notes, maps, cross-references, and other features that delineate them as a “study” bible. At the time I performed this aggregation (1/16/12) there were 1,127 results for study [...]]]> This post is a review of the currently available study bibles. These are English translations of the Old and New Testaments found in the Christian Bible that include

notes, maps, cross-references, and other features that delineate them as a “study” bible. At the time I performed this aggregation (1/16/12) there were 1,127 results for study bibles on Christian Book Distributor’s website.^[1] I have attempted to compile almost all of them below – excluding study bible’s which differ only by translation or are foreign language. I’ve also excluded a number of others which I include at the bottom in a list for anyone interested in performing further research.

Other Notes About Versions:

• MacArthur Study Bible – Written by Rev. John MacArthur. MacArthur is well-known for his evangelical commentaries and controversial position on lordship salvation. This study bible takes a premillennial eschatological position and a limited atonement interpretation.
• ESV Study Bible – Includes 50 articles.
• Zondervan Study Bible – Includes articles.

Notes:

1. Visuals includes maps, charts, and illustrations.

Other Options:

The following for various subjective reasons where not included in this list…if you believe these offer some distinctive feature which should be included please let me know and I will reconsider…

Amplifications:

• The Expanded Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2011).
• Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible (Kregel Publications, 1994).

Bibliography:

• Wikipedia. MacArthur Study Bible.
• ESV MacArthur Study Bible Official Website.
• ESV Study Bible Official Website.
• Wikipedia. Zondervan NASB Study Bible.
• Official Zondervan NASB Study Bible Product Page.

1. ^[1] I also utilized Amazon’s site. A search for “study bible” on the same day filtered down to include only books returned 10,309 results. I reviewed 528 of these results, after which time I was fairly confident I had located most of the major study bibles and a few of the smaller ones. ↩

You can find introductory material and the introductory/preface interaction here. Without further delay…

Chapter 1. Reimagining the Church as an Organism.

[This post is in large part thanks to Andrew Hess, who has pushed my thinking on organic church and 'forced' me to do more reading and thinking about underlying church philosophy.]

In this post I will attempt to summarize and respond to many of the main thoughts in

[This post is in large part thanks to Andrew Hess, who has pushed my thinking on organic church and 'forced' me to do more reading and thinking about underlying church philosophy.]

In this post I will attempt to summarize and respond to many of the main thoughts in Frank Viola‘s work Reimagining Church which argues that church is not as it should be and requires a radical abandonment and re-imagining. If you, like me, “love the church” Viola’s writings can be quite inflammatory. Yet, we must admit that the issues he raises are the same issues we talk about over meals, in classes, and bring before God in our prayers. Let’s see if we can pass over the broad generalizations and take to heart the specific errors and admonitions that may be useful to us.

Preface:

• “After thirteen years of attending scores of churches and parachurch organizations, I took the daring step of leaving the institution church.”
  • Red Flag. I am not surprised Viola didn’t find “church” in these thirteen years, one has to be the church to find the “church” – and moving between churches this much (unless this is significant hyperbole) does not allow one to be the church.
• “…the spiritual growth that I myself experienced seemed to occur outside of traditional church settings.”
  • I’d agree, the church is not a replacement for our personal spiritual growth but a facilitator of this growth.
• “…something deep within me longed for an experience of church that mapped to what I read about in my New Testament.”
  • I’m expecting him to develop this idea further…what exactly does he want to experience that the NT church had? The order of service? The community? The passion?
• “By no means am I criticizing the church. In fact, I’m writing this volume because I love the church very much.”
  • I know, I know, we might feel a little skeptical about this statement – but Scripture tells us that loves “hopes” and “believes the best” – so let us apply this metric to Viola.
  • I think Viola does desire the best for the church, the question is whether the best he conceives is always the best in all places, everywhere, for all people and whether the manner of the discussion is helpful or harmful to the furtherance of the church – as it truly is and should be.
• “Please note that my aim in writing is constructive rather than controversial.”
  • Ahh, now that is an attitude to work with, it will take one far in making progress – whatever arena of life one may be working in.

