Scot McKnight. A Community Called Atonement. Abingdon, 2007. 177 pp.
Scot McKnight has just published a book called A Community Called Atonement. McKnight is a first rate biblical scholar at North Park University and the man behind the curtain at the always engaging Jesus Creed blog. Using his exceptional writing skills, McKnight takes what can be a very tedious idea and brings it alive.
McKnight does a wonderful job of rescuing the debate from a narrow abstract battle to make this or that model prevail and relocates the discussion in the larger picture of God’s mission in the world. Atonement is not an end in itself. Atonement is a means toward accomplishing a mission; the mission of restoring of that which has been lost. McKnight locates the central themes of this restoration in the concepts of justice (mishpat), righteousness (tesedeq) and shalom. (128)
Reviewed by Michael Kruse.
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Mark Dever. What is a Healthy Church? Crossway, 2007. 128 pp.
I spoke to Mark Dever just about a year ago and asked him if there were any books in his future. At that time he mentioned that he’d soon have a book out dealing with personal evangelism but that he had nothing planned after that. It seems that his plans changed! The book on evangelism is due for release in just a few days (September 11). It has been preceded by What is a Healthy Church and will be followed by The Church and Her Challenges. What is a Healthy Church? is a shortened, introductory version of Dever’s previous book 9 Marks of a Healthy Church written primarily for people in the pews rather than the men in the pulpits. After all, church health is not the sole responsibility of a local church’s leadership.
Reviewed by Tim Challies.
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Thomas R. Schreiner & Shawn Wright. Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ. B&H, 2007. 364 pp.
Believer’s Baptism, edited by Schreiner and Wright, covers a multitude of theological and historical aspects all centered on the rite of Christian baptism. The goal of their presentation is to show that baptism is only for those who have professed faith in Christ and that the practice of infant- or paedo- baptism compromises the gospel itself. The book is well-researched, and the importance and preservation of this sacred Christian rite are found within this study.
Schreiner and Wright organize their presentation in 10 distinct chapters, each focusing on a different historical practice. Each chapter is written by a different author, focusing first on baptism proper and then often expanding the discussion into the mode and method. Each author concludes his section by summarizing his findings and explaining the necessity of holding to a baptismal view that is strictly for those who have professed faith in Christ.
Reviewed by Stewart MacLean Jr.
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Iain H. Murray. The Life of John Murray. Banner of Truth, 2007. 240 pp.
John Murray’s commentary on the book of Romans has long been considered the answer book for biblical expositors when they come to study the grand epistle. So when I see a biography come along that introduces me to the man behind the works like his Romans commentary and Redemption, Accomplished and Applied, I am helplessly drawn in.
The Life of John Murray is what we have come to expect from Ian Murray (no relation to John). It is a well-written enjoyable chronicle of the life of a significant evangelical player. Ian Murray is able to give us many details without drowning us in peripherals.
John Murray grew up in Scotland and served his country in the military during the first World War, even loosing an eye from a shrapnel blast. In journeying through Murray’s life it becomes clear that his family and country are tattooed on his innermost affections. Throughout his four decades in America he made over twenty trips over the Atlantic to see his family.
Reviewed by Erik Raymond.
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Colin E. Gunton. The Barth Lectures. T&T Clark (London), 2007. 285 pp.
It is a book that you listen to rather than read, as you eavesdrop on Professor Gunton taking his class on a guided tour of Barth’s theology from its intellectual background and nineteenth century influences; through its development in the commentaries on Romans, the correspondence with Harnack, and the book on Anselm; and then on into the mature thought of the Church Dogmatics, where the focus is on theological epistemology, the doctrine of God, and the Christology-and-soteriology (the hyphens make a substantive point).
The lectures, of course, were well prepared, replete with handouts and diagrams, but what you hear is not only Gunton’s take on Barth but also his taking on Barth even as he speaks. That is, we not only get theology, we actually get theologising—Barth “is a great man to learn to think theologically with”—as Gunton probes on his feet, sometimes with touching tentativeness.
