Zach Nielsen writes:

Owen Strachan draws attention to a new systematic Theology book for kids (6-14) by Dr. Bruce Ware called,Big Truths for Young Hearts. I’m sure we’ll be picking up a copy for our kids. Some of you might be interested as well.

Here is a description from Amazon.com:

Sure, it’s easy to teach your children the essentials of Christian theology when you’re a theology professor. But what about the rest of us?

With Big Truths for Little Hearts, Bruce Ware, (you guessed it!) a theology professor, encourages and enables parents of children 6–14 years of age to teach through the whole of systematic theology at a level their children can understand. Parents can teach their children the great truths of the faith and shape their worldviews early, based on these truths.

The book covers ten topics of systematic theology, devoting several brief chapters to each subject, making it possible for parents to read one chapter per day with their children. With this non-intimidating format, parents will be emboldened to be their children’s primary faith trainers—and perhaps learn a few things themselves along the way.

Reformation Heritage Books has just announced Dr. Joel Beeke’s latest book: Heirs with Christ: The Puritans on Adoption. Here’s the Ad for Beeke’s excellent forthcoming book. You can purchase a copy of it here. Both Ligon Duncan and Justin Taylor have endorsed this spiritually rich new book by Beeke:

“Dr. Beeke is well-known for his landmark work setting the record straight on the Puritan doctrine of assurance. Now he comes to our aid again with a superb treatment of the Puritans on adoption. I welcome his expert entry into this important field, and commend his keen insights and careful analysis to all who are interested in knowing ‘what the Puritans really said’ about adoption.” —Ligon Duncan

“In this short but spiritually substantive book, Dr. Beeke—a wise and careful ‘pastor theologian’ in the best sense of both words—introduces us to the Puritans’ comforting and transforming work on spiritual adoption. More than just historically informative, this volume should be warmly welcomed by all Christians who want to learn more about this crucial aspect of our identity as sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ.” —Justin Taylor

Yours truly was given the privilege of writing the foreword. Here’s what I wrote about Heirs with Christ: The Puritans on Adoption:

Foreword

Earthly adoption is horizontal. It is one human being establishing a relationship with another human being. Heavenly adoption is vertical. It is the eternal God graciously establishing a relationship with fallen human beings, creatures who are by nature “children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2) or “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).

God is an adoptive Father. Jesus, our Elder Brother, is God the Father’s eternal, only-begotten, natural Son. We believers are His children through adoption. This identity is central to who we are. As adopted children, we enjoy all the rights and privileges of the relationship that God the Father enjoys with His eternal Son. This is an amazing reality and eternal privilege.

Adoption is heavenly before it is earthly. One is what God does; the other is what we do. Adoption is something God has done and is doing before it is something we have done and are doing. Adoption was invented by God even before He created the world.

Adoption is how God brings us into His family. If adoption is first heavenly before it is earthly, why do we Christians so often think of earthly adoption before we think of heavenly adoption? Why do we think horizontally before we think vertically?

I think one reason for this is the neglect of the doctrine of adoption in the history of the church. In his massive, 2,600-page work The Creeds of Christendom, the church historian Philip Schaff only includes six creeds that contain a section on adoption because they are the only ones he could find while scouring almost 1,900 years of church history.

The early church was primarily concerned, and rightly so, with the doctrines of the Trinity and of Christ because those doctrines were being attacked within the church. The Reformation and post-Reformation church necessarily focused on defending the doctrine of justification. These battles were all essential for the church to fight in the defense of Christian truth, but unintentionally they resulted in the church’s failure thoroughly to develop Scripture’s teaching on adoption.

Even though adoption has been relatively neglected in the history of the church, the Puritans have not contributed to that neglect. To my knowledge, no tradition in the history of the church has rejoiced in and proclaimed the truth of adoption as have the Puritans. Though the Puritans, as of late, have received bad press in their treatment of this great doctrine, their writings demonstrate that they esteemed nothing higher than the incomparable privilege of being God’s children through adoption.

Dr. Joel Beeke offers a great service to the contemporary church by examining the Puritans’ substantial and worship-filled treatment of the believer’s adoption by God. Beeke does a masterful job of setting the record straight on behalf of the Puritans. He has extensively studied the Puritans and is uniquely qualified to write on this most important subject.

The church today should richly benefit from this exposure to Puritan teaching on the biblical doctrine of adoption. If we as Christians even begin to approach the Puritans’ love of heavenly adoption, we will be spiritually richer for it. Therefore, I highly recommend Dr. Beeke’s book: Heirs with Christ: The Puritans on Adoption.

Listen to Tim Chester introduce his book The Busy Christian’s Guide to Busyness. Sounds like a book that would be helpful to read at the start of a new year.

This new book series from Driscoll & Crossway sounds very promising. Here are the first two scheduled books in the series:

Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions

Chapter 1 Is Jesus the Only God?
Chapter 2 How Human Was Jesus?
Chapter 3 How Did People Know Jesus Was Coming?
Chapter 4 Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?
Chapter 5 Why Did Jesus’ Mom Need to Be a Virgin?
Chapter 6 What Did Jesus Accomplish on the Cross?
Chapter 7 Did Jesus Rise from Death?
Chapter 8 Where Is Jesus Today?
Chapter 9 Why Should We Worship Jesus?
Chapter 10 What Makes Jesus Superior to Other Saviors?
Chapter 11 What Difference Has Jesus Made in History?
Chapter 12 What Will Jesus Do upon His Return?

Vintage Jesus is scheduled to come out this next February in conjunction with Resurgence’s Text & Context Conference.

Book two is Driscoll’s current project:

Death by Love

Many books debate the finer points of the doctrine of the atonement. What is often lost are the implications of Jesus’ death on the cross for those who have sinned and have been sinned against. This book will allow people to understand, appreciate, and trust in Jesus’ work on the cross for sins in a way that other books on the subject simply do not. The tone will be conversational, loving, heartfelt, and pastoral because it is based on real people and real sin.

Our hope is that Death by Love will be one of the most unique books ever written on the cross of Jesus Christ. It is a compilation of heartfelt letters written from me to people I pastor about the practical ways that Jesus’ death is the only hope for their life.

You can read more about these two forthcoming books here.

The Jesus Storybook Bible is #2 on the CBA bestseller list. This is very cool, Sally!

You can read my interview of Sally Lloyd-Jones here and see my picture project here.

Westminster Bookstore is having a great sale on the best books on biblical theology. Books are on sale for up to 55% off list. Prices are good through August 14, 2007.

(HT: Timmy Brister)

Read what Tim and Kathy Keller say about The Jesus Storybook Bible:

“I would urge not just families with young children to get this book, but every Christian–from pew warmers, to ministry leaders, seminarians and even theologians! Sally Lloyd-Jones has captured the heart of what it means to find Christ in all the scriptures, and has made clear even to little children that all God’s revelation has been about Jesus from the beginning–a truth not all that commonly recognized even among the very learned.” - Tim Keller

“Sally Lloyd-Jones, a Redeemer member for many years, has done a wondrous thing. She has captured the plot line of redemption in a children’s story Bible that sings the praise of Jesus and his saving grace on every page, in every story.” - Kathy Keller

Purchase a copy here.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a Tolkien fan. If you come to my blog often, you also know it has been a while since I’ve posted anything about him or his works. So if you’ve been waiting for your Tolkien fix, wait no longer. Actually, this post was written by Matt Sims, a former student of mine (a long, long time ago!). So take a read and visit his blog if you have a few minutes.

Fleming Rutledge, The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien’s Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings

I just finished reading this book and I highly recommend it to any Tolkien lover. The book examines what Rutledge calls the “deep narrative.” He writes his book with the flow of Tolkien’s narrative.

Rutledge says, “In particular, I believe Tolkien has given us a rare glimpse of what human freedom within God’s Divine Plan really means” (The Batatle for Middle-earth p. 5). This statement exemplifies the thrust of this book.

Rutledge focuses on the implicit Providence in Middle-earth. Tolkien did not want Middle-earth to be a Christian world, per se. Think of Shakespeare’s King Lear and its distictly pre-Christian setting yet Christian themes.

Tolkien masterfully weaves the hand of God into The Lord of the Rings by his use of the passive tense and by the balance struck between characters realizing that there is a higher purpose at work. Rutledge examines different scenes which focus on this, such as Gandalf speech about Bilbo’s pity or the council of Elrond.

For any Tolkien fan who is interested in having the many Biblical allusions revealed and discussed, this book does excellent job of just that.

Soli Deo Gloria

John Piper’s newest book, God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself, is coming to stores on September 2o. Here’s the promotional blurb:

“Most people, when they ponder what it means to be loved by God, think of the things that God does for us. John Piper writes that what is most loving about God is not his making much of us, but his enabling us, at great cost to himself, to enjoy making much of him forever.”

You can read an on-line copy of it here.

This is the suggested reading list for our BBC faculty discussion group.

Joseph Mazur’s Euclid in the Rainforest
Edwards’ Dissertation on Virtue [aesthetics and ethics]
Milton On Education
John Locke’ Some Thoughts Concerning Education
E.F. Schumacher’ Small is Beautiful [economics, technology, ethics and education]
Nicholas Wolterstorff’ Art in Action: Toward a Christian Aesthetic
Lewis’ Til We Have Faces
Lewis’ The Weight of Glory
Shakespeare’s King Lear
Paulo Friere Pedagogy of the Oppressed
J.J. Rousseau. Politics and the Arts: Letter to M. D’Alembert on the Theatre

Here are the suggested options for proceeding this semester:

Option A
Milton
Euclid
Lear
Rousseau

Option B
Edwards
Euclid
Lewis’s Faces
Rousseau

Option C
Lewis’ Weight of Glory
Euclid
Lear
Rousseau

What would you choose?

