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A Theology of Christian Counseling
More Than Redemption
 By: Jay Adams
This book is a must read for anyone who desires to learn more about counseling -- not just of others, but of himself. Adams connects biblical doctrine with practical living. He covers topics such as: Counseling and Special Revelation (Chapter 3), Counseling and the Trinity (Chapter 7), Counseling and Human Sin (Chapter 9), Counseling and Habit (Chapter 10), How Sin Affects Thinking (Chapter 11), and others. It might seem to overlap Adams' The Christian Counselor's Manual, also recommended on this site, but it does not. When I asked one of the mentors of my faith, Dr. S. Lance Quinn, whether I should read this book or not, Dr. Quinn replied, "Memorize it."
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A Thirst For Wholeness
By: Jay Adams
Adams walks his readers through different topics from the book of James. The chapters are concise and packed with powerful principles for living victoriously over sin. I cannot emphasize enough how helpful this book is by Adams. It is an excellent introduction to his style of writing and counseling. I read it in a very difficult time in my life, and remember returning back to it repeatedly to remind myself of its princilpes.
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Borden of Yale
By: Mrs. Howard Taylor
Most people are familiar with Borden cheese, or Elsie the Cow, one of Borden's cheese products. Few know of William Borden. Without telling all the details, this book introduces the reader to the life, the passion, the commitment, and the sacrifice of William Borden. He was from a very wealthy family, an incredible student and athlete, and he left it all to go to a 3rd world country to work with the needy there. I will not tell more, other than to say that his website's and OBC's saying is from William: "no reserves. no retreats. no regrets." Enjoy.
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Desiring God
Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
By: John Piper
This book is a "must read" for all who want to understand the link between holiness and happiness, between God's glory and man's satisfaction in life, and between pursuing obligations by reasons of "duty" verses reasons of "delight." This is Piper's magnum opus. If you need to meditate often to understand what he is saying, you're not alone. But do it, until you own it.
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Evangelical Hermeneutics
The New Verses the Old
By: Robert L. Thomas
This book is 509 pages of scholarly writing, by one of the remaining Evangelical scholars whose erudition appears to be without end (at least to this former student). I debated whether to add this book or not (it is quite a hill to climb!), but I decided to add it for the sake of those who want to strengthen their traditional, grammatical-historical hermeneutic.
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Faith Alone
The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification
By: R.C. Sproul
This is Dr. Sproul at his best, defending sola fide in justification. Although Sproul is professorial in his teachings (which is what I love about him!), the book is not a difficult read. Sproul includes a Latin Glossary, General Index, Index of Persons, and endnotes. The book defends the doctrine of justification by imputed righteousness, and calls Evangelicals to defend the necessity of the Reformation.
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Gladys Aylward
Christian Heroes: Then and Now
By: Janet & Geoff Benge
Awesome! What a book, what a life, what a God! A young housemaid from England becomes a Christian and wants to become a missionary. But she has no money, no social standing, and no connections on her own. But she believes she is called to China. And even after failing her Bible class and being dismissed from the missionary training school, she still trusts her God. What follows for this young girl and how she alone impacts China and the children of China is the stories movies are made of. The movie "The Inn of the Sixth Happinesses" (1958, 20th Century Fox, and the true title was Inn of Eight Happinesses) was fine, but this book tells the dramatic story. Do you need to be encouraged about what your great God can do through you if you believe and obey? Look no more, read this book ... no devour it!
