In 2019 Stephen had two book reviews published in the Banner of Truth magazine. They were both reviews of books dealing with the teaching of the Westminster Confession of Faith - one on the Holy Spirit and the other on the law of God. You can read them below:
Divine Rule Maintained: Anthony Burgess, covenant theology and the place of the law in Protestant Scholasticism
Stephen J. Caselli (Reformation Heritage, 2016)
Review published: November 2019
According to Luther, 'the person who can rightly divide law and gospel...is a true theologian'. This book traces the Westminster Confession's attempt to rightly divide law and gospel in the 17th Century by setting the teaching of the Confession in its historical context, drawing on a wealth of contemporary exegesis, and focussing particularly on one of the men behind this part of the Confession - Anthony Burgess. In particular, Burgess's exposition of the law in his 1646 work Vindiciae Legis is used to give us a unique window into the biblical-theological reflection that lies behind the text of the Confession.
This book is not just helpful for understanding the past however. Burgess dealt with three main controversies about the law, and Caselli points out that all three mirror contemporary debates: natural law and two kingdoms, republication and antinomianism. In fact, two of the modern writers who Caselli identifies as taking classic antinomian positions have recently had articles published on popular Reformed websites. Furthermore, the book's exegetical defence of the threefold division of the law should at least give pause to modern commentators who lazily write it off as an artificial imposition upon Scripture.
One of the threads that runs through the book is that the theology of the divines was not merely academic. Burgess was trained at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where fellowships had a limited tenure in order to 'force men into the service of the church'. He wrote against the errors of the day primarily as a pastor. Caselli's book will equip modern-day pastors in the face of the 'ignorance of the nature and design of the law' which Newton said is 'at the bottom of most religious mistakes'.
The only blemishes in this attractively produced volume are Hebrew written left to right, and the Greek of a classic book title transliterated wrongly (p. 128).
The Spirit of the Age: the nineteenth-century debate over the Holy Spirit and the Westminster Confession
J. V. Fesko (Reformation Heritage, 2017)
Review published: January 2019
While there are some who will immediately be enthused by the subtitle, others will wonder why they would want to read a book about a nineteenth century debate over Confessional revision. This might especially be the case when one realises that the changes made to the Confession as a result are no longer held by the two main Reformed denominations which emerged from the Presbyterian Church in the United States (the OPC and PCA).
However in this short book, J. V. Fesko does an excellent job of showing why the underlying issues that led to the 1903 addition of two chapters (on the Holy Spirit and the Love of God and Missions) are still relevant, and why reformed churchmen should study this debate.
In particular Fesko highlights the evolutionary view of history held by those advocating revision, the debate between biblical and systematic theology, and the influence of Hegelianism on Charles Briggs, John Williamson Nevin (popular in Reformed circles today for his view of the sacraments) and Philip Schaff (and his Creeds of Christendom). We would do well to pay heed to his warning that ‘moderns do not realise how the enlightenment has shaped contemporary opinions about what constitutes good theology’ (p. 7). By examining the philosophical commitments of the progressives, Fesko shows that there was more underlying the changes that those who initially opposed the idea of revision (such as B. B. Warfield) realised at the time.
As well as setting the debate in its nineteenth century context, Fesko also builds on the principles set out in his Theology of the Westminster Standards (Crossway, 2014) to show the historical context and solid exegesis behind the Confession’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks to research like this, it’s an exciting time to study the Westminster Standards in their historical context.