From the Editor. Fundamental to Reformed theology is the doctrine of the covenants. It has also been one of the most debated elements of our symbolic commitment. Our confession devotes an entire chapter to the topic in six dense paragraphs. The structure of the entire Bible cannot be understood in its historical continuity and discontinuity without it. Hence, the same is true of our theology. We have two offerings this month on the biblical covenants.

OPC historian Camden Bucey considers the nature of the antithesis between believers and unbelievers by exploring its covenantal and ethical dimensions in “The Antithesis: Understanding the Divide between Believers and Unbelievers.” Dave Gordon reviews a new systematic introduction to Reformed covenant theology by Harrison Perkins. Perkins’s historical and theological acumen combined with a deep pastoral and churchly application should make this the best introduction of its kind available.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Flannery O’Connor, Danny Olinger gives us an introductory essay, “Jesus, Stab Me in the Heart! Flannery O’Connor at 100,” to be followed by monthly reviews of several of O’Connor’s most important works. Her Augustinian Catholicism made her Christianity about the intrusion of God in history through Jesus Christ. As Olinger points out,

O’Connor stated that her stories concerned “specifically Christ and the Incarnation, the fact that there has been a unique intervention in history. It is not a matter in these stories of Do Unto Others. That can be found in any ethical culture series. It is the fact of the Word made flesh.”

Shane Lems invites us to focus better this new year by reviewing Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari.

Finally, I have published three poems on the loss of two quite elderly mothers—Susan Erikson’s and mine. Often people unthinkingly, if well-intentioned, comment that she lived a full life. When a mother, or anyone who is loved and revered, dies it is a tragedy and a cause for grief. The longer the lives of our two mothers, the larger the loss we lament. Our mothers’ Christianity leaves us with the hope of reunion, but that is not yet, and now we miss them greatly and deeply. Susan has published a number of books of poetry, two on the biblical books of Revelation and Ecclesiastes, which I highly recommend.

The cover is of alpenglow on Millen Hill (3,356’) in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, west northwest of Mount Washington, and viewed from the north tower in the Mount Washington Hotel. We might imagine that its unique alpine beauty is similar to a rainbow and reminds us that God is a covenant keeper.

Happy New Year.

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

FROM THE ARCHIVES “COVENANT”
/OS/pdf/Subject_Index.pdf

• “Clarity on the Covenants.” (Gregory Edward Reynolds) 15 (2006): 22–27.
• “Covenant and Salvation.” (Richard B. Gaffin, Jr.) 18 (2009): 145–49.
• “Covenant Theology Today.” (Bryan D. Estelle) 30 (2021): 147–52.
• “Exploring Recent Covenant Theology.” (David A. Booth) 30 (2021): 115–18.

Ordained Servant exists to help encourage, inform, and equip church officers for faithful, effective, and God-glorifying ministry in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its primary audience is ministers, elders, and deacons of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as interested officers from other Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Through high-quality editorials, articles, and book reviews, we will endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic, confessional Presbyterianism.