Book Reviews

One of the most contested issues in the church in recent days concerns the role of men and women in the church. The chief question among many people is this: “Can a woman preach on a Sunday morning to a congregation that consists of both men and women?” People also...

Embodied: Living as Whole People in a Fractured World by Gregg R. Allison addresses a crucial matter that impacts everyone. While every systematic theology addresses the issue of embodiment, few tackle this subject with the skill and precision that Dr. Allison does...

The New Creation and the Storyline of Scripture by Frank Thielman is the most recent installment in Crossway’s Short Studies in Biblical Theology. The goal of this series, according to the editors, is “to magnify the Savior and build up his church – magnifying the...

Reading has fallen on hard times. Technology and all things visual have led to a steady decline of the written page. Leland Ryken and Glenda Faye Mathes have something to say about this problem in their book, Recovering the Lost Art of Reading. Reading is a Lost Art...

The church is at the very center of God’s redemptive purposes. Gregg Allison is quick to articulate this great reality in The Church: An Introduction. Dr. Allison’s work is the newest installment in Crossway’s Short Studies in Systematic Theology series, one that has...

Introduction John Piper has been a faithful pastor and author for several decades and has greatly influenced the Reformed Evangelical community. In his most recent book, Providence, Piper unpacks one of the central themes of his life and ministry, namely, the...

Gerald Bray offers the latest installment in the Short Studies in Systematic Theology Series by Crossway Books. The series is designed to introduce readers to a specific theological subject and equip the next generation of Christian leaders. The great strength of this...

Corporate Worship by Matt Merker is the most recent installment in the Building Healthy Churches series of books. This series helps Christians obey the biblical commands that are an integral part of growing a healthy church. This volume addresses the matter of...

On December 14, 2017, Dr. R.C. Sproul entered into the presence of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He was greatly used by God as he reintroduced Reformed theology to the evangelical church. He articulated the doctrines of grace with passion, courage, conviction,...

“The quality of your elder plurality determines the health of your church.” This is the premise that undergirds Dave Harvey’s new offering, The Plurality Principle. The subtitle, How to Build and Maintain a Thriving Church Leadership Team, nicely summarizes this...

I’ll never forget my visit to St. Andrews Chapel in Sanford, Florida. It was a rare opportunity to see Dr. R.C. Sproul preach. I entered the sanctuary to a bustle of people. Some were visiting. Others were preparing to enter the sanctuary. After several minutes of...

Some of the best gifts come in small packages – an engagement ring, a ticket to Europe, a diamond pendant. From time to time, a small book will hit the shelves that pack a powerful punch. Such is the case with Sam Crabtree’s, Practicing Thankfulness. Crabtree’s little...

During my time at seminary, I had the great privilege of studying Charles Haddon Spurgeon's evangelistic ministry. As I began to develop a biographical sketch of Charles Spurgeon’s life and ministry, I was struck by the wonderful marriage that Charles had with...

Wondrous Works of God: A Family Bible Story Book, by Starr Meade is a well written and a nicely illustrated (by Tim O’Connor) storybook. It has many thoughtful questions and promptings for families to use during Bible study time. As someone who has a young nephew, I...

The ESV Seek and Find Bible was one that I requested as a review copy from Crossway. I requested this book to be given as a gift to my niece, who loves to read. Unfortunately, she is too young at this stage to really enjoy reading this book, as she is only 2 ½ years...

The Serpent and the Serpent Slayer is the most recent offering in Crossway’s Short Studies in Biblical Theology series. Andy Naselli takes readers on a short and illuminating tour of Scripture and reveals the main features of God’s plan in redemptive history. In one...

Introduction I have to begin this review with a bit of honesty: I’ve read a lot of books on marriage, so when I first pulled out Biblical Marriage: Two Sinners and a Gracious God by John-William Noble, I thought to myself, “Another marriage book, huh? What is going to...

J.C. Ryle’s book Holiness stands as a cornerstone piece in the library of Christian classics. This 350-plus page work offers readers a deep dive into the biblical topic of personal and practical holiness. As Ryle served in his role in the Church of England and as the...

I first read He is There and He is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer in 1992. Multiple readings have ensued, and I turn back to Schaeffer’s book again and again for help with apologetics. Readers will be pleased to see this new edition by Crossway Books with a revised...

Personal Tribute Dr. J.I. Packer (1926-2020) is undoubtedly one of the most influential Christian theologians of the past century. That is certainly the case in my life. It was reading his famous book Knowing God as a naïve 21-year-old that first gave me a taste for...

