This morning, coincidentally enough, I was asked by two Christians to recommend a set of must-read books for Christian laymen.
I’m skimpy on the creation/evolution debate because there’s so much information that’s available online.
My subject divisions are a bit arbitrary, but it’s better than nothing.
Okay, here goes:
I. APOLOGETICS:
David Baker, ed. Biblical Faith & Other Religions
Paul Barnett, The Birth of Christianity: The First Twenty Years
F. F. Bruce, The Defense of the Gospel in the New Testament
John Byl, God & Cosmos
_____. The Divine Challenge
Winfried Corduan, A Tapestry of Faiths
_____. Neighboring Faiths
Ed Komoszewski et al. Reinventing Jesus
John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God
Os Guinness, Long Journey Home
Gary Habermas & Michael Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus
Paul Helm, The Divine Revelation
J. P. Moreland, Christianity & the Nature of Science
Victor Reppert, C. S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea
Ken Samples, Without a Doubt
Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ
Cornelius Van Til, Why I Believe in God (available online)
Kurt Wise, Faith, Form, and Time
E. J. Young, In the Beginning
II. BIBLE CRITICISM:
Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties
Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels
F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (available online).
Kenneth Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
V. Philips Long, The Art of Bible History
John Walton, Ancient Israelite Literature in Its Cultural Context
III. BIBLIOLOGY
T. Desmond Alexander, From Paradise to the Promised Land
Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction
Craig Blomberg, Jesus & the Gospels
D. A. Carson & Douglas Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament
Walter Kaiser & D. Garrett, eds. Archeological Study Bible
John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative
IV. CANONICS:
Darrell Bock, The Missing Gospels
F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture
David Trobisch, The First Edition of the New Testament
V. CHRISTOLOGY
T. Desmond Alexander, The Servant King
Paul Barnett, Jesus & the Rise of Christianity
Darrel Bock, Jesus According to Scripture
F. F. Bruce, Jesus: Lord & Savior
Edmund Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery
Murray J. Harris, Three Crucial Questions about Jesus
Leon Morris, Jesus is the Christ
Alex Motyer, Look to the Rock
O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets
B. B. Warfield, The Lord of Glory
N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God
VI. ESCHATOLOGY:
O. Palmer Robertson, The Israel of God
Vern Poythress, Understanding Dispensationalists
VII. HERMENEUTICS:
D. A. Carson, Exegetical Fallacies
Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth
John Frame, Doctrine of the Knowledge of God
Vern Poythress, God-Centered Interpretation
Kevin Vanhoozer, Is There a Meaning in This Text?
VIII. SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology
John Frame, The Doctrine of God
Paul Helm, The Providence of God
Anthony Hoekema, Saved by Grace
Thomas Schreiner, Paul: Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ
Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology
IX. THEOLOGY 101:
John Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord
Paul Helm, The Beginnings; The Callings; The Last Things.
John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished & Applied
J. I. Packer, Concise Theology
X. COMMENTARIES:
Some books of the Bible are more foundational to Christian theology than others, so, for purposes of this “starter kit,” I’ll be selective:
GENESIS
John Currid
John Walton
Bruce Waltke
EXODUS
John Currid
Alec Motyer
Douglas Stuart
Then watch for the forthcoming commentaries by T. Desmond Alexander and Allen Ross.
JOB
John Hartley
Elmer Smick
Then watch for Tremper Longman’s forthcoming commentary.
PSALMS
Alas, we’re not ideally served on the Psalter at present. VanGemeren is the default choice.
My suggestion: Buy Geoffrey Grogan’s Prayer, Praise & Prophecy: A Theology of the Psalms.
Then wait for Gordon Wenham’s forthcoming commentary.
PROVERBS
Bruce Waltke
Then wait for Tremper Longman’s forthcoming commentary.
ECCLESIASTES
Derek Kidner
SONG OF SOLOMON
Tom Gledhill
ISAIAH
Alex Motyer
EZEKIEL
Actually, I think new Christians should steer clear of the apocalyptic books. But since that admonition will fall on deaf ears:
Daniel Block
Iain Duguid
DANIEL
Alas, we’re not ideally served on Daniel. By default selection would be Joyce Baldwin and Tremper Longman
Then watch for Terence Mitchell’s forthcoming commentary.
