No Other Standard: Theonomy and Its Critics, by Greg L. Bahnsen, Ph.D.

It has been said of Jonathan Edwards, that once he had finished debating with his opponents, not only had he annihilated their arguments, but he had also dusted off the spot where they had once stood. After reading No Other Standard, one gets this same impression of Greg Bahnsen. In this book, as the subtitle suggests, the author interacts with critics of the theonomic world view. (Theonomy is the belief that "the moral standards (laws) of the Old Testament are authoritative today, along with New Testament teaching," Bahnsen, No Other Standard, pg.3). And with careful, logical precision, reduces the opposing theories to the level of absurdity, and then "dusts off the spot" where they were previously standing. Further, he does so in an irenic spirit, with humility and courtesy, which are all too frequently missing in "reconstructionist" circles.