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. Yet he says that recovering this lost art can rescue our inner lives from the chaos of modern life
Christian Women in the Patristic World: Their Influence, Authority, and Legacy in the Second Through Fifth Centuries, by Lynn H. Cohick and Amy Brown Hughes. Highlights the theological contributions of women in the early church, with attention to a selection of fascinating characters. Includes attention to women’s roles in theological debate and development. Cohick is NT professor at Wheaton, and Amy Brown is assistant professor of theology at Gordon College.
Faith, Hope, Love: The Christ-Centered Way to Grow in Grace, by Mark Jones. A treatise on the heart of biblical ethics and virtues, which is profoundly theological and rooted in the Reformed and Puritan traditions, and arranged as a catechism. Aimee Byrd says she will also be “recommending Mark’s excellent book for many to use devotionally”.
HISTORICAL NON-FICTION: Alone: Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat Into Victory, by Michael Korda. The incredible story of what happened at Dunkirk in 1940, as 300,000 allied soldiers were rescued from certain destruction on the beaches at Dunkirk by an unlikely flotilla of rescue boats, yachts, and even rowboats. Britain responded with a renewed courage to fight on, and this became a pivotal turning point. Korda was a young boy during this event, and he tells the story against a background of family history of his remarkable and glamorous family (his mother was a stage actress, and his father was soon to receive an Academy Award). Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans: The Battle That Shaped America’s Destiny, by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. America’s victory in this battle during the War of 1812, led by Old Hickory, was a near miracle, and would shape the young nation’s destiny. Had Britain won the battle, they would have controlled the mouth of the Mississippi and cut off America’s dream of westward expansion. Reviewers say it reads like a stay-up-all-night thriller.
Cultivate: A Grace-Filled Guide to Growing an Intentional Life, by Lara Casey. Embracing the season you’re in, and cultivating what matters, little by little, with God’s transforming grace.
Closer Than a Sister: How Union with Christ Helps Friendships to Flourish, by Christina Fox. Friendships between women, built on our unity in Christ, are a means of grace.
Long Before Luther: Tracing the Heart of the Gospel from Christ to the Reformation, by Nathan Busenitz, with Foreword by John MacArthur. Demonstrates that the doctrine of salvation by faith alone was not invented by the Reformers as Catholics have charged, but rather originated in Scripture and can be found in the works of such pre-Reformation figures as Origen, Augustine, Anselm, and Bernard of Clairvaux.
Sing a New Song: A Woman’s Guide to the Psalms, by Lydia Brownback. A fresh look at the 150 Psalms, especially for women, summarizing each Psalm’s key themes, revealing how each fits into both the Psalter and the rest of Scripture, and suggesting practical applications.
Genesis 1-11: A New Old Translation for Readers, Scholars, and Translators, by Samuel L. Bray and John F. Hobbins. This new translation follows the Hebrew text closely and leaves in what many translations leave out: physicality, ambiguity, repetition, even puns. The translators also draw deeply from the long history of Jewish and Christian translation. Although a new translation, they preserve ties with the Tyndale/King James tradition, and their extensive notes offer the reader both wisdom and delight.
A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible: Inside History’s Best Seller for Believers and Skeptics, by John Dickson. A concise account of the whole biblical narrative and the lifestyle it inspires, representing a unique and engaging framework for those observing Christianity from the outside. By presenting the whole of the Bible as an account of God’s promise to restore humanity to Himself, and humanity to one another and to creation, Dickson allows believers and skeptics alike to gain insight into why the Bible has been a compelling force throughout the ages.
Sanctification, by Michael Allen (New Studies in Dogmatics). Many view holiness as accidental or expendable, or even as a legalistic posture opposed to the freedom of the gospel. But sanctification is one of the gifts of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus and Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, Second Edition, by Richard Bauckham. The original 2006 edition of this critically acclaimed book was a Christianity Today book of the year in biblical studies. It challenges prevailing critical assumptions to argue that the Gospels were based on eyewitness testimony, rather than circulating as anonymous traditions. In this new 2017 edition, Bauckham has added a new preface and three new chapters that respond to his critics and clarify key points of his argument, as well as a comprehensive new bibliography.
COMMENTARIES: Proverbs, by Ryan P. O’Dowd (Story of God Bible Commentary); The Letter to Philemon, by Scot McKnight (New International Commentary on the NT).
ADULT FICTION: To Be Where You Are, by Jan Karon (A Mitford Novel); Dangerous Illusions, by Irene Hannon (Code of Honor).
CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Little Lights 1-10, by Catherine Mackenzie. New collection of ten Christian biographies for the young (Read-to-me ages 4-5; Read myself, ages 6-7). Biographies include Luther, Eric Liddell, David Livingstone, Calvin, Helen Roseveare, Mary Slessor, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Corrie ten Boom, George Muller).