The Great Divide by Jordan Cooper: A Review

I was recently fortunate enough to receive a review copy from Wipf and Stock publishers of Pr. Jordan Cooper's book titled The Great Divide: A Lutheran Evaluation of Reformed Theology.

The Great Divide

From the outset, the reader here should know that I have traveled a very similar path as Pr. Cooper. I likewise once was a Reformed Calvinist and now am a Confessional Lutheran. That being said, this book by Pr. Cooper fills a big void in a topic that I have found many Lutherans are not very aware of. That is, the differences between Reformed Theology and Lutheran Theology and how Lutheranism in general views specific Reformed doctrines on which we both agree as well as differ.

If the reader is looking for a treatise that covers every single nuance in Reformed Theology, they will be disappointed. Yet that is not the author's intent of this book. In my estimation, this book is aimed directly at educated armchair theologians who are laymen like myself. And in that regard, Pr. Cooper's book shines brightly.

The first great positive of Pr. Cooper's book is that, as a former Calvinist, he understands Reformed Theology very clearly. A great strength of the book is that Pr. Cooper deals fairly with basic Reformed doctrine. He does not misrepresent Calvinist Theology as many attempts in the past have been wont to do. He clearly grasps Reformed doctrines such as double predestination, limited atonement, and perseverance. As best as possible for the short and concise treatment that Pr. Cooper levies, he accurately and fairly lays out the doctrines of Reformed Theology. He does this mainly by directly quoting Reformed Confessions of faith (mainly the Westminster Confession) and numerous Reformed authors with whom the reader will most likely be familiar, such as James White (Reformed Baptist) and R.C. Sproul (Presbyterian). Pr. Cooper also quotes and references numerous less known Reformed authors from times past, although not as much as the modern more popular ones. This I view to be a strength of the book, as the majority of the readers will be much more familiar with R.C. Sproul than they are with Charles Hodge, for instance.

After laying out the Reformed doctrines that Pr. Cooper is evaluating, he lays out the Lutheran doctrines of the same topic. He does this as well by extensive quotations from the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as well as numerous Lutheran theologians. The reader is left with a pure treatment of both camps' doctrines on numerous core theological topics, coming straight from sources that are proponents of each view.

The treatment of what each theology teaches takes up the bulk of each chapter. After treating both sides of the coin, Pr. Cooper goes into some detail as to why Lutheranism does not agree (and in some cases, has some agreement) with the Reformed doctrines. He does this through pointing to different Lutheran theologians and their rebuttals as well as some exegesis of Scripture. However, Pr. Cooper does not bog us down in long, drawn out exegesis of the original languages to the point that will lose the lay reader. He keeps it simple and understandable. Certainly, this may detract from the book for the scholar, but for me, it was a huge addition.

Finally, Pr. Cooper concludes each chapter as to why we should privilege the Lutheran doctrine over the Reformed doctrine, based on his treatment of both doctrines in the chapter. This is of course to be expected, as Pr. Cooper is a Confessional Lutheran pastor.

It needs to also be said that Pr. Cooper's book does not cover every single nuance of Reformed Theology. There are many differing views in Reformed Theology as a whole, and the book itself is not intended to cover every single one of them. Such a book would be multiples volumes long or extremely thick. For instance, he does not cover every single baptismal theory that those who claim Reformed Theology hold to. And that is OK. This is not the scope of the book. The book deals in basics and advances to an intermediate level, clearly showing the differences between the two camps while not burying us under a mess of theological detail that many lay readers will have to research to understand.

The differences are very clear between Reformed Theology and Lutheran Theology, and Pr. Cooper, through accurate representation of the two, has made this readily apparent to the reader. For what the book intends to accomplish, it succeeds in a glowing manner, showing that the gulf between Calvinism and Lutheranism is indeed a great one.

Highly Recommended.

***I received this book as a review copy from Wipf and Stock publishers. I was in no way required to promote this title or write of it positively. The review posted contains strictly my own thoughts.