The church has a leadership crisis. Paul Tripp argues that this crisis is one reason many pastors fail, experience burnout, and leave pastoral ministry altogether. He proposes that the solution to this problem is a leadership model based on the gospel, “The model for...

The LGBT airwaves are filled with opinions, and books are being written from every angle – both conservative and liberal. Rachel Gilson adds her voice in her most recent book, Born Again This Way. What makes Gilson’s book refreshing is that she approaches the subject...

The postmodern clouds loom large over our heads, what Francis Schaeffer anticipated in the sixties and seventies is now upon us – in full force. What was once suspected has now arrived. The full force of secularism has invaded our culture and is wreaking havoc in the...

Several years ago, I was introduced to the writing of Dr. Mark Talbot. His sharp intellect and warm heart instantly grabbed my attention. Talbot is well-known for his writing on the subject of pain and suffering. As one who was partially paralyzed in his teens, Talbot...

Stott on the Christian Life: Between Two Worlds by Tim Chester is the latest installment in the excellent, Theologians of the Christian Life, edited by Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor. John Stott was a formidable figure in the evangelical world, a reality that is...

Christian universalism has been gaining ground in both the academy and the church. As this regrettable trend and theology heresy grows by the day, the responses have been few and far between. James W. Walraven presents a biblical rebuttal of Christian universalism in...

It’s Common Many anxious teens will feel as if they are completely weird, that no one else is like them or understands them. They look around at their peers and can’t imagine anyone else their age feeling like they do. They see the carefully curated social media...

Many parents feel at a loss about how their teenagers are feeling and what they can do about it. Studies show that more teenagers are battling anxiety, and many of those same teenager's battle depression also. David Murray has written two books to help Christian...

“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching (didaskalia) that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and...

Discipleship is one of the most important aspects of Christian parenting. The young hearts of children are very impressionable and need to be carefully guarded and led. It is for this reason why it is crucial to start discipleship early in a child’s life. Proverbs...

The most important thing about us is what we think about God. What do you think of when you think about the Son of God? Some might first think about His miracles, the work of atonement, or His teaching. Others may think about His person. Christ is one person with two...

We live in a very divided age. Yet, this should not surprise us because, wherever there are human civilization and at least two differing opinions, there will inevitably be divisions. In any given society, there will be division politically, socially, economically,...

Every marriage has faced, is facing, or will someday face some type of storm. Storms range in size, fury, and aftermath. Most physical storms in weather start out with small raindrops pattering on your window intensifying as time passes. Soon the thunder, lightning,...

For more than two thousand years, the gospel of Jesus Christ has traveled the world over. It has spread from Jerusalem in the first century to remote villages in the twenty-first century. The main way that the gospel message has spread is by faithful followers of...

The gospel story is the most important story that has ever been told. For this reason, God has called Christian parents to rehearse the gospel story with their families. The gospel must be taught and lived out in the home. Scripture reminds us to tell our children...

The heart of God is at the center of the gospel message. His affections towards His people is not a great mystery that needs to be discovered but has been revealed in the person and work of Jesus. God’s heart towards His people is seen throughout Scripture. The Lord...

Evangelism is an essential part of the Christian life. It is through evangelism that the gospel has made its way around the globe and down through the ages. Yet, many Christians find it difficult to evangelize. There are many reasons for this; however, evangelism must...

Prayer is an integral part of the Christian life. Many Christians, though, struggle in their prayer lives. This lack of prayer causes all sorts of issues including a lack of prayer over temptation. Prayer at its core is how believers commune with God. A lack of prayer...

The body of Christ is a beautiful reality of redeemed souls from every corner of the globe. There is much diversity in Christ’s people, as well it should be. Yet with diversity comes differences of opinions and variations of worldview. Although every believer must...

Self. The very word makes postmodern people proud. After all, we are encouraged each day to please ourselves, nurture ourselves, and congratulate ourselves. Self-promotion is considered a virtue in our age. This propensity to narcissism is part of the warp and woof of...

Our Ancient Foe is edited by Ronald L. Kohl. The subtitle of the book is a fitting description of the contents, namely – Satan’s History, Activity, and Ultimate Demise. Kohl has assembled a team of scholars and expository preachers to unveil the diabolical devices of...

These are perilous times. Our day is marked by pragmatism and situational ethics. The current milieu, for the most part, is not informed or undergirded by biblical principles. As our loved ones reach the end of their days, it is essential that we refuse to allow the...

We find ourselves in the midst of a culture that is awash in sexual sin. Ironically, there are very few resources available to help people deal with this vexing problem. Some books minimize sexual sin and even ignore their pernicious effects on the lives of people....

