Let the Reader Understand: A Guide to Interpreting and Applying the Bible


Dan G. McCartney - 1994
    It suggests ways to understand the Bible's various literary genres: theological history, law, poetry, prophecy, parables, epistles, and apocalyptic. And it demonstrates how to apply Scripture to worship, witness, and guidance. This new edition discusses trends and movements influencing biblical interpretation during the last ten years. The first edition was published by Victor Books in 1994.

Biblical Authority After Babel: Retrieving the Solas in the Spirit of Mere Protestant Christianity


Kevin J. Vanhoozer - 2016
    Is it time to consider the Reformation to be a 500-year experiment gone wrong?World-renowned evangelical theologian Kevin Vanhoozer thinks not. While he sees recent critiques as legitimate, he argues that retrieving the Reformation's core principles offers an answer to critics of Protestant biblical interpretation. Vanhoozer explores how a proper reappropriation of the five solas—sola gratia (grace alone), sola fide (faith alone), sola scriptura (Scripture alone), solus Christus (in Christ alone), and sola Deo gloria (for the glory of God alone)—offers the tools to constrain biblical interpretation and establish interpretive authority. He offers a positive assessment of the Reformation, showing how a retrieval of "mere Protestant Christianity" has the potential to reform contemporary Christian belief and practice.This provocative response and statement from a top theologian is accessibly written for pastors and church leaders.

Principles of Biblical Interpretation


Louis Berkhof - 1950
    This textbook covers the history of hermeneutical principles, the proper conception of the Bible, grammatical interpretation, and historical and theological interpretation.

The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World


David F. Wells - 2008
    But to live as a true Protestant -- well, that's another matter. This book is a jeremiad against “new” versions of evangelicalism -- marketers and emergents -- and a summons to return to the historic faith, defined by the Reformation solas (grace, faith, and Scripture alone) and by a high regard for doctrine. Wells argues that historic, classical evangelicalism is marked by doctrinal seriousness, as opposed to the new movements of the marketing church and the emergent church. He energetically confronts the marketing communities and their tendency to try to win parishioners as consumers rather than worshipers, advertising the most palatable environment rather than trusting the truth to be attractive. He takes particular issue with the most popular evangelical movement in recent years -- the emergent church. Emergents, he says, are postmodern and postconservative and postfoundational, embracing a less absolute understanding of the authority of Scripture than traditionally held.The Courage to Be Protestant is a forceful argument for the courage to be faithful to what Christianity in its biblical forms has always stood for, thereby securing hope for the church's future.

Redemption Accomplished and Applied


John Murray - 1954
    Murray explores the biblical passages dealing with the necessity, nature, perfection, and extent of the atonement, and goes on to identify the distinct steps in the Bible's presentation of how the redemption accomplished by Christ is applied progressively to the life of the redeemed.

Choosing Your Faith: In a World of Spiritual Options


Mark Mittelberg - 2008
    Yet, while we hear these pleas, we're already functioning with existing beliefs—even if they are beliefs by default. So how do we choose what to believe—especially in the area of faith? Do we need to choose? In "Choosing Your Faith, " Mark Mittelberg encourages us, as Socrates does, not to lead an unexamined life. He invites us to examine why we believe what we believe. This examination will resonate with Christians and seekers alike.

City on a Hill: Reclaiming the Biblical Pattern for the Church


Philip Graham Ryken - 2003
    But we cannot compromise. More than ever before, it is imperative that Christians understand and embrace the biblical pattern for the church. Philip Graham Ryken knows that the changing face of America makes the need for the church to remain steadfast even more important. City on a Hill will provide readers with a deeper understanding of how to live for Christ in the twenty-first century: go back to the model set out in the first century. Sure to be an encouragement and challenge to anyone concerned about the effectiveness of the church today.

Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People's Hearts the Way Jesus Did


Randy Newman - 2003
    A much-needed look at sharing Christ with unbelievers, based not on the techniques of guerrilla hard-sell tactics, but on engaging questions and caring interaction. Filled with humor and stories, this book provides a challenging yet encouraging look at evangelism in our world today. This volume argues that asking questions and starting meaningful conversations is a far better method for sharing faith than prepared lectures or statements. It gives advice on what people need to hear in response to the world around them.Author was raised Jewish and has a unique, rabbinical outlook on evangelismEncouraging and usefulEasy-to-read, conversational styleStudy guide at the end to aid in teaching and discussion

True Paradox: How Christianity Makes Sense of Our Complex World


David Skeel - 2014
    We need to explain how we can discern qualities such as beauty and evil and account for our practices of morality and law.The complexity of the contemporary world is sometimes seen as an embarrassment for Christianity. But law professor David Skeel makes a fresh case for the plausibility and explanatory power of Christianity. The Christian faith offers plausible explanations for the central puzzles of our existence, such as our capacity for idea-making, our experience of beauty and suffering, and our inability to create a just social order. When compared with materialism or other sets of beliefs, Christianity provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding human life as we actually live it.We need not deny the complexities of life as we experience it. But the paradoxes of our existence can lead us to the possibility that the existence of God could make sense of it all.

