Books, Beale, and Biblical Theology: An Interview

Really enjoyed this interview of Gregory Beale by Mark Dever of 9marks. Funny, informative, and encouraging. I listened to this while going for walks to pick up Justine from work. Dever and Beale go through 30+ books with a one line summary of each. Beale gives a little auto-bio and a summary of his of his own works. Here are most of the books he is asked to comment on:

Geerhard Vos - Pauline's Theology
Vos - Biblical Theology (primarily on OT, Rev is a organically developing)
Ed Clowney - Preaching Bib Theo
Carson & Moo - Intro to NT
Ladd - Theology of the NT (alright)
> the presence of the future
Rittervos Paul - Outline of his Theology
Kaiser - Promise Plan of God (a slice of bib theo)
Guthrie - NT Theology (theme based - similar to Ladd - not the best)
Vos - Typos! (survey of NT - not that hard)
NT Theology - Schreiner & Theilman nice
NT Wright great - Climax of the Covenant, NT ppl of God, Resurrection of the Son of God, Jesus & the Victory of God
Salhammer - Intro to OT Theology (a bit idiosyncratic; disagrees with his view on Moses)
Ray Ortland - God's Unfaithful Wife
Sydney Preidanus - Preaching Christ from the OT, Ancient Texts and the Modern
Theilman - Law & the NT
According to Plan - Goldsworthy
Scobie - the ways of our God
Chris Wright - Mission of God
Dennis Johnson - Him we Proclaim
Waltke - OT Theology (BIG - good for cherry picking)
Kostenberger - NT INTRO - cradle, cross, crown

Download it

Reading Categories

This is a list that my Professor and Principal Kirk Wellum gave us a few weeks ago. These are primarily categories for pastors but make good for anyone wanting some selection and direction when looking at all the literary material out there.

1 BIBLE - first and foremost
2 Commentaries & Introductions
3 Read Systematic & Biblical Theological Books
4 Biographies and Autobiographies
5 History (Secular & Christian)

> Biblical Backgrounds, Civilizations, Countries
6 Apologetic Books
7 Contemporary Issue
8 Read Hymn Books & Materials on Hymns 

> these are poems set to music
9 On the Church & Leadership 

> good to read about trends within the church
10 Read Journals & Periodicals
11 Blogs (careful though - there are so many - start with GospelCoalition)

12 Newspaper & Magazines 

What other categories should there be?

Fall/Winter Reading List

From my summer reading list I got to learn lots and grow from the books I had planned to go through; although the list did not get read completely. I'm hoping to contribute some reviews of the few books I got to read. A few works dropped from my reading list in the summer and a couple new ones have been added. Here is what I'm pining to read over the next two seasons. What's your current read? I'd love to hear - especially your recommendations.

Love in Hard Places - D. A. Carson

How To Study: John Schulte

The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God - D. A. Carson

What He Must Be -  Voddie Baucham

When Sinner's Say I Do - Dave Harvey

Exemplary Husband - Stuart Scott

Humility - C. J. Mahaney

What Christianity Says About Sex, Love, and Marriage - Ronald H. Bainton

End of the Law - Jason C. Meyer

According to Plan - Graeme Goldsworthy

Family Driven Faith - Voddie Baucham

Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood - W. Grudem and J. Piper 

Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married - Gary Chapman 

George Whitefield v. 2 - Arnold Dallimore

On Recommending Books

A great blog entry by Fred Sanders on recommending books.
Enjoyed reading this.

On Reading Books...

I for one am a 20page/hour reader. If I read any faster I'm not digesting nor do I find my self keeping with the flow of thought. Recently to help, Pastor John Starke offered up some of his own methods on reading, calling himself a slow-reader as well - he seems to be able to get through a couple books a month! His advice is encouraging and he's on the gospelcoalition so it can't be all that bad! He also mentions 3 classics at the end that are worth your time -

 Advice for Slow Readers - John Starke

What's your current/next classic you're working through? 

Summer Reading List - Updated

 

I recently posted on how there's only so much time that we get here on earth, and only a portion we'll get to spend reading. I always wished I read more so i thought I'd let you in on my summer reading list. Here are some I want to accomplish this summer. Feel free to ask me how I'm sticking it out and which one I'm on.

George Whitefield - Arnold Dallimore

According to Plan - Graeme Goldsworthy

The Christian Camp Counsellor - Jim Badke

Humility - C. J. Mahaney
Five Views on Law and Gospel - Stanley Gundry

Exegetical Fallacies - D. A. Carson

Love in Hard Places - D. A. Carson

The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God - D. A. Carson

The Still Hour: Communion With God - Austin Phelps
Abraham's Four Seeds - John Reisinger
Understanding and Applying the Bible - R. McQuilkin
End of the Law - Jason C. Meyer
Growth Groups - Colin Marshall
Galatians - Thomas R. Schreiner
What is the Gospel? - Greg Gilbert

What are you planning to read this summer?

Reflections from Your Assistant Librarian

 

Over the past 3 months I've been working at the TBS library.
It's a pretty sweet gig, patrolling over 15,000 books and over 1000 journals.
The bulk of them are theology books, but also history, language, biography, and philosophy.

Working here has taught me 2 things:
1 - Out of all the books that I could be reading here,
I want to first be reading the Bible. No book is greater than God's Word.
2 - From the books that I will get to read even if I read on average 1/week that averages to 1000-3000 for my lifetime (that's read, not speed-read). TOPS.
Conclusion - I better pick good ones to spend my time on.

Now for some obvious reasons - for academia, school, job - we won't get to pick a large portion of these - maybe up to 300 of them.
So that's 10-30% of our reading - gone.

So what about books from Inveterate Syncretists like Rob Bell?
Should we read his books? Maybe - for your job or school.
By choice? I wouldn't recommend it.
All you need to do is watch this interview of him and read this one and that should about sum up his position.
Why don't you bash his new book Scott? Honestly - I'm not going to read it. So I won't, if you have - do it in love, praying to restore him - and you should mail his church your review of it: 3501 Fairlanes Ave, Grandville, MI 49418.

Agreeing with John MacArthur here, Bell's position is pretty clear.
His illustrations from life are lucid and clear and his rationale persuades many.
But does it stem from the Bible?
How does he even use the Bible?
It's pretty clear from his own mouth that the Bible and it's logic doesn't coincide with his. Rather he shapes his logic from ripped pieces of the Bible. Laying his own context and redefining the terms that the authors use.
Unless you need to read his material, don't.

Read your Bible and read recommended works by pastors and theologians who you trust, who affirm God's Truth as revealed in the Bible. Who affirm salvation through faith and repentance in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean only read theology or Christian biographies. Read novels, history, adventure, bio, autobio, and philosophy! Read lots and choose wisely. Not only in theology books, but in everything you get to read. Recognize God's sovereignty in your finite choice. It's true though, we won't get to read them all.