Richard Lovelace Books

For four years in the early 1980s, I taught from this book in a year-long course I taught at the University of Oregon (Eugene), the third quarter of which addressed Christian social ethics and theology of culture. What a feast it was.

Dr. Lovelace approaches the theology of renewal as a church historian, who draws wisely from many movements and thinkers, of whom Jonathan Edwards features prominently. While Reformed theologically, Lovelace appreciates the best of the Protestant traditions and accept the ongoing power of the charismatic gifts. His reflections are deeply biblical, theologically rich, and spiritually heartening. To give just one example, his discussion of justification and sanctificatin is clear and cogent. It is also foundational to any Spirit-led renewal. Twenty years after I taught this material, one of my students email to say how helpful this was in her young Christian life.

The American church desperately needs renewal and reformation. This book, though written in 1979, can help chart the way. I cannot think of any book as profound, wise, and challenging on these matters. Yes, it is high time to reread this modern classic. Thanks to InterVarsity for keeping it in print all these years.

This book was one of the first to reveal that my sanctification is part of a larger, grander scheme than my private, personal spirituality. Dynamics reaches back into Church history and outlines the spirit's work through men and events, culminating in a premise for renewal that is bigger than "I." This book is both history and spiritual journey, with a framework of theological reflection similar to the book of Acts mixed in. A book like this needs to be re-read in this generation of church-growth gurus and mega-church ideology.

This book has a riveting spell on me since I first read it a decade ago and has continued to shape the fundamental landscape of my understanding of theology and spirituality ever since. He traces his conversion from atheism to his reading of Thomas Merton's Seven Storey Mountain, that led him to a journey of spiritual inquiry, where he met Christians of different shades and backgrounds. It was however the Reformed tradition/Puritans that had the most profound impact on him and opened him up to the transforming power of the gospel.

He sees a missing link between justification and sanctification among many believers which he dubs the 'sanctification gap'. He sees how it is possible to have confessed Christ, continue a life of religiosity and remain spiritually dead. In fact, either an encounter with the grace of God without an ensuing commitment to sanctification or an exposure to the righteous demands of God's law without a concomitant experience of his grace can lead to aberrant forms of the Christian life. He offers a way forward by explicating how justification and sanctification are brought together conceptually and in practice.

Presenting his understanding from the Reformed perspective, he outlines the fundamental core of the gospel message that can truly set us on a vibrant course of growth and renewal. This includes depth conception of sin, and encounter with the life-transforming grace of God, justification as well as sanctification by faith, an experience of God's complete acceptance of us through the righteous achievements of Christ, claiming our authority through Christ's defeat over the diabolic, prayer and complete reliance on the Spirit, disenculturation (freedom from cultural binds)of our faith and theological integration.

He includes some additional musings on music, eschatology, live orthodoxy and Christian social concern, each of which is inspiring and thought provoking. I have found the book to be beautiful and succint in its expression and spiritually and theologically challenging. He has written a simpler version of this book with discussion questions more recently for the benefit of some who found this original work less accessible but I have found that it is nothing like reading and drinking in again and again Lovelace's very fine book 'Dynamics of Spiritual Renewal' in all its depth and beauty.

In Dynamics of Spiritual Life, Lovelace gives a scholarly, yet non-technical, analysis of the elements of revival (which Lovelace correctly dubs normal "spiritual life"). The book looks at scriptural principles, examines past revivals, and establishes a theologically sound model for implementing the lessons learned from the scriptures & the wisdom of the past. Drawing much upon Jonathan Edwards, Lovelace proposes that the elements of revival are: conviction of sin, deep understanding of justification, movement of the Spirit, prayer, community, missions, & social compassion.

Richard Lovelace is an under-recognized great Christian thinker. This volume is scholarly, insightful, and surprisingly devotional. The principles are applied and oft quoted by Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York. Redeemer has grown and planted about a dozen churches over the last decade. I consider this a must read for anyone who wants to understand how God works radically in normal "spiritual life."

Sometimes you want a satellite photograph of a region. You want the big picture showing only the main features. At other times you want to walk the ground yourself. Then you need the ordinance survey showing every rise and fall of the locality. George Harper's book is the ordinance survey of the religious life of Boston in the 1740s. This book is a model of meticulous scholarship. It has a clear, significant thesis. The thesis is supported by a mountain of primary data. The thesis corrects past misunderstandings. All further study of the subject will have to take his findings into account.

The thesis of this book is that there was a Great Awakening in Boston in the 1740s, that it was welcomed by the ministers who were pastors and opposed by those who were preachers, and that the pastors' congregations grew and the preachers' congregations did not.

