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 Ecclesiastes during the past two decades, “and this one by David Gibson is the best of them.”
Finding Grace in the Face of Dementia, by Dr. John Dunlop. How can caregivers and family members honor the patient and glorify God? Rooting his vision in the inherent dignity that stems from the fact that all people are made in the image of God, Dunlop explores biblical principles, describes the experience of dementia, and answers common questions.
Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon, by Greg Laurie with Marshall Terrill. From problem childhood to popular icon. McQueen was known as the “king of cool”, and was at one time the highest paid movie star. This book documents his spiritual journey, as late in life he came to faith in Christ. Shortly after that, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died in 1980 at the age of 50. His chief regret was that he was unable to tell others about what Christ had done for him.
Steal Away Home: Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson, Unlikely Friends on the Passage to Freedom, by Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey. Johnson, an American slave, born into captivity and longing for freedom—Spurgeon, an Englishman born into relative ease and comfort, but longing too for a freedom of his own. Their respective journeys led to an unlikely meeting and an even more unlikely friendship, forged by fate and mutual love for the mission of Christ. This is a new kind of book, based on historical research, which tells a previously untold story set in the 1800s of the relationship between an African-American missionary and one of the greatest preachers ever to live.
The Rise and Fall of the Complementarian Doctrine of the Trinity, by Kevin Giles. Since the late 1970s complementarian theologians have been arguing that the divine three persons in the Trinity are ordered hierarchically (with the Son eternally subordinate to the Father), and that this is the ground for the hierarchical ordering of the sexes. Suddenly and unexpectedly in June 2016 a number of complementarian theologians of confessional and Reformed convictions came out and said that to so construe the Trinity is “heresy”; it is a denial of what the creeds and confessions of the churches rule is the teaching of Scripture. At that point, twitter and the blogs exploded. A civil war among complementarians followed and in a very short time those arguing for a hierarchical ordering of the Trinity capitulated. This book tells the story.
Plain Theology for Plain People, by Charles Octavius Boothe (1845-1924). Mike Bird calls this “an extraordinary book by an extraordinary man”, an everyday theology “from the margins, from below, from the perspective of the dispossessed”. It is no dry textbook, but “theology written by an African-American pastor, born into slavery, who sought to instruct ordinary people in the Christian faith”. Another reviewer calls it “a book written for the average sharecropper”, but which shows the contributions of black Christians to the intellectual environment of evangelical Christianity.
All That Is In God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism, by James E. Dolezal. Increasing numbers of conservative evangelicals are denying basic tenets of classical Christian teaching about God, with departures occurring even among those of the Calvinistic persuasion. James Dolezal’s All That Is in God provides an exposition of the historic Christian position while engaging with these contemporary deviations.
Christianity at the Crossroads: How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church, by Michael J. Kruger. While scholars have long regarded the second century as one of the most decisive stages in the history of Christianity, there are no introductory surveys devoted solely to this critical period. This book fills this gap by providing an accessible and informative look at the complex and foundational issues faced by an infant church still trying to determine its identity. These issues included battles over heresy and orthodoxy, the development of the canon, the transmission of the Christian scriptures, and more. The church’s response to these issues not only determined its survival, but it determined the kind of Church it would be for generations to come.
Revelation and the End of All Things, by Craig R. Koester. Brandon Smith lists this as one of the four best introductions to the book of Revelation, and one which highlights the major themes of each section, focusing only on the most important and overarching elements of each portion.
PURITAN CLASSICS: The Christian’s Great Interest, by William Guthrie (Puritan Paperbacks); The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod, by Thomas Brooks. First published in 1659, this is an exhortation to perseverance and humble acceptance to the Christian under trials and afflictions, seeing them as coming from the hands of a loving Father (Heb 12:9-11)..
ADULT/FAMILY DVDs: The Case for Christ, from Pure Flix. Movie based on the true story of Lee Strobel, investigative journalist working to disprove the growing Christian faith of his wife, but who in the process came to faith. Strobel went on to write a number of best-selling apologetics books (The Case for Christ, The Case for a Creator, The Case for Grace, etc).
ADULT FICTION: Chasing Secrets, by Lynette Eason (Elite Guardians 4); Beyond Justice, by Cara Putman; Love Story, by Karen Kingsbury (Baxter Family); Canteen Dreams, by Cara Putman (Cornhusker Dreams #1).