Introduction:

• “We are living in an age hopelessly below the New Testament pattern–content with a neat little religion.” – Martin Lloyd-Jones.
  • Ouch! Viola that’s not fair! You can’t quote people within our own “church” circles to undermine our ideas! Ouch!
• “Countless Christians…have come to the conviction that the institutional church as we know it today is not only ineffective, but it’s also without biblical merit.”
  • On the one hand, “church” can be extremely ineffective…on the other hand – how does one define the “institutional church”?^[1] Can one broadly stroke so many various churches with one broad brush?
  • I like to encourage specific criticism, rather than generalizations. Tell me what is wrong specifically, not generically, I am a little concerned, thus, by the general broad strokes…but, hey, we are just at the beginning – give Viola some time.
• Viola suggests that the church is an organism not an institution, and notes that most Christians agree with this statement but “as they formed those very words, they continued to be devout members of churches that were organized along the lines of General Motors and Microsoft.”
  • Yes, I agree the church is an organism…No, I don’t attend a mega-church, so it’s not like GM or Microsoft, but might be a bit like the mom and pop store on the corner…
• “The ‘institutional church’ is a system–a way of doing ‘church.’”
  • I’d suggest that everything organic (in movements, etc.) has a tendency to move towards instititutionalism, and that this is not necessarily (in and of itself) a bad thing, rather that when the organic is sacrificed on the altar of the institution (and this is a natural tendency), then one has a bad thing.
• “…I am referring to those churches that operate primarily as institutions that exist above, beyond, and independent of the members that populate them. These churches are constructed on programs and rituals more than relationships. They are highly structured, typically building-centered organizations regulated by set-apart professionals…who are aided by volunteers…They require staff, building, salaries, and administration. In the institutional church, congregants watch a religious performance once or twice a week led principally by one person…, and then retreat home to live their individual lives.”
  • I like this definition, though the first sentence sounds nice, I found it lacking in preciseness. I cannot conceive of a church that exists in this manner…at least not any growing/thriving church…I think even businesses realize that they exist b/c and by the participation of their customers.
  • “programs” – yeah, we have those…not sure if that is a bad thing in and of itself? Programs can facilitate or destroy organic life.
  • “rituals” – yeah, we have some of those…and again, I’d say these can be bad, or not. It depends on whether we are intentional in our execution – individually and corporately. Do our rituals facilitate interaction with God? If not, by all means throw them out the window.
  • “highly structured” – yeah, and this can be a problem…unless the structure facilitates rather than restricts.
  • “building-centered” – yeah, that can happen too…but I don’t think many church leaders are building-centered…and, yet again, buildings can facilitate or inhibit organic life.
  • “set-apart professionals” – CCC doesn’t have those right now…we are all volunteers – but I’d love to see us have one! I can’t tell you how much work it is to do while working full-time! So, I’m not sure that I see this as being an issue either, necessarily.
  • “congregants watch a religious performance” – Yes, this is oftentimes true…and this is bad…but I do not want “church” to be this, and I don’t think most other ministry leaders do either – spot-on criticism.
  • “led principally by one person” – Spot on again, but again, not how it needs to be, should be, or how most ministry leaders want it to be.
  • “retreat home to live their individual lives” – Yes, this is very true…but the “church” can encourage this behavior or it can encourage life in community, life as part of the body.
• “In short, this book reimagines a vision of church that’s organic in its construction; relational in its functioning; scriptural in its form; Christ-centered in its operation; Trinitarian in its shape; communitarian in its lifestyle; nonelitist in its attitude; and nonsectarian in its expression.”
  • Yes! Yes! YES! I don’t know many who would object to this reimagination of church…so what is all the hubbub about? Its about implementation. I think people generally agree with Viola’s essential evaluation of the issues and ideas of what church should be, but the means by which this is accomplished – and whether it can be accomplished within church bounds is what is the rub.

Whew! I had intended to write on the first chapter as well, but this post is quite long already and its 1:00 a.m. and I have to work in the morning! Pahh! Well, there ya go. Feel free to give me your feedback and I’ll try to post on Chapter 1 soon.

Related articles

• Top Posts for 2010 (frankviola.wordpress.com)
• Pagan Christianity – A Review (brighthub.com)
• Rethinking the Church and Culture (frankviola.wordpress.com)
• Christian Post Interview: The Magnum Opus (frankviola.wordpress.com)

1. ^[1] Yes, I am purposely participating in the revolt against including punctuation within quotations. Viva la Geeks! ↩

Wow, this is pretty exciting and gets a big kudos from me to Logos and the SBL. They’ve completed and released for free download a Greek New Testament which offers revisions based upon the latest research and over 500 differences from the Nestle-Aland/UBS text. Kudos to Logos, SBL, [...]]]>

Wow, this is pretty exciting and gets a big kudos from me to Logos and the SBL. They’ve completed and released for free download a Greek New Testament which offers revisions based upon the latest research and over 500 differences from the Nestle-Aland/UBS text. Kudos to Logos, SBL, and Michael Holmes for this significant accomplishment! May it be used greatly for the glory of God!

