Letters Along the Way

283 Pages·2007·23.6 MB·English

Letters Along the Way

Letters Along the Way.76735.int.qxd 11/12/07 10:07 AM Page iii
Letters Along
the Way
A Novel of the Christian Life
D. A. C
ARSON
AND
J D. W
OHN OODBRIDGE
CROSSWAY B OOKS
WHEATON, ILLINOIS
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
Letters Along the Way.76735.int.qxd 11/12/07 10:07 AM Page iv
Letters Along the Way
Copyright ©1993 by D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge
Published by Crossway Books
apublishing ministry of
Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechani-
cal, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.
Cover design/illustration: Dennis Hill
Art Direction: Mark Schramm
First printing, 1993
Printed in the United States of America
Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version®.
Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the
United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society.
Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carson, D. A.
Letters along the way / D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge.
p. cm.
1. Evangelism. 2. Christian Life—1960- 3. Imaginary letters.
I.Woodbridge, John D., 1941- . II. Title.
BR1640.C37 1993 277.3'0825—dc20 92-40552
ISBN 13: 978-0-89107-673-5
ISBN 10: 0-89107-673-5
PG 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8
This book
is gratefully dedicated to
Kenneth S. Kantzer

''1 admit that J worship
the God of our fathers)
as a follower of
the Way."
-THEAPOSTLE PAUL,
AS QUOTED IN Am' 24:14

Preface
Tn
mid-1991 a former student of ours at Trinity Evangelical
1
Divinity School, Timothy Journeyman, approached one of us to
solicit advice about the wisdom of publishing a rather remarkable
series of letters. These had been written to him over the past thirteen
or fourteen years, covering the span from Timothy's conversion
when he was a junior at Princeton, through further study and
employment, to seminary training and the first years of pastoral min
istry. As a pastor, Timothy could see that these letters contained not
only a great deal of distilled wisdom that had helped him mature in
his Christian faith, but also a fair bit of useful comment on the
changing face of evangelicalism.
The writer of these letters is Dr. Paul Woodson, then Distinguished
Professor of Systematic Theology here at Trinity. Naturally enough,
Timothy approached Prof. Woodson about publishing them. Prof.
Woodson did not think they were worth it, and in any case was loath
to release time at his age from his more serious research, a multi-vol
ume treatment of Calvin's doctrine of God. Still, he had no objection
to Timothy seeing the letters through the press, with or without col
laboration. That was why Timothy approached one of us for coun
sel. Since we have worked together on projects before, we decided
to collaborate once again, edit the letters here and there, check facts,
and generally prepare them for the press. We asked Timothy to
reconstruct, as well as he could, the situation or correspondence that
called forth each letter. Timothy's notes we have greatly reduced,
leaving only enough material to enhance the reader's ability to appre
ciate the letters themselves. When we told him what we were doing,
Dr. Woodson himself, we might add, seemed to be amused, but not
displeased.
We should perhaps explain two or three of our editorial decisions.
Not all the letters that Dr. Woodson wrote to Timothy Journeyman
during this period have been included, but only those that deal with
ix
spiritual, moral, Biblical, or theological issues, or those that com
ment on the changing scene. Most pleasantries have been edited out.
Where such deletions have affected the flow of the letter, we have
noted them. In 1978 the letters were written by hand, with a foun
tain pen, and emphasis was achieved by underlining. Six years later,
Dr. Woodson's letters were run off a computer printer, complete with
italics. In 1978 Dr. Woodson used the male pronoun and adjective
generically; gradually he changed his style to "gender-neutral"
expressions or to complex expressions such as "he or she." Such dis
tinctions we have tried to preserve in our editing because they pro
vide a subtle feel for the changes the last decade or so has witnessed.
Rev. Timothy Journeyman joins us in wishing that these letters
will prove enlightening, informative, and challenging to a wide cir
cle of readers never envisaged when Woodson, hearing that
Journeyman's father had died and that Journeyman himself had
become a Christian in the wake of that tragedy, first picked up his
fountain pen to write them.
-%e 'Ecfitors
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