Posts from 2018

Posts from 2018

New Books–December 2018

                                                        Complete New Book List                                                             December, 2018  The Ten Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them, by Kevin DeYoung. Michael Horton says this “fleshes out the wisdom of our Creator and Redeemer in a way that helps us see the wisdom of our Creator and Redeemer in directing us on our pilgrim way”. Face to Face with Jesus: Seeing Him as He Really Is, by Randy Alcorn. Brief meditations, Scripture readings, and inspirational…

New Books—November 2018

                                                  Complete New Book List                                                         November, 2018  Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn’t Make Sense, by Paul David Tripp. The author says, “for all who have walked suffering’s rocky and twisting pathway, this book is for you”. Recommended by Joni Eareckson Tada and Ray Ortlund. The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy, by Timothy Keller. An angry prophet; a feared and loathsome enemy; a devastating storm. And the surprising message of a merciful God to his…

New Books–October 2018

                                              Complete New Book List                                                       October, 2018  On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books, by Karen Swallow Prior. Encountering virtue in a guided tour through the works of great literature. Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, Wife of Charles H. Spurgeon, by Ray Rhodes, Jr, Foreword by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. New and definitive biography, which is meticulously researched and yet told with the craft of a storyteller. In the Year of Our Lord:…

New Books—September 2018

                                     Complete New Book List                                           September, 2018  Remember Death: The Surprising Path to Living Hope, by Matthew McCullough. Overcoming our detachment from death and deepening our attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Tom Schreiner says this meditation on death is “haunting, profound, and stirring”. Foreword by Russell Moore. Transformed by God: New Covenant Life and Ministry, by David G. Peterson. Foundational to the NT understanding of Jesus is Jeremiah’s promise of a “new covenant” in which God will transform…

New Books—August 2018

                                          Complete New Book List                                                   August, 2018  Honoring the Son: Jesus in Earliest Christian Devotional Practice, by Larry W. Hurtado (Snapshots series). Before the NT or the creeds of the church were written, the devotional practices of the earliest Christians show that they worshipped Jesus alongside the Father, demonstrating their view of the deity of the Son. This refutes critical theories that viewing Jesus as divine was a later development. Condenses material from Hurtado’s earlier and more detailed scholarly…

New Books—July 2018

                                           Complete New Book List                                                          July, 2018                        6 Ways the Old Testament Speaks Today: An Interactive Guide, by Alec Motyer. Leads us to discover the everyday significance of six key themes that resonate throughout the OT. Sinclair Ferguson says this book is “devout and witty, scholarly and accessible, theological and commonsensical…Motyer seems to sprinkle gold dust on every page he wrote”. Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms, by Tim Challies. Shaping men who shaped the world, featuring…

New Books–June 2018

                                        Complete New Book List                                                   June, 2018  Lewis on the Christian Life: Becoming Truly Human in the Presence of God, by Joe Rigney (Theologians on the Christian Life). Lewis’ vision for the Christian life—the personal encounter between the human self and the living God, in the church, in the imagination, in our pleasures and our prayers. The Story of the Word: Mediations on the Narrative of Scripture, by Trevor Laurence. 45 devotional meditations on the major turning points of…

New Books—May 2018

                                 Complete New Book List                                             May, 2018   Heaven, So Near—So Far: The Story of Judas Iscariot, by Colin S. Smith. Tim Challies says: “Of all human beings, none passed so close to the gates of heaven on his way to hell as Judas Iscariot…his story is a cautionary tale for each one of us.” Both Judas and Peter denied Jesus, yet each responded to this crisis in a drastically different way. The Gospel According to God: Rediscovering the…

New Books–April 2018

                                        Complete New Book List                                                     April, 2018   Paul, A Biography, by N.T. Wright. Ben Witherington says: “Written with the usual Wright combination of erudition, intuition, and mature wit and wisdom”. Theophany: A Biblical Theology of God’s Appearing, by Vern S. Poythress. Each time God appears to his people throughout the Bible—in the form of a thunderstorm, a man, a warrior, a chariot, etc.—he comes to a specific person for a specific purpose. And each of these temporary appearances…

New Books–March 2018

                                        Complete New Book List                                                   March, 2018   The City of God and the Goal of Creation, by T. Desmond Alexander (Short Studies in Biblical Theology). At the heart of God’s plan for the world stands an extraordinary city. Beginning with the garden of Eden in Genesis and ending with the New Jerusalem in Revelation, the biblical story reveals how God has been working throughout history to establish a city filled with his glorious presence. Supernatural Power for Everyday…

New Books–February 2018

                                                                  Complete New Book List                                                                         February 2018 Almost Gone: 25 Days and Once Chance to Save Our Daughter, by John Baldwin and Mackenzie Baldwin. Frightening but true account of a Plano TX Christian family whose 17 year old daughter was “seduced” by a Kosovo Muslim in an internet chatroom, converted to Islam, and planned to leave family and faith behind and secretly fly to Kosovo to marry someone she had never met. Only a last minute intervention by the…

New Books—January 2018

                                                                   Complete New Book List                                                                          January, 2018  No Quick Fix: Where Higher Life Theology Came From, What It Is, and Why It Is Harmful, by Andrew David Naselli with Foreword by John MacArthur. Every Christian struggles with sin and wants to be victorious in the fight. Higher life theology (HLT)–also known as Keswick theology–offers a quick fix for this struggle, arguing that if Christians simply “let go and let God” they can be free of sin and brought to…

New Books–December 2017

                                                          Complete New Book List                                                               December, 2017 Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique, edited by J. P. Moreland, Stephen C. Meyer, Christopher Shaw, Ann K. Gauger, and Wayne Grudem. A comprehensive critique with nearly 1,000 pages and 31 articles. Argues that theistic evolution fails as a theory—scientifically, philosophically, and biblically. Counseling Under the Cross: How Martin Luther Applied the Gospel to Daily Life, by Bob Kellemen. Luther not only reformed theology, he also reformed pastoral counseling.…

New Books–November 2017

                                                                   Complete New Book List                                                                        November, 2017 How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds, by Alan Jacobs. A contrarian treatise on why we’re not as good at thinking as we assume. Most of us don’t want to think, says Jacobs, because thinking is trouble, thinking is slow, and it can force us out of familiar, comforting habits. Plus, we are assaulted with information overload, partisan bickering, alternative facts, and the spin cycle of social media.…