In addition, Logos has released a total revamp of their website which includes some significant new features. The link above will take you to their top ten list – I’ll just highlight my favorites from that list: (a) faceted browsing, (b) improved searching, (c) recommended collections, and (d) new sorting options.

Related articles

• The Logos Press Release Concerning their SBL Greek New Testament (zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com)
• “Open Access SBL Greek New Testament” and related posts (ancientworldonline.blogspot.com)
• “On the SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)” and related posts (supakoo.com)
• “New Edition of the Greek New Testament” and related posts (euangelizomai.blogspot.com)

If you love studying the Scriptures – you’ll want to get your hands on a copy of Logos Bible Software. Logos is probably the largest manufacturer of bible software – and while there are competitors out there none can compare with both the sheer quantity [...]]]>

If you love studying the Scriptures – you’ll want to get your hands on a copy of Logos Bible Software. Logos is probably the largest manufacturer of bible software – and while there are competitors out there none can compare with both the sheer quantity of material available and the quality of the Logos 4.0 underlying software engine.

I buckled down and put myself on a payment plan and purchased the Logos Bible Software Scholar’s Edition Silver and I haven’t looked back since. This software is amazing and a huge blessing in my Scriptures studies and teaching!

Software Engine Highlights:

Logos is built on an impressively robust software engine that runs on both Windows and Mac computers. There are also user interfaces for the Apple iPhone and the web. Here are a few of the features I love:

• Mouse over any word in any resource and see a dictionary definition of the word.
• Extensive cross-referencing with a variety of resources – beyond the usual linking to commentaries, concordances, and bible dictionaries – for example, the inclusion of related images (of high quality and relevance), links to audio and transcripts of sermons on the same topic, and powerpoint layouts for specific sections of Scripture.
• The automatic passage and word study guides that appear when you search for a specific passage of Scripture and garner together the innumerable resources you need to pursue your studies.

Content Highlights:

The underlying engine would be magnificent in its own right, but it is really the content that I am most interested in and that will attract others. You can buy Logos at many different levels and each level includes differing content. I would suggest getting at least the Scholar’s Silver Edition. You can go on a payment plan and the resources included are simply amazing. Here are a few of my favorites:

• New American Commentary – This commentary series is written from an evangelical perspective and is exhaustive in its approach. It offers a tremendous amount of background and content analysis before one even dives into the commentary and the commentary focuses on providing insight not only at the verse level but also at the thought level. The cost to purchase this commentary set alone in print nearly covers the cost of Scholar’s Silver Edition.
• The Bible Knowledge Commentary – A smaller, two-volume commentary on the entire bible written by the faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary it is a bit dated at this juncture and will upset some for its heavy dispensational focus – but provides excellent insights from a conservative, evangelical, dispensational perspective in a concise format.
• The Bible Exposition Commentary – Warren Wiersbe’s ‘BE’ commentaries covering the entire New Testament. These commentaries are more lay/devotional in nature but still include a good bit of technical thought and are useful in sermon preparation or other teaching/devotional arenas.
• Holman New Testament Commentary – A series on the entire New Testament. This series is written more for pastors/teachers than academics – but does a good job of providing applicable insight into various passages.
• There are numerous volumes of a practical nature also included – these books focus on effective ministry and are extremely useful for anyone working in ministry.
• Just about any bible version you can imagine is included such as the NASB, NET, ESV, NLT, KJV, HCSB, and The Message.

