Sam Storms: The Hope of Glory (Book Review)
Sam Storms has been on my radar for awhile, as a guy with strong loyalties to the Bible, Jonathan Edwards, and Calvinistic theology. Storms is a prolific writer and a fan of John Piper, which in my book, is also in his favor–oh yeah, and he’s local to Kansas City too, so I could hypothetically run into him in a coffee shop. All that said, The Hope of Glory is the first Storms volume I’ve read. It’s a series of 100 “daily meditations” on Colossians, and it didn’t disappoint.
Here are the three primary reasons I’ve already bought and given away multiple copies of this book:
- It’s devotional. In other words, it was good for my soul. Sam Storms writes in a worshipful way that pushes my thoughts toward Jesus, not just theological understanding. These really are “meditations.”
- It’s instructive. The Hope of Glory was one source I drew from when I preached a short series of sermons on Colossians, and Storms’ blow-by-blow approach to each verse (or phrase, in some cases) doesn’t fail to enlighten. At the same time, he stays grounded in the wider context of each passage and Colossians as a whole. So in this sense the book is a commentary.
- It’s short. More accurately, the chapters are short. The book covers the whole book of Colossians in about 350 pages, but you can read a chapter in 5-10 minutes.
Overall, I highly recommend The Hope of Glory as a study resource and for devotional reading.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
he attends Redeemer, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to hypothetically run into him
August 8th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Nice. I need to find a pic of the man so I’ll know when there’s a sighting. Just for the record, is there anyone you don’t know?
August 9th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
here is a pic for you. Sam is my uncle, so again I can’t really claim any mad networking skills on this one…
August 10th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Thanks dude, hopefully I’ll run into him at some point. If Sam is your uncle…does that make you related to John Piper?
August 12th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Being one of the fortunate recipients of said book, I am already soaking up what you have listed are the indelible riches of this volume. Thank you for this my friend, it has already bore results in my own preaching.
Can anyone say; “Sam Storms for new theology prof at Midwestern?”
August 13th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Matt, you’re more than welcome, bro. I hope you get a ton out of the book. Mr. Storms would rock at MBTS, but I don’t see it happening.