This is the best volume to introduce someone to the topic of Covenant Theology. At 180 pages, this is not a giant intimidating tome. Instead, it is a great book at not only walking the reader through the covenants of Scripture and how they connect with one another, but also at showing how covenants are relevant to believers. If you are new to a church that talks about covenants a lot, you may owe it to yourself to immerse yourself in the edifying topic of covenant theology, and this is the right place to start.

Even though Irenaeus wrote in the middle of the second century, I really would recommend that people read his On the Apostolic Preaching as an early example of covenant theology. Irenaeus beautifully walks his readers through the overall story of Scripture from creation, to fall, to redemption. Irenaeus also speaks of covenants often enough that he does deserve the honorary title of ‘Covenant Theologian.’ This is also not a long book, and because of its length and readability it goes into the ‘beginner’ category. If you think the church fathers are hard to read, Irenaeus will disabuse you of that.

This volume was edited and published by my own alma mater, Reformed Theological Seminary and edited by one of my favorite professors. However, even if those things weren’t true I would still recommend this book for the person who has some familiarity with the covenants of Scripture and wants to go deeper. With contributions from Guy Waters, Michael Kruger, Ligon Duncan, O. Palmer Robertson, Kevin DeYoung, and Doug Kelly, this is a wonderful next step for the person who wants a big impressive book on their shelf – but even more importantly, a heart full of knowledge regarding how God has dealt with mankind through covenants.

This two-volume set is indeed heavy lifting, but Herman Witsius’ Economy of the Covenants is commonly understood in the Reformed world to be the definitive account of the Reformed understanding of covenants and their role in salvation history.