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John Frame's Selected Shorter Writings, Volume 1
A collection of short, pointed essays from John Frame stating some of his teachings in theological method, apologetics, and the Christian life. Includes an introduction to his signature concept of perspectivalism.
- GenresTheologyNonfiction
307 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2013
12 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
John M. Frame
91 books219 followersFor his education, Frame received degrees from Princeton University (A.B.), Westminster Theological Seminary (B.D.), Yale University (A.M. and M.Phil., though he was working on a doctorate and admits his own failure to complete his dissertation), and Belhaven College (D.D.). He has served on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary and was a founding faculty member of their California campus. He currently (as of 2022) teaches Apologetics and The History of Philosophy and Christian thought at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 10, 2014
Reformed theologian John Frame's written corpus is deep and wide, the breadth and width of which one could spend many months -- nay, years -- swimming in. He is most widely known for his Theology of Lordship series as well as his recent, massive, Systematic Theology. Not only has be published a rich body of scholarship, but he also serves as a living link between the likes of many "Old Princeton" divines (e.g. Cornelius Van Til) and today's young Reformed. Many contemporary heroes -- Wayne Grudem, Vern Poythress, Kevin Vanhoozer -- first sat at the feet of John Frame where they worked out issues of epistemology, hermeneutics, and ethics.
Yet, for many pastors, lay people, and even seminary students, his work can seem daunting. Where, after all, should one go to understand Frame's category of triperspectivalism? Or his understanding of the creation mandate and the mission of the church? Why does he like three's so much? These questions can plague the beginning reader earnestly desiring to understand the man, and the message, of John Frame.
Thankfully, Frame has now published his first volume of collected essays, John Frame's Selected Shorter Writings where he hopes to catalogue many helpful papers and essays that have sat disparate from one another in exile on websites and in libraries. Each of these essays helps to illumine Frame, the man, and sharpen his theological focus. For example, the opening chapter A Primer on Perspectivalism is about as short and clear as you can get on understanding what exactly Frame means when he talks about multiperspectivalism and triperspectivalism. In another way, one is also helped to understand where exactly Frame "fits" on a theological map with his chapters on Introduction to the Reformed Faith, and Reformed and Evangelicals Together. With these chapters nestled right next to each other, you can get a clear sense that while Frame is not your average classical Reformed theologian, he's not quite your average evangelical either.
Readers will walk away from John Frame's Selected Shorter Writings with a better understanding of Frame's construal of theological method, ethics, apologetics, as well as some short bits on his personal life. With a readable style, short chapters, and a buffet of options from which to choose, this book will surely be a helpful volume for those seeking understanding on how to understand one of the greatest Reformed evangelical theologians of the 20th century.
Yet, for many pastors, lay people, and even seminary students, his work can seem daunting. Where, after all, should one go to understand Frame's category of triperspectivalism? Or his understanding of the creation mandate and the mission of the church? Why does he like three's so much? These questions can plague the beginning reader earnestly desiring to understand the man, and the message, of John Frame.
Thankfully, Frame has now published his first volume of collected essays, John Frame's Selected Shorter Writings where he hopes to catalogue many helpful papers and essays that have sat disparate from one another in exile on websites and in libraries. Each of these essays helps to illumine Frame, the man, and sharpen his theological focus. For example, the opening chapter A Primer on Perspectivalism is about as short and clear as you can get on understanding what exactly Frame means when he talks about multiperspectivalism and triperspectivalism. In another way, one is also helped to understand where exactly Frame "fits" on a theological map with his chapters on Introduction to the Reformed Faith, and Reformed and Evangelicals Together. With these chapters nestled right next to each other, you can get a clear sense that while Frame is not your average classical Reformed theologian, he's not quite your average evangelical either.
Readers will walk away from John Frame's Selected Shorter Writings with a better understanding of Frame's construal of theological method, ethics, apologetics, as well as some short bits on his personal life. With a readable style, short chapters, and a buffet of options from which to choose, this book will surely be a helpful volume for those seeking understanding on how to understand one of the greatest Reformed evangelical theologians of the 20th century.
June 23, 2014
If you have been in the reformed circles long enough, you would have surely came across the name John Frame. Frame has often been praised for his lucidness, but frankly when I first tried to read his books (AGG, SBL), I went away rather confused. So it was with trepidation and a deeper desire to be better able to appreciate this theologian that I took up the task of reading this book. And boy was I glad I that made this decision.
The book starts with an essay on (tri)Perspectivalism, a great introduction to the distinctiveness of the way John Frame approaches theology. This essay is the best short introduction to the famed tri-perspectivalism and it is apt that the book begins with this particular essay.
The first two sections spend the majority of the time dealing with the theological topics that are the forte of Frame. In it, Frame raises many basic yet important and thoughtful questions that spurs the readers to become better exegetes (see his essay on what the bible does not say, in particular) and to think more deeply and thoughtfully over theology.