Reviewed by Kim Fabricius.
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John W. Wright. Telling God’s Story: Narrative Preaching for Christian Formation. IVP, 2007. 166 pp.
The title is easily misread. The book does not deal with preaching through the narrative sections of the Word of God. The pastor of the Church of the Nazarene in Mid City proposes a style of pastoral preaching and care designed to confront the church with “God’s Story” and the church’s need to become a part of that story. He believes there is much wrong with contemporary Christianity and desires to reform it by changing some of the presuppositions pastors address when preaching. He is on target with much of his evaluation, and there is much of interest and profit for the preacher who is preaching for biblical transformation. One wonders about some of his historical evaluations of preaching (especially of Puritan preaching), but those minor things add interest to the book, even for those who might disagree with his evaluation.
Reviewed by Robert Talley.
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Sung Wook Chung, ed. Karl Barth and Evangelical Theology: Convergences and Divergences. Baker, 2007. 302 pp.
This is the second of the two Barth books that I read while on holiday. (See here for my impressions on his Evangelical Theology: An Introduction). This title is a compilation of essays on key ideas in Barth’s theology by leading evangelical scholars. All are agreed that Barth is worth studying and that evangelicals have something to learn from him. Most of the essays are appreciative and yet critical of his theological proposals.
The book has twelve chapters, each by a different scholar. The contributions vary in quality and tone. Several of the essays are really outstanding. The opening essay on Revelation by Gabriel Fackre helpfully introduces and critiques Barth’s understanding of this vital subject. In his A Person of the Book? Barth on Biblical Authority and Interpretation, Kevin Vanhoozer reflects on hostile reaction to Barth’s doctrine of Scripture by evangelicals. . . .
Reviewed by Guy Davies.
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John Shore. I’m OK—You’re Not: The Message We’re Sending Nonbelievers and Why We Should Stop. NavPress, 2007. 171 pp.
I was first introduced to this book by Kevin Bussey whose recommendation came as a result of his desire to be Jesus to friends he encounters every day (often as he sips a tall one at the local Starbucks). My attention was piqued when Paul Littleton also had it on his reading list. So, when I finally found it on a bookstore shelf, I relieved my wallet of the 13 bucks and the bookstore of its sole copy.
Continue reading ‘I’m OK—You’re Not | John Shore’
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Max Lucado. 3:16: The Numbers of Hope. Thomas Nelson, 2007. 240 pp.
It’s a match made in heaven (or that’s what Thomas Nelson Publishers must believe). In 3:16: The Numbers of Hope, one of the world’s best-known and best-loved Christian authors takes on the world’s best-known and best-loved Bible verse. Max Lucado has authored over 50 books, with sales exceeding an incredible 50 million copies in print. His books are regularly on the New York Times list of bestsellers and continually dominate the Christian charts (where he has had up to eleven books present at one time). 3:16 is as close as we could expect for a sure-thing bestseller. An unparalleled marketing campaign will all but guarantee it. It is no coincidence that the book will release on 9/11, allowing people to contrast numbers of despair with numbers of hope. The book will also stand as the centerpiece of a major global ministry initiative launching on Palm Sunday, 3/16/08. This book is going to make a splash.
Reviewed by Tim Challies.
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Lou Priolo. Pleasing People: How Not to Be An Approval Junkie. P&R, 2007. 255 pp.
Are you an approval junkie? Are you a person who depends too heavily, in spirit, conscience or morale, on the approval of others? How would you even know? These are the questions Lou Priolo tackles in his book Pleasing People. This is a book I read weeks ago and, for some reason, decided not to review. Yet over the weeks I’ve seen the fruit of reading this book in my life and in my walk with the Lord. I’ve seen shadows of the desire to please people not only in my life but in the lives of others. I felt it would be best for me to share the book with others.
Reviewed by Tim Challies.
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