C. S. Lewis warned us of chronological snobbery, the natural proclivity to see the newest book as inherently better. Lewis rightly saw that ancient authors often view the world differently than us. By reading their words, we may enter into the way they view the world, often revealing our blindness.
But every once in a while a book comes along that is both new and historic. It is new in that it has been produced in our time, but it is historic in that it comes from the pen of one who has long drunk from historic streams. Gentle and Lowly does not read like a book of our times, for it’s the author has viewed the landscape of Scripture from the perspective of past saints, and his view of life has been fundamentally changed by that experience. As one of my friends said of the book, “I felt like I was reading a Puritan.”
Thankfully the book is not entirely Puritan (you can fit the title of the book on the spine!); it is rather modern in its conciseness. Nevertheless, it is clear that Ortlund’s vision has been fundamentally altered by his exposure to saints like Thomas Goodwin, John Bunyan, Richard Sibbes, Jonathan Edwards, and John Owen. Having caught a glimpse of their vision, Ortlund reports back to us, showing us where our modern vision is blinded.
Later this week, I plan to post some of the significant ways that my vision has been enhanced by this book. This post is just a teaser to encourage you to grab a copy. Unfortunately, if you like physical copies, the book is sold out everywhere I have checked (Amazon, WTSbooks), but electronic editions are still available.