Knowing God


J.I. Packer - 1973
    I. Packer's classic has been an important tool to help Christians around the world discover the wonder, the glory and the joy of knowing God. In 2006, Christianity Today voted this title one of the top 50 books that have shaped evangelicals. This edition is updated with Americanized language and spelling and a new preface by the author. Stemming from Packer's profound theological knowledge, Knowing God brings together two important facets of the Christian faith: 1. Knowing about God and 2. Knowing God through the context of a close relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. Written in an engaging and practical tone, this thought-provoking work seeks to transform and enrich the Christian understanding of God. Explaining both who God is and how we can relate to him, Packer divides his book into three sections: The first directs our attention to how and why we know God, the second to the attributes of God and the third to the benefits enjoyed by a those who know him intimately. This guide leads readers into a greater understanding of God while providing advice to gaining a closer relationship with him as a result.

C. S. Lewis's Case for Christ: Insights from Reason, Imagination and Faith


Art Lindsley - 2005
    As Art Lindsley says, "Lewis knew what it was like not to believe. He struggled with many doubts along the way to faith. Since he was an ardent atheist until age thirty-one, Lewis's experience and education prepared him to understand firsthand the most common arguments against Christianity." As a scholar and teacher of literature at Oxford, Lewis confronted many questions:Aren't all religions just humanly invented myths?Doesn't evil in the world indicate an absence of any personal or loving God?Why should what is true for one person be true for me, especially when it comes to religion?How can anyone claim that one religion is right?Why follow Jesus if he was just another good moral teacher?This book provides a readable introduction to Lewis's reflections on these and other objections to belief in Jesus Christ and the compelling reasons why Lewis came to affirm the truth of Christianity. Art Lindsley is a helpful and reliable guide to the voluminous and sometimes challenging writings of Lewis for both seekers and those who want to grasp their own faith more deeply.

Grand Central Question: Answering the Critical Concerns of the Major Worldviews


Abdu H Murray - 2014
    The main worldviews each tend to stress a different central question. Secular humanism focuses on: What is the inherent value of human beings? Pantheism emphasizes: How do we escape suffering? Islam's main concern is: How is God great? Abdu Murray digs deeply into these three representatives of major worldviews of our day: secular humanism, pantheism and theism (specifically in the form of Islam). This lawyer and former Muslim brings compassion, understanding and clarity to his analysis, comparing the answers of each view to the central message of Christianity.

Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview


Michael W. Goheen - 2008
    The book tells the story of Western culture from the classical period to postmodernity. The authors then provide an analysis of how Christians live in the tension that exists at the intersection of the biblical and cultural stories, exploring the important implications in key areas of life, such as education, scholarship, economics, politics, and church.

All That Is in God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism


James E. Dolezal - 2017
    James E. Dolezal’s All That Is in God provides an exposition of the historic Christian position while engaging with these contemporary deviations. His convincing critique of the newer position he styles “theistic mutualism” is philosophically robust, systematically nuanced, and biblically based. It demonstrates the need to maintain the traditional viewpoint, particularly on divine simplicity, and spotlights the unfortunate implications for other important Christian doctrines—such as divine eternality and the Trinity—if it were to be abandoned. Arguing carefully and cogently that “all that is in God is God Himself,” the work is sure to stimulate debate on the issue in years to come.

What's Your Worldview?: An Interactive Approach to Life's Big Questions


James N. Anderson - 2014
    And how you answer is one of the most important things about you.Not sure what you'd say? Join James Anderson on an interactive journey of discovery aimed at helping you understand and evaluate the options when it comes to identifying your worldview. Cast in the mold of a classic -Choose Your Own Adventure- story, What's Your Worldview? will guide you toward finding intellectually satisfying answers to life's biggest questions--equipping you to think carefully about not only what you believe but why you believe it and how it impacts the rest of your life.