Following which, the next section discusses about apologetics — another area of his forte. It is however regrettably a little too short! (only 3 essays on it). One would have wish that the second volume would hopefully have more articles on this topic. Following which, some essays on the topic of ethics and worship. These chapters, I feel were a mix bag, some were really good, (see his Family, Church and State: A Triperspectival Approach), some were just his responses to reviews, which probably helps you understand his DCL better.
Lastly, it ends off with some personal essays about the author himself, letting the readers take a sneak peek into the life of the author and a list of 100 books that have most influenced him.
Overall, I found that the chapters were not evenly spread, some were long, some were really, really short, which seems odd even for a book titled “Shorter writings”, one would have wished that John Frame could have expanded some of the shorter ones to make this volume “fuller”. Even so, the short articles were often insightful and perceptive, many a times after reading a few paragraphs, one is made to pause and ponder over what was written. And I think, one of the greatest gains from reading this book is that one would surely begin to think more “perspectivally” after reading it.
This book is surely recommended to the younger or newer audience who hopes to dip into John Frame but fear his larger and more challenging works. May this be the first stepping stone towards reading more of Frame for yourself.
Rating 4.25/5
The book starts with an essay on (tri)Perspectivalism, a great introduction to the distinctiveness of the way John Frame approaches theology. This essay is the best short introduction to the famed tri-perspectivalism and it is apt that the book begins with this particular essay.
The first two sections spend the majority of the time dealing with the theological topics that are the forte of Frame. In it, Frame raises many basic yet important and thoughtful questions that spurs the readers to become better exegetes (see his essay on what the bible does not say, in particular) and to think more deeply and thoughtfully over theology.
Following which, the next section discusses about apologetics — another area of his forte. It is however regrettably a little too short! (only 3 essays on it). One would have wish that the second volume would hopefully have more articles on this topic. Following which, some essays on the topic of ethics and worship. These chapters, I feel were a mix bag, some were really good, (see his Family, Church and State: A Triperspectival Approach), some were just his responses to reviews, which probably helps you understand his DCL better.
Lastly, it ends off with some personal essays about the author himself, letting the readers take a sneak peek into the life of the author and a list of 100 books that have most influenced him.
Overall, I found that the chapters were not evenly spread, some were long, some were really, really short, which seems odd even for a book titled “Shorter writings”, one would have wished that John Frame could have expanded some of the shorter ones to make this volume “fuller”. Even so, the short articles were often insightful and perceptive, many a times after reading a few paragraphs, one is made to pause and ponder over what was written. And I think, one of the greatest gains from reading this book is that one would surely begin to think more “perspectivally” after reading it.
This book is surely recommended to the younger or newer audience who hopes to dip into John Frame but fear his larger and more challenging works. May this be the first stepping stone towards reading more of Frame for yourself.
Rating 4.25/5
April 10, 2025
John Frame has made a massive contribution to a wide variety of theological works among many academic. This volume covers a variety of these broad topics in his shorter essays. Frame’s writings are organized into multiple sections including theology, apologetics, ethics and worship and personal life.
Pros:
- Frame covers much uncharted territory in things like “perspectivalism”, the relationship between faith and sanctification, Church, state and family, the pitfalls of evangelism, etc.
- Frame explains things in such a way that will help in
comprehensive understanding of terms in Frames writing and more.
- Readable
Cons:
- There are times you want Frame to go deeper than he does
- Chapters are unevenly spread (some going on to long and others not long enough)
Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.
Pros:
- Frame covers much uncharted territory in things like “perspectivalism”, the relationship between faith and sanctification, Church, state and family, the pitfalls of evangelism, etc.
- Frame explains things in such a way that will help in
comprehensive understanding of terms in Frames writing and more.
- Readable
Cons:
- There are times you want Frame to go deeper than he does
- Chapters are unevenly spread (some going on to long and others not long enough)
Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.
June 4, 2023
A collection of Frame's articles, essays, speeches, presentations, blog posts, and handouts. Some more interesting than others. But all enjoyable reads.
June 27, 2019
An incredible read from start to finish. "Selected Shorter Writings" of course contains "shorter" writings but it is not trivial at all. It offers condensed grace for laypersons like me. Since starting his ST, I realized that John Frame is one of my favorite authors (along with JB Peterson, JD Sarfati, David Berlinski). Seriously, just about every piece in this book is simple to read yet profound to convict. Many wonders and musings of my youth were addressed in the essays (is it serendipity that I have discovered an author that thinks like me, or resonates with my worldview? He has already blazed through the thinking path decades ahead of me!.. I am grateful for books like this because it comprises the shoulder on which I can develop my thinking further. His writing style and contents have the most refined magical articulations of his thought, such that they draw out fully persudaded concession out of me, all the while scratching away the intellectual itches. The next decade or so of my life will be spent delving into the riches of his work. As some well-known pastor said, we'd better thank the Lord for prof. John Frame.
July 6, 2014
This is a collection of various essays and articles written by John Frame over the years that hasn’t been published, with some being articles on his website and others being shared for the first time. For anyone who is a fan of Frame this is a great supplement to the many works that Frame has written over the years. Ideally those who have a little exposure to John Frame’s writings (say a book or two or some journal articles by him) will benefit the most from this book. John Frame can write very lengthy books so I appreciate the format of shorter essays in this book. In particular I found the first chapter that serves as a great introduction and summary of his perspectivalism. This essay is very important in light of how some within the Reformed camp have misunderstood his position as relativism. If some of his opponents have known about this essay it might have deterred some of the unhelpful criticisms of John Frame out there (or then again it might not).
I also found the various articles in part one of the book that focus on theological method to be a wonderful feast for the mind—in fact it’s probably the best part of the book. Specifically I enjoyed his discussion about contrast and exegesis, with his call for preachers and theologians to properly extract what exactly the Scripture is saying and then correctly noting what the contrast of the idea is; this is important when we say that the Bible prohibit or refute something and people often err in saying what the Bible is against when in actuality the Scripture didn’t prohibit or contradict it.
In part two of the book on theological meditation I appreciated his review of N.T Wright’s bibliology in which Frame showed how Wright overstretched his rhetoric when he claimed in the subtitle of a recent book that he has gone beyond the “Bible Wars” by offering another alternative. In reality Wright didn’t really offer anything new and it turns out instead that at times he is unhelpful because he isn’t clear or too ready with the cliché. At times Wright turns out to be still quite conservative in his view of the Bible despite how he rags on conservatives. Frame also did a good job of showing Wright’s complaint to move beyond the concept of infallibility is inconsistent with his job of being a Bible historian is still dedicated to defending the historicity of the Bible.
Surprisingly the shortest part of the book was the section on apologetics. Here I have to level a criticism of Frame’s review of Greg Bahnsen’s Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended. After going through carefully what Frame has to say, I thought the essay really was not a review of the book but more of a celebration and recollection of Greg Bahnsen the apologist. Frame criticized Bahnsen for being unfair to Gordon Clark, Carnell and Schaeffer but Frame doesn’t really demonstrate that Bahnsen really was unfair in his critique of these men. It was more of a comment made in passing rather than actual documentation it was so.
The last section was more personal and had several assorted pieces that reveal more of John Frame the man. If you are a big fan of Frame you would love this section and Frame is pretty funny. I recommend this work to those who want to understand more of Frame’s contribution to theology and apologetics and those who want to get every work by Frame. These two types of readers will benefit most from this book.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by P&R Publishing and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
I also found the various articles in part one of the book that focus on theological method to be a wonderful feast for the mind—in fact it’s probably the best part of the book. Specifically I enjoyed his discussion about contrast and exegesis, with his call for preachers and theologians to properly extract what exactly the Scripture is saying and then correctly noting what the contrast of the idea is; this is important when we say that the Bible prohibit or refute something and people often err in saying what the Bible is against when in actuality the Scripture didn’t prohibit or contradict it.
In part two of the book on theological meditation I appreciated his review of N.T Wright’s bibliology in which Frame showed how Wright overstretched his rhetoric when he claimed in the subtitle of a recent book that he has gone beyond the “Bible Wars” by offering another alternative. In reality Wright didn’t really offer anything new and it turns out instead that at times he is unhelpful because he isn’t clear or too ready with the cliché. At times Wright turns out to be still quite conservative in his view of the Bible despite how he rags on conservatives. Frame also did a good job of showing Wright’s complaint to move beyond the concept of infallibility is inconsistent with his job of being a Bible historian is still dedicated to defending the historicity of the Bible.
Surprisingly the shortest part of the book was the section on apologetics. Here I have to level a criticism of Frame’s review of Greg Bahnsen’s Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended. After going through carefully what Frame has to say, I thought the essay really was not a review of the book but more of a celebration and recollection of Greg Bahnsen the apologist. Frame criticized Bahnsen for being unfair to Gordon Clark, Carnell and Schaeffer but Frame doesn’t really demonstrate that Bahnsen really was unfair in his critique of these men. It was more of a comment made in passing rather than actual documentation it was so.
The last section was more personal and had several assorted pieces that reveal more of John Frame the man. If you are a big fan of Frame you would love this section and Frame is pretty funny. I recommend this work to those who want to understand more of Frame’s contribution to theology and apologetics and those who want to get every work by Frame. These two types of readers will benefit most from this book.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by P&R Publishing and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
August 31, 2015
My first real introduction to Frame's writing. I picked up the book because Frame was recommended by the author of "Can Saul Alinsky Be Saved?: Jesus Christ in the Obama and Post-Obama Era"by Richard William Bledsoe. A very interesting book.
Much of the book was "inside baseball" in the Reformed tradition and the topics did not always relate to me, (hence the three star rating). Having said that I did find many topics enjoyable and thought provoking.
Much of the book was "inside baseball" in the Reformed tradition and the topics did not always relate to me, (hence the three star rating). Having said that I did find many topics enjoyable and thought provoking.
March 21, 2015
My first real introduction to Frame's writing. Enjoyable and thought provoking. Looking forward to volume 2!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews