If you have ever gone to a good brewery or pub, you may know that for a small fee, the bartenders will be happy to pull into a small glass a sample of whatever they have on tap. After you find the taste you’re craving, waiting to the bartender to bring you a full pint can be very frustrating, but you know it’s a wait that will be well rewarded.
When I first heard that Rev. Jim West was expanding his book, Drinking with Calvin and Luther, I was filled with anticipation. Although the original could hardly be called a “book” (it was little more than a pamphlet), the new and improved version is a much more stout 216 pages of imbibing throughout the history of the Church. I highly recommend the book as an enjoyable journey through a history modern Pharisees have tried to erase from our memories.
The author is clear in his preface that his goal is not to offer a Biblical exegesis of the use of alcohol in Scripture, nor is he attempting to exegetically refute the modern Christian prohibitionist. For that task, West cites “masterful” books like Ken Gentry’s God Gave Wine. Instead, West’s goal is to offer an overview of the everyday lives of not only Calvin and Luther, but of Hus, Knox, Zwingli, Rutherford, Cromwell, Wesley, Whitefield, and Spurgeon.
The only weakness that I see in the book is that there are no footnotes or endnotes that give references. While I can understand the author’s desire to keep the size of book to a minimum, I think that a book that makes so many historical citations should at least have endnotes.
West’s point is perfectly summarized late in the book when he reminds the reader why we do not drink as pagans. He writes, “Recall that while the unbeliever drinks to forget, the Christian drinks to remember. Christ commanded us, ‘This do in remembrance of me.’ God has not called us to be hogs or to wallow in the same mire as hogs. God has called us to ‘drink it [wine] in the courts of my holiness.’”
