and begins to correspond with a seminary teacher who was a college friend of his dad. The contents of the book, then, are the forty-nine letters from the professor, Paul Woodson. (Note how the teacher’s last name combines those of the two authors.) The student, appropriately named Timothy Journeyman, previews each letter with a few paragraphs describing the situation that occasioned Dr. Woodson’s correspondence. The letters cover about thirteen years, during which Timothy graduates from college, studies abroad, finds his life’s mate, pursues seminary training, and lands in pastoral ministry. Letters Along the Way therefore is a fascinating, down-to-earth novel describing a pastoral mentoring (i.e., Paul-and-Timothy) relationship.
Overview of the Book
Because of the nature of the book, Letters does not have a logical flow from one chapter to the next. Dr. Woodson may describe marriage in one chapter, schools of apologetics in the next, and then the inerrancy of Scripture after that.
As I read through the book, I jotted down the overarching theme (or two) for each letter and then created a sort of topical index. The following list shows the breadth of issues covered. (The full index with corresponding chapter and page numbers is available as a pdf.)
| Theology | ||
| The Bible | ||
| Inerrancy | ||
| Interpretation: the role of culture | ||
| The “new hermeneutic” | ||
| Salvation | ||
| Justification, including the new perspective on Paul | ||
| “Carnal” Christians and 1 Corinthians 3 | ||
| Universalism | ||
| Contemporary Theology | ||
| Liberation theology | ||
| Christian Spirituality | ||
| Assurance of Salvation | ||
| Objective basis | ||
| Subjective basis | ||
| Following Christ | ||
| Christ’s Lordship | ||
| Loving God with the mind | ||
| Prayer | ||
| Marriage | ||
| Death | ||
| Sin | ||
| The nature of temptation | ||
| The nature of sin | ||
| Repentance | ||
| Obstacles to loving God | ||
| Doctrinal dryness & its remedies | ||
| Spiritual coldness | ||
| Distractions threatening love for God | ||
| Worldliness | ||
| Spiritual discernment | ||
| Lifestyle choices | ||
| Christian liberty | ||
| The Pastor | ||
| Preparation for Pastoral Ministry | ||
| Qualifications and work | ||
| Call to vocational ministry | ||
| Pastoral training | ||
| Seminary: evangelical vs. non-evangelical | ||
| Seminary: non-evangelical | ||
| Seminary: spiritual challenges | ||
| Pastoral Theology | ||
| Philosophy of preaching | ||
| Building a library | ||
| Relationship between pastor and congregation | ||
| Pastoral time management | ||
| Dealing with aberrant theology | ||
| The Church | ||
| The Local Church | ||
| Church discipline | ||
| Corporate worship | ||
| Over- and under-realized eschatology | ||
| Church History | ||
| Huguenots | ||
| Humanism: secular and Christian | ||
| Contemporary Evangelicalism | ||
| American evangelicalism | ||
| British evangelicalism | ||
| Christianity in France | ||
| Christian cooperation | ||
| Evangelical unity | ||
| The World | ||
| Academia | ||
| Presuppositions of contemporary academia | ||
| Academic respectability | ||
| Science | ||
| Scientific materialism | ||
| Evolution | ||
| Psychology | ||
| Apologetics | ||
| Agnosticism | ||
| Religious pluralism | ||
| Schools of apologetics | ||
| Evangelism | ||
| Global Issues | ||
| Economics | ||
| Communism | ||
| Communism, fall of | ||
| Homosexuality/AIDS | ||
| Christian responses to shifting ideologies | ||
Recommendation
As a friend of mine put it when he gave me Letters Along the Way, this is “a delightful book.” The personal format broadens the potential readership; those who might not be interested in reading works on contemporary theology or church history will learn much about both topics (and many more) by reading this book.
I think the book’s greatest shortcoming is its lack of indexes. Readers would benefit from a topical, a Scriptural, and a book/author index. I took the time to create a subject index because I want to use Letters as a resource. Perhaps the authors or editor thought that such indexes would turn readers off who would see them as too academic. Nevertheless the ability to reference the book would have been a helpful addition.
This notwithstanding, believers–especially those preparing for or serving in pastoral ministry–will find Letters Along the Way to be an enjoyable way to eavesdrop on a pastoral mentoring relationship and hear the counsel of the godly.
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Purchase the book here.
The Gospel Coalition has made a pdf of the book available for free here.
Matthew Hoskinson is the Pastor of Ministry Vision for Heritage Bible Church.
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