Annual Survey of Bible Reference Works for Preaching Magazine

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preachingmag books 2013

I have recently finished this year’s survey of new study Bibles and Bible reference works for Preaching Magazine (links to most of the previous years’ installments can be found on the “Publications” page of this site). The photo above shows most of the books which are dealt with in the article which is scheduled to appear in the September-October issue.

I have commented on some of these books here along the way as I have worked through them. The article will include my “top picks” from the books published in the last year. If you’ve not checked out Preaching Magazine before, I encourage you to do so. they provide a lot of helpful resources.

Dennis Kinlaw, Lectures in Old Testament Theology

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Last week I spent some time in Lectures in Old Testament Theology, by Dennis Kinlaw (with John Oswalt). This is a very useful summary of Old Testament teaching. It is essentially the transcripts of oral addresses and thus it reads very easily. Though aware of the academic issues, these addresses are pitched at a level for interested lay people and students. The volume is especially strong on theology and application.

I liked how he placed the Psalms at the center of Old Testament theology (see below).

Here are a few quotes to illustrate the approach of the book:

“The basis of the ministry of the church of Christ is in the Scripture” (13).

“The place to begin reading the Old Testament theologically is with the book of Psalms” (13).

“…my concern is that too often we separate theology from worship. If the goal of theology is the knowledge of the true God, the end result of that experience ought to be adoration and praise and prayer” (13).

“The book of Psalms is, without question, one of the greatest pieces of human literature” (13).

“…let us take Psalms for our starting point, because here is where we find what Israel really believed, and how it affected their daily lives” (14).

“…it is, as I have said, the truest record of Israel’s faith. The Psalms portray Israel at prayer. And it is when we pray that we find out what we really believe, what our theology actually is” (15).

“You will not find Him in a bit of superficial reading. You must immerse yourself in the text. This is not because God is hiding Himself or ‘playing hard to get.’ He wants to be found far more than we want to find Him. It is just that we are so superficial that God cannot break through us very easily. So you live in the text. You must get to the place where God’s Word is part of you. But if you do, you will go back and give thanks for this study the rest of your days, not because of the teacher or the textbook, but because of the exposure to the Word of God” (16).

“One of the reasons the New Testament does not live for us is because we do not really know the Old Testament the way we should” (17).

“The Bible’s purpose is that we might have communion with God” (21).

Invitation to the Psalms

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I am not typically pleased or impressed with guides to the Psalms. The Psalms are examples of engagement with God meant to be used and most study guides treat them as objects of analysis. While the guides often make true statements, they end up with abstract categorizations rather than helps for making use of these songs and prayers in pouring out our hearts to God.

Therefore, when I received a copy of Invitation to the Psalms: A Reader’s Guide for Discovery and Engagement by brothers Rolf and Karl Jacobson, I did not expect much. However, I was delightfully surprised. These authors get the Psalms. Here are two exemplary quotes:

“The psalms are meant to be read, they are meant to be experienced. Analysis of poetry is helpful and important – but only if that analysis serves to assist the reader to enter into a poem with greater sensitivity” (1).

“Because the psalms are the poetry of faith, they are not meant to be studied; they are meant to be read. The prayers of the Psalter are meant to be prayed. The songs of the Psalter are meant to be sung. The lessons of the Psalter are meant to be lived. The angry psalms are meant to be shouted. The meditations are meant to be meditated upon. When it comes to Psalm 23, the most well-known of all psalms, it is not meant as a lesson for a teacher to commend to a student, but a prayer that is meant to be prayed:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;

he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths,

For his name’s sake. (vv. 1-3)

“The psalm does not just describe trust: it is an expression of trust. When the faithful follower prays the psalm, the psalm does not merely express how the pray-er feels. Rather, through praying the psalm the pray-er comes to trust.

“If there is any value in learning about the psalms, it is just this – that by learning about the psalms, the students may learn to read, pray, sing, shout, chant, and wonder the psalms” (2).