MATTHEW
Craig Blomberg
D. A. Carson
R. T. France
Craig Keener
France is also slated to do a bigger commentary on Matthew in the NICNT series
LUKE
Darrell Bock
JOHN
Several good choices. At a minimum:
F. F. Bruce
D. A. Carson
Craig Keener
Andreas Kostenberger
ROMANS
Thomas Schreiner
EPHESIANS
Harold Hoehner
Peter O’Brien
GALATIANS
We’re not ideally served on Galatians. My default choice would be F. F. Bruce and Philip Ryken.
Then wait for D. A. Carson’s forthcoming commentary.
HEBREWS
Alas, we’re not ideally served on Hebrews. My default choice would be F. F. Bruce and R. T. France (Ellingworth is good on Greek usage).
Then wait for the forthcoming commentaries by D. A. Carson and Peter O’Brien.
REVELATION
Gregory Beale
Vern Poythress
Then watch for D. A. Carson’s forthcoming commentary.
I'd add The Temple and the Church's Mission by G.K. Beale. He develops much of what he wrote in Revelation there. As a unifying theme underwritten by the covenants, it makes a great deal of sense, and helps inform the readers' understanding of the OT and eschatology in particular.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOn the issue of the canon:
ReplyDeleteI've already read "Stolen Identity" (Peter Jones), "The Books the Church Suppressed" (Green), and "Reinventing Jesus" (Komoszewski, et. al.).
Does Bock's "The Missing Gospels" have anything new?
The reason I pointed out Beale was that he does a pretty good job on Ezekiel's temple vision. It's not a commentary on Ezekiel, but, in terms of a unifying eschatological theme, the Temple motif is pretty important, and he integrates his material quite well.
ReplyDeleteFor Baptist History, I'd recommend The Baptists by Tom Nettles. It's 3 volumes. 1 and 2 are currently available. Number 3 is forthcoming.
Folks need a good church history survey. In terms of readability for laymen, The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzales can't be beat, in my opinion. You can also by both volumes in a single volume for half the price or better if you go to Christianbook.com right now, so it's remarkably well priced. This is also a standard survey text in seminaries.
A comprehensive volume for NT Intro: NT Introduction by Guthrie. It's a tome, but this was my textbook for NT Intro with Maurice Robinson. He had us research ten footnotes a week and report on them for class that year. It's worth having in terms of a one stop shop.
The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel by Blomberg is also quite good, if a bit technical for the layman.
I'd also throw in Biblical Theology by Vos.
Systematics: A New Systematic Theology by Reymond. It's new in that it interacts some with Open Theism and a few other hot items. You'll find the tools to deal with them in the older theologies, but you won't find them interacting with these newer issues. Likewise, for the layman, his sections on the doctrines of grace and the exegetical objections raised against them is superb and easy to understand.
If you can find William Whitaker's Disputations on Holy Scripture, it's a must have, as is the 3 part series Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith by David King and William Webster. This latter set of books interacts with current RCC apologists.
I believe that Whitaker's classic treatise is available at www.swrb.com.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we have an ideal systematic theology at this point because such a work would need to combine the expertise of an exegetical theologian (in both testaments) with the expertise of a philosophical theology. Given the specialization of knowledge, we're beyond the point where one man commands the interdisciplinary expertise to pull this off in equal measure.
ReplyDeleteIn the future it would be best to have a collaborative work.
I would add Larry Hurtado's Lord Jesus Christ, although rather higher critical in its approach.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Wenham's Paul: Follower of Christianity.
Also, van Voorst: Jesus Outside the New Testament
Finally, stuff by G.E. Ladd.
check out Monergism Books for Whitaker's work
ReplyDeleteI agree, Steve. I have I think 7 in my library. IMO, Reymond's the best choice from the current crop from a Reformed perspective. However, I'd like to see a new edition with sections for Baptists written by somebody like Greg Welty to provide a Particular Baptist perspective. I know Dr. Reymond is following his confession, but I think he gives short shrift to Baptist perspectives. Having another perspective on those issue particular to us would help tremendously in terms of making a systematic that works across more than one tradition.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy Millard Erickson's books because of the way he presents issues.
ReplyDeleteThere is a problem because many of the best books in terms of their value as surveys aren't necessarily the best in terms of doctrine.
Wow, cool, I just noticed that Carson and Moo's Intro to the NT is available online for free here!
ReplyDeleteHey guys. I was wondering if you know if Paul Ellingworth teaches Hebrews anywhere...if so where? Or if there are any other top scholars on Hebrews who teach a course in it?
ReplyDeleteBTW-I just finished Revelation as a sermon series and I used Poythress & Beale as my two top commentaries. Excellent recommendation for those two. I recommend Poythress to help you develop sermon outline/preaching schedules and Beale on exegetical help.