Book Reviews
Book Review: A House for My Name
In a period when theologians are attempting to read anything and everything into the Old Testament, Peter J. Leithart is reading only one thing: Christ. An ordained Presbyterian minister (PCA) and Fellow of Theology and Literature at New St. Andrews College, Leithart has written prolifically on many subjects. Primarily his works center on the interaction between Christianity and literature, though he has also written devotional and doctrinal works. His deep understanding of literature and its inner workings has helped to highlight...
read moreBook Review: Shepherds After My Own Heart
by Craig Batts What does it mean to be a shepherd in the church? What does it involve? When we consider these questions, it rightfully leads to a discussion of leadership. Unfortunately, there often seems to be a flaw in the way we proceed from that point forward. There is a temptation to look to the corporate world or to socially-established practices in order to develop an understanding of what qualities leaders ought to possess. Since the term shepherd (as it concerns the church) applies specifically to a role established in Scripture, we...
read moreBook Review: Christ in the Chaos: How the Gospel Changes Motherhood
by Ana Batts Nine months of pregnancy, or months (sometime years) walking the road to adoption, can never prepare you for motherhood. Before those bundles of joy are sleeping through the night, there are a thousand people telling you the “best” way to feed, clothe, diaper, and raise your baby. It doesn’t end when babies become toddlers, preschoolers, elementary age, or teenagers. There will always be people watching, making sure that you do things the “right” way. But how do you handle it when you fail to meet other people’s standards? Your...
read moreRobert Picirilli’s ‘Discipleship’: The Expression of Saving Faith: A Review Essay
Discipleship is a term used quite often in the Christian community. Glance at a Christian publisher’s catalog and you’ll encounter books, small group studies, and countless other resources on the subject. Like any biblical term, we need reliable instruction to make sure we understand it. Free Will Baptists have few teachers more reliable than Dr. Robert Picirilli, long-time author, professor, and denominational leader. In Picirilli’s new book Discipleship: The Expression of Saving Faith (Randall House, 2013), he explains the way in which the...
read moreThe Abolition of Man: Education, Cultural Criticism, and Christian Thought
Few authors have had as great an influence on Christian thought over the past century as C. S. Lewis. A convert to Christianity from a firm and convinced atheism, Lewis was one of the few exemplary writers who stood alone during the first half of the twentieth-century against the cresting tide of modernism and the deathly undertow of post-modernity. He taught English Literature at Oxford University, and chaired the Medieval and Renaissance English department at Cambridge University. His firm grasp on modern thought and its logical...
read moreMapping the Origins Debate: A Book Review
A quick Google search for the word evolution will yield countless atheistic and naturalistic proponents encouraging readers toward their side of the argument. Equally true, a search for creationism will navigate you to an arena where “intelligent design” and “young earth” are buzz words. The debate (or war) between these two ideas is heated to say the least. While we as conservative, evangelicals have a rooted position here, it hasn’t stopped either us or the opposition from some habitual mud-slinging. Building straw-men has never truly...
read moreBetween Two Worlds: Remembering A Modern Classic
On Monday we were reminded of the need for Christ-centered, expository preaching. Bryan Chapell’s Christ-centered Preaching helped with understanding this crucial task. However, another modern classic helps place this kind of preaching in its historic and cultural context. Though published over 30 years ago, the late John R. W. Stott’s Between Two Worlds (Eerdmans, 1982) is a relevant guide for contemporary evangelical preaching. John Stott spent the majority of his life ministering at All Souls Church, London, UK. He became rector of this...
read moreChrist-centered Preaching: Remembering A Modern Classic
Preaching is a task (and privilege) that can always be improved upon. Homiletics professors can help with this. Listening critically to audio of our sermons, as painful as this can be, is often useful. Even wives are among preachers’ most helpful critics. Yet we can also benefit by reading and reflecting on the counsel of reliable theologians and homileticians. Bryan Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching and John Stott’s Between Two Worlds are among the most widely-read and influential books on Christian preaching. As both have now been in...
read moreJesus Christ and the Life of the Mind: A Review Essay
King Solomon said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7). Certainly Solomon extols the virtue of learning. Learning is then a virtue for Christians, too. However, Mark Noll has long lamented evangelicals’ unwillingness to pursue knowledge in his book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, critiquing them for their theological deficiencies and focusing on this grim problem. Seventeen years later in his book, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (Eerdmans 2011), he offers a...
read moreClouds of Witnesses: A Review
Historian Mark Noll is typically noted for his work in American religious history. In 2011, however, he broke pattern with Clouds of Witnesses, a book about missions. Co-written with Carolyn Nystrom, they survey seventeen, lesser-known missionaries from Africa, India, Korea, and China. In exploring these missionaries, Noll and Nystrom challenge American readers’ conceptions of what missions looks like and how it’s done. Although this book is written with missions in mind, even those who don’t feel called to vocational missions will benefit...
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