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Israelology
The Missing Link in Systematic Theology
By: Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum
This book is the fruit of Fruchtenabum's 13-year thesis project at New York University. Being a messianic Jew, Fruchtenbaum writes passionately, fairly, and to the point. He covers Israel's past, present, and future from the perspectives of Covenant Postmillennialism, Covenant Amillennialism, Covenant Premillennialism, and Dispensationalism. Being a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M.) and The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Fruchtenbaum writes from the Dispensational perspective. He is fair and thorough in his treatment of other disciplines, quoting their own writers to build their own case for doctrine. The strength of Fruchtenbaum's book is in its thorough detail (the book is 1012 pages, reduced from its original 2200 thesis format). Fruchtenbaum discusses Israel's relationship to the unconditional covenants (Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic, and New) as well as to the conditional covenant (Mosaic). He discusses Israel's future in the Church Age, in the Tribulation, at the Secong Coming, and in the Messianic Kingdom. He discusses the regathering of Israel, the possession of the land, and he covers Romans 9:1-11:24 -- the Remnant of Israel and the Olive Tree. Since Fruchtenbaum writes with a commitment to the grammatical-historical hermeneutic of the Biblical writers (minus the Inspired Sensus Plenior Applications of the New Testament writers), he interprets the Scripture according the the normal rules of language and logic, and he avoids building major doctrines from inference and implication. This book is long, so put a pot of strong, caffeinated coffee on the stove and hit cruise control.
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John Calvin: A Heart for Doctrine, Devotion, & Doxology
By: Edited by Burk Parsons
"Do you know who John Calvin was?" The question that opens the book. Most people do not. In this one book, 19 different contributors (the book has 19 chapters) provide excellent information on Calvin the man, the theologian, the pastor, the father, and the leader. This book is not dry, but very clear and very encouraging. Many people think of Calvin as stern, theologically-minded, and disconnected from the sufferings of common people. Not true. This book does a great job of debunking that. For example when the plague ravaged through Geneva in 1542, its first of five outbreaks, Calvin personally visited those afflicted, at the risk of his own life. Many other pastors who followed his lead in this lost their lives, but Calvin kept going. It is a very good book, very encouraging. I was sad to finish it.
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Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome
By: Kent and Barbara Hughes
What a great book .... What are your expectations for ministry, from ministry? Do you know? Do you know what you are seeking, when it all comes down to it, and when all the "Christian" filters are off? Are your expectations biblical, are your desires pure, and are you willing to do ministry even if it means you live and die a nobody in the eyes of the world, and didn't have any measurable success in ministry the way the world defines success, and yet your joy was in Him, your delight was in Him, and your reward will be mostly in the next life?
How does the Lord define success? What is a successful ministry in His eyes? Kent and Barbara Hughes answer that question. This book should be a textbook for every seminary student.
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Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
By: Thomas Brooks
This book is a classic, showing how Satan deceptively lures us into sin. But beware! Brooks shows us our own willingness to be deceived in order to get what we want! Brooks gets straight to the point, which I love. For example, he opens the book with these words of encouragement/warning: "Reader, if it be not strong upon thy heart to practice what though readest, to what end dost thou read? To increase thine own condemnation?" Ouch ... can you feel the scalpel?
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Revelation 20 and the Mellennial Debate
By: Matthew Waymeyer
Matt Waymeyer is a graduate of The Master's Seminary, and this book is from a class he taught at The Logos Bible Institute at Grace Community Church. The strength of the book is that it lays out the pro's and con's of the three Millennial positions -- premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial, in summary format, with writers from each position defending the position in their own words. He covers Revelation 20:1-6, with emphasis on the timing of Satan's binding, the nature of the first resurrection, the duration of the Thousand Years, the Millennial reign of Christ, and the Chronology of Revelation 19-20. It is written in outline format, which is also very helpful.
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The Christian Counselor's Manual
By: Jay Adams
This is another book that Christians ought to have in their library. It is a great reference book, offering biblical answers to personal and occupational counseling issues. Most importantly, it offers biblical presuppositions for the counseling process, and applies biblical, presuppositional thinking to topics such as love, feelings, anger, depression, hope, fear, self-pity, schizophrenia, and many others. It strength is in its ability to give biblical wisdom on multiple topics.
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The Gospel According to Jesus
What Does Jesus Mean When He Says,
By: John F. MacArthur
I remember reading this book when it was first released in 1988. The book demonstrates from the Gospels that saving faith is more than simply recognizing certain "facts" about Jesus. Saving faith involves assensus (intellectual assent), noticia (knowledge), and fiducia (volitional trust), which MacArthur defends from the words of Jesus in the gospels. This book addresses what it really means to be a Christian, not from MacArthur's words, but from the lips of Jesus Himself.
