Douglas Wilson (1) (1953–)

A Primer on Worship and Reformation runs only 72 pages. The author, Douglas Wilson, proposes that true change begins, not with a process or an idea, but through faithful worship. Wilson confronts problems such as cheesy and threadbare worship and pietistic individualism. He believes that the contemporary Church is in pathetic condition – not because we lack the right techniques, but because we have sinned our ways into this condition. When Wilson says that we need to repent, show more “specifically of our man-centered gospel and our man-centered response to that gospel,” I add a hearty amen. Wilson is a gadfly. May his tribe increase. show less

Last year, Sam Harris made headlines and topped bestseller lists with his "angry and honest" Letter to a Christian Nation. At its heart, this little book was an atheist complaint against Christians: Harris pointed an accusing finger at the church, telling Christians that they weren't as nice as they thought they were and warning fellow agnostics that the Christians were out to get them. Prominent intellectuals and anti-Christians were quick to praise this little book; as one Harvard show more professor wrote, "Reading Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation was like sitting ring side, cheering the champion, yelling 'Yes!' at every jab." In response, Douglas Wilson has written his own little book: Letter From a Christian Citizen. As Gary DeMar writes in the foreword, "Douglas Wilson has taken the operating assumptions of Sam Harris seriously and has shown what life would be like if the world were consistent with atheistic assumptions." Walking through Harris' claims step-by-step, Wilson dismantles his arguments and demonstrates that honesty lies on the side of the Christians, not the atheists. show less

May it not be said of us that the millennium is a thousand years of peace that Christians love to fight about." - Douglas Wilson

This remarkably readable commentary by Douglas Wilson is excellent. Without being overly technical, Wilson goes through each verse throughout the entire book of Revelation, summarizes the passage’s meaning and ties it into a big picture of his partial preterist postmillennial view of Revelation.

Even if you’re unfamiliar with Revelation and postmillenialism I show more think you could digest this book as Wilson writes as a teacher, condensing in-depth information into bite-size pieces for those who can’t swallow the whole. I found myself slapping my forehead several times like “Wow! Why did I never think of it that way?”

Wilson’s wit shows itself in a few areas, but not as much as in his other books. One portion of the book cracked me up, when Wilson insisted that “soon” really meant “soon” for the Apostle John. A common critique you might hear from a skeptic is that it seems several biblical persons thought certain prophecies would occur in their lifetime or shortly thereafter. Wilson argues that instead of taking a dispensational view (still waiting for the rapture), the prophecies were indeed fulfilled at the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. Instead of assuming a former American president was the false prophet or the mark of the beast or whatever else, it is better to view it as Nero, if we are to assign it to a person rather than something more abstract. (Partial preterists differ here.)

I read this book while reading Revelation and I found it to be a helpful tool. The clear and easily accessible writing is a good contrast towards a mysterious and often debated about book and topic. show less

If you're inclined to accept his premises--that the Bible is literally true (or at least the parts he wants to invoke that way--and that Christianity is the only way to be moral, then much of what he says does reasonably follow. He loses serious credibility by his condescending tone and arrogant self-importance, but the author does seem to be moderately educated. Still, he has not a smidge of awareness or empathy for what it means to be gay; for him its something chosen because of moral show more weakness. He longs for the time when gays stayed in the closet and married someone of the opposite sex, no matter how miserable it made everyone. Same0sex marriage, he believes, will lead to everyone being gay (literally), and the end of civilization (again, literally).

Favors a theocratic solution in which evangelical Protestant Christianity (he's blatantly anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon) should be formally adopted by the government, which will then enforce a return to fundamentalist values. show less