New Books (Page 3)

                                                                       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…

                                                            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…

                                                             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…

                                                               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…

                                                       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…

                                                         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…

                                                   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…

                                                       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…

                                                    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,…

                                                            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…

                                                          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,…

                                                 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.…

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…

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…

                                                         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.…

                                                 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…

                                                             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…

                                                              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…

                                                          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…

                                                                  Complete New Book List                                                                            January 2016             God’s Glory Alone–The Majestic Heart of Christian Faith and Life: What the Reformers Taught… and Why It Still Matters, by David VanDrunen (The Five Solas series). Second in the series on the five solas of the Protestant Reformation. The author first examines how the doctrine of God’s glory developed in Reformed theology and confessions, and then turns to the beginning with the pillar of cloud revealed to Israel, and culminating in Christ’s…