Biblical separation: The struggle for a pure church

by Ernest D. Pickering

This book is the classic historical and biblical defense of an idea that the church cannot fellowship with those who deny the doctrines of the historic Christian faith. In print for thirty years, Biblical Separation has been updated in a new format that retains all of the material of the first edition and adds new chapters by Ernest Pickering and Myron Houghton. The first edition of this book went through twelve printings and is on the required reading list of many Christian colleges and universities. This second edition features 60 new pages of content, and includes new footnotes, bibliography, subject index, and Scripture index.

Genres: Theology, Ecclesiology, Nonfiction

259 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Chris Armer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was painful to read. It was like sitting through a lecture where you constantly wanted to raise you hand and say, "But professor...." The author meant well, but his biblical exegesis and reasoning were deeply flawed. He would state that the Bible commands separation from unbelievers and apostates (which it does), but would then subjectively define what constitutes apostasy. He doesn't explicitly state it, but his reasoning implies that those who do not hold to the same doctrines as he does is apostate and an unbeliever. So for Pickering, someone who didn't hold to a 6 day creation would be an apostate. His argumentation is also laughable. Many of his quotes used to support his separatist position are taken from Evangelicals who would not agree with his position. I wouldn't at all recommend this book. I will give it 2 stars because the first half of the book was decent. The author gave a brief history of separatist tendencies in Christian history.

[Travis Johns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pickering focuses on the historical aspect of the doctrine of separation in the first quarter of the book. The book doesn't come out of the gate as a great read. If you continue to read there is some good thought for the reason of separation biblically. He hits at the evangelical circle hard not letting up on the SBC and everyone's favorite target Billy Graham. He also takes time to look at opponents of separation and the issue that is taken with that perspective and discusses the dangers of their perspective. I would not suggest this book for someone who is an average reader or average bible student, but if you are serious about learning the perspective of biblical separation give it a glance.

[Scott Petty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I approached this book with trepidation, fearing it would be nothing but a ranting polemic. I was pleasantly surprised to find a level-headed argument for separation. The first part of the book lays a historical foundation followed by reasoned and scriptural arguments for the author's position.

I did have a bit of a problem with the format of the book. The section headings were off to the side of the page which I found disrupted the flow.

Recommended.

[Elijah Beltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The survey of church history at the beginning is interesting. He shares a narrative of church history that highlights movements that separated. But in my opinion Dr. Pickering spends too much time addressing immediate issues that are time bound and not enough time teaching timeless biblical principles, which would have made the book more useful for today. It is very much a product of its time, so anyone outside of our Fundamentalist Baptist movement would find it puzzling.

[Brian Pate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for the internship at Stanley Heights Baptist Church.

[Timothy Cronin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a theology book. The first 80% of this book is the “history of biblical separation,” which sets the premise for the “theology” which you find the final 20% portion of the book.

[Andy]

0483

[Nels Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a re-read & scheduled for my "dust off the self annually"