What’s Missing:

There are a few enhancements I’d like to see Logos make. I’ve outlined them below:

• Audio Pronunciations: I’m self-taught in reading, and this is great except for when one needs to pronounce complex or unfamiliar words. I have sometimes been embarrassed when I accidentally butcher a word I’ve only seen on the printed page and never heard anyone speak aloud. It would be great to simply click on a word and hear a correct enunciation of English, Hebrew, and Greek words.
• Latin to English Translation: There are oftentimes phrases in Latin in the commentaries and various resources. Unfortunately, I don’t read Latin. It’d be nice to have a built-in translation facility to convert these phrases into English.
• Processing Offloading: The Logos software has always been known for being a bit heavy – liable to slowdowns and freezes – due to the heavy processing it is doing behind the scenes. Its certainly worth it for the intelligence the software has in providing the correct resources on-the-fly, but my Intel Centrino Duo laptop with 4 GB of RAM and a 256 MB video card still grinds to a halt. I’d like to see Logos work on offloading some of this processing to centralized servers, rather than doing all the work on my machine – and thus hopefully speeding things up a bit. They should still have the ability to do it on my local machine, in case I’m not connected to the internet or have a slow connection – and should do a quick analysis to determine which method will be faster – but this could make Logos an amazingly fluid application.

A Philosophical Difference:

I’m a bit of an open source fan. I grew up in a fairly poor family – there was not a lot of extra money floating around. My computers were always several years behind the times and oftentimes were given to me by generous individuals in the church or at great sacrifice in saving by my parents, or later, through significant endeavors on my own to earn and save money. I had no money for software and learned to scavenge for free alternatives for many years – out of necessity not b/c I didn’t want to spend anything on software.

Logos dominates the market and rightfully so…but I would like to see them move to a more open source philosophy. No, no, I’m not suggesting they abandon their model entirely. I’d like to suggest a nice hybridization which would be beneficial to those less economically fortunate individuals looking to study the Scriptures as well as to Logos.

Specifically, I’m suggesting that Logos continue to raise purchases of public domain resources as they do now – that is the way they gather together individuals who are willing to pay for the software to cover costs before they begin producing the software – but then once they have recouped the costs they move the public domain resources to be free.

Yes, yes, I understand that they bring significant added value to these free resources via all the interlinking, cross-referencing, and other features they integrate, but…that’s what the prepub would exist to accomplish.

How would this benefit Logos? Individuals such as myself used free applications like e-Sword for years. Many of the individuals using free alternatives know nothing of the power and content of Logos. Imagine getting your shoe in the door. Many a poor college student who currently uses a free application would switch to Logos – and when they secured their first position, purchase upgrades. Many individuals who now can only afford the base might one day secure a different economic position that allows them to purchase more content.

This would be a significant commitment on Logos part. They offer a significant number of public domain products at fairly high prices and these products make up a significant portion of their base products – but still, I think they could maintain their economic income while expanding their user base.

Further, I would suggest it is necessary to open the process of developing resources for Logos. They could use a verification process like Apple does for the iPhone app store to keep people from creating illegal materials – but there needs to be an ability for third parties to create resources – at least free resources – there could still be a licensing fee / royalty structure associated with premium resources.

Conclusion:

Logos Bible Software is simply amazing and well worth the monetary investment. I hope that Logos will move towards offering a free base edition which includes public domain resources. I believe this would allow Logos to consolidate its market leader position and would significantly assist the spread of the gospel throughout the world.

Related articles

• Logos 4 Mac released (tuaw.com)

There is a lack of biblical literacy in many, young and old, who attend Christian churches. This, sadly, occurs even amongst those in leadership positions. How is this to be remedied?

The issue is time for some – they simply lack the time or do not prioritize the time to spend in Scripture. The [...]]]> Introduction:

There is a lack of biblical literacy in many, young and old, who attend Christian churches. This, sadly, occurs even amongst those in leadership positions. How is this to be remedied?

The issue is time for some – they simply lack the time or do not prioritize the time to spend in Scripture. The problem for others though is more complex – and more easily resolved – they lack the means. Jumping into Scripture can be a bit like jumping into the deep end of the pool. Some will scorn me for saying this – but there are many passages in the bible I find difficult to understand and some that throw me into a complete and depressive tizzy.

As a youth I discovered William Barclay‘s Daily Study Bible. Barclay had written commentaries on each book of the New Testament over a period of years for the Anglican church. They were divided into small daily segments for devotional reading and while fairly concise managed to hit deeply upon a wide variety of topics and to faithfully handle the Scriptures in many aspects. They were reasonable to read alongside of one’s devotional reading – unlike so many of today’s commentaries which are so voluminous that one could never make progress in reading through the entireties of the Scriptures – mired always in the details.

I think there is a need for such a series today and for such a series to be promoted through the church and for weekly meetings to occur in which discussion of the past week’s readings can be discussed and pondered. I have hesitated thus far in recommending the DSB as such an option for several reasons:

1. William Barclay while generally maintaining to Christian orthodoxy occasionally shows his underlying modernism – and this could be a significant concern for the new or young believer.
2. The books are becoming somewhat dated, the quotations and illustrations not always relevant (I have not had a chance to read the revised editions, but these I understand to have dropped his own translation – which was a highlight to me of the originals).
3. There is no citations and no bibliographic data providing a way for those who find a particular passage interesting or confusing to find further resources.

I have been and continue to look for such a resource to recommend to the church. Someday, I hope to write such a reference (I already have registered the domain for this purpose at layeredbible.com) but I do not have the time available to me at this juncture for such an endeavor – someday if the Lord wills, He will provide the time (I do not think I have unique insight into the Scriptures, rather I find myself more a compiler, cataloger, and synthesizer of those who have gone in the past or are now).

For the time being…I have continued my research and decided to share this research here in this post.

Options:

• Lucado, Max. Life Lessons Series. Nelson Impact.
  • Covers the New Testament only.
  • Price is extremely reasonable at $6.99/volume.
  • Not what I’m looking for. While offering some good questions, etc. it doesn’t appear to provide much literary, historical, grammatical, theological, etc. info. You can see a sample chapter here.
• The Navigators. LifeChange Series. NavPress.
  • Covers O.T. and N.T.
  • Price is extremely reasonable at $6/volume.
  • A sample is available here, unfortunately it is an introductory chapter – not an actual chapter on the text.
• Willow Creek Association. New Community Series.
  • Covers some books of both the O.T. and N.T.
  • Priced at $6/volume.
• Deepening Life Together Series. Baker Books.
  • Covers some NT books.
• MacArthur, John. John MacArthur Study Guides. Nelson Impact.
• LifeGuide Bible Studies. Inter-Varsity Press.
  • Priced at $6/volume.
• NLT Life Application Bible Studies. Tyndale House.
  • Priced at $6/volume.
• Wiersbe, Warren. Wiersbe Bible Study Series. David C. Cook.
  • Covers OT and NT.
  • Priced at $7/volume.
• Stott, John. John Stott Bible Study Series. IVP Connect.
  • Price at $6/volume.
• Wiersbe, Warren. Be Series. David C. Cook.
  • $10/volume.
• Arthur, Kay. New Inductive Series. Harvest House Publishers.
  • O.T. and N.T.
  • $7/volume.
• Blackaby, Henry, Melvin Blackaby, Thomas Blackaby. Blackaby Bible Study Series. Thomas Nelson.
  • N.T.
  • $8/volume.
• Walk Through the Bible Series. Baker Books.
  • N.T.
  • $6/volume.
• Wright, N.T. For Everyone Series. IVP Connect.
  • My Comment: I’m not a huge fan of Wright’s writing style in these commentaries. While Wright series is intended as a successor to Barclay’s volumes, thus far I’ve found them too sermonic in nature – too many stories that don’t relate directly to the text.
  • N.T.
  • $6.50/volume.

Bibliographic:

1. I reviewed somewhere around 1100 items from Christian Book Distributor’s Bible Study and Curriculums section.

Introduction:

I’ve read a lot of books in my lifetime – some have been life-changing others time-wasting. The sheer volume of books being published each year is overwhelming – how do we choose what books to read? In this article [...]]]> [This is a work in progress...Revision history now added at the bottom of this article.]

Introduction:

I’ve read a lot of books in my lifetime – some have been life-changing others time-wasting. The sheer volume of books being published each year is overwhelming – how do we choose what books to read? In this article I will attempt to create a constantly evolving corpus of volumes that might serve as a basic primer for individuals looking to progress in their personal and spiritual growth.

It will include, first and foremost, volumes which apply to all readers and which I would consider life-changing for any reader. It also includes more “niche” topic books – books which apply to a single gender or life situation – but the “niche” will be statistically significant (e.g. a good number of readers will either have experienced or will know someone who has experienced these situations). I don’t expect anyone to read all of these niche volumes – they are here primarily as a resource. I don’t know how many times I’ve been faced with difficult circumstances in my life or in my relationship with others and felt at a total loss for how to successfully travel through these dark days. Hopefully, these resources will provide some guidance.

Purchasing Note:

I’ve linked these books to Amazon – b/c I have an Amazon Affiliate account and get a percentage of the sales I send to Amazon. That said, some of these books can be found for cheaper through Christian Book Distributors (CBD). Ach, it pangs me to give up my referral fees. =)

Coding:

I’m building a library I hope others can use, but it is also a library I will use. As such there are numerous volumes herein which seem to me to be the best possible volumes on a subject – however this comes from appearances, from hearsay, from reviews, from popularity, and so on. Please feel free to suggest alternative volumes. Those volumes which I have personally read are noted with an * following the title. Titles not given a full reading but at least glanced at are marked by **. All others have no markings – indicating I have not read them. Should authors, publishers, or others stumble upon these pages and desire to see these volumes moved to a * or at least a ** status, I won’t argue with free copies of the books in question.

Bibles:

• NLT (New Living Translation) Study Bible.*^[1]

Christian Living:

• Metamorpha: Jesus as a Way of Life (Kyle Strobel).*^[2]
• Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth (Richard Foster).*^[3]
• Desiring God (John Piper).*^[4]

Bible Study (General):

• Beginner:
  • How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Douglas Stuart, Gordon Fee).*^[5]
  • The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old and New Testaments (John Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck, ed.).**^[6]
  • The New Daily Study Bible (William Barclay).**^[7]
• Advanced:
   
  • An Introduction to the Old Testament (Tremper Longman III, Raymond B. Dillard).
  • An Introduction to the New Testament (D.A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo).
  • Old Testament Theology (Bruce K. Waltke).^[8]
  • New Testament Theology (I. Howard Marshall).^[9]
  • Commentary on New Testament Use of the Old Testament (G.K. Beale, D.A. Carson, ed.).
  • The NIV Application Commentary: New Testament (Zondervan).

Church History:

• Story of Christianity** (Justo Gonzalez).^[10]
• Pagan Christianity! (Frank Viola, George Barna).
• 131 Christians Everyone Should Know (Mark Galli).

Evangelism:

• Becoming a Contagious Christian (Bill Hybels, Mark Mittelberg).**

Prayer:

• Too Busy Not to Pray (Bill Hybels).
• Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference (Philip Yancey).

Theology:

• Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Wayne Grudem).^[11]

Personal Development:

• Everyone Communicates, Few Connect (John Maxwell).
• Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives (Dr. Richard Swenson).*^[12]

Parenting:

• Grace-Based Parenting (Tim Kimmel).

Marriage:

• The Five Love Languages, Secrets to Love that Lasts (Dr. Gary Chapman).^[13]
• Love & Respect (Dr. Emerson Eggerichs).**^[14]

Finances:

Physical Health:

Mental Health:

• Depression: A Stubborn Darkness (Edward T. Welch).
• Addiction: A Banquet in the Grave (Edward T. Welch).
• Unmasking Male Depression (Dr. Archibald D. Hart).
• The Obsessive-Compulsive Trap: Real Help for a Real Disorder (Dr. Mark E. Crawford).**^[15]

College:

• How to Stay Christian in College (J. Budziszewski).

Sexuality (General):

• Every Young Man’s Battle (Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker, Mike Yourkey).^[16]
• Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain (William M. Struthers). [HT: Annie Bolger]

Homosexuality:

Marital Infidelity:

Divorce:

• Living Beyond a Broken Marriage (Dr. David Hawkins).

Politics:

• The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church (Gregory Boyd).^[17]
• Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals (Shane Claiborne, Chris Haw). [HT: Evan Curry]
• Unleashing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America (Stanley Hauerwas). [HT: Evan Curry]

Abortion:

Leadership:

• The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (John Maxwell).*^[18]

Social Justice:

• When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself (Brian Fikkert, Steve Corbett).
• Blindsided by Grace: Entering the World of Disability (Robert F. Molsberry).
• Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches (Russell D. Moore).
• On the Threshold of Hope: Opening the Door to Healing for Survivors of Sexual Abuse (Diane Mandt Langberg).
• The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? (Richard Stearns). [HT: Laura Saloiye]
• The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (Shane Claiborne). [HT: Evan Curry]
• Evil & the Justice of God (N.T. Wright). [HT: Evan Curry]

Disability:

• Being Sick Well: Joyful Living Despite Chronic Illness (Jeffrey H. Boyd).

Church:

• The Purpose Driven Church (Rick Warren).*^[19]

Worship:

• For All God’s Worth (N.T. Wright). [HT: Andrew Vogel]

Classics:

• Diary of an Old Soul (George MacDonald).*^[20]
• Life Together (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).**
• The Cost of Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).**
• The Problem of Pain (C.S. Lewis).
• Pilgrim’s Progress (John Bunyan).** [HT: Kara Pickens]
• Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis).* [HT: Martha Mackey]
• Orthodoxy (G.K. Chesterton).** [HT: Martha Mackey]

Grieving:

• Grieving the Child I Never Knew (Kathe Wunnenberg).

Suffering/Pain:

• How Long, O Lord? (D.A. Carson). [HT: Annie Bolger]
• The Gift Nobody Wants (Philip Yancey). [HT: Annie Bolger]

Conflict:

Heaven/Hell:

• Surprised by Hope (N.T. Wright).**

Gender:

• Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (John Piper ed.).**
• Man as Male and Female: A Study in Sexual Relationships from a Theological Point of View (Paul K Jewett).* [HT: Kara Pickens]

Worldview:

• The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog (James W. Sire).
• Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (Andy Crouch). [HT: Evan Curry]

Youth Ministry:

• Purpose Driven Youth Ministry (Doug Fields).*

Missions:

• Let the Nations Be Glad (John Piper). [HT: Annie Bolger]
• From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (Ruth Tucker). [HT: Annie Bolger]

Biography:

• No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green (Melody Green).*
• My Struggle with Faith (Joseph Girzone).*

Science:

• Science and Religion: A New Introduction (Alister E. McGrath). [HT: Andrew Vogel]

Ongoing Reading:

• Max Lucado – Facing Your Giants, Fearless*, It’s Not About Me, Cure for the Common Life, The 3:16 Promise, You! God’s Brand New Idea, The Applause of Heaven**, Just Like Jesus, Cast of Characters, In the Grip of Grace, 3:16–The Numbers of Hope, He Chose the Nails, In the Eye of the Storm, Come Thirsty, He Still Moves Stones, God Came Near, The Great House of God, Outlive Your Life, For the Tough Time, Six Hours One Friday
• John Eldredge

Fiction:

• Adam (Ted Dekker).
• Demon: A Memoir (Tosca Lee).
• The Oath (Frank Peretti).

Secondary Bible Study:

• A Short Introduction to Hermeneutics (David Jasper). [HT: Kara Pickens]
• Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament (Peter Enns). [HT: Andrew Vogel]
• Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. (John Walton). [HT: Andrew Vogel]

Secondary Theology:

• Four Views on Hell (John F. Walvoord, Zachary J. Hayes, Clark H. Pinnock).
• Revelation: Four Views (Steven Gregg).
• Three Views on the Rapture (Richard R. Reiter, Paul D. Feinberg, Gleason L. Archer Jr., Douglas J. Moo).

Secondary Christian Living:

• Inside Out (Dr. Larry Crabb).*^[21]
• After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters (N.T. Wright). [HT: Evan Curry]

Secondary Church History:

• Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction (Bryan M. Litfin). [HT: Annie Bolger]

Secondary Classics:

• The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis).*

Research Sources:

• Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
• Christian Book Distributors.

Revision History:

• 6/5/10 – Added additional footnotes. Added Obsessive-Compulsive Trap to Mental Health. Added Secondary Classics section and moved The Great Divorce (Lewis) to it.
• 6/5/10 – Split Bible Study into Beginner and Advanced sections. Created Secondary Bible Study section, moved Jasper’s Hermeneutics, Enn’s Inspiration and Incarnation, and Walton’s Ancient Near Eastern Thought to secondary.
• 6/4/10 – Installed WP-Footnotes and rewrote all footnotes using this technology, also, updated footnote content.
• 6/3/10 – Added friends feedback on various worthwhile books.

