Posts from 2017

Posts from 2017

New Books–October 2017

                                                          Complete New Book List                                                                    October, 2017  Imitating God in Christ: Recapturing a Biblical Pattern, by Jason B. Hood. Provides us a biblical theology of the imitation of Christ, resulting in the recovery of a biblical pattern, and a challenge and corrective to embracing moralism on one side and fearing it on the other. As Sinclair Ferguson said: “The goal of the Spirit’s ministry in sanctification is the reproduction of likeness to Christ, and in this sense to produce…

New Books–September 2017

                                                    Complete New Book List                                                         September, 2017  Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End, by David Gibson. What if it is death that teaches us how to truly live? Living life backward means taking the one thing in our future that is certain—death—and letting that inform our journey before we get there. And here we look to Ecclesiastes for wisdom. D.A. Carson says there have been a number of popular expositions of…

New Books—August 2017

                                                                       Complete New Book List                                                                              August, 2017  Theologies of the American Revivalists: From Whitefield to Finney, by Robert W. Caldwell III. Traces the fascinating story of American revival theologies from the First Great Awakening through the Second Great Awakening, roughly 1740 to 1840, including George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Samuel Hopkins, Joseph Bellamy, and Charles Finney. HISTORICAL NON-FICTION: All of these titles were recommended by Al Mohler in his summer reading list: Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for…

New Books–July 2017

                                                            Complete New Book List                                                                       July, 2017  Institutes of the Christian Religion 1541 Edition (White Translation), by John Calvin. This newly published edition of Calvin’s Institutes is known as the White Translation, or “Calvin’s Own Essentials Edition”. It was an abridgement made by Calvin himself, eliminating the polemic material and much of the more technical details, to leave what Calvin considered the essentials of his theology—its “heart and soul”. It was translated from the French by Robert White in…

New Books—June 2017

                                                             Complete New Book List                                                                      June, 2017  Benjamin Franklin: The Religious Life of a Founding Father, by Thomas S. Kidd. Mark Noll calls this a “convincing portrait of Franklin’s religious life as ambiguous, elusive, enigmatic and whimsical…(and) as a forerunner of many later Americans who believe in God, trust in providence, but cannot embrace any particular Christian creed”. The Imperfect Disciple: Grace for People Who Can’t Get Their Act Together, by Jared Wilson, author of The Prodigal Church. Too…

New Books–May 2017

                                                               Complete New Book List                                                                         May, 2017  Turning Points in the History of American Evangelicalism, edited by Heath W. Carter and Laura Rominger Porter. This book contains contributions from an impressive cast of historians to commemorate the magnificent career of Mark Noll. Contributors include Nathan Hatch, George Marsden, Harry Stout, Grant Wacker, and a number of others, each of whom deals with a particular turning point. The Gospel According to Paul: Embracing the Good News at the Heart of…

April 2017—New Books

                                                       Complete New Book List                                                                April, 2017  This Is Our Time: Everyday Myths in Light of the Gospel, by Trevin Wax, Foreword by Marvin Olasky. A path to faithful presence in our culture, with neither naivete nor panic. Real Music: A Guide to the Timeless Hymns of the Church, by Anthony Esolen, with accompanying CD. A comprehensive guide, in print and song, to the great hymns of the church. The author says good music combines timeless poetry, with doctrinally…

New Books–March 2017

                                                         Complete New Book List                                                                March, 2017  Knowing God and Ourselves: Reading Calvin’s Institutes Devotionally, by David B. Calhoun. Calvin intended his Institutes to be a guide in reading Scripture, and a companion to his commentaries. He wanted his readers to respond with love for God and obedient lives. This new book is a short and lucid guide to the Institutes, which is in turn a guide to the Bible. Katharina and Martin Luther: The Radical Marriage of a…

New Books–February 2017

                                                   Complete New Book List                                                       February, 2017  Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality, by Wesley Hill. As a celibate gay Christian, who is also a theology professor, Hill gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God’s “no” to same-sex sexual intimacy. He advocates neither unqualified “healing” for those who struggle, nor accommodation to temptation, but rather faithfulness in the midst of brokenness. A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of…

New Books–January 2017

                                                       Complete New Book List                                                            January, 2017  Hitler’s Religion: The Twisted Beliefs That Drove the Third Reich, by Richard Weikart. Shows that Hitler was neither a Christian, an atheist, nor an occultist. Rather, he marshals convincing evidence that Hitler was a pantheist who embraced brutal, Darwinian religion of nature. Give Me This Mountain, by Dr. Helen Roseveare. Autobiography of the well known missionary doctor and author who worked in the Belgian Congo, and who spent 5 months as a…

Daniel, by Wendy Widder–A Book Review

Note: I recently read an excellent commentary on Daniel in the very accessible Story of God Bible Commentary series, by Wendy Widder. Widder, who got her PhD at the University of Free State, South Africa, is an author, teacher, and scholar with a passion for helping people understand the Bible better. She is not a dispensationalist, and holds to the Greek view in the identification of the fourth kingdom (rather than the Roman view). Rather than review the entire book,…

Book Review: Devoted to God, by Sinclair Ferguson

Note: This new book is in the library, and has been highly recommended.   Here is a sampling of the quotes below:  “In order to experience final salvation, sanctification is as necessary as justification. Why is this? Simply because there is no justification without sanctification”  “We are not justified on the basis of our sanctification; yet justification never takes place without sanctification beginning.”  “The law-maker (Jesus as a member of the God-head)  became the law-keeper (in his obedient life), but then…

Book Review: The Last Adam

Note: This article is by Brandon D. Crowe, author of the new book, The Last Adam: A Theology of the Obedient Life of Jesus in the Gospels, which is being added to the library on February 5. Ron Maness The Adamic Christology of Early Christianity In discussions of the New Testament Gospels, it is commonplace for scholars to affirm that Jesus is somehow the fulfillment of Israel. This is indeed an emphasis of the New Testament. However, much less often…

Book Review: John Knox

Note: This new biography on John Knox, the leader of the Scot Reformation, was just added to the CBC library.   Ron Maness http://www.reformation21.org/featured/the-real-john-knox.php The Real John Knox Article by Thomas Kidd  June 2016 If you ever go to see the John Knox statue at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, you won’t come away with warm and fuzzy feelings. Knox, in statue and in Scottish historical memory, comes off as stern, formidable, and unapproachable. To admirers, he was also a man of…