That’s great to hear; my knowledge is ever so humble.
I notice theology starting to go off the rails most recently around 1800 or so; I try to keep that in mind when reading. I like Matthew Henry’s (1662-1714) bible commentary for a lot of explanations, of course the work done that resulted in the King James original was of superb quality. The two can be viewed side by side at http://www.biblegateway.com by looking up a chapter then clicking on the Show resources link to the right. For some passages, the Reformation Study Bible commentary in “Show resources” seems better. I use a print copy of the King James Study Bible for the cross references it conatains. It also has other doctrinal notes and chapter introductions that give good historical overviews and a lot of good guides, but some of the doctrine is off a bit, IMHO. The original Westminster Confession can be found here http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/. One can read quick overviews of European history at http://www.wikipedia.com, bearing in mind, of course, that it’s community authored; the Reformation information there is good for a quick introduction to important junctures in history. For instance, studying Cromwell and the Glorious Revolution period is impossible without a decent understanding of Christian doctrine because it would be hard to understand the motivations of the people involved. I use this period as an example because a study of it reveals that all the gyrations they were going through were, in effect, a process of determining the balance of power between the Executive and Legislative functions of government, as well as the relationship of the Church and government. IMHO, America’s “founding fathers” would be completely familiar with all of those struggles, and their thinking could not help but be informed by events and outcomes so recent and relevant to them.
Blessings.
Pieter,
I am no scholar.
I am a aproaching 70 yr old fossle who believes I see som things which I try to give to others.
God Bless you brother.
I am trying to figure out so0me of the things I picked up from everyones posts.
I pray I am not making any grieveous mistakes, I will have to stand before God for whatever mistakes I maKE.
aND THAT IS NOT SPELLING OR OTHER TYPING ONES.
See how easy to be wrong?
See where I hit my carpel tunnel key?