This is a useful tool in learning to pray and sing the psalms.

A Mouth Full of Fire

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mouth full of fire A Mouth Full of Fire: The Word of God in the Words of Jeremiah. His opening chapter which surveys the various approaches which are often referred to as “biblical theology” is very helpful in itself. He then expounds how the book of Jeremiah presents to us a theology of revelation.

Here are a couple of good quotes to give you a flavor of the book:

“To read the Bible as divine address does not mean ignoring its rootedness in human language and culture, but it does mean that these human texts are read in a particular way, and with a particular attitude of humble listening, that suggests that the best readings of Scripture will not only be confessional but will take place in confessional contexts, and in prayer and by the illumination of the Holy Spirit” (37).

“Where Scripture is carefully read and obediently heard, where it is joyously sung, prayed, studied, and proclaimed, there God makes himself present in the living and transforming person of his Word, and there he fashions a forgiven people into the words by which his Word will speak to tear down this world, this city of death, and build the eternal city of God” (290).

Bucer on Pastoral Care & Evangelism, Once More

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I have previously commented on Martin Bucer’s earnest comments on the importance of evangelism and personal pastoral care drawing from his book, Concerning the True Care of Souls. I have recently come across further comments along the same line in his work, De Regno Christi (On the Kingdom of Christ).

I share this as a further example that our Christian forebears saw pastoral ministry as more than preaching. It is not less than preaching, but it requires personal interaction with individuals as well as Paul made clear in the summary of his own ministry in Acts 20:17ff (which is the text Bucer alludes to in the following quote).

Those pastors and teachers of the churches who want to fulfill their office and keep themselves clean of the blood of those of their flocks who are perishing should not only publicly administer Christian doctrine, but also announce, teach and entreat repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and whatever contributes toward piety, among all who do not reject this doctrine of salvation, even at home and with each one privately. . . . For the faithful ministers of Christ should imitate this their master and chief shepherd of the churches, and seek most lovingly themselves whatever has been lost, including the hundredth sheep wandering from the fold, leaving behind the ninety-nine which remain in the Lord’s fold (Matt 18:12).

Brian Vickers’ New Book on Justification

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vickers justification

I recently received my copy of Brian Vickers’ new book, Justification by Grace through Faith: Finding Freedom from Legalism, Lawlessness, Pride and Despai. I had the privilege of reading this book in pre-published form and writing a commendation for it. Vickers provides an example not only of constructing theology well but also of grasping the spirit of the doctrine and applying it well. Tom Schreiner said, “This is the first book I would give to a scholar or layperson desiring to learn more about justification.” That is high praise indeed!

This is a good book written by a pastoral scholar who is not chasing abstract ideas but is seeking to shepherd souls by the word of God for the glory of God. I commend it to you

Here is my blurb for the book:

Brian Vickers’ Justification is a delightful read with its pastoral warmth and engaging style. Too easily and too often this crucial doctrine becomes merely an abstract, academic debate. Vickers, while aware of the debates, constantly roots the discussion in the impact and benefit this teaching should have for life according to the Scriptures. Vickers’ years of teaching this material in seminary and missions settings is apparent as he explains carefully and well, writing in a way that flows easily. I warmly commend it to all.

Ghosts of Dreams

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Ghosts of Dreams

WE are all of us dreamers of dreams,
On visions our childhood is fed;
And the heart of a child is unhaunted, it seems,
By ghosts of dreams that are dead.

From childhood to youth’s but a span,
And the years of our life are soon sped;
But the youth is no longer a youth, but a man,
When the first of his dreams is dead.

‘Tis a cup of wormwood and gall,
When the doom of a great man is said;
And the best of a man is under a pall
When the best of his dreams is dead.

He may live on by compact and plan
When the fine bloom of living is shed,
But God pity the little that’s left of a man
When most of his dreams are dead.

