Johannes Geerhardus "J. G." Vos (1903-1983) served Christ’s church as a pastor, teacher, writer, editor, and missionary. He earned a Th.B. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1928 and a Th.M. in 1938, and was ordained by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America in 1929.
Vos pastored two churches—in Cecil, Pennsylvania (1929-1930), and in Clay Center, Kansas (1942-1954). As a missionary, he served in China for eleven years, including as a teacher, then principal, of Newchang Bible Seminary in Southern Manchuria. Co-founder of the Reformation Translation Fellowship, Vos worked to see important theological and pastoral books translated into Chinese. The Fellowship’s work continues today.
Vos is perhaps best known for his role as editor and principal contributor to the Blue Banner Faith and Life quarterly (1945-1979), where he wrote about biblical and systematic theology in a manner understandable to the average layperson.
In 1954, Vos became the chair of Geneva College’s Bible department, where he continued to teach even five years after he retired in 1973.
The Book of Books is a collection of essays about the primacy and vitality of the Word of God. The clear message is to love, to know, and to follow God's written Word. The book was first assembled in 1978 to honor J.G. Vos: Bible teacher, Reformed theologian, pastor, and missionary and his passionate work for God's kingdom.
Contributors include Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., Cornelius Van Til, J.G. Vos, and John H. White. New to this edition: a photograph section; a new preface; an introduction that explores the effects of Vos's time in China on today's burgeoning Chinese church.
$20.00
J.G. Vos is a classic. So republishing this 1978 book is timely. As a bonus, Jack White has added an introduction about Vos's 1930s missionary service in China. That chapter of his life might have looked like a waste, after the Japanese, then the communists, drove out the missionaries. White shows how the church was driven underground, then exploded in visible growth in recent years. Vos is known as a great theologian. He also planted important spiritual seeds still multiplying now.
Russ Pulliam Indianapolis Star, WORLD magazine
Geerhardus Vos and his renowned son Johannes G. Vos have left a lasting legacy that continues to shape biblically-minded Presbyterianism. J. G. Vos's father, known as the father of Reformed Biblical Theology, was blessed with a son who not only defended the Bible and Biblical Christianity, but whose life and ministry also manifested the beauty and power of Reformed Biblical Theology. As a scholar, a missionary to Manchuria, and an educator, J. G. Vos showed his profound commitment to the Bible. To him, the Bible was nothing less than The Book of Books.
These articles edited by John H. White bring together scholars from the past and the present who not only value the Scriptures as did Vos, but who also reveal the rich continuity of faith and life that links the Old Princeton, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Geneva College. This is a must read for those who cherish the Presbyterian heritage of Biblical fidelity, devout scholarship, and global missions.
Dr. Peter A. Lillback president, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
