Clive Staples Lewis once noted the problem of chronological snobbery. This is the temptation to think the lastest is greatest and that the newer is truer. With Lewis I agree that one should read old books as well as new ones. In fact, Lewis argued for reading more old books than new ones. He said that the fresh, bracing sea-breezes of the ages blow through our minds when we read writers from other eras. Lewis was not suggesting that older authors were infallible. That would be a form of reverse chronological snobbery. No, writers from other ages have their blind spots too. The benefit of reading writers from previous generations is that they have different blind spots. We can learn from them because we come from different eras with slightly different problems.
In the spirit of Jack Lewis, I want to recommend a book that I read over 12 years ago when it was first published by Inter Varsity Press. I am very happy to see that it has been printed again. What book am I referring to? It is R. K. MacGregor Wright’s No Place for Sovereignty: What’s Wrong with Free Will Theism. This is one of those books that I thought to myself as I read it, “Self, I wish you had written this!” It is an excellent critique of Open Theism and the ever changing, shape-shifting theology of Clark Pinnock. I never liked Pinnock’s problematic theology when I was an Arminian and find it even less compelling today. Wright writes with clarity and vigor. You can find the book here.
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naïve. (Romans 16:17-18)