“The gospel of Christ crucified and risen is meant to be preached to our soul–both in corporate worship where we hear it week after week, and from hour to hour as we preach it to ourselves in the daily fight for joy…The cross must be central in the fight for joy. We must put ourselves under is preaching on the Lord’s day, and we must preach it to ourselves all day every day” (John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy, 76-77).

I’ve been tagged for this book meme by Mick Porter of Unveiled Face! So here it goes:

Total number of books I’ve ever owned: I would guess a few thousand. I’m really not sure though. I’ve been heard saying that I would rather buy a book and read it then purchase food or clothing. I don’t read as much as I would like too though (time and brain constraints).

Last book I bought: The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story by Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen. It has been a good read thus far.

Last book I read: River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler. It is a book about the author’s experience in the city where we are going to serve in an orphanage, namely, Fuling, China.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

1. The Bible: There are many books that I would like to master. There is something ennobling about thinking the thoughts of great men. But the Bible is the one book that I want to master me.

2. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy: This book was recommended to me when I was seeking to understand how to interpret/preach the Bible from a gospel-centered perspective. This is a must multiple-read for all Christians (not just for all pastors).

3. The Pleasures of God by John Piper. I consider this book to be Piper’s best. It has been a few years since I’ve read it. So I think it’s about time to pick it up again to drink deep.

4. The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being, Three Persons by Thomas F. Torrance. As far as I’m concerned, this book is without peer in its presentation of the beauty of our God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

5. The Mediation of Christ by Thomas F. Torrance. If I had to pick the one book that I think is helping me understand and apply the gospel more than any other book I’ve ever read, it would be this one.

Both Adrian Warnock and David Wayne are linking an interesting discussion started at Stronger Church. It asks the following question: “If you could only have five books out of your library to keep to help you prepare sermons, what would they be?” I want to modify the question slightly. “If you could only have five books to aide you in your study of Scripture for personal holiness, what would they be?” So feel free to answer from either perspective.

Here is David Wayne’s answer:

Actually, for about the last seven or eight years I’ve been using Logos Software and accumulating all kinds of stuff from them so I would just ask for my laptop and my Logos disks and could be very happy. But, since that’s not the question I’ll play along.

Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - ok, this has four volumes so I’m done, but if you’ll allow me to count it as one volume I’d go with the following three others.
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem (betcha thought I was going to say Berkhof, didn’t ya?)
According to Plan - Graeme Goldsworthy
Your Best Life Now - Joel Osteen - kidding - just checking to see if anybody’s really reading this. How about Young’s Analytical Concordance so I can have a language reference.

My answer is the result of about 5 minutes of thinking. It would probably change if I thought about it a few more minutes, but right now I’m satisfied. Also, I’m assuming that I will have my BibleWorks computer program which allows me to reference the biblical languages :-).

1. ESV Bible
2. Preaching the Gospel in a Post-Modern World (Tim Keller)
3. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture (Graeme Goldsworthy)
4. Gustav Oehler’s Old Testament Theology
5. New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (I. Howard Marshall)

What 5 books would you choose?

Please scroll down and note the new recommended books section in the right hand column (I’m not talking about the link entitled “book recommendations” which is listed under “Categories.” The new recommended books section I’m referring to is below the entire “Categories” section.) My goal is to update the list weekly.

“It is important to realize that the ‘rewiring’ work of the Spirit, by which he changes us from the inside out, is a supernatural process that cannot be directly linked to the means of grace (such as prayer and Bible study) in a one-to-one ratio. While these disciplines are important tools for our spiritual maturity, we should not assume that their use automatically or proportionally makes the Holy Spirit work. Were the ratios exact, then legalistic uses of the disciplines of grace would be more pervasive than they already are. Instead, the Spirit seems to respond to humble repentance and dependence on God alone for changing the heart, and then to use the regenerated heart’s longing for change to create new pursuits and godly passions (Holiness by Grace, Bryan Chapell, p. 62).

Christ our Mediator: Finding Passion at the Cross by C.J. Mahaney

Jerry Bridges writes this about Mahaney’s book: “The great nineteenth century Scottish pastor, Haratius Bonar once wrote, ‘If we would be holy, we must get to the cross and dwell there.’ C. J. Mahaney takes us to the cross in such a way that we can indeed dwell there. This is a book to be read and reread many times. Its message will never grow old or out of date.”