At the heart of Julie Lowe’s Child Proof is a simple word of encouragement to Christian parents: “Instead of ‘how-tos’ and formulas, we rely on who God is in relationship to us.” Nothing tempts me as a parent more than the promise of a new set of rules. I am...

All people seek happiness. Blaise Pascal reminds us, “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end … This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.” Yet most...

Most young people aspire to be like someone. The people they emulate are athletes, rock stars, and actors. These people serve as heroes to the upcoming generation. But Tim Keesee has a different set of heroes in mind. Keesee is thinking about heroes who embrace...

We live in an increasingly visual culture. As a pastor, I hear the relentless sound of the postmodern drumbeat: “The average person cannot sit through a forty-five-minute sermon,” I’m told. Yet that same person will sit in a dark room for nearly four hours and watch...

Abby Ross Hutto wants us to know that God can reach every single one of us. Using an innovative allegorical approach, Hutto turns the true stories of men and women she knows into characters named after the characteristic that describes them: Distant, Skeptic,...

I was absolutely thrilled to receive a copy of James Durham’s A Practical Exposition of the Ten Commandments from Reformation Heritage Books (RHB) to review. The Ten Commandments have been a particular area of focus for me over the last couple of years, and I’ve been...

I’ve had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy of Crossway’s new Story of Redemption Bible, and I have enjoyed it for what it is. First, allow me to say that I appreciate Crossway not calling this Bible a study Bible. It seems that study Bibles come out so...

Discipling in a Multicultural World by Adith Fernando compressive work that describes the essence of the discipling process. Fernando brings a wealth of experience as a longtime director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka. His expansive knowledge and lengthy tenure...

Protestant evangelical believers hold fast to one of the doctrines of the Reformation, Sola Scriptura, the teaching that the Scriptures alone hold the highest authority in the Christian life. However, many believers in the evangelical tradition do not read the Bible...

John Piper’s most recent book aims to help readers get to know Paul, the apostle. Piper’s motive is that Paul’s “God-entranced soul and his unparalleled vision of Jesus Christ and the authenticity of his life would move you to admire him and believe his message and...

The mandate to finish strong is the calling of every follower of Christ. Men called to pastoral ministry must carefully heed this call, which is the theme of John MacArthur’s most recent book, Remaining Faithful in Ministry: 9 Essential Convictions for Every Pastor....

The heart of what Luther and the reformers discovered during the sixteenth century can be summarized in what we know today as the five solas of the Reformation, namely, that sinners are saved by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), in Christ...

Christian women seem to love advice. We write it, share it, put it in pretty fonts on beautiful backdrops, set it to music. Most importantly, we buy it. Books marketed to women often invite to take better care of ourselves or better understand ourselves. We are...

As a young girl, I thought the board game Life laid out the basic script for adult life. The path allowed me to drive my little plastic car from college to a career, then on to marriage and eventually to home ownership in just that orderly sequence. In actuality, that...

I have always thought my husband and I were probably among the first people to take selfies. We dated in the pre-digital era so we used disposable cameras pre-loaded with film. If we wanted to remember a moment, Paul would reach one arm out with his finger on the...

Pastor and professor David Murray has become all too familiar with the phenomenon of pastoral burn-out. In addition to his own seasons of burn-out, Murray has spent years counseling pastors and church leaders through these difficult times. Reset: Living a Grace-Paced...

“Before we begin, I really want you to get to know me. I’m successful. I’m intelligent. I am a wise and self-sufficient woman. In other words… I don’t want you to know me at all. Not the real me. I only want you to get to know a carefully crafted version of me.”...

The New Elder’s Handbook by Greg Scharf and Arthur Kok provides readers with a field-tested approach to training elders in the local church. The book is arranged in three parts, each of which is summarized below. Vision The first part sets forth the biblical...

If you’re an overwhelmed mom, Christina Fox gets what you’re going through. “Unlike hard and difficult jobs I’ve had before, motherhood is all consuming. It consumes energy, time, emotion, wisdom, and everything else…. It reveals our insufficiencies. It shows us just...

Submission and authority are hot topics these days. Tragically, however, most people are not flocking to read about it, let alone embrace this important reality. Jonathan Leeman explores this subject in his book, The Rule of Love. The subtitle nicely captures the...

I don’t usually get too excited about devotional books. They are typically too short and far too shallow. Such books gain a wide readership, which only adds fuel to my frustration. But when I learned about Dr. Owen Strachan’s new book, Always in God’s Hands: Day By...

There’s a book popping up on lots of “Best of 2018” lists called Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) by Kate Bowler. I had the privilege of hearing Kate Bowler, professor at Duke Divinity School, tell her story at the Festival of Faith and...