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The Titanic's Last Hero
By: Moody Adams
This an excellent devotional book regarding the life and last night of John Harper (I call it devotional because you cannot help but be encouraged and humbled by this man's humility, passion, and power). John was a pastor who was on that fateful boat as it plunged to its watery grave on April 14, 1912. Harper was a spontaneous hero, yelling for "women, children, and the unsaved" to get into the lifeboats, including his 6 year old daughter, Nana, who had lost her mother 4 years earlier, and now would be left as an orphan in the arms of the Almighty God of whom John preached. If you get it, enjoy. I also enjoyed that the book includes short letters from John's brother and friends, who all wrote shortly after the tragedy to put on paper the life of this great man -- first-hand accounts.
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They Speak With Other Tongues
By: John Sherrill
I had a missionary stay at my house who has been ministering in Haiti for 35 years, and started an orphanage and a school in Haiti. My family enjoyed her company very much, and I personally was encouraged by her unfailing stamina and constant faith in a difficult Haitian ministry. Having adopted 2 children from Haiti, I was all ears to her insight and knowledge about the inner workings of the country and the people. She has a genuine and passionate love for my family, and we for her. And it is from that basis that all our discussions flowed. In our fellowship, she expressed her desire to see me be "baptized with the Spirit," and to enjoy the Spirit's power in ways she believes I presently do not know -- notably by prayer in tongues. I have no doubt that her belief is that my wife and I are living in the waters of faith up to our ankles or maybe loins (as she referenced it from Ezekiel 47), but if we would seek the second baptism we could "swim" as she does. But rather than debate the issues (the absence in Scripture of a "2nd Blessing", the errant doctrine of a "re-baptism" by the Spirit, the real mellennial context of Ezekiel 47, etc.), I asked her for the book that most impacted her view on the issue. I wanted to see the writer's biblical acumen and the flavor of the book that she found so appealing. So even though I have studied the issue, I asked her if she could recommend the book on the topic that most impacted her life, so that I could study the viewpoints she found so compelling and see how this writer articulated his position from the Scripture. She recommended this book. I bought it immediately, and I read it with pen in hand.
I will not address the issue of tongues. That is not my desire. But the problem I had with the book is that it is all about personal experiences from different people -- anecdotal stories. When reading as a student, these stories cannot be studied. In the beginning of the book, the author quotes his friend who influenced him toward his second Spirit Baptism with these words: "'You're trying to approach Christianity through your mind, John,' she said. 'It simply cannot be done that way.'" (page 15). This theme runs through the book, to bypass logic and the mind.
For the student of Scripture, the book will not satisfy your quest for seeing how they handle the texts to support their doctrine. There is reference to texts here and there (sorry to say often out of context), and there is reference to 1 Corinthians 14 (pp. 97-99), however the author states what he thinks the texts mean without exegetical support. He references on pages 100-101 how tongues were a part of past historic revivals (he references the Waldensians & Quakers), and he even quotes W.C. Braithwaite on an account of an early Quaker meeting, but he completely fails to give his source reference! This is totally unacceptable when writing to your audience. He then comments on his "original source material" on page 101 from his library visits that support his view on tongues, but he never actually references the material. He lists 9 different occurances, from Scotland in 1830 to Russia in 1855, and even quotes the works, but never references his sources. At worst, this is deceptive. At best, this is an error from lacking personal scholarship and/or an adequate editing team. And the book has no index.
But I liked the book. It was informative and educational, not on the issue of tongues, but on how many dear brothers and sisters in that camp arrive at their conclusions. And I did not read it with a bad attitude of just wanting to tear down his arguments. I find no value in that, and humility would not do that. But if you have the desire to read a book that will reference in depth the Scripture regarding this view of tongues, there must be a better book.
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