Customer Reviews

Drinking With Calvin and Luther!: A History of Alcohol in the Church

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a funny yet serious look at the history of alcohol in Protestant Christianity. It is very enlightening and shares a lot of history and scripture about alcohol.

In all of that, it still manages to be very tounge-in-cheek. It almost had me rolling on the floor a couple of times.

This book proves, that contrary to what Prohobitionists might like to tell you, godly men of ages past enjoyed fermented beverages in moderation. It will make you want to abstain from alcohol in moderation.

Biblical Christians tend to overcorrect. We see the significant destruction abuse of alcohol has wrought, and we want to ban it all. But to do that is to cast aside a good gift of God. Its like forbidding all eating just because so many abuse food and overeat. The Bible is clear -- drunkenness and/or addiction: bad, drinking (in moderation): good.

Rev. Jim West makes an airtight case that the Reformers had a far different view than post-Temperance Movement pietists. And he does it with sly humor and real style. This is a truly wonderful book on a lot of levels -- history, Christian living, arts and culture, Biblcial studies, humor. Its even got chapters on how to select a good drink. Really loved this book.

West writes this witty, humorous, and scripturally-correct book which attacks unbiblical attitudes from Armenians and others who declare God's Creation (wine and beer) unfit for human consumption and claim that Christ's action of drinking wine was somehow immoral. (Oh my, there's a slight theological problem!)

First, West shows the Reformers - the earliest Protestants - as men who loved God, Dominion and wine. He then disproves, systematically, all the various lies told about God's viniferous creations in the devil's efforts to deceive us into legislating away our liberty in Christ.

Finally, West ends his book with a rather hilarious (given the circumstances) guide to drinking beer and wine.

This is a fun book but it has a very serious message: God created EVERYTHING, wine included. We should enjoy God's creation in moderation as he commands.

We indeed should enjoy the fruit of the vine - Soli Deo Gloria!

Jim West proved to be an insighful, knowledgeable, and humorous writer. His mix of history, theology, and science integrate to form a modern textbook on the subject of alcohol in the church. It's sad that although Jesus drank, and the Church accepted alcohol use for over 1900 years, many Protestants have upheld abstinence and demonized alcohol within the last century of so. West shows that an overwhelming array of Godly men over the centuries drank in moderation and proved once for all that alcohol is not evil and there is no way under heaven that it can be shown that the Bible condemns it. I especially recommend this book to my fellow Baptists.

To join a Baptist church in the south it was (may still be) required that you sign the Church Covenant which read in part, "I agree to abstain from the sale, use or transportation of alcoholic beverages."

It is rather 'sobering' to realize that Calvin, Luther, most all the Puritans, etc., etc. would not "qualify" for membership in so many churchs!

The book is a 'cordial' delight! LIBERATING!

This book is filled with facts, stories, and events. However, I just don't feel like it is written with entertainment in mind. The book has exactly what it says: "A History of Alcohol in the Church." That's really about it.

The main thesis of this book doctrinally speaking can be summarized by a quote from Increase Mather: "Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness, but the abuse of drink is from Satan; the wine is from God, but the Drunkard is from the Devil."

Jim West produces an impressive array of quotes and stories from the history of the church to support this thesis. I docked one star, however, because he rarely gives a formal citation as to where the material originated. This is simply inexcusable in a volume such as this.

That being said, I did enjoy parts of this book, but I often felt like West was trying to stick it to prohibitionists in an uncharitable or even caustic way. Certainly, there is a time to laugh at the silliness of the opposition, but I would have rated this book more highly if West either dealt more responsibly with those who disagree with him (compare Ken Gentry's irenic tone in God Gave Wine) or if he wrote more _for_ the mature Christian who enjoys wine and less _of_ the weaker brother's foibles.

Finally, I docked another star because his purported discussion of Christian liberty -- a crucial topic in a book such as this -- was very weak. I would suggest Gentry's book and Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion book III, chapter 19 for a better treatment of the subject.