In the pipeline for the next few years are some books I’ve been tinkering away on:
Editing: The Church’s Reformed Foundation: Augustus Toplady’s Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England (REAL vol. 2).
Editing: Evangelical Truths Restored: Veritas Redux by John Edwards of Cambridge (REAL vol. 3).
I am Senior Editor of a Study Bible for the new NIV with Hodder & Stoughton, due 2013.
I am editing the Hales-Balcanquahal correspondence for a multi-volume critical edition of the documents related to the Synod of Dort, due to published on that august body’s 400th anniversary in 2018.
Already Published:
For Us and For Our Salvation: ‘Limited Atonement’ in the Bible, Doctrine, History, and Ministry
(2012)
Often caricatured, so-called ‘limited atonement’ is the doctrine that Jesus came definitely to save those particular people given to him by his Father. In this overview of the doctrine, I examine the biblical and doctrinal case for this controversial teaching, explore key moments in its historical development, and expound its implications for ministry today, especially in terms of assurance and evangelism.
‘a masterful, mini-treatise… I heartily commend this clear-headed, warmhearted treatment.’ – J.I.Packer
‘Gatiss makes his case patiently, respectfully, firmly. Those who disagree will find themselves much better informed; those who are sympathetic will rejoice to see the case freshly made.’ – D.A. Carson
‘a clear and succinct exposition… an excellent introduction.’ – Carl Trueman
‘perhaps the most thorough examination of the doctrine in decades.’ – Julian Hardyman
‘Every page a feast, to feed the mind and warm the heart.’ - Alec Motyer
an extraordinarily rich resource… indispensible.’ – Michael S. Horton
Read the full endorsements here.
Preachers, Pastors, and Ambassadors: Puritan Wisdom for Today’s Church (St Antholin Lectures 2001-2010) (2011)
Now available from Latimer Trust. This again is a compilation of the annual St Antholin Lectures on Puritan themes, which I have edited. This volume contains my introduction, The Grand Nursery of Puritanism: St Antholin’s as a Strategic Centre for Gospel Ministry. This focuses on the story of the wonderfully named “Feoffees for the Purchase of Impropriations”, who also went by the name of “The Collectors of St Antholin’s”. They were a dozen Puritan clergy, lawyers, and businessmen based at St Antholin’s in the mid-seventeenth century who had an audacious plan for reforming the church, both securing and expanding the place of gospel-preaching ministers in it. The other chapters on the Puritan theology of word, sacrament, and church discipline are by the good and godly Peter Adam, Wallace Benn, Peter Ackroyd, David Field, Chad van Dixhoorn, Tony Baker, Andrew Atherstone, and David Holloway. I also contributed the lecture for 2008 called From Life’s First Cry: John Owen on Infant Baptism and Infant Salvation.
Pilgrims, Warrirors, and Servants: Puritan Wisdom for Today’s Church (St Antholin Lectures 1991-2000) (2010)
Now available from Latimer Trust. This is a compilation of the modern St Antholin Lectures on Puritanism, which I have edited and written an introduction for. The intro is called To Satisfy the People’s Hunger for the Word: St. Antholin’s as the Prototype Puritan Lectureship. It looks at the Puritan love of preaching (exemplified in Archbishop Grindal, William Perkins, John Owen, and Thomas Horton, who was Rector of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate in 1666), and then at the place of the now demolished St Antholin’s Church in the City of London, which was a great centre for Puritan preaching and theology in the 16th and 17th centuries. The other chapters are by the great and the good, including Jim Packer, Alister McGrath, Peter Jensen, Peter Adam, and Ashley Null, on various aspects of Puritan theology and practice. It was a great privilege for me to be part of this project.
The True Profession of the Gospel: Augustus Toplady and Reclaiming our Reformed Foundations (2010)
Now available from Latimer Trust. This book of about 140 pages started life as talks for Church Society, Fellowship of Word and Spirit, and St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate before morphing into my ThM thesis with Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia. It looks at the Reformed tradition in theology and how that has always been the official mainstream theology of the Church of England, and of English Evangelicals. I focus particularly on the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century, and spend a couple of chapters just on Toplady himself, his theology and his polemical battle against John Wesley. I think this is the most important thing I’ve ever written and I hope it will be inspiring as well as informative. The title comes from the Coronation Oath, when a new British monarch promises to maintain “the true profession of the gospel… and Protestant Reformed religion.”
