God's Covenants

by Gary North

Covenantal Social Theory Is an Inescapable and Universal Concept. Central to the Bible’s great story of creation, fall, and redemption is the underlying theme of God’s covenants. Ironically, it is also one of the least understood and most neglected of Christian doctrines. In this deeply profound yet easy-to-understand primer, Dr. Gary North explains the structure and practical significance of biblical covenantalism. With his signature down-to-earth prose, he demonstrates that the modern clash of worldviews is actually a battle between rival covenants. He untangles the interpretive knots and philosophical snarls that have long bedeviled both interpreters and practitioners, providing Christians with a blueprint for fruitful engagement in this poor, fallen world. Combining careful Scriptural exposition and astute historical understanding with insightful cultural analysis, he lays the groundwork for an enduring reformation in the days and years ahead. This is one of those rare volumes that every pastor, Sunday School teacher, Bible Study leader, and Christian activist will want in their library—or better yet, on their nightstand.

154 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2023

About the author

Gary North received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. He served on the Senior Staff of the Foundation for Economic Education, in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, and was the president of the Institute for Christian Economics. Dr. North’s essays and reviews have appeared in three dozen magazines and journals, including The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The American Spectator, and others.

Reviews

[David Jamison · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, it’s important to note that I really appreciate Gary North and his work and really wanted to like this book.

But, this book is kind of a mess. He uses the 5-point covenant structure that he’s used in a lot of his other works which he got from Ray Sutton:
1. Transcendence
2. Hierarchy
3. Law
4. Sanctions
5. Inheritance

He then applies this to social theory and worldview. And I actually think this could be a really powerful approach. BUT, the arrangement of the content and the approach of this book made it practically useless. Specifically in the second half of the book he compares a biblical covenant structure against a Darwinian worldview covenantal structure, one chapter per element of the covenant wherein he contrasts the two. The confusing thing is in each chapter he goes through all 5 covenant points. For example in the chapter on creation vs evolution he states that it is the chapter exploring and contrasting first point of both the Christian covenant and the Darwinian covenant (transcendence). But then he has a point on sovereignty (transcendence), hierarchy, law, sanctions and inheritance. It seems like he’s suggesting each point also contains all the points as subpoints as well - how far down does this thing go?!

This was a confusing book to read and really didn’t offer much substance. I’ve got North’s Unconditional Surrender on its way to me right now and I trust I’ll be giving that a much higher rating.

[Bryan Kuranaga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Understanding the aspects of God's various covenants is key to understanding the world that God created. There is no neutrality when it comes to this issue. You have either God's covenant [broken down into five aspects] or Man's covenant [also broken down into five aspects]. Gary North does a wonderful job at expounding the five aspects of the covenant in the acronym: THEOS (Transcendence-Presence, Hierarchy, Ethics-Laws, Oath-Sanctions, Succession-Inheritance). He also develops a Social Theory of Covenant following the same five aspects, but with a different acronym: SALJK (Sovereignty, Authority, Law, Judgment, Kingdom). Within each aspect of the covenant, we can see five covenants (Dominion, Individual, Church, Family, Civil). Lastly, Gary North also develops a set of questions for the Covenant revolving around Economics (each question corresponds with the five aspects): 1 -- Who's in charge here?; 2 -- To whom do I report?; 3 -- What are the rules?; 4 -- What happens to me if I obey/disobey?; 5 -- Does this outfit have a future?