Rosaria Butterfield calls Christopher Yuan’s book, Holy Sexuality and the Gospel “the most important humanly composed book about biblical sexuality and godly living for our times.” That is quite a statement from such a respected woman. After a thorough reading, I...

Sandra Peoples is not asking you to feel sorry for her. Neither is she asking you to be impressed with how well she’s dealing. Although his book is a personal testimony about the challenges and joys of raising her non-verbal son, she actually wrote this book for you....

The Biblical Counseling Movement largely recovered by Jay Adams and his prophetic book, Competent to Counsel is wide open for publications. By God’s grace, this critical ministry is really taking root in seminaries and local churches all over the world as pastors and...

Sidney Greidanus’ From Chaos to Cosmos is the latest installment in the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series. Though I haven’t read the others in this series, I can see that this series is incredibly practical for those who are teaching the Bible regularly....

Ask anyone if they are familiar with the Ten Commandments, and the answer will be in the affirmative. But ask that same person to recite the Ten Commandments by memory and the results will not be as encouraging, even among professing Christians. Kevin DeYoung devotes...

To read Ray Rhodes’ recent biography, Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, is to witness a life of utter surrender to service. As much as Susie was able, she offered herself fully and wholeheartedly to supporting her famous husband’s ministry. She made an...

Biblical Building Blocks As a single person and a fan of HGTV, I thoroughly enjoyed Marry Wisely, Marry Well: A Blueprint for Personal Preparation. Dr. Ernie Baker—Professor of Biblical Counseling, certified conciliator with Peacemaker Ministries, pastor, husband, and...

Only four pages in to Karen Swallow Prior’s masterpiece On Reading Well, I knew I was in trouble. I love reading in lots of genres, but books about the act of reading are my weakness. I love them. I’ve already read Prior’s first book, Booked: Literature in the Soul of...

In White Picket Fences, Amy Julia Becker comes to terms with a lifetime’s worth of privilege. She looks back on her life with newfound ambivalence about the subtle advantages of her childhood. For example, her family employed a nanny, a gardener, and a cleaning...

I enjoy children’s books. I did so long before I had children of my own. Some of my favorite literature is written for children. Writing children’s books is hard work  that takes a sharp mind, deep understanding of your subject, and clear, simple communication to...

In her latest book All That’s Good, Hannah Anderson stirs our appetite for goodness. There is a satisfying simplicity to her thesis that we ought to train ourselves in discernment by taking up Paul’s charge to the Philippians and seeking out “whatever is true,...

Tim Chester’s has a gift for reframing gospel subjects. His book A Meal with Jesus drew my attention to all the times Jesus’ ministry happened in the context of sharing food through ordinary hospitality and miraculous generosity. Suddenly I saw connections I’d never...

Introduction What Jeremy Begbie offers in A Peculiar Orthodoxy might best be described as “music therapy for theologians” (146). Although there has been a “flourishing of activity at the interface of theology and the arts” over the past 30 years, Begbie still believes...

For the first ten years of my life, I took electricity for granted. I flipped on light switches and turned the dial to change channels on my TV without thinking twice about how easy and available it was. It wasn’t until fourth grade that I received a basic education...

Depression and anxiety are no strangers to most of us, although some of us experience it to greater degrees than others. Many of us are silent strugglers, afraid to verbalize our thoughts, feelings, and emotions for fear of being judged, rejected, and considered...

A new memoir, Gay Girl, Good God, tells the very personal story of how Jackie Hill Perry came to be a Christian. Based on the title, readers may expect a bold conversion but actually the moment when Perry finally recognizes God’s goodness is a rather ordinary moment....

Growing up in an evangelical church, I heard a lot of dramatic testimonies. At summer camp or during a church service, someone would occasionally stand up and tell the story of how lost and sinful they had been before Jesus transformed their lives. As powerful as...

Pastors are not immune to spiritual depression and burn-out. According to a survey conducted by Lifeway Research in 2015[1]: 84% of percent of pastors say they’re on call 24 hours a day. 80% expect conflict in their church. 54% find the role of pastor frequently...

If you are old enough to remember a world before Google, a world where postage stamps needed to be licked, a world that wasn’t connected through wi-fi, then you’ve already successfully survived your teenage years. For young adults entering college this fall, these...

Reality, C.S. Lewis says, is the great iconoclast. Whatever fragile ideas we may have about God, about ourselves, and about our neighbors are constantly at risk of being broken when they confront the real thing. Lewis explains that God himself is an iconoclast, and...

