God’s Word Alone is both a fitting tribute to its Reformation sola namesake and a constructive contribution to the doctrine of Scripture in its own right. Sola scriptura has become something of a whipping concept in contemporary theology, but Barrett’s book goes a long way to correcting modern and postmodern caricatures of the doctrine.

I particularly appreciated the chapters on the Reformers’ own understanding of Scripture as the supreme and final authority for the church and how this is rooted in its being the only wholly reliable authority, a consequence of its nature as divinely authored and inspired. Barrett here covers all the theological bases – biblical, historical, and systematic – as one might expect of a home run.

-- Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School