Review: Grace Worth Fighting For (Hyde)


This was fantastic. It is probably the Davnenant Institute’s breakthrough book. Written with both pastoral wisdom and scholarly rigor, this is a book I can recommend to almost any relatively well-read Reformed layman. It also demolishes the sort of New Calvinist pretensions that hold up John Piper and R.C. Sproul as the best representatives of Reformed theology, in an irenic albeit firm tone.

The book opens with a great historical introduction that introduces the context and major players of dort. The introduction is interesting, but can probably be skipped or at least skimmed if one does not find it helpful. The book then walks through each of the canons of Dort in order, covering the affirmations and denials on predestination, regeneration, Christ’s satisfaction, and the perseverance of the saints. In doing so, Hyde shows both how ecumenical the canons were and are—as good a summary of Reformed soteriology as there is—and just how much room they allow for differences in articulation and emphasis. The canons give space for both an Owen and a Davenant on the atonement, for example; affirming the sufficiency/efficiency distinction but allowing different ways of interpreting sufficiency.

This book is genuinely important. It is a summary of Reformed soteriological distinctives written with care, historically considerate, and easily digested by pastor and layman alike. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

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