So you received an eReader for Christmas? (iPad, Nook, Kobo - it doesn't have to be a Kindle!) Don't think that we bookshops are the last people that want to hear about it. In fact research suggests that people who buy eBooks still tend to buy printed books too (a bibliophile after all does love books!) If you are new to eBooks and aren't sure where to start, have a read of this article that Jeremy helpfully wrote when we launched eBooks on our website earlier this year. This will give you information about eBooks in general as well as how to download them from our website.
Douglas Bond's fiction is for the 21st Century what G A Henty's was for the Victorian era. Only, Bond is directly Reformed in his underlying theology, whereas Henty went no further than good, clean morality. But both are similar in attention to detail when it comes to history, so much so that the storyline and fictional characters are not given the depth of treatment that a 'mere' novelist would do. This however turns into a virtue rather than a vice, in that it allows the history to percolate through very easily and clearly. Bond is particularly good in this book on John Knox and the Scots Reformation at weaving verbatim material from sermons and letters etc into the story. Knox shows up here (from the beatific depiction on the front cover onwards!) as a bold and fearless man. But also, contrary to legend, we learn that he was physically unimposing and pastorally tender to his beloved countrymen. Whether loved or hated, he cannot be ignored in understanding not only the Reformation in Scotland, but in England also because of his contact with Edward VI and Hugh Latimer. The influence of John Calvin on him when in exile at Geneva was marked, but he had come to deeply 'calvinistic' doctrines before that, under God's teaching, and proclaimed them.
The second book The Quest for Comfort: The Story of the Heidelberg Catechism covers the story of the connection between Olevianus, Ursinus and Federick III and their desire to see a 'simple, personal and more peaceful' outline of their doctrinal position. The book very simply describes the themes around which this catechism is based.
Each book has a section at the end designed to give parents further information about the doctrinal points raised. In an easy and compelling style, these books describe some difficult doctrines and put them in their historical context. I think they do an excellent job of filling a gap in a child's understanding of these early expressions of the Reformed faith which have been foundational to any subsequent Confessions.
