Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Guess What I Got!

Being a good ol' Reformed Southern Baptist, it was only fitting and proper that I should very much want to own James Petigru Boyce's Abstract of Systematic Theology. This thing is extremely hard to find. From my searching on the internet, it even seems impossible to find. I can find it listed at stores, such as the Discerning Reader, but it is out of print and therefore there are no actual copies for sale. There are a couple of copies at the book room of my church, but I never have that kind of loose money hanging around me...I'm a debit card kind of guy and very rarely have cash or a checkbook on my person. But it turns out my dad has a copy. It was his systematic theology textbook when he went to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the seventies. And he was kind enough to let me have it, and I got it in the mail today! Hooray! Now, this is all very fine and good but isn't really blog-material. I mean, who cares, right? But here's the neat part. This copy of my dad's (now mine) has a publisher's preface thingy in it that was written by the fellows who got this book re-published. One of those fellows only happens to be the founder of my church! My church is Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, TX, and the fellow in question is Dr. Fred Malone, currently a pastor at First Baptist Church in Clinton, LA. Isn't Providence neat? Incidentally, the other preface author was Ernie Reisinger, who just recently passed away. But yeah, I just thought the whole "it's a small world that goes round" idea was neat. The guy who was indirectly instrumental in my dad's theological education (by helping to republish a long forgotten textbook) is also indirectly instrumental in my theological education (by founding the church I attend). Let's all give Dr. Malone a big thanks by buying his excellent book The Baptism of Disciples Alone. Of course, all glory goes to God alone. Soli Deo gloria!

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