Posts from 2016
New Books–December 2016
Complete New Book List December, 2016 An Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks and Romans, by Michael F. Bird. Bird argues that Paul did not cease to be a Jew when he became a Christian, but his previous Jewish convictions were shaken to the core and transformed. He remained a Jew, but became an anomaly to his Jewish contemporaries. Paul is seen as a maverick apostle, an inimitable thinker, and an anomalous Jew. Saving My Assassin: A Memoir,…
New Books–November 2016
Complete New Book List November, 2016 Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels, by Richard Bauckham. Bauckham is an outstanding NT scholar who applies his encyclopedic knowledge of Judaism and its offshoot, early Jewish Christianity, to the subject of the named women in the Gospels. The Unfinished Reformation: What Unites and Divides Catholics and Protestants After 500 Years, by Gregg Allison and Chris Castaldo. Is the Protestant Reformation finished? There are still a number…
New Books—October 2016
Complete New Book List October, 2016 Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical, by Timothy Keller. Newsweek magazine refers to Keller as “a C.S. Lewis for the 21st century”. He has had an incredibly effective ministry in the heart of NYC. This is his newest. No God But One: Allah or Jesus? by Nabeel Qureshi. A former Muslim investigates the evidence for Islam and Christianity. Both Islam and Christianity teach that there is only one God,…
New Books–September 2016
Complete New Book List September, 2016 “Free Grace Theology”: 5 Ways It Diminishes the Gospel, by Wayne Grudem. Must the gospel message include a call for people to repent of their sins? Is evidence of a changed life an important indication of whether a person is truly born again? To both questions, Free Grace Theology says no. But in this book, Grudem shows why the Bible says yes to both. This book is endorsed by John MacArthur, J.I.…
Article on CBC Library by John Fea
Library Note: I am pleased to report that noted historian, blogger, and author John Fea has published an article on CBC’s library on his blog site. John teaches history at Messiah College, a Christian college in Pennsylvania. We have had his books in the library for some time, and I recently began following him on twitter, where he has over 6,000 followers. I had sent several tweets to him, and identified myself as a church librarian. He asked what church,…
New Books–August 2016
Complete New Book List August, 2016 Theological Fitness: Why We Need a Fighting Faith, Aimee Byrd. A book for Christians who want to hold fast to their faith without wavering, even in the trials of ordinary life. Aimee unpacks our call to perseverance in the book of Hebrews and explores the great metaphor that physical fitness lends to theology. Aimee is an ordinary mom of three, who blogs about theology at The Mortification of Spin website. What Christians Ought to…
New Books–July 2016
Complete New Book List July, 2016 J.C. Ryle: Prepared to Stand Alone, by Iain H. Murray. The life of Ryle has only to be heard about once to be remembered, His 84 years (1816-1900) included remarkable contrasts—-the promise of a fortune, then the poverty of a bankrupt; a Suffolk County country pastor, then bishop of the leading seaport of the British Empire; from the successful youth at Eton and Oxford who did not pray or read his Bible until age…
New Books–June 2016
Complete New Book List June, 2016 A Camaraderie of Confidence: The Fruit of Unfailing Faith in the Lives of Charles Spurgeon, George Muller, and Hudson Taylor, by John Piper (series: The Swans Are Not Silent). Most people don’t realize that Spurgeon, Muller and Taylor were contemporaries who knew and loved each other. For all their differences, they were profoundly evangelical in their emphases on Scripture, the atoning work of Christ, the new birth and the importance of mission.…
New Books–May 2016
Complete New Book List May, 2016 A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness, by John Piper. The glory of God is shining through the Bible. Never has the church been in greater need of recognizing that Scripture is self-attesting. They Say We Are Infidels: On the Run From ISIS with Persecuted Christians in the Middle East, by Mindy Belz. Leon Morris: One Man’s Fight for Love and Truth, by Neil Bach. Biography of Leon…
New Books–April 2016
Complete New Book List April, 2016 . Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus Through the Spiritual Disciplines, by David Mathis. In his Foreword to the book, John Piper says: “This book is about grace-empowered habits, and Spirit-empowered disciplines…the means God has given for drinking at the fountain of life…if you have never read a book on ‘habits of grace’ or ‘spiritual disciplines’, start with this one…if you are a veteran lover of the river of God, but for some…
New Book Notice: Making All Things New
This email concerns a new book being added to the library this week. It is not a book review, as I have not yet read it. But it is a book I have been eagerly awaiting since it was first announced a couple of months ago. At this point, I just want to make some introductory comments, which are paraphrases and summaries of comments from the Preface to the book. Making All Things New: Inaugurated Eschatology for the Life of…
Book Review: Heirs of Promise: The Church as the New Israel in Romans
This is a brief review of a brief (107 pgs), but very compelling book. The book is Heirs of Promise: The Church as the New Israel in Romans, by P. Chase Sears. It is on the new book shelves of the library. It is the first in a new series titled Snapshots, edited by theologian Michael Bird. The series will engage significant themes in contemporary biblical and theological scholarship in a relatively brief “snapshot” manner, making them accessible to busy…
New Books–March 2016
Complete New Book List March, 2016 The Jesus We Missed: The Surprising Truth About the Humanity of Christ, by Patrick Henry Reardon. Russell Moore, who did the Foreword, says: “This book…is the best treatment of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ that I’ve ever encountered. Patrick Reardon is one of the most Bible-saturated, Christ-intoxicated writers and preachers I have ever met, and I believe this is his finest work.” This book is stunning in its insight, and…
New Books–February 2016
Complete New Book List February, 2016 The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters, by Sinclair B. Ferguson, Foreword by Tim Keller. Derek Thomas says: “This is one of the most important and definitive books I have read in over four decades”. How a book written in the 17th century provoked the Marrow Controversy in the 18th century, and how that debate relates to gospel preaching today, and the perennial issue of the…