Let him show a brave face if he can;
Let him woo fame and fortune instead;
Yet there’s not much to do, but to bury a man
When the last of his dreams is dead.

– William Herbert Carruth

How Malachi Speaks to us Today

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Peter Adam’s new book, The Message of Malachi, from The Bible Speaks Today series, is really good! It is well written and is a wonderful sermonic exposition of the book with sound theological application for today.

Here is a sample from the introduction which is helpful and illustrates the approach of the commentary.

“There are three ways in which this book is the word of the Lord for us today.

First, Malachi saw that at the heart of God’s people, the church, must lie a deep, radical, and overwhelming conviction that God loves them.  Without this at our heart, we are lost.

Second, Malachi knew that the greatest sin of God’s people is the sin against God.  We easily get confused about sin.  We see that we can sin against ourselves, and harm ourselves.  We see that we can sin against others, and harm them.  But we find it harder to take seriously our sin against God. Yet here is the fundamental sin, the source of all sin.

Third, in Malachi’s day the people of God were in a mess.  While they were not actually running away from God, and were not worshipping idols, as they had in the past, they seemed to lack the energy to serve God wholeheartedly.  They tried to live in neutral territory, neither serving God too enthusiastically, nor turning away from God too enthusiastically.  In this they were self-deceived.  They thought they were in a grey no-man’s land, where they neither needed to respond whole-heartedly to God, nor refuse him.  In fact they were in a vicious circle, a terrifying whirlpool, sinking further and further to destruction.  Malachi is God’s effective remedy for such a situation among the people of God.” 14-16

Cyril of Alexandria on Proper Spirit for Biblical Study

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A good warning from the 5th Century:

“The Spirit does not reveal the truth to those who spend too much effort preparing for battle and who exult in tangled and deceptive arguments rather than rejoice in the truth. This is because the Spirit does not ‘enter a deceitful soul’ [Wis 1:4], nor does he otherwise allow his precious pearls to be rolled under the feet of swine. Instead, he would rather spend his time with simple minds because they move without guile and avoid superfluous sophistry.”

(Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John: Volume 1, p. 5)

Tolstoy, Pride & Pastors

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For some of my early summer reading I worked through a variety of smaller, early 20th century books I’ve picked up along the way. One such book is Henry Churchill King’s It’s All In the Day’s Work (Macmillan, 1916). Not everything in the little book is commendable, but it does contain gold.

At one point King enlists Tolstoy in order to address the “unconscious pharisaism of intellectual and spiritual pride.” King has in view those who want to help others but approach this “help” with the assumption that they are better than those they seek to help. King notes “how certain he [Tolstoy] is that it is highly probable that those who feel so competent to help, are themselves less and have therefore less to give than those they desire to aid…” (39).

The following quote from Tolstoy is long and a bit convoluted to modern ears, but it contains a valuable point. This comes from a letter in response to one who asked for Tolstoy’s critique of the ethical tone of a certain play.

“I refer to the opinion that men, provided or not provided with diplomas, as narrow-minded as they are uncultivated, but possessing great assurance, conclude, one knows not why, that since they are so intelligent and worthy, they need not try to govern themselves, but that their vocation and sacred duty is to enlighten, organize, and direct the lives of others.  Some of them would accomplish this with the aid of the old government, others with that of the new one, while still others, like your Peter, would bring this about by offering this ‘ignorant and stupid people,’ this same people, which, by its labor, feeds these good-for-nothings, the grand truths of Christianity which they imagine themselves overflowing with.”

“The condition sine qua non of all good and all useful activity is humility.  As soon as humility is lacking good becomes evil.” (40-41)

There is overstatement here, of course. People do need the “grand truths of Christianity,” but we distort those truths when we present them with such arrogance, or when we act like we need not govern ourselves. Let us have a gospel confidence, one rooted in God’s truth not in ourselves. Then boldness and humility can be joined.