New Books – August 2008

New Books – August 2008

Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life, by Colin Duriez. Schaeffer (1912-1984) was an amazing man—intellectually brilliant and set on truth. This new biography draws on specifically collected oral history to fully portray the person, work, and teaching of one of the most important figures in modern Christianity.

What is a Healthy Church Member, by Thabiti M. Anyabwile. A focus on the individual church member. D.A. Carson says: “Some books are so simple they are hardly worth skimming; others are so complex that, unless their subject matter is extraordinarily important, they are not worth the time they demand. But sometimes one finds a book that is simultaneously simple and profound—and this is one of them….Read it, think about it, pray over it—and distribute it generously around your congregation”.

What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus? And Other Questions Christians Ask About Jewish Beliefs, Practices and History, by Michael L. Brown. The author is a Messianic Jew and answers 50 common questions Christians have about Judaism.

Original Sin: A Cultural History, by Alan Jacobs. The author, a WheatonCollege literature professor, traces the idea of original sin from the Bible to the present day, and shows how this concept which is to “repugnant” to the world, became the cornerstone of our self-understanding.

Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy, by Paul David Tripp. Meditations on Psalm 51. The author makes King David’s confession our own, helping us to be honest about sin, and opening our hearts to the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Looking Before and After: Testimony and the Christian Life, by Alan Jacobs. To many theologians, the “Christian story” is communal, and the individual Christian only receives meaning through participation in this communally recounted narrative. But Jacobs reinvigorates narrative theology and encourages us to ask how individual lives can be meaningful in a Christian sense, demonstrating the power of individual life stories well told and properly understood.

When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Everyday Apologetics, by Paul Copan. Guidance for those deep coffeehouse conversations about God.

The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life, by Robert E. Webber (Ancient-Future Faith series).Lays the foundation for understanding Christian spirituality by tracing it from the ancient church to the present.

Ancient Faith for the Church’s Future, edited by Mark Husbands and Jeffrey P. Greenman. Fourteen essays from the 2007 Wheaton Theology Conference focusing on the vitality and significance of the early church for contemporary Christian witness and practice.

Heaven Without Her: A Desperate Daughter’s Search for the Heart of Her Mother’s Faith, by Kitty Foth-Regner. Kitty was living the feminist dream, but when her mother developed a terminal illness, she found herself on the brink of despair with nothing but questions. Bound by a whispered promise to her dying mother, she researched evidence for the supernatural, scrutinized a number of worldviews from Hinduism to New Age, and finally found the answers in biblical Christianity.

The Doctrine of the Christian Life, by John M. Frame (A Theology of Lordship series). The third volume in the Theology of Lordship series, this book is thoroughly grounded in Calvinism, with the focus on Christian ethics.

The Legacy of John Calvin: His Influence on the Modern World, by David W. Hall (Calvin 500 Series). This volume is a contribution to the celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, and shows how many of the blessings of modern life we take for granted are the legacy of the Geneva Reformation.

Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis, by Michael Ward. The author says he has discovered the secret imaginative key to the Narnia books. Walter Hooper says “no other book on Lewis has ever shown such comprehensive knowledge of his works and such depth of insight”.

Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back, by Ken Wilson. The author says he is seeking to engage those drawn to the fascinating figure buried in the messy world of religion.

Understanding Intelligent Design, by William A. Dembski and Sean McDowell. Everything you need to know in plain language.

The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Second Edition, by Craig L. Blomberg. Confusion regarding the Gospels’ trustworthiness has been compounded by fiction promoted in popular culture and by eccentric, unrepresentative scholarship. As a result, Blomberg’s widely appreciated 1987 defense of the reliability of the Gospels has been fully revised and updated to take account of the vast amount of relevant scholarship over the past two decades.

Christians in the American Revolution, by Mark A. Noll. What it meant for Christians in the time of the Revolutionary War to wrestle with the political implications of their faith.

MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response, by Samuel E. Waldron. Reformed amillennialist Waldron makes a case against John MacArthur’s claim that true Calvinists must subscribe to dispensational premillennialism.

Family Squeeze: Tales of Hope and Hilarity for a Sandwiched Generation, by Phil Callaway. A lighthearted look at the challenges of the middle years, when your children are driving, and your parents are not, while things that never ached before are beginning to give you trouble.

Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered: Growing in Christ Through Community, by James C. Wilhoit. A response to the challenge to the church to give greater attention to congregation-wide spiritual formation, shifting the emphasis from private pursuit to corporate culture.

A New Earth, An Old Deception, by Richard Abanes. Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth, touted by Oprah Winfrey as being compatible with Christianity, has been at the top of the best seller lists. However, cult expert Abanes says it is nothing New Age philosophy wrapped an attractive package.

Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity …and Why It Matters, by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. Research by the Barna Group into the perceptions of Christianity by 16-29 year olds indicates that Christianity has a serious image problem. Includes insights by respected Christian leaders such as John Stott, Charles Colson, and others.

Family Religion: Principles for Raising a Godly Family, by Matthew Henry. Collection of writings on family life by the great Puritan writer.

Devotional Thoughts on the Bible: Matthew and Mark, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892).

Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, volumes 3 and 4, by Michael L. Brown. Vol 3 focuses on NT objections, and vol 4 focuses on Messianic prophecy objections.

COMMENTARIES AND REFERENCE BOOKS: Esther, by Debra Reid (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries); Dictionary of the Old Testament Historical Books, edited by Bill T. Arnold and H.G.M. Williamson (IVP OT Dictionary series);

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY’S RADIO THEATER (On CD): Les Miserables (Victor Hugo’s Masterpiece); Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom (the theologian who risked everything to oppose Hitler); The Hiding Place: The Acclaimed Story of Corrie Ten Boom.

BOOKS ON CD: The Case for the Real Jesus, by Lee Strobel.

ADULT/FAMILY DVDs: An Introduction to Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, by John Piper (Small Group Studies)-a 6 part study on the Piper’s book by that title;

ADULT FICTION: The Eighth Shepherd, by Bodie and Brock Thoene (AD Chronicles #8); What the Cat Dragged In and The Cat’s Pajamas, by Gilbert Morris (Jacques & Cleo Cat Detectives #1-2); The Edge of Recall, by Kristen Heitzmann; Showers in Season, Times and Seasons, Season of Blessing, by Beverly LaHaye and Terri Blackstock (#2-#4 in the series);

0 Comments

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *