Plans for Holy War: How the Spiritual Soldier Fights, Conquers, and Triumphs

“It is hard to describe this book without using superlatives. First, you have the monumental work done by David Noe in translating the work. Then you have the lengthy and insightful biography and analysis by Chad Van Dixhoorn introducing the work. And then you have the work itself, written by the seventeenth-century pastor-scholar and Westminster divine John Arrowsmith. All three facets of this volume represent a remarkable achievement. Most of all, Arrowsmith's exploration of spiritual warfare in the life of the Christian is noteworthy: equal parts creative, daunting, intellectual, inspirational, challenging, and comforting. The publication of Arrowsmith's magnum opus in English should interest pastors, scholars, and serious Christians who desire to engage in the holy war that really matters.”

“John Arrowsmith, Presbyterian theologian and head of Cambridge colleges, was one of those seventeenth-century English theologians whose command of the classics and the church fathers astonished the European world of learning. His writings, many of them studded with references to ancient and modern texts, reached a wide public. David C. Noe has translated Arrowsmith’s guide for the Christian life, which he saw as a battle against the devil, from its original Latin into highly readable English. Chad B. Van Dixhoorn has identified the author’s citations and set the book into its full context in his life. A superb translation of a work that powerfully defended the role of learning in Christian education and life.”

“Noe and Van Dixhoorn combine their considerable scholarly talents to the translation and editing of this densely learned yet deeply spiritual work of John Arrowsmith, one of the most learned of the Westminster divines. In the work, Arrowsmith takes his cue from Genesis 3:15 to expound on the Christian life in light of the enmity that exists between Christ and His followers and the devil and his. He takes his readers on a fascinating journey through the highways and byways of humanistic and Christian thought to bolster his arguments, refuting those who would deny the enemy's considerable threats while embracing those who recognize the gravity of the Christian’s spiritual warfare. Noe does more here than translate Arrowsmith’s words into English: he has ‘befriended’ the author through years of conversing with his Latin, which results in a soaring rendering that captures faithfully, or as faithfully as possible, the finely nuanced tone and complex layers of the writing. Van Dixhoorn adds his own meticulously researched introduction reviewing the life and contributions of Arrowsmith, while adding helpful notes to guide the reader through the thickets of Arrowsmith’s learning, resulting in a volume that will benefit both lay Christians and scholars alike.”