Harper supports his conclusions with membership data from Boston's eleven congregational churches interpreted in the light of the pastoral practices of the various ministers of those churches. He finds that the ministers who followed Cotton Mather's precept and example of visiting among their people--ministers who catechized, discipled, and trained the members of their congregations--saw their churches grow as a result of the Awakening, and that those who hid in their studies all week and only emerged to read impressive sermons saw their churches stagnate or decline. He also finds that support for the Awakening does not follow doctrinal lines as so many previously assumed. The received wisdom about the Awakening was that those who were moving in a liberal direction, toward Unitarianism and moralism, did not support the Awakening, while those who upheld Trinitarianism and individual conversion welcomed it. Harper reveals that at least in the 1740s there was no incipient theological divide and that even Awakening opponents like Charles Chauncy could urgently preach the necessity of individual conversion.

Harper's is a work of micro-history, revealing the brute facts that are the foundations of all megahistories. If you want a accurate understanding of the Great Awakening, this is the place to begin.

Charles White
Professor of Christian Thought and History
Spring Arbor University

THE CAVALIER POETS is an anthology that explores the triumphalism and eroticism of professional soldiers. Herrick, Carew, Suckling, and Lovelace portray the sensibilities of patriotic officers torn between their loved ones and military service. The text itself is in big easy-to-read print with just enough explanatory material to inform without distracting. I heartily recommend this inexpensive and entertaining volume. It resurrects a neglected genre and makes it accessible to virtually any reader.

Ben Jonson was the ideal Cavalier poet and died in 1637. Robert Herrick was one of his ardent followers. This was a great era for 'carpe diem' poetry. Herrick added 'joie de vivre' to amorous songs, and some of his poetry don't sound like they were written by an Episcopal minister.

Thomas Carew was an admirer of John Donne who fathered the metaphysical form of writing poems. His society verses were popular with the nobility, prized for their petulant wit. He made an important contribution to the 17th century genre of poems about country homes, an important aspect of the Cavalier poets repertoire.

Most of John Suckling's poems were published in a posthumous volume after he committed suicide in 1642. His verse smacks of the court, being witty, decorous, sometimes naughty; all requisites for the courtier poet. Though his 'oeuvre' is comparitively small, he is an exemplary lyric poet, as well as one of the most vivid personalities of his age. They all prevaricated and exaggered, as was common at the time, but they were favorites of the court of King Charles, the essential Cavalier of them all.

Richard Lovelace spent much time in prison but he wrote lovely, lyrical poetry and uniquely philosophical views which saw him to his untimely death in poverty. His poems display the poet's subtle sense of humor and eye for natural imagery. This is a nice little volume for the student of literature.

This is how the back book-jacket describes the book, " In the mid- seventeenth century, the poets associated with the court of Charles I of England, kinown as the Cavaliers, were strongly influenced by the Cassicism of Ben Jonson. Their verse , often concerned with the vagaries of love, is characteristically charming, witty, graceful and elegant. This volume contains a rich sampling of more than 120 works by four Cavalier poets: Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling and Richard Lovelace.
The work also contains brief biographical sketches of the four poets. Among the works are such well- known often anthologized pieces as Herrick's ' Gather ye rosebuds while ye may' , Suckling's'Why so Pale and Wan Fair Lover? ' Carew's ' A Cruel Mistress' Herrick's ' Delight in Disorder', Lovelace's 'Lucasta poems'.
Enjoyable reading.

Great collection of the works of many authors in Europe. Herrick, Lovelace, and more.

I read Lovelace's "Dynamics of Spiritual Life", of which this is both a reduction and a development. The first book is very comprehensive, but slow at times. This one is more concise, but kept the essence that made the first great. Tim Keller has been influenced by Lovelace, and I can see why. Spiritual formation is a neglected principle in evangelicalism, and Lovelace frames the issue well; what is required is a deep sense of one's sin and a deep sense of the gospel of grace. He uses the same "third way" type of dialectic that Keller is famous for, and does it well. I recommend this book heartily, especially for potential leaders.

This book is divided into three main sections. The section first focuses upon the "normal Christian life," presenting an ideal to which Christians are called to attain. The second section deals with the problems of the flesh, the world and the devil. The final three chapters bring it all together in the dynamics of spiritual life. This is the practical "how to" section which looks at Christ's victory, our individual victory and our corporate renewal. This is essentially a simplified version of Lovelace's earlier work, Dynamics of Spiritual Life which included a great deal of historical background in the church's search for spiritual growth. As such, we are treated to the meat of the subject with all of the fat trimmed away.

It is not until the end of the book that we come to understand from where Lovelace is coming. As a product of Yale philosophy, he found himself as a new Christian amid a flotsam of conflicting theologies and therefore sought to build up his own system which would balance the leading of the Holy Spirit with the Word of God. Along the way, he seems to have come into contact with writings of the early Moravians and was influenced along those lines. It is here that he calls for a theological integration of theory and practice and, as such, he decries theologians as those who amuse themselves by making "generations of students jump through systematic hoops" (pg 187). This is not a call away from theological training. To the contrary, he suggests that laypersons invest in formal theological training so as to bring the church to a point where it can counter the ideas of modern culture.

