I read my first John Piper book when I was 13. It was Desiring God.
All I remember is being blown away. It was the first theology book I had ever read, and the way that Dr. Piper wrote was so deeply affecting and arresting that I felt my heart moved in a way no author had moved it before. Since then, I have loved Dr. Piper's books and ministry greatly.
That's why I was pretty excited about his brand-new release, A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness. Piper wants readers (all readers, especially non-scholars) to be able to trust Scripture as true. His central claim is that God's glory as revealed in Scripture is self-authenticating. And this glory is essentially "peculiar" because it is God's majesty displayed through His meekness.
From the outset, he makes his task for the book clear:
"(T)he task I have set myself in this book is to answer the question: What warrant—what good foundation—in the Christian Scriptures provides a well-grounded trust? What basis of belief in the Scriptures as the word of God will, in fact, honor God?'" (p. 15)
I believe he answered those questions well, pointing to the fact that the Scriptures themselves give us confidence as they display God's glory.
A Peculiar Glory is divided into five parts. Part 1 is Piper's own story of encountering the truth of Scripture. Part 2 answers the question, "What Books and Words Make Up the Christian Scriptures?" Part 3 answers: "What Do the Christian Scriptures Claim for Themselves?" The fourth part asks: "How Can We Know the Christian Scriptures Are True?" And part 5 ends with: "How Are the Christian Scriptures Confirmed by the Peculiar Glory of God?"
In an age where more and more people are approaching the Bible with skepticism and distrust, Piper's book is a helpful addition to the conversation. He's vocal about wanting this book to be especially helpful for the ordinary, unofficially trained Christian who wants to know the Scriptures are true but doesn't have the time or inclination to dig into historical and scholarly research about the topic.
He does that pretty well, I believe. I wouldn't give this book to a brand-new Christian, though. The last two parts in particular were more technical with a lot of terminology that would confuse Christians new to the subject. I'm not sure I would give this book to a skeptic or unbeliever either. It would be most appropriate for Christians who have some background in biblical knowledge.
Still, Piper is brilliant in this book. One thing I love about his writing is that he unfailingly makes God more beautiful to me. I never come away from a Piper book thinking, "John Piper is so amazing." It's always, "I've just seen God in a more glorious way than I saw Him before." Usually, I'm not even thinking about John Piper's power or skill at all — I'm thinking about the God Piper loves so much. As a Christian writer, that's something I want to learn to do better.
There are lots of winsome quotes in here. The Gospel Coalition did a post with 10 great quotes from A Peculiar Glory. You might enjoy reading it to get a taste of the book.
I would happily recommend this book to you. There was a lot I loved about it — Piper's writing style, the way he wrote about how we got the canon of Scripture, Chapter 9: What It Is Like to See the Glory of God, and how well the book flowed and each chapter connected the dots to see the big picture. Picking up a copy would do you good.
You can buy A Peculiar Glory here or you can download it for free from desiringGod here.
*I received this book from Crossway as part of their Beyond the Page review system. I was not required to give a positive review.