“If Toplady is remembered at all today, it is probably as the author of a number of famous hymns. Yet in his own time he represented a strand of Anglicanism which sought to stand in continuity with both the Church of England’s Reformation roots and the more precise articulation of Reformed Orthodoxy. In this study, Lee Gatiss does a fine job of recovering this aspect of Toplady for today, and thereby reminding his church that Latitudinarianism, Anglo-Catholicism, Liberalism, and theologically lightweight evangelicalism are not the only traditions which can lay claim to being Anglican.”
Carl Trueman, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
“In this lively, stimulating, and sometimes provocative piece Lee Gatiss introduces us to a man whose words we still sing, but whose wider theology lies neglected. His focus is not, however, limited to Toplady. In the first half he makes a powerful case that the historic Church of England was Reformed in its theology. Many evangelicals today will rejoice to hear this, but then comes the twist in the tail as the writings of figures like Whitefield and Toplady himself are used to show just what it meant to be Reformed. We find, for instance, that they were thorough-going covenant theologians, committed to the idea of an eternal intratrinitarian covenant of redemption. By the end of the study we may be left feeling that others are wrong to question the place of Reformed theology in the historic Church of England, but we may also be left rather less sure that what passes for Reformed today is the same as it was in the past. I expect that readers will find this study at once encouraging and challenging. It is a strong example of the way in which historical writing can be both responsible and transparently useful for the church today.”
Garry Williams, The John Owen Centre, London
The Sermons of George Whitefield, Parts 1 & 2 (2010)
Out now with Church Society. These are the first two volumes of a major new series called The Reformed Evangelical Anglican Library. The idea is to re-print classic works of theology, homiletics, and pastoralia to show that Reformed Evangelicals are by no means marginal in the Church of England but have produced its best theologians, reformers, and writers. Whitefield is the giant of the eighteenth century Evangelical Revival, and his strongly Reformed theology led to strongly evangelistic sermons which played a major part in awakening England (contrary to popular beliefs about Calvinism!). I have edited the text of the 1771 edition (c. 1000 pages), added over 10,000 words of footnotes tracing his sources and quotations and putting what he says into context, and written a c.15,000 word introduction. This is my biggest project to date and I hope it will be the first of many more such works in this exciting new series.
“The publishers have done Anglican Evangelicals (and many others) a great service in bringing these wonderful sermons by George Whitefield back into easily accessible form. Lee Gatiss’s excellent and comprehensive Introduction gives a clear way in to grasping the salient features of Whitefield’s life and convictions, and of his relationship to classic Protestant Anglicanism. All those who want urgently to reconnect the contemporary Church of England with its evangelical heritage will be nourished and encouraged by this volume, and no doubt by subsequent volumes in this Series.”
Christopher Ash, Director of the Cornhill Training Course, London
Vaughan Roberts, Rector of St. Ebbe’s, Oxford and President of the Proclamation Trust
Michael Ovey, Principal of Oak Hill Theological College, London
A short book looking at how we can learn from the troubles in the Presbyterian Church in the USA and Princeton Theological Seminary during the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy, with a particular focus on conservative hero J. Gresham Machen. It’s quite topical, I think, considering all the shenanigans in the Church of England at the moment… despite the immensely long subtitle.
I was delighted that John Stott and J. Alec Motyer, two Anglican Evangelicals I respect and admire immensely, were happy to give their permission for Latimer to publish together material they have written on the doctrine of baptism. I had the honour of editing the book and contributing a preface, which I share here by way of a taster for the book.
From Life’s First Cry: John Owen on Infant Baptism and Infant Salvation (2008)
A short book (an extended version of the 2008 St. Antholin’s Lecture) looking at the teaching of the great puritan John Owen on the controversial and related subjects of infant baptism and infant salvation. I tried hard to interact with Owen’s 17th century opponents as well as present day detractors (I mean, Baptists) in presenting and applying Owen’s doctrine. I believe this is the only extended treatment of Owen’s view in print anywhere.
The Tragedy of 1662: The Ejection and Persecution of the Puritans (2007)
Was 1662 a good year or a bad year? Something we should look back to as a golden moment of doctrinal and liturgical soundness or the start of a tragic tale for those who love the gospel more than the institutional Church? This study unpacks the story of the Great Ejection where nearly 2000 puritans were forced to leave the Church of England, and the Great Persecution which followed for the next 25 years.