Lovelace quotes Pope John Paul 2 in reminding us that we in the western world are the rich man while much of the rest of the world is Lazarus at our gate (Page 39). As such, we are called to be a blessing to the nations which, left to themselves, are pictured as rival gangs whose corporate selfishness drive them to war upon one another or, at best, to neglect one another. When the church does not take action or is even a part of the problem, "God sometimes raises up prophets among unbelievers" (page 86). Perhaps one such prophet is Zoltan Kodaly who remarks, "Capitalism is the oppression of man by his fellow man, and communism is the reverse" (page 91).

Lovelace's thesis of spiritual growth is that it is a continuous renewal with precondition and fulfilment of the primary and secondary elements (appendix 1).

Firstly, Lovelace highlighted that renewal began with an awareness of God's holiness and our sinfulness. Without these basic conditions, there will be no renewal. However Lovelace seems to use the word `renewal' and `spiritual growth' interchangeably. Compared to his earlier work in which he was clear in writing about renewal in spiritual life, in this book he was rather vague in the use of his terms. He seems to imply that spiritual growth is equivalent with renewal. While this is true to a certain extent, spiritual growth is more than renewals. Renewal is reworking the same territory repeatedly while spiritual growth should be progressive towards a definite goal.

Secondary, I agree with Lovelace made is that renewal is both individual and corporate. Too often, books on spiritual growth emphasised on the individual or inner life alone. Spiritual growth has to be done in the context of a community.

Thirdly, Lovelace gave the impression that there is a progression in renewal by his primary and secondary elements. Renewal should happen individually and corporately simultaneously. There should not be a dividing line between individual and corporate elements. And both elements should be Christo-centric, not just the primary elements.

Fourthly, authority in conflict as a primary element is an important step in renewal. This is where an individual decides who is in command of his/her life- self or God. Unfortunately Lovelace concentrated instead on spiritual warfare rather than responsible decision making.

Finally, Lovelace made a good point about the theological integration of revealed truth and cultures. Too often, our spiritual growth models are very western in its approach without being in the context of our pluralistic Asian cultures.


Appendix 1
Lovelace's thesis can be summarised as :
I. Precondition of renewal (individual)
a. Awareness God's holiness ( his justice, his love)
b. Awareness the depth of sin ( in yourself, in the world)
II. Primary Element of Renewal (individual)
a. Justification.
b. Sanctification. in Jesus
c. The Holy Spirit within.
d. Authority in conflict.
III. Secondary Elements of Renewal (corporate)
a. Mission (proclamation, social work)
b. Prayer (individual, corporate)
c. Community (micro, macro)
d. Theological integration ( revealed truth, culture)

"A safe sweet and secure present for Valentine's day or any special occasion. If you cannot read poetry aloud with conviction then share this audio version with your beloved."

I love listening to this cassette while I drive! I think the commentary is first rate, insightful and learned. I find the readers, who are generally great poets in their own right, sensitive and the readings clear and nuanced.

Every review here is correct. The readers are amazingly inept. It's hard to believe that the publisher thought this was working. Any average, passionate, good reader would have done so much better. It's very sad. I really wanted to like this work.

In this age of sight and sound, one might hope for a renewed interest in poetry read aloud. After all, your average Ipod can store all the world's great poetry. Any such prospect will quickly be extinguished if there are many productions as bad as this one. At first I thought the readers had been chosen in accordance with some manic diversity template, without the slightest concern for whether they could actually read poetry with even minimal competence. In fact, this project was not ruined by political correctness (though that would be typical these days). Instead, the readers are poets themselves. This is a perennially tempting, and invariably bad, idea. The gift of writing poetry is utterly distinct from the gift of reading it. (Perhaps this is the one arena where the deconstructionists are right: here, the "reader" is as important as the writer.) The truths, and the feelings embodied in these poems would be far better conveyed by professional actors or readers; o for a Derek Jacoby, or a Kenneth Branagh, or a Michael York, to substitute for these awful readers. Give these discs to your child in high school if you want to ensure that he or she will never, ever want to read, or hear, another poem.

I can't believe that anyone found a good word to say about this production of poetic vandalism. It's more than bad, it's criminal,and I, for one, would certainly agree that some of the readers sound as if they might have recently escaped from some institution. How bad is it? Well, I've bought more than one set, which might sound contradictory. However, the reason that one set wasn't enough is that I keep giving my cassettes away as warnings, as jokes, and just to share what must be the absolutely worst set of readings ever recorded. This, of course, means that I have to replace them, because something this bad is precious. Anyway, to be more specific, the problem is with the reading of the poems. To be fair, the best of the of the lot reach mediocrity, but the worst....well, they bring a new meaning to "apalling." Some ot the readers do try, and some of them have a vague idea of how to read poetry, but some of them, one with a Pulitizer prize for poetry! sound like they're reading the yellow pages in a language they don't understand. Do yourself a favor. Unless you delight in the perverse, or would like to have something to contribute to the Guiness Book of Records, don't buy this set.