Core Christianity

Core Christianity: Finding Yourself in God’s Story, by Michael Horton. Zondervan, 2016. Paperback, 192 pages, list price $14.99.

“The purpose of [Core Christianity] is to help you understand the reason for your hope as a Christian…” (p. 14). Thus, Michael Horton’s purpose is not to introduce Christian doctrine to the uninstructed, but rather to correct and expand the understanding of Scripture of Christians who have been poorly instructed. One might then hope this book would suit the instructional goals of our congregations.

Horton presents “…the Christian faith in terms of four Ds: drama, doctrine, doxology, and discipleship.” Core Christianity’s especial strength is emphasizing the history of redemption  (Horton’s “drama”) and the believer’s place in it (especially in chapters 5-10). From God’s saving work in Christ, and its revelation in Scripture, flow doctrine, the Christian’s response in faith and worship, and a life of obedience to God’s commandments. The first four chapters lay groundwork by explaining (in order) the Incarnation, the Trinity, God, and Scripture. 

For the most part, Horton writes clearly and for a Christian audience weary of doctrinally weak evangelicalism. (I lost track of the disparaging references to “your best life now.”)  Throughout, he attempts to show how many popular Christian conceptions are in error, although not always successfully (as in his chapter on the Trinity). For someone who has not yet thought through these issues, Core Christianity is sure to be a gentle and helpful corrective.

Although he leads his readers out of the wilderness of evangelicalism, he doesn’t quite bring them into the promised land of presbyterian faith and practice. He describes Church courts (p. 78), but neglects to point out that they are found in reformed and presbyterian communions. While he teaches the necessity of Church membership (pp. 140-43), the book ends not with recommendations of faithful Churches, but an invitation to join “The Campaign for Core Christianity” by visiting a website.

That website contains Bible studies and other resources, most of which are made freely available to those who register (which, yes, I did, because I forswear no inconvenience in my commitment to producing a thorough review) and are based on this book. In substance, I couldn’t find much difference between “The Campaign for Core Christianity” and the Gospel Coalition. If the latter encourages evangelicals toward a reformedish doctrinal consensus which can be affirmed by conservative baptists and presbyterians alike, the former points them toward a reformationish consensus agreeable to the confessional traditions of Anglicanism, Lutheranism,  Reformed, and presbyterianism (as evidenced by the denominational affiliations of its Pastors Advisory Council).

In my opinion, that’s a vast improvement over the doctrinal mushiness of evangelicalism, but is still a far cry from the clarity and helpfulness of the Westminster Standards. For example, Horton begins chapter 5 with an illustration of the suffering illness brought into the world by the Fall, but then describes the effects of Adam’s transgression purely in terms of sin. He never explains, as both the Shorter and Larger Catechisms do, that “[t]he Fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery” (WSC 17, emphasis added). Sadly, this omission leaves God open to the accusation, made by a grieving parent on page 81, that he made “a messed-up world” full of the misery which causes young children to die.

Members of the OPC who are encouraging friends to more deeply explore Biblical doctrine might like to give them a copy of Core Christianity. Sessions of the OPC would better serve their members by teaching them through our Shorter Catechism.