1. ^[1] I am a big fan of the NLT as a readable translation of the Bible. I have heard great things about what the Study Bible notes provides, but haven’t personally had the opportunity to read these notes. I’ve decided not to respond to the inevitable criticisms of reading a thought-for-thought translation here, but if you wish to bring up the challenge…I believe I have a good response. =) ↩
2. ^[2] An extremely even-handed, readable volume written by a young author who balances the new trends of postmodernity with our historical and evangelical legacy. I especially appreciate his challenge to the new generations to not simply abandon the “old” churches which have hurt us and his extensive bibliography which provides a great jumping off point for further reading. ↩
3. ^[3] Covers the spiritual disciples. One of the best books I have ever read on the topic – extremely practical in nature. Foster’s Quaker beliefs do place some of his writings outside of what many would comfortably define as fundamentalism. Foster also depends heavily on Quaker figures and mystical figures for his quotations and sources, which will be foreign to many. ↩
4. ^[4] It took me three or four times to read this book…and then only a period of over a year. Piper is one of our brightest contemporary theological minds…yet, his pervasive Calvinism in the beginning of the book caused me to throw the volume down several times. Once one struggles past this (for those who struggle with Calvinism) the book is quite amazing. ↩
5. ^[5] If you only read a few books off this list, make this one of them. Stuart and Fee do an amazing job of enlightening our understanding of Scripture by helping us to understand the importance and role of history, culture, and literary form amongst other items as we read. ↩
6. ^[6] I read most of this volume during my undergraduate studies at Philadelphia Biblical University. While not extensive nor providing all views on the Scriptures it does provide a great quick reference on a book. In general, I imagine the studies will be acceptable to those in most evangelistic denominations with the exception of some prophetic materials which will be heavily dispensational in slant – something which many churches differ on. ↩
7. ^[7] William Barclay is one of the best commentators I have ever read. I have never found a replacement for his DSB series of commentaries – which are written for the lay reader yet reveal insights for all. His ability to make complex truths simple, intimate knowledge of Koine Greek, deep historical and cultural knowledge – all make his commentaries timeless. Barclay does have fairly unorthodox beliefs but tends to maintain a more orthodox position within these commentaries. ↩
8. ^[8] Winner of the 2008 Bible Reference & Study Christian Book Award. See also Tony Reinke’s review. ↩
9. ^[9] Winner of the 2005 Reference Works/Commentaries Christian Book Award. See Robert J. Cara’s review here. Note that Marshall is not dispensationalist, holds a more Arminian viewpoint, and argues against the New Perspective. Volume is generally evangelical in tone. ↩
10. ^[10] Gonzalez is a hero to me. I’m still reading this volume – b/c its actually two volumes with perhaps 1400 pages – but every word is worthwhile! ↩
11. ^[11] While I haven’t personally read, I only hear good things. ↩
12. ^[12] An extremely valuable book in our American work-a-holic culture. ↩
13. ^[13] A perpetual best-seller, no personal experience. ↩
14. ^[14] Heard high praises from many and have read a good portion myself. At times is a bit redundant – but perhaps that is because we forget truths, especially in our most intimate relationships? ↩
15. ^[15] A very small and easy read with a lot of helpful information on OCD. My subjective experience is that people with this disorder (including myself) seem to be a higher percentage in churches than the general population. ↩
16. ^[16] I’ve read this book and it is a good book. Being a sheltered homeschooler it introduced me to some aspects of male sexuality I was unfamiliar with at the time. Generally, though, I expect the topics tackled are well understood in the teenage male population. ↩
17. ^[17] Not read it, but it sounds interesting. At CBD its $2.00! Has received solid reader reviews at both CBD and Amazon. ↩
18. ^[18] John Maxwell is an excellent resource on leadership, has experience in both ministry and corporate leadership and writes in a very readable/enjoyable manner. His books are fairly concise as well. ↩
19. ^[19] I know, I know. Everyone hates the Purpose Driven Church…or at least a lot of people who frequent the circles I travel in…but I insist this is due to the misapplication of Warren’s principles rather than Warren’s principles in and of themselves. Warren repeatedly warns against cookie-cutting one’s church after Saddleback, and yet this is what has occurred in many situations and this is (largely) what people revolt against. Give it a chance – its still the best and most practical guide to “doing church” I’ve read. ↩
20. ^[20] MacDonald wrote this after losing two of his adult children in the same year. He wrote it over a period of a year – one small poem each day. It is a beautifully deep and devotional work and the poems tie into each other and reflect a soul hungering after God. ↩
21. ^[21] A challenging and insightful book by psychologist Dr. Larry Crabb. I don’t agree with everything Crabb says and find psychoanalytic theory (which seems to be appropriated) only a partial perspective…but still, worthwhile. ↩