The Legacy of Sovereign Joy
By John Piper
IVP. 158 pages. £9.99
ISBN 0 85111 979 4
'How do you balance your reading between modern works and the great classics of the past?' This question was put to me a few months ago and it has stayed with me as a lingering accusation. If, like me, you would have to confess that you only read contemporary authors then this book may whet your appetite for a better balance. John Piper sets out to introduce us to three great men of the past - Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther and John Calvin. His theme is that they all discovered the power of 'sovereign joy'.
Perhaps a weakness of Piper's thesis, as he himself candidly confesses, is that this emphasis is stronger in Augustine than it is in Luther or Calvin. However Piper is careful to allow each of these men to speak for themselves so we are not left with a sense that he is squeezing them into his particular scheme.
