Wednesday, July 20, 2005

When is a "good deal" not a good deal?

If you go to Amazon.com, you can find this book: "What is Reformed Theology: Understanding the Basics" by R.C. Sproul. It is a great book and I highly recommend if you have ever struggled with the teachings of the Reformed faith in regards to salvation. One of the things that makes this book so good is that the first half gives a good overview of the principles that made the Reformation what it was: centered on God, based on God's Word alone, committed to faith alone and devoted to Christ alone. Outstanding stuff.

Then, in the second half of the book, Sproul gets into the specific theology of Reformed soteriology. Like myself, Sproul has disdain for Calvinism's traditional mnemonic device: TULIP. Instead, Sproul discusses humanity's radical corruption (Total Depravity); God's sovereign choice (Unconditional Election); Christ's purposeful atonement (Limited Atonement); The Spirit's effectual call (Irresistible Grace); and God's preservation of the saints (Preservation of the saints). Again, truly good stuff. I hope you'll read it.

Now, what is the good deal? On the page linked to above, Amazon gives you to option of buying the $10.19 Sproul book with another Sproul book: "Grace Unknown: The Heart of the Reformation." You can buy both books for $23.78.

I have "Grace Unknown" and it is another outstanding book. It was one of the primary books God used to move me from my man-centered semi-Pelagianism to the God-centered gospel that is the Reformed belief (others included Sproul's "Chosen By God" and Geisler's "Chosen But Free" which led me straight to the superior "The Potter's Freedom" by James White).

All this sounds like a good deal, right? Wrong. The problem is the little fact that "Grace Unknown" and "What is Reformed Theology" are the exact same book, just re-titled. Basically, in this great deal, you are paying double for the exact same book.

I wonder how long it will be until Amazon catches this error.

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