Each Christmas, like most families, we gather around the Christmas tree. After telling the story of the birth of Jesus and celebrating his incarnation, we open presents. When I was a child, I remember gravitating toward the big presents. After all, bigger is better....

One of the perils of refusing to buy a smartphone is that I have to rely on our old GPS. The maps haven’t been updated since 2012, so occasionally I’ll drive on a new road that simply doesn’t exist according to my GPS’ outdated maps. I appear to be driving through...

At a farmhouse halfway between our house and our church lives a peacock. We don’t see him every time we drive by, but we always slow down to look. We’ve found him walking among the free-range chickens, hopping on the bird feeder, even perched on the handle of a tiller...

I didn’t realize this before reading Mrs. Mohler’s book, but this is her freshman book. Although this book is Mohler’s first, it does not read like you’d expect a first book to read. In just a short 130 pages, Mohler somehow demonstrates a type of hospitality in the...

The doctrine of salvation is awash on a sea of Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism. Marked by the curse of sin, the image-bearers of God have a need to “earn” their salvation. “Surely, there must be something I can do to merit favor before a holy God,” says the modern...

“Imagine a world where the power of the gospel to change lives is our to behold.” This is the soul-stirring, gospel-focussed message that Rosaria Butterfield proclaims in her most recent book, The Gospel Comes With a House Key. The author aims to inspire readers to...

One of the critical components of the Christian life involves understanding Scripture and applying it to our lives. This goal is at the heart of Nick Roark and Robert Cline’s book, Biblical Theology: How the Church Faithfully Teaches the Gospel. The authors join...

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). The words of the Lord Jesus Christ cut through every conceivable pretense, motive, and smokescreen. Similarly, Paul David Tripp exposes our hearts in his book, Redeeming Money. Tripp’s aim is to...

The Long Line of Godly Men Profiles is a series published by Reformation Trust that has been educating and inspiring Christians for over ten years. Steven Lawson serves as the series editor and oversees this vital project. This excellent series introduces readers to...

With Jesus, by Brian G. Hedges is a book that invites readers on a journey of a lifetime. The gospel is weaved into the fabric of this story and helps readers understand the role that Christ places in individual lives. Hedges writes, “Whatever the shape of your life,...

Nothing is more important than contemplating the truth. Each person has a specific way of approaching the truth. For example, the Sophists did not believe in absolute truth – they were relativists. Protagoras said, “Man is the measure of all things.” Socrates believed...

Spurgeon on the Christian Life by Michael Reeves is the latest installment in the Crossway Series, Theologians on the Christian Life. This excellent book covers some basic biographical information on the Prince of Preachers. He is rightly described as a man who “went...

“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages,” said the British preacher, C.H. Spurgeon. Embracing trials in a God-honoring way is the theme of Dave Furman’s new book, Kiss the Wave. The author does not write in an ivory tower. Nor does he...

The matter of truth is of utmost importance for the follower of Jesus Christ. However, sometimes a person with a passion for the truth has a tendency to “steamroll” the unsuspecting – the one who has either never learned the truth or the one who has chosen to reject...

Americans understand the idea of revolution. It is a part of our collective DNA. However, many Americans stop short when spiritual revolution comes into view. Albert Mohler argues in his latest book that such a revolution will come when we pray the Lord’s Prayer:...

Whenever a friend purchases a Kindle or e-reader, I always make an important recommendation – Pick up The Crucial Questions Series by R.C. Sproul. Ligonier Ministries has graciously made this 25 book series available, free for the asking. Subjects explore basic...

The day that Sinclair Ferguson’s new book, Some Pastors, and Teachers arrived, I was like a kid in a candy store; a monkey in a banana factory; a shark in blood-infested waters. Gazing at the table of contents caused my heart to race, which is a testimony of my deep...

Edward Welch has become somewhat of a household name in recent years, especially in circles that welcome biblical counseling. Dr. Welch’s new book, A Small Book About a Big Problem is written for everyday people who experience everyday problems. In this short and...

One man blazed a trail in the sixteenth century that laid the groundwork for countless numbers of Christians. Martin Luther was the primary agent who God used in a mighty way as he hammered his 95 theses on the castle door at Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. He...

Biblical Counseling is all about sanctification. The goal of counseling is to help people, in the midst of their suffering and/or sin, to grow in their likeness to Jesus Christ. This means that the way we understand the process of sanctification, then, has a direct...

Repentance has to do with our relationship with God. That’s why Mark Boda has titled his book on the subject as Return to Me. Repentance isn’t just about a change of behavior though it involves that. Nor is it merely about a change in thinking, feeling, or desire,...