Book Review: The Good Name
(reviewed by Bill Whitlock)
This book review was included in the February 2020 Meadowcroft Monthly. For an archive of all book reviews, click here.
We are living in a time when political discussions are rarely conversations but rather are a diatribe where folks bash each other with their views. Social media is often used to rudely express one’s views and tear down the opinions of those who disagree. Gone are the days when foul language was never to be spoken in the presence of women or children. We hear it everywhere from TV and movies, to conversations on the street.
In such a culture, it seems that words are quite meaningless, even though they are being used as tools to force opinions on each other. Dr. Samuel T. Logan, Jr., former president and church history professor of Westminster Theological Seminary, has recently written a book entitled The Good Name: The Power of Words to Hurt or Heal. As the subtitle expresses, words do have power. Dr. Logan introduced his subject by telling how an untruthful response, which was intended to protect, ended up costing him his job. The aftermath of that incident was used by God as the influence for this book.
The book begins by reminding us that our God is a God of words. There is power in His words. God created the Earth with words. He made His covenants with words. Jesus healed and did miracles with words. His words were words of judgment and forgiveness. Because words are such a part of who God is, the spoken word is also an attribute that He put into mankind when He created us in His image. Part of the image of God in us is our ability to communicate with language. This separates us from the rest of creation.
The focus of Dr. Logan’s book is the teaching that we have in the ninth commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This commandment has implications far beyond just lying about another person in a court of law. He describes the ample detail that both the Heidelberg and Westminster Larger Catechism provide on the various ways we break this command.
Dr. Logan spends a reasonable amount of time describing how people in the Bible and throughout Church history bore false witness and the how that lie affected and impacted specific events. He starts with the serpent in the Garden and continues through the controversy over the Great Awakening in America where Presbyterian pastors were divided between those who supported the revival and those who did not support it. In defending the Awakening, some strong and unkind words were used to describe those who were against it. The end result was a split of the young Presbyterian Church in America.
The book concludes with several examples of issues that separate Christians and gives the reader insight into how to apply the principles suggested by the author. I approached this book looking for advice on how to speak the truth in love. I didn’t find all my answers, but there are two points from the book that I’m going to work on. The first idea is to not label those that I disagree with. Dr. Logan writes that labels often unfairly generalize opinions, and they often do not adequately describe one’s beliefs. Secondly, I’d like to start conversations by asking questions to help me understand the other person’s perspective before I express my own point of view.
The Good Name is a quick read and thought provoking. It’s available on Amazon and other book distributors in both paperback and Kindle edition. After you read it, let’s have a real conversation about your thoughts on the book!