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Tethered to the Cross: The Life and Preaching of C. H. Spurgeon. By Thomas Breimaier. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2020. ix + 271 pp. $35.00 hardcover.
For the first half of the twentieth century, C. H. Spurgeon was largely overlooked for academic studies. Most of his earlier biographies were written by admiring associates who lionized their mentor. He was known for his sermons, but little attempt was made to investigate or systematize his theology. Toward the latter half of the century, scholars like Patricia Kruppa, Mark Hopkins, and Peter Morden began to examine Spurgeon's life more critically and to take him seriously as a theologian, paving the way for further academic research. Now, with the establishment of the Spurgeon Center at Midwestern Seminary in 2015, a new phase of Spurgeon scholarship has begun. New scholarly works are being written not only in Kansas City but throughout the English-speaking world, examining different facets of Spurgeon's life and thought. Thomas Breimaier's work is a part of this latest wave of Spurgeon scholarship.
Originally his doctoral thesis at the University Edinburgh, Tethered to the Cross seeks “to identify and analyze C. H. Spurgeon's approach to biblical hermeneutics” and argues “that he viewed the entire Bible through the lens of the cross of Christ, with an aim to bring about the conversion of sinners” (13). To defend this thesis, Breimaier examines a wide range of primary sources, tracing the themes of the crucicentrism and conversionism throughout...